Opinion My children were threatened and I just wanted them out December 7, 2019 – https://www.smh.com.au/national/my-children-were-threatened-and-i-just-wanted-them-out-20191205-p53h3m.html So, it’s Advent, the start of Christmas. A single candle is lit. Sydney, though, feels strange, invaded by smoke, brown as billy tea. The air is grey, the sun
Opinion Dull, wasteful and overblown – is this the best Australia can do? November 30th 2019 – https://www.smh.com.au/national/dull-wasteful-and-overblown-is-this-the-best-australia-can-do-20191128-p53f0n.html I visit the Australian War Memorial in Canberra on a day of high wind and strange portent. The lawns are verdant but the day is dark, angry
Opinion Give thanks, Sydney, for these morsels of sweetness and quietude https://www.smh.com.au/national/give-thanks-sydney-for-these-morsels-of-sweetness-and-quietude-20191121-p53cq2.html You may have noticed new public libraries popping up across Sydney, as though some fond great-uncle had strewn us with cupcakes. It’s lovely, but curious. Just when you thought the book was dead
Opinion ‘That’s the bloody disgrace’: Australia is burning but NSW is cuddling up to coal November 16, 2019 – https://www.smh.com.au/national/that-s-the-bloody-disgrace-australia-is-burning-but-nsw-is-cuddling-up-to-coal-20191114-p53ai7.html Thoughts and prayers? Miracles? Seriously, Mr Morrison? It was already 29 degrees by 9 am Tuesday, when hundreds gathered in Macquarie Street to protest against
Opinion Most modern funerals make you feel worse, but my sister’s was different November 8, 2019 – https://www.smh.com.au/national/most-modern-funerals-make-you-feel-worse-but-my-sister-s-was-different-20191107-p538hm.html The sun shone bright and hot. In the branches of a nearby tree fern a tui danced, hopping and flicking as if to supervise the mourners
Opinion The truth behind Jordan Peterson’s stratospheric success October 11, 2019 – https://www.smh.com.au/national/the-truth-behind-jordan-peterson-s-stratospheric-success-20191010-p52zh8.html Plato believed a philosopher should be king. No doubt many of us would support benign dictatorship, providing we’re in that top spot. The Rise of Jordan Peterson, a new film about the
So I bought a farm. This won’t surprise anyone who knows me. I’ve wanted to for years. It’s why I sold my house. But it surprises everyone else. “What, do you know anything about farming?” they typically ask. “Do you have any idea how much
