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04 January 2010
A Japanese homeless man was sending the most exquisite poems to a popular newspaper. There is nothing extraordinary about a person experiencing homelessness producing great poetry. Yet the scenario was regarded with astonishment. October 2009
Safran's stunts — such as hoodwinking a Palestinian sperm bank into donating Palestinian sperm to the Israelis, and vice versa — are cringe-making. But they are in the context of a cogent and pithy argument that has serious intent. October 2009
The case for Polanski's avoiding extradition has generally received a sympathetic hearing. The same sympathy is not generally shown to clergy who have been tried for less serious acts committed just as many years ago. October 2009
When celebrities die, public grief is disproportionate, because death reasserts the humanity of one who has seemed beyond it. Jackson had become so far removed from his humanity that the shock of his mortality is even more profound. June 2009
The Prime Minister offered his apology to those who spent their childhood in care, via a carefully crafted speech. He said it is an 'ugly story' that must be told without fear or favour. Some who worked in or were associated with these children's homes may not like this judgement. November 2009
It's fashionable to make all sorts of claims about Generation Y. Among other things, we are spoilt, attention-deficient, highly educated and unemployable. If you stop prophesising our doom for a moment, you might see we're not as hopeless as we seem. August 2009
Opposition presents the Liberal Party with a rare opportunity to recover its conservative soul and abandon Labor's vapid brand of politics. The only way forward is for the Party to replace Malcolm Turnbull with Tony Abbott as its leader. August 2009
Australian online and wireless games constitute a rapidly-growing, billion-dollar industry, and sites such as Facebook increasingly dominate our social networks. Have we taken the first step towards 'trusting the computer' too much? October 2009
Whether grotesquely augmented, stricken with cancer or tumbling unbidden from the frocks of soccer wives, breasts guarantee rapt attention. But never are these appendages more hotly debated than when they are being used according to their very purpose and design. October 2009
Because we lived so long with a policy of assimilation, our ingrained racism takes time to shake. We need public policy that reasserts the principles of multiculturalism. Instead our Prime Minister is caught out making an ethnic jibe. June 2009
Many conservative Catholics are sceptical about global warming. For them environmentalism is the new communism. This echoes the paranoia of the '50s and '60s are clear, when anyone with an interest in social justice was suspect. September 2009
McGirr seems more the magpie than the dormouse. Even when he's curling up under his desk for a post lunch kip you figure he's just giving his brain a few horizontal minutes to organise and file the prodigious miscellany that might otherwise leak out. July 2009
Bishop Bathersby and Fr Kennedy are pastoral, down to earth men. If there had been more dialogue between them, and between Cardinal Pell and Bishop Robinson, the Catholic Church would be more the Church Jesus would want it to be. March 2009
The world of pop music is dominated by prettiness and skin-deep perfection. In that context, Cohen's greatness is not instantly discernable. Lately a Buddhist, he has spent his latter years in study of religion — 'But cheerfulness keeps breaking through.' February 2009
The Martidja Manyjima people of the Pilbara want a WA mining registrar to hear their challenge to BHP Billiton's claim for more mining leases on 200 square kilometres of their traditional land. The outcome will affect every one of us. September 2009
Vegetarians are still seen as antagonistic and self-centred, as if they'd made a selfish decision purely to sabotage dinner parties. Vegetarians have been too polite, and too careful not to offend carnivores, for too long. November 2009
A year ago, on the day of the National Apology, the emotion was palpable over the seas. But it was hard not being there, standing on the same dirt as your fellow countrymen. It is similarly difficult to be away from home during a time of natural disaster. February 2009
After midnight, a group of international students, on a break from their night jobs as waiters, gather in a concrete stairwell and share their stories. Victorian premier John Brumby could learn a thing or two in that shabby stairwell. September 2009
She'd rather be wearing jeans, but is compelled to dress like a Christmas tree for the Spring Racing Carnival. Her desire to be desired for the depth of her cleavage is nominated by the designs of men in her society. No wonder some Muslim women feel the hijab subverts patriarchy. November 2009
A bill passed hastily by the NSW Parliament last week, specifically to force released paedophile Dennis Ferguson out of his home, effectively enshrined hate in legislation. Like drug addiction, paedophilia is a problem that requires community empathy, rather than ostracism. September 2009