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  • australia

    Want better arguments? Make it personal

    • Max Jeganathan
    • 17 October 2024

    Personalisation isn’t some idealistic attempt at bothsideism, but a pathway to restoring a measure of humanity to our public discourse. In a free society, what matters is not the disagreement itself but the way we treat those with whom we disagree.

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  • arts and culture

    When poetry became war reporting

    • Warwick McFadyen
    • 16 October 2024

    If only those who send their nation’s youth to war would read Muse of Fire, World War I as seen Through the Lives of the Soldier Poets. It is both homage and horror story. It carries the reader across several fronts – the disparate journeys that led these men to the killing fields of Europe, the blood-soaked chrysalis from which the words of the war poets arose.

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  • australia

    Finding gratitude in winter's long shadow

    • Barry Gittins
    • 16 October 2024

    As winter’s chill stubbornly lingers and spring arrives in fits and starts, the weight of the long cold months still presses on many of us. Yet in the midst of this darkness, thinkers like Carl Jung remind us of the power of gratitude to shift our perspective.

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  • media

    On lying

    • Michele Frankeni
    • 15 October 2024

    Two years ago to the month, I wrote in this column of my despair and disgust of the impunity with which society leaders and politicians didn’t just shade the truth, but buried it six-feet deep and then gleefully stomped on it. In the past week, a couple of things reminded me of that piece and about the role truth plays in our public discourse. It reminded me how fragile our grasp on reality has become, and why that matters.   

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  • australia

    Betting the nation: How Australia became the world's biggest loser

    • Claire Heaney
    • 11 October 2024

    Australia’s gambling culture, once seasonally grounded in the Spring Racing Carnival, has become a year-round obsession. From family sweeps to the rise of betting apps, gambling has become ingrained in the nation's identity, leaving in its wake a growing crisis of addiction, debt, and societal harm.

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  • international

    Songs of Cretan liars and the rambling voice of truth

    • Peter Craven
    • 09 October 2024

    With moments of shared perspective and common ground, the weird thing about the CBS debate the debate between the two putative vice-presidents, J.D. Vance and Tim Walz, was how civil and considerate it was and (in its way) how impressive.  

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  • My Dad's Gone Away

    • Michael McGirr
    • 10 October 2024

    My Dad’s Gone Away will help any young person faced with the prospect of visiting mum, dad or any close adult in jail. It is graceful and gentle but also honest. It is also a book that will help any young person who might like to consider what some other people their age might be going through. 

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  • Nobody wants this

    • Juliette Hughes
    • 10 October 2024

    I wish I could tell you why Nobody wants this is so funny without giving spoilers. Add to that the real tenderness between the two lovers, and you’ve got something unusual: a believable romance, funny and sometimes surprisingly honest with little moments of humility and vulnerability.

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  • The watcher on the cast-iron balcony

    • Gillian Bouras
    • 09 October 2024

    Australian writer Hal Porter once described himself as a 'watcher,' a quiet observer of life from the verandahs of his youth. Decades later, from a balcony in a Greek village, the same rhythms repeat — family conversations, street vendors, and the steady hum of village life — reminding us how time subtly transforms both what we see and how we see it.

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  • Yom Kippur: A time for grieving

    • Andrew Hamilton
    • 09 October 2024

    War breeds division far beyond the battlefield, fueling hatred and resentment across societies, and the conflict in Gaza has reignited long-standing animosities. As Yom Kippur approaches, its themes of repentance and forgiveness urge us to recognize the humanity in both the victims and perpetrators of conflict.

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  • The unbearable lightness of presidential debates

    • Binoy Kampmark
    • 30 September 2024

    Last month, Kamala Harris faced off with Trump in what may be the only debate of the 2024 race for the White House. As we revisit the event, it’s clear that the real takeaway isn’t found in the limited substance offered to voters. Rather, it’s a stark reminder of how far the standards for such political showdowns have fallen, leaving us to question the usefulness of this once-crucial platform for democratic discourse.

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  • The Taliban's war on women

    • Warwick McFadyen
    • 17 September 2024

    How do you try to turn a human into something less than human? You take away their voice. The Taliban in Afghanistan have recently introduced new laws that ban women’s voices and faces in public, continuing the extreme subjugation of half the Afghan population.

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  • Our man in Rome

    • Andrew Hamilton
    • 14 October 2024

    The recent appointment of Mikola Bychok as Cardinal caught many Australians off guard. Few are familiar with the Ukrainian Catholic Bishop from Melbourne, and his elevation challenges conventional notions of national identity, prompting reflection on who we consider 'one of us' and highlighting the Ukrainian community in Australia.

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  • Pope Francis and the politics of Catholic conscience

    • John Warhurst
    • 02 October 2024

    During a recent interview on his Papal plane coming back from Singapore Francis made some pointed remarks in response to a veiled question from an American journalist about the US Presidential election contest between the Democrat Kamala Harris and the Republican Donald Trump. He chose to describe the choice as between the ‘lesser of two evils’ because Harris is pro-abortion rights and Trump is anti-immigration.

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  • Religious media battles the tides

    • Michael McVeigh
    • 26 September 2024

    There once might have been a distinction between ‘Christian journalism’ and ‘Christian PR’, however today those lines are far more muddied. The demise of the Australasian Religious Press Association might have been brought about by changing tides, but for those of us left it leaves one less lifebuoy to cling to.

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