Vol 35 No 2

27 January 2025

INTERNATIONAL

Bluesky thinking: Can the internet rebuild its town square?
- Jenny Sinclair
- 07 February 2025
In the wake of Elon Musk’s tumultuous Twitter takeover, the social media landscape has fractured, scattering digital discourse across competing platforms. Bluesky, Threads, and Mastodon each offer a vision of what comes next, but will any replicate the vital, unruly town square Twitter once was?
READ MORE
INTERNATIONAL

In a world of rigid borders, who belongs?
- Nirmal Ghosh
- 07 February 2025
Amongst hardening borders and rising ethnonationalism globally, those who resist rigid identity labels find themselves caught between worlds — too foreign for home, too foreign for here. If identity is both fluid and contested, can belonging ever be more than a temporary state?
READ MORE
INTERNATIONAL

The Art of the Self-Serving Deal
- Andrew Hamilton
- 06 February 2025
Donald Trump’s presidency, often dismissed as chaotic, follows a clear, transactional logic: power over principle, loyalty over institutions, and reshaping America into a high-stakes deal-making enterprise. But history suggests such a system cannot last. In the meantime, how should we respond?
READ MORE
AUSTRALIA

When neighbours were family on Argyle Street
- Erica Cervini
- 05 February 2025
In 1940s Australia, neighbourhoods pulsed with neighborly connection — a stark contrast to today’s soaring rates of loneliness. As societies grow increasingly fragmented and isolation deepens, can that bygone era offer any lessons on healing our contemporary disconnection?
READ MORE
RELIGION

The priest who tried to warn people about the Khmer Rouge
- Ray Cavanaugh
- 05 February 2025
When the Khmer Rouge seized Cambodia, Western intellectuals dismissed reports of atrocities as propaganda. But French missionary Fr François Ponchaud persisted in exposing the regime’s horrors. With his passing, we remember a man who saw the truth before the world was ready to listen.
READ MORE
AUSTRALIA

Smartphones took over the world. Can we opt out?
- Binoy Kampmark
- 04 February 2025
Smartphones dictate access to commerce, communication, and even education, and face-to-face transactions have all but disappeared. Have we willingly surrendered choice for convenience? As digital payments become the norm, are those choosing to live without a smartphone excluded from modern society?
READ MORE
INTERNATIONAL

The moral dilemma of negotiating with Putin
- Sergey Maidukov Sr.
- 04 February 2025
As global powers weigh the prospect of negotiating with Vladimir Putin, indicted for war crimes, the moral dilemma looms: can peace justify sitting down with a war criminal? This question, compounded by the ongoing suffering in Ukraine, forces leaders to balance expediency against the principles of justice, accountability, and human rights.
READ MORE
AUSTRALIA

Brushes with the badlands
- David Halliday
- 03 February 2025
“Underworld figure shot in our basement carpark.” Australia is meant to be one of the world’s safest places, where violence belongs to someone else’s world, until it shows up at our door. When it does, how are we supposed to respond?
READ MORE
ARTS AND CULTURE

From under the truck
- Peter Craven
- 31 January 2025
Somewhat surprisingly, actor Josh Brolin is, in his way a born writer. In his new memoir, he succeeds in taking conversations of the most ordinary kind and bringing them to life, recounting oddly spellbinding encounters with figures like Cormac McCarthy, conjuring up the voices in narrative brimming with humour, vulnerability, and grace.
READ MORE
INTERNATIONAL

Weep with immigrants
- Andrew Hamilton
- 30 January 2025
The United States' recent shift in immigration policy towards exclusions and deportations is a modern moral reckoning. It underscores the tension between a society’s right to regulate its borders and its responsibility to uphold the dignity of those who already call it home.
READ MORE
ARTS AND CULTURE

Still Completely Unknown
- Barry Divola
- 30 January 2025
The flame war over A Complete Unknown burns like a fire on Main Street, with Dylan die-hards railing against its liberties, sometimes without even seeing it. But in their quest for accuracy, they overlook a deeper truth: when has Bob Dylan ever let facts stand in the way of a good story?
READ MORE
INTERNATIONAL

To succeed, the Gaza ceasefire must lead to hope and stability
- Ran Porat
- 30 January 2025
In a negotiated truce, Israel and Hamas have ended a conflict that raged for over a year, since Hamas’ attack on October 7, 2023. As hostages are exchanged with Palestinian prisoners, hopes flicker across a battered region bracing for precarious next steps. But can the truce hold amid vague terms, fragile politics, and Gaza’s looming reconstruction?
READ MORE
ARTS AND CULTURE

We’re outraged with hypocrisy. Is that hypocritical?
- Barry Gittins
- 29 January 2025
As the news cycle fills with exposés of hypocrisy, from politicians to celebrities, we are confronted with uncomfortable questions: When should we hold others to account, and when should we accept the contradictions in ourselves and others? The answers, it seems, lie somewhere between judgment and grace.
READ MORE
AUSTRALIA

What the great teachers leave behind
- Warwick McFadyen
- 29 January 2025
The relationship between a teacher and a student can be profound in ways that are not realised at the time. As schools go back, it's worth revisiting the gratitude we have for our great teachers, and reaffirming how a mentor’s gentle encouragement can shape a lifetime.
READ MORE
ECONOMICS

Supercharged or superficial? The tax reform Australia can't agree on
- David James
- 29 January 2025
A plan to raise superannuation taxes on high-value funds has stalled in the Senate, sparking a broader debate about government control over retirement savings. Rooted in a unique system that places ownership squarely with individuals, Australia’s approach has delivered impressive returns, yet political pressures threaten to reshape its future.
READ MORE
AUSTRALIA

How the politics of prohibition fuelled a gang war
- Juliette Hughes
- 29 January 2025
While health advocates hail falling smoking rates, Australia’s tobacco taxes have inadvertently fuelled a black market in tobacco, with small businesses and law enforcement often bearing the consequences. Policymakers now question how the social toll measures against the health gains.
READ MORE
AUSTRALIA

How Sister Margaret Noone inspired a movement in paediatric palliative care
- Gillian Bouras
- 28 January 2025
Sister Margaret Noone, a Loreto nun who died this year at 91, shaped paediatric palliative care in Australia. She founded Very Special Kids, providing support for families of children facing life-threatening illnesses. Her compassionate commitment stands in stark contrast to today’s loud stage of power.
READ MORE

Subscriber login

Vol 35 No 2