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Keywords: Scotland

  • ARTS AND CULTURE

    The lost art of posting a letter

    • Gillian Bouras
    • 20 February 2013
    10 Comments

    She was about to post some letters in the box near her house when a car drew up: a man leaned out and asked if he could watch, as he'd never seen anyone post a letter before. 'How many?' he asked. When she said, 'Six,' he drove away, shaking his head.

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  • AUSTRALIA

    Hail to the climate geeks

    • Frank O'Shea
    • 22 August 2012
    27 Comments

    The word geek has changed from a term of derision to one of smiling respect and even a badge of honour. The members of the Climate Commission would no doubt be happy to be called geeks. Unfortunately there is far too little 'geek' representation in the halls of power.

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  • MEDIA

    Elitism in online dictionaries

    • Philip Harvey
    • 27 March 2012
    19 Comments

    Free dictionaries on the internet are often bland and incomplete, while those that are complex and exhaustive require a credit card. Quality comes at a price, and this is an increasing educational issue. Rich institutions and individuals can pay for the words we all use, while others cannot, or just do not.

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  • AUSTRALIA

    Squeamish over Scottish independence

    • Justin Glyn
    • 17 January 2012
    11 Comments

    The prospect of a referendum on Scottish independence from the UK evokes one of the more interesting tensions in modern international law, between the right to self-determination on the one hand and the territorial integrity of states on the other.

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  • AUSTRALIA

    Thatcher's blame game

    • Michael Mullins
    • 16 January 2012
    9 Comments

    It is arguable that, because she was one of the architects of the free market financial system that lacked protection for ordinary citizens, Margaret Thatcher shares responsibility for the widespread public harm caused by the GFC and the eurozone crisis.

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  • ARTS AND CULTURE

    The beer jingle that saved Christmas

    • Brian Doyle
    • 22 December 2011
    1 Comment

    A hickory tree peed his pants. A striped bass assaulted an eggplant. A teacher cursed in Gaelic into her mic. Then my kid brother, Tommy, spontaneously stepped forward and sang that jingle. Some moments are unforgettable for reasons we can't articulate. My dad says he'll savour that one on his deathbed. 

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  • AUSTRALIA

    The Scots' war on everything British

    • Duncan Maclaren
    • 13 May 2011
    16 Comments

    The Scottish National Party government has rid Scots of the sense of inferiority hammered into them by the British state. Australians, given their outrage over the banning of The Chaser's royal wedding commentary, know something of how this feels. The British state is past its use-by date.

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  • RELIGION

    No rain on Pope's UK parade

    • Peter Scally
    • 22 September 2010
    5 Comments

    If British MPs think that, on balance, support for the Pope is a vote-winner, they are probably right. That tells us a great deal about the views of ordinary British people — as opposed to the views of the relatively small band of metropolitan 'opinion-formers' who work in the media.

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  • ARTS AND CULTURE

    The boy who thought he was Jesus

    • Morag Fraser
    • 17 September 2010
    3 Comments

    Part memoir, part travelogue, and part apologia, Exposure is also the diary of a young man suffering from a form of obsessive-compulsive disorder which manifests in excruciating symptoms. More interesting, and more agonising, is his driven response to poverty and to suffering when he encounters it.

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  • AUSTRALIA

    UK kingmaker Clegg wise to wait

    • Peter Scally
    • 11 May 2010
    5 Comments

    Gordon Brown's dignified resignation underlines the fact that Liberal Democrat leader Nick Clegg's options in choosing a coalition partner remain open. He is wise not to rush a decision to finalise a deal. After the election that everybody lost, a coalition that works could make winners of the British people.

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  • ARTS AND CULTURE

    Silent sojourner

    • Ted Witham
    • 13 November 2009
    5 Comments

    Sara Maitland feels our culture devalues silence. She travels to an island off the Scottish coast, a desert in Israel, and the mountains of the Scottish highlands. These contrasting experiences of silence open her to new ways of thought and prayer.

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  • AUSTRALIA

    How to talk to Aboriginal students

    • Myrna Tonkinson
    • 13 October 2009
    14 Comments

    Some Aboriginal languages do not distinguish the unvoiced and voiced consonants 'b' and 'p', 'd' and 't', and 'g' and 'k'. Julia Gillard's push to provide 'English as a second language' training to teachers in remote communities can address such language obstacles and help lift levels of Indigenous education.

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