Welcome to Eureka Street

back to site

Keywords: Thoughts

There are more than 200 results, only the first 200 are displayed here.

  • INTERNATIONAL

    Saying goodbye

    • Michele Frankeni
    • 07 February 2023
    1 Comment

    When she felt she could not fulfil her duties as a leader with the energy and commitment that it required, Jacinda Ardern stepped away from the job. She made a point of saying that though there will be speculation about her walking away, it was nothing more complicated than the job required more commitment than she felt able to bring.

    READ MORE
  • AUSTRALIA

    The case for holidays

    • Andrew Hamilton
    • 31 January 2023

    They take us to unexpected places, to wonder at the beauty of places we have passed by and, dangerously, to ask ourselves where we want most deeply to sail. Holidays can be the call of the Sirens who schemed to lure Odysseus on to the rocks. But they can also be the request that drew Peter to take Jesus into his boat.

    READ MORE
  • AUSTRALIA

    Navigating the tensions of our national holiday

    • Julian Butler
    • 27 January 2023
    2 Comments

    Amidst concern for the painful experience of First Nations peoples on Australia Day, and a desire for justice I find myself bouncing between question of moving the date, and all the strands of what the day means and represents.

    READ MORE
  • ARTS AND CULTURE

    A teacher's thoughts as the new year calls

    • John Kelly
    • 24 January 2023
    2 Comments

    Days shorten, time contracts, as school agendas / rise in gathering waves, break, surge, and cram / into the mind, intruding on the leisure / of swims, beach strolls, and jetty fishing, / and my marvelling at the blithe ease / of the local seabirds at their play / with wind drifts in a cloudless azure sky.

    READ MORE
  • ECONOMICS

    Best of 2022: The rise of the machines

    • David James
    • 12 January 2023

    There is a great deal of commentary about the growing importance of artificial intelligence, or AI, especially in business circles. To some extent this is a self-fulfilling prophecy — if people think something will have a seminal effect then it probably will. But if the supposed commercial benefits are significant, the dangers are potentially enormous.

    READ MORE
  • AUSTRALIA

    Best laid plans and parks

    • Andrew Hamilton
    • 12 December 2022

    Parks are gifts, not only of nature but of people who have recognised how important they are for good human living and have guarded them. Recent generations have been less generous in providing parks and in protecting them from encroachment. At a time when the survival of the earth as we know it depends on our treasuring the beauty and delicacy of the natural world, such neglect is disrespectful.

    READ MORE
  • AUSTRALIA

    Humanity on display

    • Michael McVeigh
    • 05 December 2022
    1 Comment

    I certainly don’t blame anyone for ignoring or boycotting the World Cup; there are plenty of reasons for doing so. But despite efforts of people behind the scenes to focus attention solely on the pitch, if you do pay attention, there are human stories on display, worth your time.  

    READ MORE
  • ARTS AND CULTURE

    An unlikely friendship: The letters of Wendy Beckett and Robert Ellsberg

    • Philip Harvey
    • 02 December 2022
    3 Comments

    Wendy Beckett and Orbis Books publisher Robert Ellsberg exchanged letters on a near daily basis during the last three years of Sister Wendy’s life. What began as a correspondence on saints evolved into a joyful and intimate exchange about the nature of love, suffering and the need for daily grace.

    READ MORE
  • ARTS AND CULTURE

    Trust over tech: Confronting tertiary cheating

    • Emma Wilkins
    • 01 December 2022

    University students across the country are using so-called ‘study’ sites to buy essays and answers for online assessments. Australia’s academic integrity regulator has since blocked scores of sites, but there are still work-arounds; experts say the problem is likely worse than we realise, and almost impossible to solve.

    READ MORE
  • ARTS AND CULTURE

    The subtle art of people-watching

    • Barry Gittins
    • 29 November 2022
    2 Comments

    Sometimes it pays to sit still in a central business district, the aorta of any city, and nod in recognition to life as it passes you by. Bypassed from the stream, you watch and learn as the passers-by flow around you. Mystery and revelation. Connection and dissing. Peace and discord. Meaning, transcendence and futile, random pain. It’s all there if you look close enough. Pause long enough to witness the mysteries.  

    READ MORE
  • ARTS AND CULTURE

    Breaking with bad programming

    • Michele Frankeni
    • 28 November 2022

    Does it matter that the Midsomer episode that has me so exercised didn’t mention attempted rape? After all, the guy was charged with murder — perhaps a more serious charge? And it is only a TV program for heaven’s sake. But even though occurring on a TV program, to not call out attempted rape is to trivialise it.

    READ MORE
  • AUSTRALIA

    A vote against contempt

    • Julian Butler
    • 21 November 2022

    If democracy relies on a shared commitment to reaching consensus, to making accommodations even as, and precisely because, I hold things dearly, sacredly, then contempt necessarily corrodes democracy. Others stop being moral agents whom I must value and seek to share public space with. How do we overcome this corrosive element in our common life? 

    READ MORE