“All men should strive to learn before they die, what they are running from, and to, and why.” – James Thurber
The Latest
A Bit About Words: Misdemeanours
High Crimes and Misdemeanors It is impossible (well, difficult) to be alive today and not be aware of Donald Trump. And if you are aware of him, it is difficult to overlook the fact that his conduct as President of the USA is (to say the least) unorthodox. So... read moreA Bit About Words: How Words Change
The process of change in language includes the drift of meaning, the invention of new words, and the obsolescence of existing words. It is interesting to survey a list of words once disparaged by the arbiters of language as “not proper English words”. In... read moreStill More about Words: Glamour
There is no more glamorous city in Australia than Sydney. Ask anyone who lives there. It is the prestige place to live and work and have corporate headquarters. This annoys Perth, where the gravitational pull of ferrous metal is ever growing. Sydney is Tinsel-town... read moreAn Alternative to Being Cruel to Refugees
At the time of the Tampa episode in 2001, Australia introduced a system of sending boat people to other countries for processing. “Offshore processing” does not quite capture what this involves. In fact, boat people who arrive in Australia and seek asylum are... read moreA Bit More about Words: Soothsayer
“SOOTHSAYER. Beware the ides of March. CAESAR. What man is that? BRUTUS. A soothsayer you beware the ides of March. CAESAR. Set him before me let me see his face.” (Shakespeare Julius Caeser, Act I, sc. I) Brutus subsequently dismissed the man as “a dreamer”, but he... read moreA Bit about Words: Bloviating
Warren Harding (1865-1923) was a magnificent specimen of manhood, but is generally accounted one of the worst ever presidents of the United States of America (Donald Trump is pretty easily worse, but we know a lot more about him). Harding’s impressive style, it... read moreThe Stolen Generations
Bruce Trevorrow Bruce Trevorrow was the illegitimate son of Joe Trevorrow and Thora Lampard. He was born in November 1956. They lived at One Mile Camp, Meningie, on the Coorong. They had two other sons, Tom and George Trevorrow. They lived at One Mile Camp because,... read moreAn update: this federal election, I’m standing for Parliament
In the past, I’ve said I wasn’t interested in politics. But it’s clear to me that things need to change, and that has motivated me to run for parliament, because of the situation our community, our country and our planet are facing. In late 2018 the IPCC issued... read moreA Bit About Words: Split Infinitives
The “rule” against splitting infinitives is one of most-remembered but least understood of all the rules in our language. Striving against the “rule” is made all the more difficult because it is taken so seriously by those who know the rule – because they... read moreA Bit About Words: Scrabble
Summer holidays open the way to all sorts of pastimes. Scrabble is a favourite family game, and it now infests the internet in the form of a game called Words with Friends. It is a seductive little app for the iPad which looks like Scrabble, but has its bonus... read moreAnalogies
The Washington Post held a contest in which high school teachers sent in the “worst” analogies they’d encountered in grading their students’ papers. Analogies, similes, metaphors…they just keep getting worse. Her eyes were like two brown circles with big black... read moreA Bit About Words: Punctuation
Punctuation holds only limited interest for most people, but it makes reading easier and it makes it easier to convey precisely the sense intended. It has been defined as “The practice, action, or system of inserting points or other small marks into texts, in... read moreA Bit About Words: Dead
It is hard to imagine that we do not all fully understand the word dead. It may come as a surprise then to discover that the OED2 entry for dead occupies 14 columns in volume IV and comprises about 12,000 words. Of course, that quantity is largely made up of... read moreA Bit About Words: Curry
[Every few months I write an article about language for the Victorian Bar News. The piece is called A Bit About Words. Many of the earlier articles have been published in WordWatching, (Scribe, 2004; revised and enlarged edition: Scribe 2013). On this blog I will... read more5 November and the Gunpowder Plot
5 November 1605: The Gunpowder Plot Those of us old enough to remember “Cracker Night” will associate it with the name of Guy Fawkes. Some might remember that Guy Fawkes’ name is synonymous with the Gunpowder Plot. Very few indeed will recognise that the... read moreHuman Rights & Social Justice
- The National Pro Bono Resource Centre is an independent organisation that supports and promotes pro bono legal services in Australia.
- JusticeConnect: working to provide effective means for people and organisations in need to access justice
The Arts
Jewellery
- Kate Durham’s jewellery: a small sample
- Kate Durham exhibition of jewellery at fortyfive downstairs: Show ran from 17 Sept to 11 Oct
- A VIDEO showing some of Kate’s work and a few photos: here and here
Art, music and theatre
- what’s on at fortyfive downstairs (45 Flinders Lane Melbourne)
- Wolfgang Sievers photographs for sale
- Fine chamber music: Musica Viva Australia
- Look at this remarkable example of art in cut paper: truly amazing
Asylum Seekers
- Australian Human Rights Commission: Facts about asylum seekers and refugees
- Andrew and Renata Kaldor Centre at UNSW: debunking myths about refugees
- New website: Compassion Without Borders
- And find various refugee support groups across Australia here
- Doctors for Refugees
Videos
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