History has too stately a progress to be the guide to tactics. But those who make history that does not fit logically into a pattern of principle, consistency and good judgment are doomed to stumble in the short term and earn the contempt of its core followers. The size of the gambling industry, and its Continue reading »
politics
Readers note that it is a month since the International Court of Justice (ICJ) handed down its advisory opinion on the Palestinian occupation (on 19 July). No doubt some are wondering what is happening. I am one of you. We are aware of course that the Australian Government has done next to nothing: refer The Continue reading »
A Trump administration, and even a Harris one, will pose new challenges for Australia: sycophancy or independence? Non-alignment or more complicity in US wars? Continue reading »
Pearls and Irritations is one of the few media with an independent voice left in Australia that is willing to focus on issues of substance. May their voice grow stronger! Donor, August 2024 Consistently, Pearls and Irritations publishes informed analysis and commentary on issues that matter to Australians, with a focus on politics, public policy, Continue reading »
I keep seeing liberal commentators like George Takei trying to frame Kamala Harris as the best candidate to bring peace to the middle east, despite her coming directly out of the administration which has been lighting the region on fire with its insane warmongering. So let’s be clear here: Peace is not on the ballot Continue reading »
The aboriginal, the outcaste, and minorities reveal a darker side to what we fondly call civilisation. Janus, the Roman god, remembered every year in our month of January, was a two-faced deity, and his two faces gazed in opposite directions. I can’t help thinking that most of our public events are similarly “Janus-faced,” one aspect Continue reading »
Marriage as an institution has long been attacked as the bulwark of patriarchy, a formality, binding women into compulsory sexual obligations, economic dependence and unequal life chances and the seat of most domestic violence. It has been all that and more, but ‘family’ has been forgotten by many as the outcome of positive romantic attachment Continue reading »
Big data has contributed to a cultural shift towards evidence-based decision-making in academia, industry, and government, which prioritises empirical evidence over theory-based inquiry. It has also been associated with the boom in the publication of shorter journal articles and the decline in the publication of scholarly books, fuelled by the publish-or-perish academic rankings hamster wheel, Continue reading »
Like a tsunami, America’s influence has been spreading to most regions of the globe. While some countries are willing to allow this and even welcome their own culture being subsumed, others are not so inclined. Australia stands out as the one English-speaking country – among the Five Eyes countries – where the Americans have almost Continue reading »