Published as 'Vice squad', Geelong Advertiser, Monday 6 October 2008, p. 15. Much is being made in the United States election campaigns of the relative levels of experience and inexperience of the candidates for president and vice-president. Yet if history is anything...
2008
Dealing with Telstra
Published as 'Quality first', Geelong Advertiser, Monday 29 September 2008, p. 17. I hold no shares in Telstra, but I have been a customer of the telco and its predecessor the publicly owned company since we arrived in Australia in 1977. Back in July this year we...
The United States financial crisis and Australia
Published as 'China Syndrome', Geelong Advertiser, Saturday 20 September 2008, p. 33. I wonder about the implications of the financial and economic crisis in the United States and the impact it will have on the Australian economy and in particular on our larger...
Climate change policy in an era of uncertainty
Published as 'Pollution is nothing new', Geelong Advertiser, Wednesday 6 August 2008, p. 00. The debate on climate change policy is becomingly increasingly strident and certainly baffling to many Australians who seem to be well disposed to the idea that we ought to do...
History and mythology in education
Published as ' Footy facts', Geelong Advertiser, Thurday 31 July 2008, p. 21. The Newspapers in Education column of the Geelong Advertiser is one of many excellent services this paper provides for teachers and their students. Presenting issues in the news and setting...
Learning from the tour
Geelong Advertiser, Monday 28 July 2008, p. 21. Like many people I have had a flickering interest in the Tour de France for many years, especially when someone one knew about was taking part. Long ago in the UK it was guys like Tommy Simpson and the continental...
Economics of climate change, part one
Published as 'Reality check', Geelong Advertiser, Friday 11 July 2008, p. 21. The 500-page Garnaut report on what Australia should do about climate change is not your average bedtime reading, but we will all have to come to terms with its arguments, sooner rather than...
Who says sport and politics don’t mix?
Geelong Advertiser, Saturday 21 June 2008, p. 43. Who says sport and politics don’t mix? At the personal level they definitely do. In Geelong we have had a number of political representatives who owed a great deal to their previous sporting careers. Sir Hubert...
Australian myopia and the origins of football
Published as 'Evidence the key to our game's origins', The Age, Saturday 31 May 2008, Insight, p. 9. Perhaps we might make a little more sense out of the arguments which have been going on about Aboriginal influences on the origins of football in this country if we...
Footy celebrations and origin myths
Published as 'PC Footbrawl', Geelong Advertiser, Saturday 17 May 2008, p. 37. Here in Australia we have one of best games of football on the planet. That’s not just my judgment. Way back in 1883, Richard Twopenny, who had played rugby union, soccer and footy...
The real cost of Australian sport
Published as 'Untold story of sports rorts', Geelong Advertiser, Wednesday, 14 May 2008, p. 23. Have you ever wondered how much our national obsession with sport costs us? As a died in the wool sports nut, I sometimes wonder myself. There are issues which worry me and...
Baffled by strange errors
Geelong Advertiser, Thursday, 20 March 2008, p. 19. I was in my favourite local computer store the other day picking up some new software and discussing the glitches and behaviours which my machines display from time to time. ‘Intermittent strange errors’ is how my...
Tough Treaty
Geelong Advertiser, Tuesday 4 March 2008, p. 13. As Australians embark on coming to terms with some of the episodes in their past, including what happens after an apology to the stolen generation, it is interesting to compare what has happened here with Aotearoa New...
Chickens coming home to roost
Geelong Advertiser, Thursday 24 January 2008, p. 19. As the United States home loan debacle continues to bring low major American financial houses and the Australian stock market sheds all its gains over the last two years people are understandably worried about what...
Preying on the poor
Published as 'Death, taxes and insurers', Geelong Advertiser, Saturday 12 January 2008, p. 33. Winding up my mother-in-law’s small estate after her death has been a salutary experience for my wife, her only surviving daughter and executor, and for me. My mother-in-law...
Some traditions shortlived
Geelong Advertiser, Saturday 5 January 2008, p. 31. The turn of the year is a time to take stock. But why? What is it about certain dates or events which cause us to set them apart to be celebrated, commemorated or marked with some ceremony or recapitulation? Our...