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Keywords: Unpredictable

  • ECONOMICS

    The economy is in worse shape than you think

    • David James
    • 07 March 2024
    4 Comments

    The aggregate picture of the economy may seem healthy enough after two years of heavy immigration, over 800,000, and the return of students and tourists. But the elephant in the room remains. Australia is a two-tiered society sharply divided between people who own homes and people who do not. The generational divide is worsening.

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  • AUSTRALIA

    Black swans and the art of expecting the unexpected

    • Max Jeganathan
    • 24 January 2024
    2 Comments

    Even the best forecasting gets it wrong, and every year has its own 'Black Swan' events, characterised by their unpredictability and impact. They remind us that the future is unpredictable, perpetually lurching between prediction and confusion.

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  • MEDIA

    Influencing the influencers of Australian media

    • Jeremy Clarke
    • 14 December 2023
    1 Comment

    Can a journalist responsibly undertake impartial reporting while receiving benefits? For an industry founded on the principle of publishing with neither fear nor favour, the acceptance of favours has possibly outweighed journalistic responsibility towards an Australian public seeking objective knowledge. 

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  • ARTS AND CULTURE

    The sins of our fathers

    • Andrew Hamilton
    • 08 December 2023
    1 Comment

    My Father’s Shadow is a beautifully constructed three-dimensional jigsaw puzzle in which perfectly formed and elegant stories from different times and places are juxtaposed and tested for fit, so forming a pattern of meaning that is never closed. 

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  • INTERNATIONAL

    Purges in the Kremlin

    • Binoy Kampmark
    • 29 August 2023
    1 Comment

    Yevgeny Prigozhin's rise in Putin's Russia reveals the Kremlin's treacherous balance of power. From hotdogs to leading the feared Wagner mercenary group, his ambition culminated in unpredictable consequences. The question is, will Putin be left stronger after this sanguinary purging?

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  • AUSTRALIA

    'They think we're rubbish': Life on welfare in Australia

    • John Falzon
    • 06 July 2023
    9 Comments

    Dr. Eve Vincent's book, 'Who Cares? Life on Welfare in Australia', provides an in-depth exploration of the intricate dance between power, control, and social policy, unearthing unsettling truths about our society's inherent power structures. This discourse further underscores the urgent need for a radical reimagining of our socio-economic systems.

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  • RELIGION

    Corpus Christi in a world where the bodies are hidden

    • Andrew Hamilton
    • 07 June 2023
    2 Comments

    In an era where physical gatherings are replaced by virtual meetings and religious processions by online sermons, the Feast of Corpus Christi raises poignant questions. Once a grand demonstration of faith, it has subtly withdrawn from the public eye, leaving us to grapple with the nature of Christ's presence and, more broadly, the concept of human presence.

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  • 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.

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  • RELIGION

    Best of 2022: Pope Francis in war and peace

    • Miles Pattenden
    • 05 January 2023

    Even as he sustains the papacy’s now traditional opposition to all forms of war and its emphasis on the extreme suffering war brings, especially to the innocent, Pope Francis has, in recent weeks, taken a different, more partisan approach which he and others must feel is justified.

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  • RELIGION

    The Plenary Council is dead, long live the Synod of Bishops

    • John Warhurst
    • 06 December 2022
    3 Comments

    The Synod of Bishops, to which all People of God in Australia have now had their attention redirected after the Plenary Council, is another gigantic exercise in consultation and discernment undertaken by the Church. The possibilities for progress are inspiring, but also hedged around by enormous pressures of time and capacity. In a sense it is the Plenary Council writ large. 

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  • MEDIA

    On attention

    • David Halliday
    • 28 June 2022
    1 Comment

    Every day is a battle waged for our attention. Last week, I watched an episode of a new ABC series Our Brain on the nature of consciousness and the effect our tech lifestyle is having on our intelligence. Although painful at times, the revelations from Our Brain ring true. The most incisive perhaps is the degree to which social media has been successful in capturing our attention.

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  • INTERNATIONAL

    The pity of war

    • Gillian Bouras
    • 26 May 2022
    14 Comments

    In the photo I have just seen Vadim Shishimarin is in the dock, hanging his head. He is 21, but looks about 15 as he stands there in the polycarbonate box, the first Russian soldier to be charged and tried in Ukraine for a war crime. He holds the rank of sergeant and was a tank commander. At 21? (I’m embarrassed to recall how immature I was at 21.) It is likely he has a mother: I wonder how she is feeling right now, but think I can make a good guess.

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