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Author: Michael Mcgirr

  • ARTS AND CULTURE

    Ted Lasso's workplace

    • Michael McGirr
    • 20 September 2021
    11 Comments

    It’s not hard to understand why so many people are watching Ted Lasso (Apple TV), nor why it was nominated for twenty Emmy Awards and won seven. Believe it or not, it is twenty years since The Office first premiered on the BBC. Not since then has a comedy series cut so close to the bone of our cultural needs and anxieties.

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  • ARTS AND CULTURE

    LinkedInglese

    • Michael McGirr
    • 02 September 2021
    15 Comments

    There is a curious world called LinkedIn, a social media site for people trying to nurture their careers. The problem with it is that the participants are expected to take themselves more seriously than they might in what we used to call real life. LinkedIn has a culture of self-importance that cracks me up every time. There is nothing quite as funny as utter humourlessness. 

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  • RELIGION

    Atheists and God cancellers

    • Michael McGirr
    • 10 August 2021
    28 Comments

    I must have time on my hands. I have been thinking about the difference between atheists and God cancellers. I love my atheist friends, of whom I am blessed with many. I relish the existential grist of our talks, the deep sense of substance and mutual respect. I also love the constant jokes. We keep each other honest. I enjoy a rich engagement with the history of thought and I believe we ennoble each other through the kind of trust that is prepared to talk about things that are off limits to others.

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  • RELIGION

    Christianity tells stories; Islam finds designs

    • Michael McGirr
    • 31 October 2018
    21 Comments

    My year ten class studies Islam, one of the most formative influences in the world that my students will inhabit and hopefully improve. I have a profound respect for Islam. Westerners often fail to acknowledge the debt they owe to Islam, a tradition that had a huge role in bringing Europe through the Dark Ages and into the Renaissance.

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  • ARTS AND CULTURE

    The Viennese moment

    • Michael McGirr
    • 04 July 2006

    Michael McGirr looks into Peter Singer’s Pushing Time Away.

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  • AUSTRALIA

    Just the ticket

    • Michael McGirr
    • 31 May 2006

    So Mr Latham thinks he has a problem. If elected Prime Minister this year, he is worried that he will have two houses, one in Sydney and the other in Canberra.

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  • AUSTRALIA

    Letter from a Chinese restaurant

    • Michael McGirr
    • 22 May 2006

    Michael McGirr farewells Alistair Cooke.

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  • ARTS AND CULTURE

    Loves Labor lost

    • Michael McGirr
    • 14 May 2006

    Ross McMullins’ So Monstrous a Tragedy: Chris Watson and the world’s first national labour government is reviewed by Michael McGirr.

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  • ARTS AND CULTURE

    Dan and Mel get religion

    • Michael McGirr
    • 11 May 2006

    While Dan Brown and Mel Gibson can draw a crowd, Michael McGirr finds their stories still miss the mark.

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  • ARTS AND CULTURE

    Before it goes to the tip

    • Michael McGirr
    • 21 April 2006

    The National Museum of Australia in Canberra is both garage and op shop for the nation.  

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