Australian stuff This man is the best of Australia’s political landscape 10 Oct 201110 Oct 2011 I used to hate him, but I have come to the realisation that Malcolm Fraser is the very best Prime Minister, politician and senior statesman Australia has produced in my lifetime. He criticises his own party for its demagoguery and race the the lowest common denominator, and defends the rights… Continue Reading
Australian stuff Discrimination against women politicians in Australia 21 Sep 201121 Sep 2011 The Australian Broadcasting Corporation, the rough equivalent of the BBC or NPR, has a “comedy” show entitled “At Home with Julia”, a parody of the Australian Prime Minister’s home life as an unmarried couple with partner Tim Mathieson. Now, every public figure who is playing a role in public life is… Continue Reading
Censorship Goodbye freedom 10 Sep 201113 Sep 2011 Ten years ago tomorrow tonight I was watching an episode of West Wing, and, as I do, channel surfing during the ads. One channel showed a fire in the World Trade Centre, which less than a month earlier I had stood at the base of looking up like the Australian… Continue Reading
Philosophy Christian capitalism and socialism 13 Aug 201113 Aug 2011 Greg Paul, whose work on dinosaurs I find most interesting, has a blog entry on the Washington Post site on another kind of dinosaur – Christian socialists. He notes that the current American Christian obsession with capitalism is quite contrary to the early church and possibly Jesus’ own social philosophy, but more… Continue Reading
Administrative American Chemical Society: Spammers 13 Jul 201115 Jul 2011 The ACS have informed me (see comments) that they will stop sending me these emails. This obviates the need for this post. Ever since I set up this blog I have been hit by unwanted press releases from the American Chemical Society. I spend too much time throwing their releases… Continue Reading
Politics Religions, cults and wacos 11 Jul 201122 Jun 2018 Yes, I’m aware that it’s spelled “wacko” but when people start talking about cults, they often have in mind the insanity that led to the Waco compound disaster. The “Church” of Scientology has used a SLAPP suit to try to stop a “cult-rescue” group from characterising it as a cult…. Continue Reading
Philosophy On the moral purity of skeptics and fallacies 8 Jul 201122 Jun 2018 The recent furore, called #elevatorgate on Twitter, about what Richard Dawkins said in response to complaints of sexism amongst atheists, has hit Gawker, who finish with the line: “That’s skeptics. Rational about everything except themselves, self-preservation, and manners.” Now without discussing personalities (for as a Tone Moderator I eschew mere… Continue Reading
Academe My article in Times Higher Education Magazine 16 Jun 2011 Is here (scroll down), based on a prior post on this blog. In it I make the somewhat radical suggestion that medial and legal degrees should be removed from universities also. One of the commentators there took issue: I worry about Wilkins’ views about medicine and law. As he rightly… Continue Reading
Academe Is reality liberal biased? Are liberals reality biased? 15 Jun 201118 Sep 2017 Josh Rosenau has a piece up on Chris Mooney’s latest article on the Republican war on science in the US. Conservative bodies around the western world seem to resist science when it conflicts with policy (usually driven by PR from large corporations), so the point is more than simply American… Continue Reading