3 days agoPride and PrejudiceSome thoughts on living in the Disney Channel — In Australia we learn to parade as children. At school we form lines, march and even sing patriot songs. Then there is the military — countless occasions to remember the fallen in so many odd foreign wars. The result being an amazing street choreography for Mardi Gras…. In 1994…4 min read
Jul 22eBay Sells Human Remains from ChinaeBay allows for the sale of human remains from China . This is despite a Customer Service policy which states that “Human body parts or items containing body parts are not allowed. We don’t allow the sale of human bodies, body parts, or products made from the human body on…Tibet5 min read
Jul 18Michael Dransfield- Australian PoetMichael Dransfield (12 September 1948–20 April 1973) was an Australian poet of the 1960s and early 1970s, who acquired a considerable reputation before his premature death. Dransfield was born in Sydney, and educated at Sydney Grammar School. He briefly studied English literature and language at the University of New South…6 min read
Jun 14Letter from Alan Ginsberg to his Father on Pedagogy 8 April 1956Dear Louis: Not written for long since I’ve been running around and busy. I’m working full time at Greyhound in the city, but haven’t made decent living arrangements, so I only get back to Berkeley a few times a week where all papers and letters are on desk in big…Beat Writers5 min read
Jun 11Social Mobility Tsar Cut Up- The Door of Before.(A cut up of Katharine Birbalsingh’s inaugural speech as Chair of the Social Mobility Commission, who said it’s time for a radical shift in how the UK views social mobility) We are life for a few — thinking about people who are born into a family in social housing in…Cut Up4 min read
May 21A True Convict Story from AustraliaMy great great great grandfather on my mother’s side was George Hall (1808–1881). He was transported to the colony of New South Wales for life when he was 19 years old for stealing a chronometer watch (a clock ensconced in a vacuum chamber), and a waistcoat from his employer. …Convict Australia13 min read
May 4Sweden’s Dreaming — life in a Scandinavian ethno-dystopiaHaving lived in Sweden for 22 years, both in the far north (Umeå) and in the capital Stockholm and speaking the language fluently, I have taken more than a passing interesting in the changes to this fascinating and complex land. In recent years the idea that Sweden as a society…8 min read
Mar 18A Minor History of Televised WarI was born during the height of the Vietnam War in 1969. Today I remember nothing directly of it, although when the tanks from the Democratic Republic of Vietnam crashed through the gates of the Embassy of the United States of America in Saigon on Apr 30, 1975, I was…Ukraine8 min read
Feb 16A Little on the Up Side(Himachal Pradesh) — Photos of the valley by Robert from England It was a 25-kilometre trek to get to Kheerganga and there was no road in those days. We set out in the morning from Manikaran following the course of the Parvati River. The river was wild, white water gushing…7 min read
Jul 2, 2021Drugs and Guns in SwedenDrugs and guns in Sweden — there is so much money linked to drug trafficking that those who earn see no problem in killing too. Two days ago a policeman was shot dead on an open street in Gothenburg, while he spoke to some local youth. It seems he was…Sweden6 min read