Have A “Can Do” Approach
The term reality TV is a bit of a misnomer. It is generally a soap opera with unpaid actors. Big Brother and Survivor were the first of the genre and to the surprise of many are still on our screen some 20 years later. A further twist has been celebrity versions of...
It Is All Just Greek To Me
Even in these unusual times in which we live, the basics in health still matter. There was an interesting piece in The Weekend Australian, exploring the life expectancy of first generation migrants from Greece living longer than the national average. The article by...
Olympic Lessons
Like most people, my interest in sports like swimming, high jump, and canoeing, to name but three, increases for the two weeks of the Olympics. There is something that touches us about seeing people who excel at what they do. Regardless of whether it is winning gold...
Questions Not Beliefs
As Led Zeppelin said “you know sometimes words have two meanings” Words do mean different things to different people. The dictionary defines science as “…knowledge of the physical or material world gained through observation, experimentation and systematic study”. It...
Keep It Simple
Winter is coming in the southern hemisphere. In fact, it has arrived early in some parts with record cold, rain and even snow in May. It will come as a surprise to experts, bureaucrats, and politicians (but not regular readers here) that in winter there are an...
The Lost And Found
Let’s start by rewinding about a year. Lockdowns were imposed as temporary measures to “flatten the curve”. This was to enable health systems to cope with cases as they arose – not to end up with no cases. Australia had such remarkable success in its quest that the...
Good News – Take Two!
Last month I wrote about good news not getting much airplay. The other issue which gets lost in media hype and political hyperbole is perspective. In 2017 there were 56 million deaths around the world. That number may have been slightly different in 2020 but would be...
“It’s Good News Week”
The media knows that bad news sells. Rolling coverage of terrorist attacks, natural disasters and, of course, more recently Covid 19 makes people more likely to buy newspapers (yes, they still exist) or consume news electronically or online and maybe even pay for some...
Stop Being A Doormat
Do you let your partner, family, friends and work colleagues walk all over you? Are other people taking advantage of your kind giving nature? Is it time you stopped bending over backwards to please others? Tired of being a doormat? How Important Are You? Think...
Ongoing Interesting Times
The old Chinese saying about living in interesting times continues to be apt in 2021. At time of writing different countries and even states or regions within countries have different approaches to Covid 19. There are currently eight vaccines at variable stages of...
What Have We Learned?
As I write this last column for 2020, the words of the late John Lennon come to mind; “So this is Christmas And what have you done? Another year over A new one just begun” Last week marked the 40th anniversary of his tragic death by homicide. Where has that time gone...
Try Not To Doubt Yourself
As a step parent, doubting yourself and feeling sick either just before your stepchildren come over or just after they leave is not uncommon. Most people are driven from a place of goodness and ideals. But such dreams and situations are sometimes shattered by...