A recent article in the SMH about health care in Australia surprised me. It was a review of reasonably sick people, and how likely they were to skip treatment because of the cost in different countries. The study was based on interviews with 7000 adults, from six industrialised countries, whoContinue Reading
This week’s book review is Affluenza: When Too Much is Never Enough, by Clive Hamilton and Richard Denniss. Clive Hamilton is the Executive Director of the Australia Institute, a left leaning independent public policy research centre. Richard Denniss was formerly Chief of Staff of Natasha Stott-Despoja, when she was leaderContinue Reading
Last week’s New Yorker has another great article from Atul Gawande, this time about Medical Malpractice (print only, Q&A with author here). It’s a musing on what the right remedy for medical malpractice is. The example that encapsulated the article best for me was towards the end of the article,Continue Reading
Margo Kingston’s webdiary (which I don’t read, but probably should, now I’ve become a blogger) has a really thoughtful submission from Platinum Funds Management on the proposed new anti-terror laws in Australia. As I’ve said before, I feel I should be worried about these new anti-terror laws, but they’re soContinue Reading
I went to the soccer last night. It was fantastic. I am so glad I was there. I made a vow after the Sydney Olympics that I would go to world class sport if it was ever in Sydney. Almost immediately, I got pregnant, and changed focus. But it’s remindedContinue Reading
Jody at Raising WEG has a great post about the relationship between children and society as a whole (sparked by a storm in a coffee cup in Chicago). It prompted me to try to find some research I’d read a while back about cultural differences in society’s attitude to children.Continue Reading
This week’s book review is The Wisdom of Crowds: Why the Many Are Smarter Than the Few and How Collective Wisdom Shapes Business, Economies, Societies and Nations by James Surowiecki. I remember a friend getting very annoyed with one of those “management training” exercises designed to prove that eight headsContinue Reading
There’s an opinion piece in the SMH today from Michael Duffy that really has my blood boiling. The thrust of his piece is that the combination of the last 20 years of emphasis in our immigration intake of Asians, and the much greater educational ability and aspirations of those AsiansContinue Reading
I’m the main breadwinner in our family. My husband, E, takes care of our boys, and is also on our local council (which is a part-time, mainly evening, role). I’ve been wondering what impact that has on our boys’ understanding of the role of gender in our society. Neither ofContinue Reading
Rebel Dad loves to collect statistics on stay at home dads (in the US of course). Elizabeth at Half Changed World joined in with some income analysis. I found an interesting Australian survey, mostly about childcare. A table at the back shows the hours of work of mothers and fathers,Continue Reading