Latest Posts
Moral majority?
I’ve written before about how annoying I find the rules about religious education in NSW public schools. In 1880, the NSW government established the Public Instruction Act, which introduced compulsory free education in NSW. In a compromise with the (non catholic) religious schools, the government also took over most ofContinue Reading
Darling Harbour grown up
Today the Penguin family went (as we often do) to Darling Harbour. Over easter, there is a circus festival. Which meant that we saw three different live shows out of the ten on offer – The Pitts, Leo Bonne, and Ace P. Freckle. They were all good. The Pitts (myContinue Reading
Happy Easter
To pass the time on my regular jogging route, I count the weddings and critique the bridesmaid’s dresses. I’m lucky that I can run through a very scenic part of Sydney, and on the weekend, I’m guaranteed at least one wedding to gawk at. This afternoon was a bit different. OnlyContinue Reading
Moral Hazard – was the Fed right to intervene?
Many column inches have been spent in the past couple of days analysing the Fed’s decision to prop up Bear Stearns while it found a buyer – in the end JP Morgan agreed to buy it for around 10% of the trading price a week before. What the Fed didContinue Reading
Single sex schools
Around here, one of the common topics of conversation among the parent community is, “where are you going to send your kids to high school?” We genuinely have no idea. Our options are made much more complex by the fact that all of the six high schools within walking distance of ourContinue Reading
Demographic pressures
When you have a new baby, suddenly you notice them everywhere. Certainly, that’s how I felt with Chatterboy. I assumed that in my formerly childless state, they’d always been there, but I hadn’t noticed them before. But I’ve just been looking at the census statistics for my local area, andContinue Reading
Volunteering
The Eye family (99% Mr Eye) does a fair bit of volunteering around the place. But we also live in a quite affluent area, where there is a strong sense of entitlement, and willingess to pay for things. It’s interesting to watch the intersection of those two things. Freakonomics hasContinue Reading
Risk appetite
How risk tolerant are we as a society these days? I went to an interesting panel discussion today. We live in a less risky society than we have in pretty much any time in history. The risk of dying prematurely, of being severely injured, of having some catastrophic event makeContinue Reading
Part time workers
When the latest employment statistics were released last week, with the lowest level of unemployment since 1974, there was a bit of commentary about the increase in part tme workers: “Most of January’s labour market growth was in part-time jobs which grew by 34,600 to 3.043 million while full-time employment slumpedContinue Reading
Sorry
Many have written eloquently about the meaning of today. Until today, I had been too busy enjoying watching the liberal party squirm to think about it. But watching Martin Place today crowded with people huddled under umbrellas watching and listening respectfully to Kevin Rudd’s speech of apology to the Aboriginal people was veryContinue Reading