Latest Posts
The Grey Hair Factor
I was sitting in a meeting today, when we were talking about the need for an impressive barrister to help us with a tricky regulatory issue. Our solicitor talked about one potential candidate, “he’s got the right amount of grey hair”. It reminded me of when I was consulting. PuttingContinue Reading
Research on work and family
In writing my last post, I also found a couple of fascinating bits of research that have been made possible by HILDA – the Household Income Labour and Dynamics longitudinal survey which has been collecting data since 2001. Glass Ceiling or Sticky Floor? – this is a fascinating piece of researchContinue Reading
Work life research
There have been two major policy pieces about work and life in Australia recently. Each one recommending some change, but not especially effectively, judging by the results so far. It’s about Time – a project by the Human Rights and Equal Opportunity Commission (HREOC) examining the interactions between family responsibilitiesContinue Reading
Two tiers for health care
There was a fairly impassioned article in the SMH today about how the Australian health care system has very definitely become a two-tier health care system. “the wealthy and privately insured get timely health care and the rest, unless they are critically ill, can wait.” Except, as I blogged recently,Continue Reading
Climate change – it’s those NZ sheep!
I know it is April 2 now, but as a holder of a New Zealand passport, I still had to link to this fantastic explanation of how the sheep population of NZ is causing global warming. And a bonus link – climatologists secure funding to breed glaciers in captivity. It’s goodContinue Reading
Somewhat socialised medicine
Since Wednesday, Chatterboy has been in Royal North Shore Hospital being treated for pneumonia. On Friday, when he’d turned the corner, the doctors admitted to us that they had been quite worried about him on Thursday, when nothing seemed to be working, and he was lying there, listlessly, on oxygen,Continue Reading
The Thunderbolt Kid
Today’s book review is The Thunderbolt Kid, by Bill Bryson. Bill Bryson is one of my absolute favourite authors, mainly driven by two quite different books: Neither Here nor There (a story of backpacking around Europe) and Mother Tongue, which is his history of the English language. So I hadContinue Reading
Effort – more important than ability?
Phantom Scribbler and Laid Off Dad had thoughtful comments on this article from the New York Times on how you should praise your children – how it is much more effective to praise a child for putting effort in, than for being intrinsically smart. I recently found a fuller article on the sameContinue Reading
In praise of Grey ghosts and parking meters
I think I’m one of the few people in Sydney whose spirits rise at the site of a grey ghost (parking police). I live in an area which is mixed – about 50% of my street is businesses, mostly advertising agencies and design studios. The whole street is residents parkingContinue Reading
Blog against sexism day
Today is International Women’s Day, and as Tigtog has reminded me, it’s Blog against sexism day. Why aren’t there more women in senior management? In Australia, according to the EOWA (pdf), of Australia’s top 200 listed companies, 8.7% of directors are female, and 12% of senior exectuives (CEOs plus direct reports) areContinue Reading