Latest Posts
Part timers
I had lunch with two (male) clients today. One (P) has worked four days a week for some time; the other (D) has just asked his manager whether he can also. Both pretty much for family reasons – they want to spend more time with their kids. In both cases,Continue Reading
Hidden gendercide
The Geneva Centre for the Democratic Control of the Armed Forces has published a new book called “Women in an Insecure World“. I haven’t read the book, just the summary, but it has a horrifying catalogue of all the different ways in which women can be damaged in today’s world.Continue Reading
Selective schools
Once again, the SMH has an article about the enormous success of Asian immigrants in NSW’s schools. This time, it’s a much better researched article, which goes to the trouble of looking at the actual background of students, rather than counting the ones with Asian names (I blogged about thisContinue Reading
Book Review: The Power of Babel – A Natural History of Language
Today’s book review is The Power of Babel – A Natural History of Language, by John McWhorter. I’ve never noticed it in a bookshop, but a friend bought it for me, and I’m very glad she did. My foreign language ability is pitiful (I did three years each of frenchContinue Reading
Gymnastics
The world gymnastics championships are on this week in Melbourne. I did gymnastics all through high school, and I have really mixed feelings about the sport. I was OK at it, not elite, but moderately serious (six hours of training a week), and for me it was a great sport.Continue Reading
Unconscious sexism
I had a meeting with a new client this afternoon. On the way up, I had been getting the briefing from my colleague about who the people were, X who the meeting is with, and Y and Z who might come, depending on what X decides (all male names). SoContinue Reading
Increasing storms
Are the storms that we’ve had this year a sign of global warming? Or is it just coincidence (after all, we’ve had a pretty horrible year for earthquakes and tsunamis too). I went looking for evidence, but couldn’t find it in a casual sweep; I’m finding that global warming isContinue Reading
Families and work
In search of an idea for a post, I went looking on the ABS website for statistics about women and work. I got sidetracked into this fascinating summary of lots of different research they’ve done into work, families and childcare. I was particularly struck by a graph that shows theContinue Reading
The joys of real mathematics
I’m on a course at the moment. Learning about economic capital and Basel II. Surprisingly, I am enjoying it more than I thought I would. It’s run by a former senior banker, with a physics background, who, while he is very senior, can’t let go of the fact that heContinue Reading
Access to medical care
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