Separating fact from fiction about euthanasia in Belgium
Apr 22, 2016 07:28 am UTC| Life
As a Belgian social scientist working on the topic of end-of-life care and decision making for the last ten years, a lot of my research has concerned the practice of euthanasia, which my country legalised in 2002 for...
The real cost of Telstra's backflip on marriage equality
Apr 21, 2016 06:33 am UTC| Insights & Views Life
Many major companies supporting marriage equality recently have been under pressure as the Catholic Church requested them to retreat from this campaign. Last week, Telstra appeared to fold to this pressure by retreating...
It is a great deal easier to eviscerate an arts sector than it is to build one up
Apr 21, 2016 06:15 am UTC| Insights & Views Life
In Adelaide on Tuesday, a hundred-plus arts practitioners of different backgrounds rallied on the steps of Parliament House to protest one thing they all have in common: poor future prospects. In the lead up to the...

Bread like chaff and putrid rations: how WW1 troops obsessed over food
Apr 21, 2016 05:56 am UTC| Life
Sing me to sleep, the bullets fall Let me forget the war all Damp is my dugout, cold is my feet Nothing but biscuits bully to eat. Popular soldiers song, circa 1918, recorded in the diary of Archie A....

Can a burgeoning satanic movement actually effect political change?
Apr 20, 2016 06:17 am UTC| Life
Robert Eggers period horror film The Witch has been one of the surprise hits of 2016. Its even gained a second wind since its February 23 release: the first weekend of April it played on 666 screens around the country,...

Catholicism's multi-billion dollar brand is struggling despite Pope Francis
Apr 18, 2016 13:20 pm UTC| Insights & Views Life
When the chief executive of Goldman Sachs, Lloyd Blankfein, told a newspaper the firm was doing Gods work, his appeal on behalf of higher powers was an attempt to rescue the tainted reputation not only of his own...

A decent woman? The breastfeeding and visibility debate is nothing new
Apr 18, 2016 06:33 am UTC| Insights & Views Life
Its a predictable tale of controversy in modern public space: a woman or group of women are welcomed to or excluded from a place because they are breastfeeding. The event makes the midday news and ushers in debate about...