Abortion is not a plaything and it’s not a wedge
When the first female prime minister of the country makes abortion an explicit topic for debate, surely we can take a moment to acknowledge what a big deal that is.
The best place in the world to be a mother
It’s not Australia, although we came 10th. Finland, of course! And, we are told, the scores of the top ten are closely clustered, so we are right up there. Every year the Save the Children put out a State of [...]
Feminism and the terrifying dependency of children
For Australian women of my generation, many issues of structural gender inequality can seem far removed from their daily experiences and, thus, difficult to relate to. Many civil rights, which were only recently (and only partially) achieved, are easily taken [...]
Sexualising Keynes: Not just about Niall Ferguson
British historian Niall Ferguson recently made some very stupid claims about Maynard Keynes: that Keynes’ sexuality and childlessness led him to ignore the long-run consequences of deficit spending. Ferguson, who started off as a historian of finance but who has [...]
Guest post by Dr Sacha Blumen: Helen Razer and inner city left politics
Sacha Blumen writes: Helen Razer launched a storm with her piece in Crikey last Friday slamming the Australian ‘Left’. To Helen, it has had a misdirected focus on symbols of cultural identity rather than the substantive issues of material conditions [...]
Guest post by Tad Tietze: What is neoliberalism, anyway?
A follow up to Mark Bahnisch’s post on neo-liberalism, originally published at Left Flank. Tad Tietze writes: A few weeks ago the right-wing Australian think-tank the Institute of Public Affairs (IPA) held a gala dinner to celebrate its 70th birthday. The [...]
Queensland’s revenge? Palmer and Katter’s anti-systemic double act
Populist politics often feed off perceptions of geo-spatial neglect, intertwined with class grievances (from classes that are not conscious of being such). Hence the Hanson phenomenon, largely confined to outer metropolitan and regional (not really rural) districts of Queensland, itself [...]
Towards a sociological concept of neo-liberalism I
Who’s afraid of neo-liberalism? Writing last year, Terry Flew inveighs against neo-liberalism as a shibboleth in academic discourse, signalling a distaste for markets but vague in meaning. Flew appears particularly exercised about its use in cultural studies, arguing that it [...]
How xenophobic discourse works: “Saving Aussie Jobs”
Political discourse works on a number of levels and addresses a number of audiences. There’s always some sort of policy wonk justification for things governments do. Ministers, shadows, MPs and Senators should be able to recite facts and figures. Then [...]
Envisioning realistic Utopias, realised utopias, Erik Olin Wright and Crooked Timber
There’s been a fascinating series on Crooked Timber on Erik Olin Wright’s book Envisioning Realistic Utopias. Unfortunately, there doesn’t seem yet to be a sidebar link which captures the posts, and Wright is new to blogging and hasn’t linked back [...]
Is Labor too big to fail? II
In comments on my last post, which cited Jonathan Green’s article about the potential disappearance of the Labor Party, Terry Flew pointed us in the direction of Dr Lindy Edwards’ analysis of contenting ALP ideological currents. Edwards’ piece is no [...]
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