Latest Entries

13 Nov 2009

Islam in America

Would you want to be a Muslim in the US military? One of the few complicated moments in Islam in America comes when the relentlessly upbeat Rageh Omar attempts to interview an Arab soldier in the US army. The whole scene is clumsily, defensively stag... Read More

Mark Jones

13 Nov 2009

Science and Islam

If you’ve spent even a fleeting moment in the Middle East, you’ll understand why they call it the Arab World: it really is a world of its own.Bustling markets are intertwined with centuries old backstreets and the awe-inspiring spires of mosques ... Read More

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Andy Martin

10 Nov 2009

Law and Disorder

Imagine the following headline: ‘GOVERNMENT TELLS THE TRUTH!’ It is as improbable as ‘PIG FLIES’ or ‘COW JUMPS OVER MOON’. On the basis of endless bitter experience, we have to proceed on the assumption that everything they say is a lie. ... Read More

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John Birmingham

2 Nov 2009

Shintaro

Try as hard as you might, it's just not possible to see the world through the eyes of a child when you are an adult. Unburdened by life's lessons, trusting in magic, ingenuous to a fault, children remain open to wonder and simple awe. We lose that so... Read More

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Bob Wurth

2 Nov 2009

Busting the Berlin Wall

While Berliners joyfully celebrate the 20th anniversary of the tearing down the hated Berlin wall, Israel is nearing completion of its own high wall around Palestinians on the West Bank. The demise of the Berlin wall began on November 9, 1989 when Co... Read More

Andy Martin

2 Nov 2009

Honeybee Blues

They work hard and they have a taste for the amber nectar. They dance when in the mood, they get 'demoralized', occasionally they 'collapse', they even (apologies to republicans) have a queen. I speak, of course, of bees. The odd sting apart, and not... Read More

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John Birmingham

2 Nov 2009

Hardcore Profits

I'd always assumed the Internet would destroy commercial pornography. Not pornography per se you understand, but the louche, now slightly old-fashioned empires like Playboy and Hustler. I was right and wrong. Hugh Hefner, the original Playdude, the d... Read More

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Rory Medcalf

27 Oct 2009

The Farewell Files

What caused the end of the Cold War and the fall of the Soviet Union? With the 20th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall approaching on November 9, it is a debate that might have been expected to produce clear answers by now. Instead, the list ... Read More

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Catharine Lumby

27 Oct 2009

Polygamous Wives

A few weeks back I wrote a column questioning why we put monogamy at the moral heart of heterosexual relationships. I’d been pondering the question after watching a decent and intelligent politician, John Della Bosca, being forced to resign because... Read More

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Rory Medcalf

15 Oct 2009

The Conspiracy Files: Lockerbie

It is little wonder conspiracy theories about the 1988 Lockerbie airliner bombing continue to flourish. For this was a singularly strange act of terrorism, and not only in its material aspects: the killing of 270 people as the mid-air explosion of Pa... Read More

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