On practising "soft skills" for a hard future Opposition education spokesperson, Julian Leeser, has apparently decided that the most important issue to weigh into on tertiary education right now is abolishing group assignments.* Funnily enough, I actually went to uni with Julian, at UNSW law school way back
Wonderings on the echoing implications of our relationship with death When I die, compost me. Put me under a tree - a snow gum, if possible - and let it feed. Let the mushrooms and their mycelia unmake me into morsels, into molecules becoming free to become something otherwise. Consider
💚 Zohran and Zack 💚 Is there a symbolism we can find in the fact that these two excitingly energetic, righteously angry, charmingly smiling outsiders shaking up global left politics both have names starting with Z?* Does it mean we've reached the end of the line? That, after this, we
On sitting in discomfort or seeking simple solutions It's hot. It's hard to think when the heat is so intense. And we need to think. We need to think through some painfully hot challenges. Challenges to which there are no simple solutions, no shortcuts. And the
On the gothic absurdity of the geopolitical circus and the sovereignty salsa Far be it from me, who at primary school was forever "Tim Hollow Head", to make jokes about people's names... But Nick Cave is touring, and this blogletter is named for a Cure song.
I didn't want to write this. I don't want to write this. I feel like I need to write something. I am writing this. I am not good at writing about my Jewish experience. I am still writing this, eight days after I started. -- All
The Albanese government's teen social media ban, which came into effect this morning, is perhaps the Platonic ideal of contemporary politics. It should make us all very angry. And then it should inspire us to get together and cultivate a better politics. With the kids this politics treats
The unintentional three week hiatus in publishing here at In Between Days, and the consequent further delay in finishing the promised piece on the necessity and limits of left populism, are (largely) due to my participation in another remarkable, energising but exhausting Rising Tide blockade of the world's
On the need to "Defund the COPs" The ACAB slogan has always jarred with me somewhat. I understand (and respect) it as a systemic critique, intended to reveal that it's impossible for any individual, no matter how genuinely committed to justice they are, to truly contribute
"The point, in short, is that we need to talk less about politics (in the sense of arguing with people) and instead build a world where those people are likely to encounter more and thus change their minds. This kind of work of organising and building social networks and
I was told once that it's rather gauche to make bilingual puns about ducks. But I think that's a terrible canard. And, anyway, Zohran Mamdani has just shown that it's no longer gauche to be left! Yes, this post is mostly an excuse for
On words without meaning, meaning without worlds The sheer inanity, the ecocidal banality of our current political discourse was encapsulated perfectly this morning on the floor of the House of Representatives, as reported thus in The Guardian's live blog: Labor MPÂ Dan Repacholi ... rejects claims that net zero