On July 25, the impending death of Melbourne’s leading thinking newspaper was announced. The planned takeover of The Age by chequebook journalism, entertainment empire is such a clash of cultures that the death of independent journalism at The Age is certain. Why did this happen?Read More »
So we (Victorians) have just stopped using single-use plastic bags in supermarkets and we are feeling very good about ourselves. But this is just a drop in the ocean in our plastics use. Research shows that over 800 million – yes million – pieces of plastic enter Pt Phillip Bay from just its two main rivers each year. Research shows that plastics have infiltrated every ocean, every water supply and many food products. Films such as ‘Blue Planet’ and ‘The Plastic Ocean’ and TV series such as ‘The War on Waste’ show how badly our environment has been and is being damaged by our uncontrolled use of plastic. How can we address this environmental disaster?Read More »
I love wine. But I am influenced by expert ratings and gold stars on the bottle – I can’t taste every wine before I drink it! Over time, I’ve felt that the number of wines receiving high ratings and gold stars has increased significantly – when was the last time you say a wine rated below 90? A bit of numerical analysis supports this: either wines are highly over-rated…or Australia has the best wines in the world.Read More »
Respected thinker Clive Hamilton’s new book, ‘The Silent Invasion: China’s Influence in Australia’, is very scary essential reading. This book’s deep research opened my eyes to China, especially now that Xi is President for life. It’s essential reading because it exposes so much that has long term impacts. If we don’t recognise these factors soon, it may be too late.Read More »
Following the irony of environmental leader China (??) refusing to be the recipient of the world’s ‘recycling’ rubbish, Australian government responses seem to be: ‘OMG, we’ll have to stop recycling’. Another chance for Australia to be a world leader looks like going begging. Surely there’s a better response than putting our head in the sand, as plastic and other recyclable products pile up on ocean beaches, in fish and in us, all over the world.Read More »
I spent 20 days recently with a CEO friend on a group trip with other very smart common friends. After observing her management of the group and reflecting on my own pretty effective use of time, I concluded that effective CEOs, having more energy (a topic I’ve blogged on before), just get a lot more done in their day than the average person. Here’s how.Read More »
Another stage in the sexual equality revolution has finally arrived. I’m thrilled – and stunned – by the rapid spread from Weinstein to the outing of many other outrageous men to #MeToo and now to #meNOmore, as women across the world stand up in many industries against the organisational and reputational power which men have exerted over them. We’ve come a long way since Mad Men.Read More »
Got a call this week from a salesperson from a traditional electricity retailer. It confirmed to me what is rotten in the electricity industry, the lies being told about the causes of high prices and what we need to do about it.Read More »
To be cool, we are supposed to use Apple, Facebook, Uber, Airbnb , Amazon, eBay, Google, IKEA, bookings.com, wotif, expedia and many other online-centred organisations. But there’s just one small problem. These, and no doubt many other similar tech-based organisations don’t pay any tax in Australia. What should we do?Read More »
Recently, journalists at The Age went on strike for a week in protest at yet another large cut in staff numbers, claiming that independent journalism was at great risk if this cutting continued. Though I sympathise and value some of The Age journalists, particularly the commentators and analysts, I’m afraid they are like people promoting sailing ships when steamships arrived. The time of newspapers is over. Let me explain.Read More »
