In a previous article on this blog on the decline of religion in English-speaking countries, I mainly concentrated on its decline in Australia, but also related what was happening in other nations. At the time, the most recent data from the United States, indicated that 18.2% of the population had no religious affiliation. This was even more pronounced among the 18-29-year-old demographic, with about 33% of them having no religious affiliation1.
There were rumours of Gladys Berejiklian being asked to run for a federal seat for many months before her canoodling with Daryl Maguire became public knowledge, but it only really hit the headlines when Scott Morrison mentioned it as a possibility. This was some time after Berejiklian had not only resigned from the premiership of New South Wales, but from state politics1.
I am reading ‘Doughnut Economics: Seven Ways to Think Like a 21st-Century Economist’ by Kate Raworth1,2, and not knowing much about economics, it has been a revelation to me. Every time I read a section or two, it starts things going off in my head about a rant I should write. There are usually two reasons for this: firstly, to find out more about what caused this particular economic travesty to occur; and secondly to try to put the pieces together for my own edification.
On Sunday, November 28, Prime Minister Scott Morrison, announced he would introduce legislation to parliament this week, the last sitting week of the year, that would force social media companies to reveal the identities of anonymous trolling accounts to allow them to be sued for defamation1.
The Liberal Party has been taken over by religious nutters in Western Australia1, Victoria2 and Queensland3, and efforts are under way to do the same in South Australia4,5. There have been occasional outbreaks of loopiness in some branches of the NSW Liberal Party6, but despite this, the New South Wales branch has held out against the onslaught from the religious, as has the Tasmanian branch.
When you are a scientist, you know what doing your own research means. However, relatively few people are scientists, and among those who aren’t, many have not even the most basic understanding of what research is.
A few days ago, on Twitter, Someone was commiserating with Victorians for having 19 dead:
“Nineteen Covid dead in Victoria yesterday…..”
Then someone asked “How many of those had been inoculated with the Covid Vaccine?
They turned the power off for almost four hours at our place, and most of our street, for maintenance of the electricity distribution system, and it was wonderful to be able to just sit and think (it is also raining at present). Strangely, when everything was quiet (no television, radio or internet), I started thinking about life and how things have changed so dramatically over the last 30 years or so.