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Category Archives: Feminism

Election Injection

Julia Gillard is a childless 48-year-old unmarried atheist redhead who lives in sin with her hairdresser. She is also the first woman to become prime minister of Australia. Just in case you thought that might mean a new era had dawned, be assured that it is probably just about over. Not that Gillard had radical [...]

Sexual harassment and the law

Personal recollections A long time ago, in the process of applying for Articles, I was sexually harassed by a male partner at a law firm. I think I was, anyway. I hadn’t received a place in the first round of offers, and I’d come to seek feedback on my interview technique. “What would you do [...]

A Shout-Out

We’re not in the habit of handling shout-outs on behalf of third parties, but we happen to think that this one is worthwhile and serious, and it wouldn’t be here if we hadn’t engaged in considerable vetting before hand (one reason why skepticlawyer in particular hasn’t been around much lately, quite apart from my encounter [...]

Drawing a long bow – Gillard and cohabitation

Bettina Arndt wrote a piece in the SMH the other day which Paul Norton at LP has described as a “Bondi cigar“, and I must say I’m inclined to agree with Paul’s assessment. Jason Soon alerted me to the piece in the first place, and I must say I’ve stolen his heading for my post [...]

The Lady in the Lodge

Julia Gillard has been sworn in as Australia’s first female prime minister after a surprise leadership vote in the ruling Labor Party ousted Kevin Rudd. Mr Rudd chose not to take part in the ballot knowing he would suffer an embarrassing defeat to his deputy. Ms Gillard said she believed “a good government was losing [...]

The Noble Experiment

Until I came to do the research for my MPhil, I didn’t realise that Prohibition — that great failed exercise in mass planning — was also known back in the day as ‘the noble experiment’. I learnt of the alternative moniker through Daniel Okrent’s superb history — Last Call: The Rise and Fall of Prohibition. [...]

Going Burq-o

[Now cross-posted at Online Opinion - 21/5/10] There’s been a lively discussion at Larvatus Prodeo about the possibility that the French will ban the burqa. Of course, this follows on the heels of Liberal Senator Cory Bernardi’s suggestion that the burqa should be banned in Australia. Bernardi suggested that the burqa was not only a [...]

The magic of the word

When I was studying medieval Celtic history, I read somewhere that the early Irish believed that writing something down was a kind of magic, and various stories feature inscriptions in ogham, which assist the writers to find people, mark things as owned by a particular person, and to send magical messages. The early Irish were [...]

The Liberty Pool

Well, if it isn’t an atheist bunfight, it’s a libertarian bunfight.  Last week — in an excellent piece for Reason Magazine — David Boaz argued that libertarians ought to stop looking backwards for some ‘golden age of lost liberty’, because no such age has ever existed. More to the point, no such age ever will [...]

Such a jaunty little tune

Amanda Palmer sings and performs in the same tradition as the artists in Cabaret, with jaunty and up little tunes about death, destruction, weird sex and squick. Once part of The Dresden Dolls, she had a large hit with Coin Operated Boy and has since done various other things, including a musical attempt to revive the [...]