Author Archives: Runcible

This is not a rhetorical question. We see regularly the right-wing commentators and shock jocks using appalling language and imagery, think of Alan Jones’s suggestion that Julia Gillard be “put in a chaff bag and thrown into the sea”. Can … Continue reading →

To me, the only time it is ok to hang up on a person you know is if they are screaming at you down the phone and you need to cut the call short for your own (mental) protection. So … Continue reading →

Coming up 68 and still learning to trust my instincts. Just watched the middle episode of ABC’s doco The Killing Season on Julia Gillard’s rise (and Kevin Rudd’s fall). It reminded me of my initial instincts on the matter, that … Continue reading →

In 1963 Robert Allen Zimmerman, Hebrew name Shabtai Zisl ben Avraham, put out an amazing album on vinyl called The Freewheelin’ Bob Dylan. It changed my life. At the time I was working for one Rupert Murdoch (pause to spit) … Continue reading →

Isn’t it funny how words can be hijacked? They can become coded language that appears to mean one thing to the general population and in fact becomes a dog whistle signifying something entirely different? I soon learned to be wary … Continue reading →

Browsing the miserable book section of the Vinnies opposite my shop is usually a recipe for disappointment. But on one day last year I saw a staff member unpacking a large box of  yellowing old Penguins and marking each one with a … Continue reading →

1. There is something good in everyone. 2. Books keep me sane. 3. War would end if men refused to fight. 4. I need plenty of thinking time. 5. Jam does not taste good on sourdough bread. 6. Many of … Continue reading →

It constantly amazes me that people don’t seem to notice the ugliness around us. Australia is a magnificent continent full of grandeur, but the built environment is largely a chaotic, depressing mess. Of course we have the Opera House and the … Continue reading →

I can’t remember a time when I didn’t love cats. As a child we had big ginger Titsy, who was a boy, and his small delicate mother, a tortoiseshell. Tortoiseshell coat pattern is a sex-linked gene and requires two X chromosomes to … Continue reading →