I was fascinated this week by the unveiling of the Macquarie Dictionary Word of 2024. Enshittification is perfectly crafted to match our times. It is dismissive, slightly pretentious, sets a scatological word within a scientific frame and turns worthless behaviour into a technological process. The naming of the freshly coined word of the year made Read more
Last week, Pope Francis issued a short Apostolic Letter revising the scope of a Vatican Institute. It seemed hardly newsworthy. The Pontifical Institute of Theology was founded in 1718 for the theological formation of priests, and later for bringing theologians together to discuss theological topics. More recently it has held an occasional conference, mainly with Read more
A striking feature of Australia’s path through the Coronavirus has been the coming out of epidemiologists and social biologists. From being little known members of small institutes they became rock stars, invited to press conferences, deferred to by politicians, selectively chosen for comment by the media, but also resented by representatives of big business and Read more