Author Archives: andrew

State agencies gone rogue

Posted on November 17, 2016 by andrew

By Andrew L. Urban. It is welcome that reforms are now (November 15, 2016) planned for both the Australian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) and the NSW Independent Commission Against Corruption (ICAC); perhaps they will be reformed to be more acceptable … Continue reading →

Posted in Organisations And Groups | Leave a comment

The cartoon that sunk Australia’s ship of fools

Posted on November 5, 2016 by andrew

By Andrew L. Urban. Australia’s cultural descent has accelerated. Only last year Barry Humphries was moved to remark that Australia had become a puritanical society. What a turn-around. “We think we live in a liberated age but we don’t really … Continue reading →

Posted in Quotidian | Leave a comment

Fact-fluidity the new journalism

Posted on November 4, 2016 by andrew

By Andrew L. Urban. Gender-fluidity leads to fact-fluidity, it seems, and as gender fluid floods the schools (that are safe), so fact-fluidity is being introduced into our profession like a virus, direct from the University of Columbia Journalism Review distributed … Continue reading →

Posted in By The Way | Leave a comment

Democracy demands integrity

Posted on October 30, 2016 by andrew

By Andrew L. Urban. We used to trust them. Scientists, doctors, journalists, commentators, the media generally (and the Australian public’s own ABC in particular), academics, public servants, police, the courts, sportsmen and women … no, perhaps not politicians so much. … Continue reading →

Posted in Quotidian | Leave a comment

The CON in consensus

Posted on October 23, 2016 by andrew

Consensus on climate? You’ve been conned. By Andrew L. Urban. In the wake of South Australia’s instant State-wide blackout on September 28, 2016, and the political storm that followed the physical one, it is pertinent to note (or to remind … Continue reading →

Posted in Democracy and global warming policies | Leave a comment

The Hungarian Revolution, 60th Anniversary

Posted on October 20, 2016 by andrew

A personal reflection, by Andrew L. Urban, October 23, 2016. He was hanging from the tree by his feet, a wad of money stuffed into his mouth, the blood that had soaked it now dry. People were wandering around listlessly … Continue reading →

Posted in Regimes | Leave a comment

Hungary’s migration migraine

Posted on October 3, 2016 by andrew

By Andrew L. Urban. Budapest, October 3, 2016: It’s the morning after the referendum on migrants being sent to Hungary by the EU. The question was: “Do you want the European Union to be able to mandate the obligatory resettlement … Continue reading →

Posted in Democracy And Refugees | Leave a comment

Complicit in our own destruction

Posted on July 16, 2016 by andrew

By Andrew L. Urban. In Australia, the historical welcome mat which is put out for migrants has never distinguished between races, cultures or religions, viewing all comers as equally welcome, expecting – and almost always getting – a reasonable level … Continue reading →

Posted in Democracy And Terrorism | Leave a comment

A firm Swiss handshake

Posted on July 10, 2016 by andrew

By Andrew L. Urban. Here in a nutshell is the insoluble conundrum of Muslim integration into Judeo-Christian society: two Muslim teenagers waiting to be granted citizenship in Switzerland, claim that their Islamic rules override the practiced traditions of their hosts. … Continue reading →

Posted in Quotidian | Leave a comment

Trashing democracy in an election campaign

Posted on July 1, 2016 by andrew

By Andrew L. Urban. On Thursday, June 30, 2016, two days before the 2016 Federal Election, Sky News Channel’s Political Editor, David Speers, hosted what was called a Focus Group discussion with 12 uncommitted voters at the suburban Rooty Hill … Continue reading →

Posted in Quotidian | Leave a comment