Category Archives: Quotidian

By Andrew L. Urban. “Trump dominates the news cycle like a fart dominates the interior of a Volkswagen Beetle,” quipped John Oliver, host of HBO show Last Week Tonight, as reported in The Guardian (February 20, 2017). The story went … Continue reading →

By Andrew L. Urban. His critics throughout the US Presidential election campaign accused Donald Trump as being politically inept, as having no idea, while what Trump was showing the world was – and is – that he is no ideologue. … Continue reading →

By Andrew L Urban. Australia is becoming a mock democracy; a demockracy. It is observable on a daily basis as some politicians, journalists and academics mouth their repurposed Orwellian language of control. Truth cleansing is rife. Democratic principles are no … Continue reading →

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 →

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 →

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 →

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 →

By Andrew L. Urban. Democracy? Demonocracy is what we are heading for, here in Australia, as the July 2, 2016 Federal Election campaign begins its final 4-week marathon. Both three sides of politics – the Liberal/National coalition, Labour and the … Continue reading →

By Andrew L. Urban “Love her or hate her, to disrespect the PM is to disrespect our entire system,” writes Jacqueline Maley (Why it takes a flying crust to burst the political bubble, Sydney Morning Herald, June 1, 2013). Maley … Continue reading →

By Andrew L. Urban Same sex ‘marriage’ is a hot issue around the Western world, with uncivil arguments and nasty remarks keeping it hot – but not too enlightened. By contrast, writing in the Weekend Australian (May 25/26, 2013) Peter … Continue reading →