Gambling on change

The newly re-elected Labor Government should bite the bullet of reform and curb the rise of heavily promoted online sports betting and ubiquity of poker machines to protect the Australian people it professes to care about, rather than pander to gambling industry lobby groups.

How hyperbolic is your adjective on World Football Day?

Soccer is the world’s most popular sport and while there are valid criticisms of its financial model, there is much to celebrate about the ‘beautiful game’ on World Football Day.

End of the species

Could humanity be extinct within 10,000 years? A new book – The Decline and Fall of the Human Empire: Why Our Species Is on the Edge of Extinction by Henry Gee may be the wake up call our species needs.

No power greater

A new book collects some of the life stories of the people behind Australia’s union movement over the last 150 years.

Finding your ‘why’

A new study has revealed there’s more to happiness and wellbeing than simply chasing goals, it also comes down to why you’re chasing them.

Brand new day?

Every new Pope brings hope of a fresh start for Catholicism, and while Leo XIV will face limits in modernising the Catholic Church, his predecessor Francis set the stage for further reform.

R.I.P. USAID

Donald Trump’s destruction of USAID will only accelerate the West’s miserly convergence with Chinese policy in which foreign aid is commercialised and limited, prioritising national self-interest over generosity.

Pokie madness

Poker machines line the walls of clubs and pubs – and the coffers of governments and venues – but there are ways to tame this gambling gorilla.

The golden years

Australians are flourishing as they get older, according to a series of papers from the Global Flourishing Study, which tried to measure how many of us are in a state in which all aspects of our lives are good.

The quest for significance

People can turn to embrace conspiracy theories to feel like they ‘matter’, according to a new book.

What’s the big idea?

A new book – “What’s the Big Idea? 32 Ideas for a Better Australia” edited by Anna Chang and Alice Grundy celebrates 30 years of big ideas from the Australia Institute.

One nation?

In the run up to the May 3 election, questions are being raised about the value of multiculturalism as a public policy in Australia.