© 2018 Greg & Sylvia RAY

politics

Read more about the article Lest we forget, war is horrific
Two up, anybody? Come in spinner.

Lest we forget, war is horrific

ANZAC Day seems a good time to observe, again, how trends in international relations in 2023 appear to resemble those of a hundred years ago. Just as in 1914, some people with an eye to history were looking back a century to Napoleon and Waterloo, we too can cast a backwards glance and be dismayed at what we see. Today we find ourselves once again apparently being pushed by the tides of politics and economics into what could be another incredibly destructive war. If you read a little about the lead-up to World War 1 you…

Continue ReadingLest we forget, war is horrific

Lost pipeline, lost lifeline

So the Nordstream pipelines were sabotaged. One of them, Nordstream 2, was pretty much brand-new, and was built with Russian and European money to take gas from Russia to Germany via the bed of the Baltic Sea, without having to pay transit fees to Ukraine. Nordstream 2 followed Nordstream 1, which was already providing Europe – especially Germany – with immense volumes of cheap gas and thereby underwriting European industrial production, energy security and prosperity. America hated Nordstream 2 from the start and tried hard to stop it happening. It argued that Europe was making itself…

Continue ReadingLost pipeline, lost lifeline
Read more about the article Why public health in NSW is a disaster

Why public health in NSW is a disaster

Years ago, when I was a novice health reporter on The Newcastle Herald, I was attending the grand opening of a major piece of cancer treatment equipment at a local hospital. Because the NSW Government tends to be reluctant to spend money on populations outside the state capital of Sydney (unless a particular electorate suddenly finds its parliamentary representative influencing the balance of power) it has often been left to non-Sydney communities to fund their own capital purchases. Like most people in Newcastle I deplored the negligence of the government but was proud and delighted that…

Continue ReadingWhy public health in NSW is a disaster
×
×

Cart