by cjharris | Oct 24, 2020 | activism, current affairs, politics
Once, in simpler times, I had a heated conversation in a bar after I criticised then-President Obama’s significant expansion of the US drone war in the Middle East. My friend accused me of being a “Bush supporter” and walked out without finishing her glass of wine....
by cjharris | Aug 2, 2020 | current affairs, politics
During this pandemic, my routine — and that of everyone in my city of Melbourne — looks something like this. Spend all morning waiting for the time of the Premier’s press conference to be announced. Wait for the press conference where today’s number of new cases is...
by cjharris | Jan 6, 2020 | current affairs, environment, life, politics
I woke up in Melbourne this morning, not just to the smell of smoke — I’m used to that — but the unmistakable odour of burning. It was so strong that I actually checked my partner hadn’t left the stove on, before I realised that it was coming through our closed doors...
by cjharris | Dec 19, 2019 | activism, current affairs, politics
A couple of days ago, my sister sent a message to the family Facebook chat — their area in the Blue Mountains was declared “too late to leave” as the roads out were closed off. She had already evacuated her two kids to my Mum’s house in Sydney and driven back to...
by cjharris | Dec 7, 2019 | current affairs, film, politics, popular culture
This week, the Australian Government declared that the arts were no longer important. No, that’s not actually true. They didn’t make any such declaration. Instead Prime Minister Scott Morrison spouted some nonsense about why he was cutting a number of government...
by cjharris | Oct 26, 2019 | current affairs, equality, politics
One of the unfortunate side effects of the Trump presidency is that it has made people forget the awfulness of other world leaders, both past and present. The bar of our expectations has now been set so low, that everyone who isn’t Donald Trump sails over it —...