Or have we just got it the wrong way up?
In world affairs, the more you learn, the more you realise you don’t know – especially when you try and see things from another perspective.
Who is right?
Who is wrong?
Who knows?
On Saturday, 14 October, Australians will vote on a seemingly inoffensive change to their Constitution. Why is it meeting such opposition? The Voice 8 October, 2023
How it was done matters at least as much as what was done. While its too soon to say what the eventual fallout will be, the AUKUS contretemps could be good for the EU. The European Network’s Frances Cowell explains why. AUKUS Thoughts. AUKUS Thoughts
How much does Australia matter in Asia, in the Pacific? What is its role in addressing pressing regional issues such as security and climate change? How is the new Albanese government positioning itself and what signals has it so far sent? Dr Stephen FitzGerald, author and first Australian ambassador to the People’s Republic of China, shares insights gained through decades of diplomatic experience and advising corporations, governments and in regional forums. From his home in Sydney, he spoke to Frances Cowell by telephone on 15 August.14 September, 2022. Recollections of a Retired Diplomat
A well-known French scientist reminds us not to believe everything we’re told. Fact or Fiction? August, 2022
The WHO reports that smokers harm our planet, oceans, atmosphere and non-smokers even more than they do themselves. The European Network’s Frances Cowell believes a new debate is needed.
Kiss a Non-Smoker July, 2022
Nuclear energy is the ideal complement to wind and power – until you consider its costs and risks.
Not the Answer July, 2022
Lobbying is not necessarily bad for democracies.
But the lobbying you don’t see is worst. Lobbying June, 2022
An EU Parliament report shows that Brexit and Trump were but the Tip of the Iceberg. The European Network’s Frances Cowell looks at some of its highlights. February, 2022
My grandmother, who lived from 1890 to 1961, told her four daughters never to “look down on” prostitutes, as it is “thanks to those women that the streets are safe for the rest of us”. Wise words. December, 2021
Whatever happens on 26 September, 2021, Germany’s government is likely to be quite different to how it has been these last sixteen years under Angela Merkel’s firm hand. Now that she is retiring, the whole world is paying attention, and for good reason. The Election in Germany September, 2021
Five of the most Amazing Women you’ve never heard of September, 2021
Perceptions of Women’s Role in War tend to draw on film and television portrayals as nurses or other support staff, or as decoders of intercepted enemy communications. Women in combat roles is, for most of us, very much a twenty first century development. September, 2021
There are as many reasons for upping sticks and moving to another part of the world as there are people on the planet and vastly more if non-human Migration is counted. July, 2021
At the Munich Security Conference on Friday 15 February, Mike Pence seemed to expect applause when he brought “greetings from” the “champion of freedom” and Demand that Europe Follow America’s Lead out of the Iran Nuclear Accord. One wonders what he was smoking. Amusing, to be sure, but perhaps more consequential was the comment by Nicholas Burns, a former American diplomat, who named Angela Merkel as the “Leader of the West”. February, 2019
The Media Can’t be Trusted and Politics is Irrelevant – Two recent lectures at Sciences Po give insights into the three-way relationship between politics, the media and the voting public. March, 2021