Ukraine, refugees and compassion fatigue

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People who feel moved to support refugees in their time of need are prone to a syndrome known as ‘compassion fatigue’. This post-traumatic-stress type condition sets in as events like Russia’s invasion of Ukraine unfold. Compassion fatigue is just that – an overwhelming sense of hopelessness as yet another refugee crisis occurs with few answers in sight. It’s not much of a comparison, but consider Queenslanders told to evacuate their homes on Sunday due to…

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Spreading the word about U3A

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One of the positives in retirement is that it allows one to volunteer with valuable community organisations like U3A. It’s not that uncommon to meet people who have never heard of the University of the Third Age (U3A), an international organisation with broad aims of helping educate and entertain its 450,000 members, who are now in their ‘Third Age’ of life. U3A originated in France in 1973 as an extramural university activity. This was significantly…

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Pork barrels and billboards ahoy

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You can tell there is an election looming when the government promises to reduce the price of beer – a classic example of ‘pork barrelling’. The move to halve the excise on draught beer would save beer drinkers 30 cents on the price of a schooner (a New South Wales term for three quarters of a pint of beer). Pork barrel, or simply pork, is a metaphor for the appropriation of government spending for localised…

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Why we need an annual twins day

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As a Dad of one, it quite does my head in when I read about blokes whose wives presented them with twins, triplets or more. Such fun! It seems that if you are good looking and in good shape when you hit late teens, there’s no end to the opportunities in the US when it comes to music, movies and TV series. A recent post by Insider ranked 15 sets of twins by their achievements…

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