Mar 16, 2024 07:15 am UTC| Insights & Views
As the 2024 academic year begins in Australia and New Zealand, optimism over the state of foreign language learning at universities is in short supply. Languages have taken a post-pandemic battering. In 2023 alone, New...

Mar 16, 2024 07:14 am UTC| Insights & Views Entertainment
Walking through Chippendale on my way to Sydneys Belvoir Street Theatre, where this production of Holding the Man is playing, I pass by the York Theatre. This was the theatre where, in 1985, Timothy Conigrave, author of...

3 things to watch for in Russia’s presidential election – other than Putin’s win, that is
Mar 13, 2024 11:07 am UTC| Insights & Views Politics
Russians will vote in a presidential election from March 15-17, 2024, and are all but guaranteed to hand Vladimir Putin a comfortable victory, paving the way for him to remain in power until at least 2030. While the...
Mar 13, 2024 11:05 am UTC| Insights & Views Politics
Ireland, more than any other EU country, has a long and colourful history of referendums. Another chapter in that history has played out in the form of resounding defeats for two government proposals aimed at modernising...

Is my water safe to drink? Expert advice for residents of South African cities
Mar 13, 2024 10:54 am UTC| Insights & Views Life
In early March 2024 the residents of Johannesburg, South Africas largest city and the economic capital of the country, were hit by extended cuts in water supplies. This was a new low after months of continuous...

Artdocfest is a crucial outpost of free expression on Russia’s doorstep
Mar 13, 2024 10:54 am UTC| Insights & Views Politics
On the day of the funeral of Alexei Navalny, Vladimir Putins most prominent opponent, the biggest festival of documentary film in the former Soviet countries opened in Latvia with a minutes silence. Artdocfest Rigas...

Ukraine war: Pope Francis should learn from his WWII predecessor’s mistakes in appeasing fascism
Mar 13, 2024 10:54 am UTC| Insights & Views
Pope Francis has provoked fury by suggesting in a television interview that Ukraine should find the courage to raise the white flag. Speaking to the Italian-language Swiss public broadcaster RSI, he added: When you see...