
The Australian summer has started to unleash its power. On Monday, the Victorian town of Walpeup reached 47.1C, and towns in Queensland, western New South Wales, South Australia and the Northern Territory all hit...

New data released by the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) this week shows one in 20 (4.5%) Australians over 16 are LGBTQIA+. For perspective: at around 900,000 people, thats similar to the population of Tasmania and...

I was aware of David Leans cinematic adaptation of A Passage to India (1984) before I encountered E.M. Forsters original novel, which celebrated its centenary in 2024. While the film was being shot on location, I had a...

In the Bible, angels can be deadly. So why do we place them at the top of our Christmas trees?
Those beautiful white and gold angels you see on Christmas trees were originally monsters. At least, that is the claim made by scholar Esther Hamori in her book Gods Monsters. Hamori writes that angels have acquired the...

Christmas films appear in many guises. There is the witty (Christmas in Connecticut, Scrooged). The comedic (It Happened on 5th Avenue, National Lampoons Christmas Vacation). The wonderfully sentimental (The Shop Around...

Personalising a luxury gift with a name or initial? Research suggests a hidden social cost
You might think spending $5,000 on a handbag or wallet would be prestigious and exclusive enough. What about taking things one step further and personalising it with your own name? Brands including Gucci, Louis Vuitton...

Getting people out of their cars is possible with the right plans and policies – case study
Around the world, people are being encouraged to travel by foot, bike or public transport rather than by car. The reasons are many and varied: to mitigate climate change, pollution, traffic congestion and infrastructure...