Migrant Crisis Series

A record 65.3 million people were displaced last year: What does that number actually mean?

Aug 01, 2016 07:26 am UTC| Insights & Views Life

We continue to witness violent attacks bombings and murders in France, Germany, Turkey, Afghanistan and Iraq; fighting in South Sudan and the continued civil war in Syria. These conflicts have renewed interest in the...

The return of the breeze block

Aug 01, 2016 07:05 am UTC| Insights & Views Life

Breeze blocks are having a moment in the sun. Having been painfully hip in the architecture of the 1950s and 60s, they were used so extensively, in both houses and commercial buildings, that they became ubiquitous anywhere...

Migrant Crisis Series

Worth a thousand words – how photos shape attitudes to refugees

Jul 29, 2016 07:38 am UTC| Insights & Views Life

Over the last two decades we have seen the unprecedented politicisation of immigration. Many Australians remember the wave of immigration after World War II when our rapidly developing industrialised economy addressed its...

Being transgender is not a mental illness, and the WHO should acknowledge this

Jul 29, 2016 07:33 am UTC| Insights & Views Life

The World Health Organisation (WHO) has announced it may no longer classify being transgender as a disorder in the revised version of its International Classification of Diseases (ICD), due for release in 2018. The ICD...

Looking for a nursing home place for your parent with dementia? Here's what to consider

Jul 29, 2016 07:15 am UTC| Insights & Views Life

This weeks ABC 7.30 footage of elder abuse in an Adelaide nursing home is an extreme example of how things can go wrong in the care of vulnerable older people with dementia. Suspecting mistreatment, the residents daughter...

Europe Fallout Series

The existential war between Islamic State and secular France

Jul 28, 2016 02:44 am UTC| Insights & Views Life

The killing of a priest during morning mass at a Catholic church near Rouen on July 26 has sent new shockwaves through France a country which prides itself on its secularism, but in which religion still plays a large part...

Childhood shyness: when is it normal and when is it cause for concern?

Jul 28, 2016 02:34 am UTC| Health Life

When parents observe shyness in their child, they may wonder if it is normal or cause for concern. For instance, in social situations, the child may cling to their parent, be hesitant to speak, reluctant to interact with...