Nearing the end of the summer holidays, but maybe nowhere near the defeat of COVID, here are some questions to face. Many of us are either parents or grandparents with school-age kids pondering returning to the classroom. Or perhaps with older kids like mine, more likely given their social lives, to pass the virus onto us.  These two graphs tell the story about the different experience... read more>

Everyone laughed when my son gave me a pair of ‘grumpy old man’ socks this Christmas. I laughed too, but now I’m wondering. Do I have to or want to be stereotyped as a sufferer of this irritable male syndrome? Indeed, it’s an entrenched notion given the comic characters, films and merchandise which send up the ‘GOM’. But do we older males want to become such a creation if we can avoid ... read more>

An ‘army of retired teachers’ is being enlisted back to school to deal with staff shortages in the Omicron crisis. The ‘great resignation’ is sweeping the Western world with surveys suggesting 40% of the global workforce are considering changing work. With the migration tap turned off there’s a drastic need for workers in all sectors to keep this country moving. So what does it all mea... read more>

The bug is getting closer. It might already have struck. The numbers click over higher and faster. The spread is unstoppable. We all know that far less clear is just how to react given the changing government regulations and expectations of others. We have to contend not only with the various and shifting public health orders but also with what's quaintly called vaccine etiquette. Thes... read more>

Christmas may be a time of giving, but it pales into insignificance compared to the amounts we hand over in inheritances and gifts. The recent Productivity Commission report into what economists call wealth transfers shatters a few myths, including the size of the Bank of Mum and Dad. It also answers some fascinating questions suggesting that the less well-off benefit more from inheritanc... read more>