I try not to be touchy about my age, especially as I'm turning 64 a tad too soon, but ageism has reared its ugly head. A few too many people sent me a column in the Australian Financial Review headlined Why is it still considered OK to be ageist? While other prejudicial "-ists and -isms" can put some adults into conniptions, ageism is still widely tolerated. So where do you think Austr... read more>

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>