Latest Story
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Read for Ukraine
Open Forum | September 3, 2026Russia is weaponising language and culture as part of its “Russian World” (Russkii Mir) agenda and its invasion of Ukraine aims to eradicate the concept of Ukrainian culture as well as national identity, so every book by Ukrainian authors bought in the west is an act of defiance against Putin.
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Moderate the max
Jennifer Donnelly | September 3, 2026If you want to improve yourself, your health or your lifestyle, you need to do it to the “maxx” – according to social media, at least but if self-improvement turns into constant self-surveillance, self-criticism and the pursuit of an idealised “optimal” self, it may come with psychological costs.
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The importance of small talk
Lauren Warner-Treloar | September 3, 2026Small talk is an important social glue despite its sometimes trivial content, so think of it a technology for accomplishing social goals, like a telephone or email.
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Bite sized nonsense
Kateryna Kasianenko | September 2, 2026Google’s AI overviews are spreading conspiracy theories by mindlessly regurgitating nonsense scraped from the web, reinforcing the need for tech platforms to take more responsibility for their content and for users to think twice about what they read.
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Reading Richard Flanagan
Tony Hughes-d'Aeth | September 2, 2026Richard Flanagan’s latest book “Heresies” is a collection of 24 occasional pieces published between 2009 and 2025 and display the deep thinking and reading of one of Australia’s leading writers.
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Looking back to see forward
Nick Kelly | September 2, 2026As the world struggles with the impact of AI, looking back to the 1960s and the growth of another high-tech medium called television may help us understand what is happening and where we’re heading.
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Teaching right from wrong
Geetanjali Basarkod | September 1, 2026We make time for sport and music as well as maths at school because we think they matter for a good life, so if knowing right from wrong matters at least as much, it has earned at least a little time on the timetable.
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Swings and roundabouts
Michelle Grattan | September 1, 2026A detailed analysis of the economic implications of AI prepared by the Treasury for Treasurer Jim Chalmers predicts increases in productivity but devastating consequences for jobs.
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A trillion dollars in debt
Matthew Crocker | September 1, 2026The Australian government’s debt has just hit A$1 trillion again. And, unlike when it briefly hit that mark for the first time in mid-August, this time it’s set to stay above $1 trillion and keep climbing.
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How AI ate the internet
Dana McKay | August 31, 2026Over half the traffic on the internet are now AI bots, scraping data without sending any users to websites. The collapse in real web traffic and associated advertising revenue may mean many sites will close, leaving people reliant on AI slop left to feed on itself.
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Eyes turn to the Pacific
Wesley Morgan | August 31, 2026Prime Minister Anthony Albanese is in Palau’s capital Koror this week for the annual Pacific Islands Forum, and regional security is expected to top the agenda.
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40% of Australian teens now get their news from AI
Tanya Notley | August 31, 2026Long gone are the days when families shared bits of the newspaper over breakfast, or crowded around the 6 o’clock television news at night. People now get much of their ‘news’ from social media, and 40% of Australian teens rely heavily on AI.
