Arts and Society
Influencing the cultural conversation
Arts and Society
Influencing the cultural conversation
Gladiator II: How historically accurate is it?
Movie review: Historian Professor Ray Laurence casts his expert eye over the details of the just-opened blockbuster sequel.
Teacher shortage: how to attract our best and brightest to the profession
Opinion: Education researcher Dr Janet Dutton says while everybody wants their children taught by the best teachers, they don't want their children to be teachers. Dr Dutton tackles some of the reasons behind the shortage and proposes steps that could return teaching to a profession our brightest students want to enter.
Fearful of the future? Let us count the ways
Whether its asteroids, volcanoes, artificial intelligence (AI) or climate change that keeps you up at night, a new book by Professor of Media John Potts examines how hope can coexist with angst, as he traces human's fear of the future from prehistory to the present.
Trump v Harris: the polls, popular vote and electoral college explained
Kamala Harris and Donald Trump are neck-and-neck in the polls with a week to go until the US presidential election. Dr Lloyd Cox, senior lecturer in US political history, explains the voting system and looks to the past for clues about who will win.
Fighting back against Frankenwords, zombie nouns and gobbledygook: Celebrating Plain Language Day
The global recognition of the necessity for the promotion and facilitation of straightforwardly comprehensible communication practices is imminent. In other words, it’ll soon be International Plain Language Day.
Insults, swear words and name-calling: the rules that stop pollies taking it too far
With news that Victoria has a list of words deemed ‘unparliamentary’, linguist Annabelle Lukin explains the rules governing what all Australian politicians can and can't say about their fellow MPs while the parliament is sitting.
Please explain: Trial by judge or jury?
Would judge-only trials put our criminal justice system at risk? Dr Andrew Burke, Senior Lecturer at the Macquarie Law School, looks at the ramifications of the rise of judge-only trials.
Pay win - will it be enough to stem the exodus of early childhood workers?
Opinion: After decades of advocacy by unions, stakeholders and academics to recognise the complex skill set needed by early childhood educators, workers will take home more money from December 2024. But early education researcher Dr Tamara Cumming says a wage rise is only part of the solution.
Can friendship and rivalry coexist?
Friendship has fewer rules than most of our other intimate relationships, but can competition coexist with closeness? Philosopher Dr Neil Durrant explores the question in the wake of the 200m freestyle Olympic final in Paris this week.
Dracula at the Sydney Theatre Company: review
Dracula, the new and final instalment in Kip Williams’ Gothic trilogy for Sydney Theatre Company is the latest production in a long history of adapting this most famous of vampire tales. The show is fresh and enthralling, summoning the spectre of this Victorian novel for the 21st century technological era.
Life in a New Language: how migrants face the challenge
A new book by a team of linguists led by Distinguished Professor Ingrid Piller shows what it means to live one’s life through the medium of a new language, and where policy needs to shift to better shape those lives.
New NAPLAN targets a postive step for individual schools
Opinion: Following the NSW Government's scrapping of existing NAPLAN targets to report on student improvements, Dr Janet Dutton examines the advantages of the new plan where principals have the power to choose the achievement goals that work best for their own schools.