My meeting with KRudd and Gillard

It’s been a very busy past month, particularly with university exams and last Sunday’s Japanese Language Proficiency Test (which deserves its own post, given my deep reservations regarding its content and structure). Suffice to say I have survived relatively unscathed, and am looking forward to the summer holidays, which are soon to turn into wonderfully freezing winter holidays once I hit the shores of Japan next week.

Obesity: why we’re getting fatter

A draft report by the Scientific Advisory Committee on Nutrition in the UK says calorie intake guidelines used for the past 18 years may be wrong.

Time for action

Recent media reports suggest the Australian government is considering the option of transferring the Oceanic Viking to a detention centre in the Philippines, as the impasse involving 78 Tamil asylum seekers moored off a port in Indonesia heads into its third week.

The drugs and alcohol debate: a sorry state

Last Friday, the chief drug adviser to the British Government, Professor David Nutt, was fired by Home Secretary Alan Johnson. His crime – stating the (scientifically proven) fact that cannabis is less harmful than tobacco and alcohol, thereby standing at odds with the Government’s view that it should classified as a lethal drug (for those interested, here is Professor Nutt’s list of what he believes are the top 20 most harmful drugs).

My encounter with Happy Science

A few months back, as my girlfriend and I sat at the local train station waiting for the (nearly invariably) late city-bound train, my eyes came across a new establishment that I hadn’t seen before. It had replaced the aptly-named “U.S.A Groceries”, where in my younger days of substance (i.e. sugar) abuse I often found myself gorging on ridiculously overpriced American lollies. What particularly drew me to this new building however was the interesting name by which it called itself

Australia’s perception on immigration: a dangerous path

The Lowy Institute this week released their study into Australian public opinion and foreign policy. A number of interesting results can be seen, not least of which being climate change’s drop as a priority for Australians, though I imagine this would largely be due to the GFC and its prominence in the past year.

The Future of Australia-Japan Relations

An essay I wrote discussing the advent of the Hatoyama-led DPJ (Democratic Party of Japan) government and its effect on future Australia-Japan relations. It analyses and compares Hatoyama/DPJ policy and ideology with that of the current Rudd/Labor government, and obeserves how relations will be affected, taking into account U.S and China relations, along with China’s rise to power (written in Japanese).

Blackface and toothpaste: what the?

Given the current wind-venting regarding the now infamous blackface skit on the re-vamped Hey Hey it’s Saturday (by the way, can someone explain to me why they aired it on Wednesday night please?), I thought it was a serendipitous time to share my thoughts on something that has been grating me for a while.

An Idiot’s Guide to the Karma Sutra

We’ve all heard of the Kama Sutra. To the layman, it’s ancient Indian porn, something to giggle at in the corner of a bookstore, away from the reproachful eyes of other customers.

Objectivity in War Reporting

An essay anaylsing objectivity in war reporting in the context of the changing culture of contemporary journalism.