As the Covid infections have ticked upwards and lockdowns have dragged on there’s been plenty of time to dwell on our current situation. Read more…
A Glib History of Ancient Pandemics
Wherein I draw tenuous connections between the current Coronavirus shemozzle and the great pandemics of the ancient world.
How Georgia Abolished its Police
The police were the first Georgians I met. Arriving in the capital, Tbilisi, at ten to midnight there were police officers waiting on the tarmac.
American Stormtroopers
Back in 2015 Amazon unveiled a promotional campaign for their TV adaptation of Philip K. Dick’s famous novel The Man in the High Castle. Read more…
Part 2: Replicants of the Reef
On a rocky stretch of coastline on Hawaii’s Big Island a group of marine biologists are studying the lifecycle of the octopus – a creature that lives fast and dies young. Read more…
Part 1: The Acheulean Sleep
In the closing act of Blade Runner it’s a game of chess that allows the replicant Roy Batty to finally meet his maker.
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Welcome to the Elephit House
I knew it was going to be bad. I’d read all the one and two star reviews and looked at the pictures of weird murals and overgrown gardens but I kept circling back to the listing every time I looked for accommodation on Kauai.
Violence in the Aloha State
I knew that Hawaii was part of America but I still didn’t expect it to be so American.
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The Pirates of REM Island
On a cold day in December in 1964 three helicopters belonging to the Royal Dutch Navy set out across the north sea towards a tiny speck in the ocean about ten kilometers west of Noordwijk on the Dutch coast.
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Remembering Cummeragunja
Studying Australian history often feels more like uncovering some sprawling conspiracy. Buried underneath all the accounts of white explorers, convicts, bushrangers, miners and diggers is a vast bedrock of black history. The more you dig the more connections you find but the full story always seems to remain hidden.
Banner Blindness
In movies about conspiracies there’s always a moment when the main character finds the clue in the stack of evidence and rushes off to tell someone. Read more…
The Battle for Schloss Itter
Tucked away on a forested hillside in Austria’s Tyrolean alps is a château called Itter with a long history and one remarkable footnote. Read more…
Atomkraft? Nein Danke
As a nation with a large reserve of uranium but no nuclear energy industry Australia is periodically subject to op-ed pieces designed to drum up support for a domestic nuclear power industry.
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South Coast Track
Tasmania’s southern coastline is one of the most wild and remote parts of Australia
The Women of Rojava
Photos by Asmaa Waguih and Joey Lawrence of Kurdish fighters provide a face for a revolution that is quietly taking place behind the front lines of the war with ISIS.
The Hordes of Mt Doom
The Tongariro Alpine Crossing on New Zealand’s north island has a reputation as one of the most dangerous hikes in the country. On a good day it’s a hard slog across 20km of rock and scree taking you up onto the desolate but spectacular plateau that forms the base of Mt Ngauruhoe.
The Devil’s Staircase
Despite the spectacular views on offer around Mt Howitt it’s clear from the map that early European explorers had a rough time surveying the region.
Unfinished Business
Our first day on the bikes took us up the west coast from Negombo to Puttallam. It was a busy stretch of road and we were still a few days away from getting comfortable with the traffic so progress was slow.
Sea Tigers of the LTTE
In a lagoon north of Mullaitivu is a gold-painted ‘victory monument’. It presides over the area where the ‘Liberation Tamil Tigers of Eelam’ (LTTE) made their last stand against the Sri Lankan army in 2009.
Riding the Whitewash
It’s hard to know when to visit Sri Lanka. December to April is officially the dry season but the weather conditions are somewhat complex with various monsoon seasons affecting different parts of the island at different times.