Dimitri knew what was happening as soon as he received a call from police, ordering him to “come outside now”. He had been dreading this moment. But in Chechnya, if you’re homosexual, the threat of violence or worse is always close. They were already waiting at his front door. The police made him keep his…
Berlin: Rosa Parks may have refused to move to the back of a bus in Montgomery, Alabama, in 1955, but her house has now made a move of its own – across the ocean all the way to Berlin. American activist Rosa Parks‘ refusal to be segregated triggered a wave of ultimately successful protests against racial discrimination and…
Since Richard Murray lost his job as a strategy consultant in February last year, he has churned through many “gig economy” jobs including being an Uber driver, private tutor, freelance researcher, copy-writer and web developer. The 29-year-old from western Sydney is part of the new generation of workers for whom performing flexible and diversified tasks…
IMAGE: Fighting a fire on peat forest land in Kuala Kapuas, Central Kalimantan. The Western focus on saving the endangered Borneo orang-utan from palm oil plantations overlooks the industry’s effect on indigenous communities and the climate change impact of the loss of peat forests. In Indonesia early last month, Australian trade minister Steve Ciobo made…
For those seeking a tree change less than an hour from Melbourne, Ballan – with a population of less than 3000 and a median property price still well below $400,000 – offers a surprisingly affordable and appealing opportunity. Just 78 kilometres north-west of Melbourne and with 18 direct train services a day, Ballan (with its own mineral springs) boasts…
While plans to build a major cement project in Timor-Leste have brought the welcome promise of jobs for local people, the environmental and social costs could be catastrophic. The district of Baucau, home to Timor-Leste’s second-largest city, sits on a large limestone formation. For local subsistence communities, this provides their water catchment. For a mining…
Gay and genderfluid people from around the world sound off on the good and bad of the rise of gay dating apps. Before smartphones, arriving in a new city as a gay guy meant engaging in detective work to find other queers. Depending on the era, that might have meant using weighty gay travel guides like Spartacus, scouring the…
Airbnb made serious waves on social media after its new advertisement #weaccept was screened before the US Super Bowl. It had gone viral by halftime. The slickly produced advert showed people of different ethnic backgrounds and genders splicing into each other, with the timely politically pointed message: “We believe no matter who you are, where you’re from,…
When I moved into my art deco apartment in St Kilda, one of the first things I noticed was an old managers bell in the foyer that had long since been glued up. It inspired me to ask around among the older tenants and I later discovered that my building had been a popular block of holiday…
When asked this week about the housing affordability problem in Australian cities that is effectively locking two generations of Australians out of the urban housing market, Deputy Prime Minister Barnaby Joyce offered up a simple solution: “People have just got to realise that houses are much cheaper in Tamworth,” he said, before suggesting that if…
As the sharing economy permeates further into our daily lives – whether it be Uber, Deliveroo, Car next door or a growing list of others – a spate of new companies are emerging to feed off the extraordinary growth in these disruptive new online platforms. Airbnb has proven to be one of the fastest growing…
A venue for the much-anticipated fight between Manny Pacquiao and Jeff Horn – which is being billed as the biggest bout in Australian boxing history – is yet to be confirmed, but if it goes ahead at Suncorp Stadium as expected, or any other location in Australia, it runs a very real risk of sending the wrong message…
