Tragedy, blame and the cowardice of easy narratives

After tragedy, grief is quickly hijacked by blame. Votes are counted, ideologies accused, and humanity lost in the noise. But violence is not a referendum, and collective guilt solves nothing. What matters is courage, evidence, and a media culture that informs rather than inflames.


Loaves (no fishes)

I always wanted to open a bakery…if I win lotto I will and call it ‘This Day’…as in ‘give us this day our daily bread’. …


Motorbike Frog

Margs people or ‘Margites’ as I affectionately call them will get a kick out of  a newby (a Maggot) who was annoyed about what sounded…


Cow Bullshed

The Cowaramup Bullshed is the ‘Men Shed’ for the Margaret River region. Apparently others are planned for Margs itself and there is also  one at…


Saint Pastuer

Travelling companions aren’t always pleasant. If you are forced to sit beside someone who is obnoxious or smelly or you aren’t in the mood to…


Going South

The Swan Newspaper is going south…specifically the South West of Western Australia.  We will be telling stories about the great southern region, its history and…


MR Soup Kitchen

A bunch of really special people start chopping and slicing at the Margaret River Soup Kitchen every Wednesday morning in preparation for the 5.00 pm…


The Dook

The ways in which Aboriginal people have been portrayed by non-Aboriginal people reflect Euro-centric values and have been largely negative. Strong representations of Aboriginal people…


Emotional Intelligence

Will get barked at here probably… someone spoke of EQ in glowing terms…and it does sound perfectly reasonable when you look at the description (http://eiconsortium.org/measures/measures.html)…the…



Accidental Artists

Walking down a laneway  you see a beautiful, fluid design, a calligraphic masterpiece as awe inspiring as anything you’ve seen in the Getty, Guggenheim, Louvre…


Nearly 2 Million Migrants in 10 Years. Who Really Benefits?

Australia has welcomed almost two million migrants in the past decade, yet housing affordability and wages are in crisis. While families are left struggling to find shelter and fair pay, real estate agents and big business profit from a system that rewards exploitation over community wellbeing.


From Wessel to Kirk: How Martyrdom Becomes Propaganda in the MAGA Era

When Nazi propagandist Joseph Goebbels transformed Horst Wessel’s death into a political myth in 1930s Germany, he showed how martyrdom could be weaponised. Nearly a century later, the Republican Party and MAGA movement are doing the same with Charlie Kirk’s assassination — erasing complexity, amplifying grievance, and turning tragedy into a rallying cry.