Chasing fantasies

Life

When I think about gambling I think about a comment our first daughter made when she was just six years old. Overhearing my wife and I discussing whether or not we had enough money to buy something, she chipped in, “Why don’t you buy a Lotto ticket? Then you’ll get some money.”

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The Hijacking of ‘Secular’

“Australia is a secular country.”

“We live in a secular society.”

Such statements are generally part of the Australian identity, at least as defined by most of our newspapers. The adjective is generally taken to exclude talk of God—a fancy way of saying we aren’t religious. But it wasn’t always like that.

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