The town turns over: Audio edition

MY NAN WAS an active, outgoing, engaged senior citizen. She gardened, kneeling on a foam pad to protect the skin of her knees and her fragile bones, honeycombed with osteoporosis. She read books, the newspaper, did the crosswords. She looked after her neighbours’ children for an afternoon here and there, keeping those exuberant little minds... Read more

‘NY-NY-NY-ny-sh-sh-sh-sh-sh-ny-ny-ny-ny-ny.’

‘Hi Mum,’ I say.

I lean over, kiss her forehead and pull up a chair. She’s in a dark-blue nightie and is lying on her side, legs drawn up beneath her like a dying bird, arms held out in front of her, bent at the elbows across her scrawny chest.

She pulls at a thread hanging from the... Read more

IF YOU WANT to know how we got here, we will tell you.

Once, not so long ago, we were everybody’s ageing parents. We lived in nursing homes, aged-care facilities, places called Freedom Villas. These were not always good places. Politicians loved coming to visit for morning tea, bringing their own cups. Thankfully our... Read more

A system that cannot deliver the wellbeing of people and nature is in deep trouble. It invites ideas and actions that are transformative. James Gustav Speth, The Bridge at the End of the World: Capitalism, the Environment and Crossing from Crisis to Sustainability[i]

IN AN ARTICLE in The London Review of Books from September 2017,... Read more