The new flare up of conflict between the Israelis and the Palestinians is grim. It’s hard to fathom the trauma that’s being sewn into the stories of so many people as they go to bed each night hoping they’ll wake in the morning.
A curious thing has been happening in classrooms in the last few years.
Teachers report that boys are asking questions that sound less like year 9 maths and more like the comments section under a YouTube video titled “10 reasons feminism destroyed civilisation.” Some refuse to listen to female teachers. Others bait them with rehearsed talking points. A few have even taken to barking at female teachers.
So how about the head of ASIO saying that one of our former politicians was a foreign government asset? It was one of those announcements, in an otherwise routine speech that landed like a dead possum onto a picnic table – it had to be disposed of, but even when it’s gone its presence at all still puts you off your meal.
