6 November 2023

Dr Ian McFarlane 

Introduction – Define Woke 

As this study is essentially a journey from the real to the unreal in an attempt to make sense out of the nonsense this illustration taken from Hesse’s Steppenwolf is an appropriate motif for the paper.  Although I refer to Wokery as an Ideology throughout this paper, this is just for convenience as given the deep inconsistencies within the propositions we are presented with one should properly describe Wokery simply as a Phenomenon of our era. At times their reasoning is so obscure and riddled with meaningless jargon I am mindful of Nietzsche’s dictum ‘They muddy the water to make it seem deep’.  

26 September 2023

Philip Crisp

The Voice referendum to be held on 14 October would make the most significant change to our Constitution in its history. It is timely to remind ourselves of the principles of liberal democracy articulated in the west during the Enlightenment period, as well as the roles of institutions supporting those principles. The principles remain sound, but the institutions are failing us because they have lost focus on their proper purposes.

13 September 2023

Professor Matthew Ogilvie 

When goodwill and unity prevail, the best people will have the most prominent voices. When ill will and divisiveness prevail, the loudest voices will be those who seek division and revenge. 

I fear that the ‘Voice’ campaign has divided our nation. Whichever way the referendum goes, if we can heal from the divisive experience (and I emphasise ‘if’) it will take years.