Boston Marathon bombing Sir, Patrick J. Byrne deserves warm congratulations for his clear-sighted article, “The Boston Marathon bombing in perspective” (News Weekly, May 11, 2013). Amid the passion and prejudice so often sparked by debate on terrorism and Islam, the article’s analysis stands out for its penetrating insight. Among Pat Byrne’s most significant points is the statistical evidence for terrorism suspects being frequently…

Home ownership is still out of the reach of many Australian families compared to 30 years ago. Recently, the 9th Annual Demographia International Housing Affordability Survey ranked Australia as having one of the most expensive housing markets of the countries surveyed. According to the report’s authors, Wendell Cox and Hugh Pavletich, the major contributory factor to Australia’s dearer housing was the implementation of…

Star Trek Into Darkness (rated M), a 3D film, is reviewed by Symeon Thompson, a member of the Film Critics Circle of Australia (FCCA). Star Trek is arguably one of the best examples of the “stories as thought experiments” approach, allowing the investigation of ideas in a thorough, but accessible, way. The late Gene Roddenberry created it to explore the ideals of rationalistic…

GETTING THE MARRIAGE CONVERSATION RIGHT: A Guide for Effective Dialogue by William B. May (Steubenville, Ohio: Emmaus Road Publishing) Paperback: 82 pages ISBN: 9781937155803 RRP: AUD$11.90   Reviewed by Bill Muehlenberg   In this succinct 82-page booklet (which includes a 40-page essay with 30 pages of Q&A), the president of US-based Catholics for the Common Good lays out some helpful pointers on how…

THE MAN WHO BROKE INTO AUSCHWITZ by Denis Avey, with Rob Broomby Foreword by Sir Martin Gilbert (London: Hodder and Stoughton) Paperback: 304 pages ISBN: 9781444714197 RRP: AUD$22.95   Reviewed by Michael E. Daniel   Interest in the Holocaust has not abated, as evidenced by the large number of films, documentaries and memoirs of survivors. However, Denis Avey’s memoir of World War II…