One of the reasons why discussions about the Middle East are often so fraught is that so many of the facts, or the interpretation of them, are contested. Take the history around the creation of Israel for example. Among Jewish historians there are two main lines of thought. The perspectives of traditional Zionist historians and […] The post Historical perspectives about the creation of Israel appeared first on Holding Pattern ..read more

President elect Trump has complained that the US is being “ripped off” at the Panama Canal, and that US ships are being charged outrageous amounts that are highly unfair. He has also alleged that the canal was “falling into the wrong hands,” implying Chinese involvement. Trump is attempting to bully Panama into moving away from […] The post Trump Fibs about Panama appeared first on Holding Pattern ..read more

This is a collection of songs I’ve written over there years where I give new words to existing tunes to parody or satirise the existing song or the person it is about. ‘Hallelujah’– Tony Abbott This song relates to the period before Abbott toppled Malcom Turnbull. It alludes to Abbott’s comments in favour of virginity, […] The post My songs- mostly political satire appeared first on Holding Pattern ..read more

  The ring. Pete couldn’t remember why he went there. He must have been under six at the time because his family was still living in Hawthorn. They moved to Richmond when he was six. He went out the back gate and walked the short distance down the lane to his Nana’s house. Nana was […] The post The Ring- A True Story appeared first on Holding Pattern ..read more

The relationship between politics and the economy, particularly who people blame for the economic problems that affect them, is complex. Many things may effect voter’s views- media being the most obvious. But there is also an underlying tendency for voters to mistake correlation in time with causation. In other words, save for relatively short “honeymoon” […] The post The Correlation Effect appeared first on Holding Pattern ..read more

When Donald Trump executes his mass deportation of unauthorised migrants to the US it will not be the first mass deportation to occur in US history. Between 1929 and 1939, it is estimated that anywhere from 500,000 to 2 million people of Mexican descent were deported or pressured to leave the United States. This included […] The post Trump’s Promised Mass Deportation- not a first for USA appeared first on Holding Pattern ..read more

Hunter-Gatherers Most (possibly all) hunter-gatherer societies imbue the land with spirituality, viewing it as sacred, alive, or imbued with spiritual forces. Many practice animism, the belief that the land, animals, plants, and even inanimate features like rocks and rivers possess spirits or consciousness. Hunter-gatherers usually see themselves as part of the land rather than separate […] The post The Territorial Imperative appeared first on Holding Pattern ..read more

In 1900, my maternal grandmother, Ilse Englesmann, was born in Brno, Moravia, then part of the Hapsburg Austria- Hungarian empire. The empire dissolved in the wake of WWI and Brno then became part of the newly formed Czechoslovakia. Ilse Englesmann In 1921 Ilse made the short journey just across the border from Brno to Vienna, […] The post Ilse’s journey- my grandmother’s journey from Austria to Australia appeared first on Holding Pattern ..read more

Introduction This is the story of the Englesmann siblings’ flights from Nazi occupied Austria and Czechoslovakia. The siblings were the children of Gustav Englesmann and Frederica Stein- Felix  (3/6/1885 to 15/2/50), Stefanie (1/4/1887 to 1956) and Ilse (19/10/1900 to 1951). The story draws on the history of Margret Holding’s family written by Dr Sue Silberberg, […] The post Three Journeys appeared first on Holding Pattern ..read more

Supporter’s of Israel’s right to exist, and it’s right to respond militarily, following Hamas’s October 7 attack, have often been too slow to conclude that Israel’s response has been disproportionate and breaches customary international humanitarian law. Part of the problem here is undoubtably the difficulty of describing what a proportionate response would have looked like […] The post The War in Gaza appeared first on Holding Pattern ..read more