Archive
Everything I've written, newest first.
566 essays
Four empires, one square
2,500 years of Athenian empire and colonisation compete with cheap tourist trash. Travel was the winner on the day.
Identity
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You are who you aren't anymore
Straddling the ravioli ravine with a Nashville musician to wonder about the cost of becoming yourself.
Mycenae
If you're going to make your brother eat his kids' flesh, expect a run of family murders and eventual ruin, no matter how strong your city walls are.
Philosophy 101
Three wise men, three empty historic sites, one upturned rubbish bin
Events
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ALGWA NSW Annual Conference, Griffith, NSW
Alicia McKay will be the MC and headline speaker at the Australian Local Government Women NSW Annual Conference in Griffith, NSW
June 2025 Book Report
A mixture of crotch-wetting, tear-shedding and hope-for-humanity books to improve your month
Delphi
Getting high as balls to tell the future (spoiler alert: the future is on fire)
Introducing The Ambition Recession
A new essay series is on the way.
Local government is back in the firing line
They don't want reform, they want rates-capping. This is a bad idea, but it will play well in the 2026 election.
Scrolling is the new smoking
Tech giants have copied Big Tobacco’s playbook - and it works.
Society
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Nepotism, networks and human connection
On finding an afterschool job and buying a duvet in the current digital WTF-scape + BRING BACK LANDLINES
Power
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Critical thinking is not enough. It's time you learned about power
Numbers and words are cool, but we have calculators and ChatGPT now. What you need is POWER LITERACY.
Bonus AI resources for paid subscribers
Thanks for your support, here's the goods.
AI
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Big things should be good for us
Cos you're worth it. Public value, private plunder, and general purpose technology.