In April 1984, Rosemary Brandon, 35, was in the middle of planning a 6th birthday party for her youngest daughter. The party, scheduled to take place on the first Sunday in May, was to be a lavish affair, with a large group of family and friends all invited to the Brandon family home in Boundary Road, Wahroonga, on Sydney’s leafy north shore.

Organising the party was a task Rosemary relished. As a housewife and mother of three, she lived for her family. Her husband, John, 42, did what he could to help out but as much of his time was…

Ask any police officer, and they’ll tell you that domestic violence incidents are among the most common and potentially dangerous jobs that they’re called to attend. Often volatile, and almost always emotionally charged, they’re unpredictable and at times involve extreme violence.

In Australia during the early-1980s, domestic violence (also known as family violence) was a mostly hidden issue. A crime that occurred behind closed doors and one seen by many as a private matter and not something that should be of concern to others. …

A third wave of Covid-19 is putting unprecedented pressure on Hungary’s public healthcare system; right at a time when 4000 healthcare workers are departing the system after refusing to sign controversial new employment contracts.

According to the Hungarian English language newspaper, Hungary Today, increasing numbers of Hungary’s public hospitals are operating at their maximum capacities as a third Coivid-19 wave hits the country.

With the number of people requiring hospitalisation climbing above 8,300, over 900 of whom need a ventilator, the country currently has more Covid-19 patients hospitalised now than at any other time during the pandemic.

According to Dr…

For the third year in a row, two of Santa’s naughtiest scout elves have returned to cause havoc for one Sydney family — and the best part is, we all get to sit back and watch as the mayhem unfolds.

Each Christmas, Elf Fudge and Elf Loki have been making the trek from the North Pole to the Spyridis family home in the beachside Sydney suburb of Cronulla to report on the behaviour of the family’s children for Santa. …

A short while ago I was chatting to an English ex-pat mate on Facebook Messenger. He’s currently living and working in Qatar and as is often the case our text messages soon turned to the booze that we’ve each been drinking of late.

(Yes, we’re both writers — drinking is an occupational hazard. And yes, you can buy alcohol in Qatar, you need a licence to do so, and it can only be bought and consumed by non-Muslims.)

A few minutes later, I was scrolling through my Facebook feed and what should pop up? Yep, you guessed it, an advertisement…

I took this shot yesterday afternoon while playing around with slow shutter speeds in my front yard, and the resulting image got me thinking about the current pandemic that is impacting our world.

In a crisis, our society is a little like a giant tree blowing in the wind. Individual people panic and flap about like leaves at the first sign of a slight breeze. Yet they remain held together by the structure of the trunk and branches.

As the wind intensifies, individual leaves panic more and the most exposed smaller branches will fail, snap off and crash to the…

Sometimes it’s the smallest things that make you stop, smile and be thankful for all the good things that you have in life.

I was reminded of this the other day when I walked outside and saw that the pair of rainbow lorikeets that have been nesting in the hollow of a large gum tree in our yard had returned for another year. I’m not sure where these birds go during the colder months, but the fact that they repeatedly return to the sanctuary of that tree got me thinking.

When faced with the unrelenting and harsh realities of life…