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I hate confrontation. Even a whiff of beef can keep me up at night. As a journalist, I’ve learned to listen and to probe only gently, never raising my voice or outwardly judging. Yet, for a long time – until quite recently – I would occasionally engage in fierce political arguments with certain friends and family … Read more

I don’t remember the context in which my psychoanalyst first brought to my attention how much I hate to feel disappointed. I do remember that I laughed. Who doesn’t hate it? That’s why it’s called disappointment, as Seinfeld would say. But then I reflected on what she had said, and it really made me think. … Read more

At the Filter, we test a LOT of products. We’ve put everything from mattresses to treadmills through their paces to try to help you make better-informed shopping decisions. However, that means our expert testers can accumulate a lot of products. After all, you can’t find the best air fryer without taking a few for a … Read more

They say life’s a beach, but whoever coined that phrase probably wasn’t looking at today’s economic and political landscape – or they had an incredible sense of humour. Much like the artists at this year’s Australian Sand Sculpting Championships, which returned to Frankston foreshore, just south of Melbourne, for the first time since 2019. This … Read more

Jeremiah Ostriker, an astrophysicist who helped set off a revolution in humankind’s view of the universe, revealing it to be a vaster, darker realm than the one we can see, ruled by invisible forms of matter and energy we still don’t understand, died on Sunday at his home on the Upper West Side of Manhattan. … Read more

I have joked in the past about the peeled flesh of a baked aubergine and how, when sitting in a sieve balanced over the sink, it looks like a damp, grubby dishcloth. Well, a week or so ago, I lived this joke when I reached for a dishcloth that was, rather oddly, sitting on a … Read more

For me, putting on a pair of pyjamas usually means time to take off my makeup. So it feels a little strange to instead be applying a full face as I prepare to leave my flat wearing a pair of PJs. At first glance, it might look like I haven’t bothered to get dressed this … Read more

I could see the car and knew I was going to hit it. People ask: did your life flash before your eyes? It didn’t. The only thing I remember thinking was: “Oh well”. In an instant all those things I’d been worrying about until that point didn’t matter, because I was about to die. Oh … Read more

There was a shift in atmosphere as a pewter cloud rumbled overhead. As we approached the end of our walk in the Maiella national park, we stopped beside the remains of a second world war prison camp, deep in the park’s corn-coloured hills, and Lisa, our guide, told us a story as dramatic as the simmering sky. In … Read more

For nearly 20 years, I’ve been researching and writing about the human brain as a storyteller. My work has unalterably changed the way I see the human world in general, and myself in particular. It has helped me understand everything from political hatred and religions to cults to the nature of identity and suicidal thought. … Read more