Christopher Scanlon
Christopher Scanlon is a writer and commentator whose writing on a wide range of topics has appeared in major Australian newspapers.
He teaches in the journalism program at La Trobe University where he co-founded Upstart, the magazine for emerging journalists, http://www.upstart.net.au/
Between 1999–2007 he co-edited Arena Magazine and continues to manage Arena’s website, http://www.arena.org.au
\Christopher has a PhD in politics, which focused, among other things, on the political ideas of Mark Latham. Consequently, he can claim the rare distinction of having read and made extensive notes on all of Mr Latham’s books — except The Latham Diaries.
Despite escaping from Tasmania in 1996, Christopher still occasionally refers to mainland Australia as ‘The Mainland’ to the appalled amusement of his more cosmopolitan friends. He lives in Melbourne with his wife Kasey Edwards and daughter Violet.
Articles by Christopher Scanlon
A message to the selfish: children are a public good
The arrival of a newborn child does strange things to people. It warps their perspective and clouds their judgement —…... Read more
In praise of Dan Brown
‘Do not start me on The Da Vinci Code. A novel so bad that it gives bad novels a bad…... Read more
The complete* world history of binge-drinking
With the current kerfuffle about binge drinking, you might be inclined to think that drinking copious amounts of alcohol is…... Read more
Abusing the term “child abuse” is dangerous
If you took the kids to McDonald’s on the weekend then brace yourself: you may just have landed yourself in…... Read more
Pregnancy has become a competitive sport
Of the sixty-eight squillion pieces of advice doled out to pregnant women, perhaps the most useless is the message to…... Read more
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Making the swill less unrepresentative
Some years ago the BBC produced a brilliant documentary series about the House of Lords which chronicled… Read more
Punch live
Up to the minute Twitter chatter
Port power players ringing lapsed club members tonight urging them to re-sign. What happened to the old days when they'd just beat them up?
What not to make an issue in the last week of a campaign - your leadership http://bit.ly/a78kyL#savotes
Gentle jabs to the ribs
Breaking news: Something is going on
Is this the greatest ever send-up of 24-hour news? Warning: contains strong language and hilarity. From… Read more
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