Hygiene

Don’t get me wrong. Over the last two years, as a foreign affairs portfolio holder in the Gillard Government, my work has been rewarding and exciting. It has been easily the best professional experience of my life.

Travel tip #17: when in floral shirt, expect spontaneous outdoors karaoke

But the extensive travel makes me miss my family… a lot.

In those same two years (and not by choice), airports and aeroplanes have become a lonely home. My aim is to get in and out of them as quickly as possible and mitigate the number of hours they take away from life.

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  • marley says:

    04:32pm | 27/12/12

    @stained - well what do you suggest?  Travel is a legitimate business expense.  If your employer sends you across town to attend a meeting or see a supplier, you expect him to cough up the taxi fare;  why should businessmen or government officials be any different? For crying out loud,… Read more »

  • cityboy @ Sydney says:

    04:25pm | 27/12/12

    Not in LA or NY. You will get it in Sydney, but barely needed. Read more »

 

At a California university right now, you’ll find find one poor soul standing at a kitchen bench, peeling a ton of onions.

The owner of the fridge in which these contents were found would like to remain anonymous.

Well it may not be onions; it could just as easily be root vegetables, a cheap cut of meat and probably a whole lot of curry paste.

But whatever it is, it must be enough to feed 400 hungry mouths as part of a new university co-op- initiative that gets students cooking, cleaning and generally sharing the load, in exchange for cheaper weekly rent. 

And the whole idea fills me with dread. 

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  • Addrienne says:

    10:12am | 23/11/11

    Ah yes, nicley put, everyone. Read more »

  • Jimsk says:

    12:10pm | 11/02/11

    At my last work I had two things that really bugged me. The first was that people would wash their dishes (with decent sized bits of food still on them) in the sink WITHOUT the strainer, or they would remove the strainer because the water didn’t drain quick enough and… Read more »

 

Rise up, parents, and rub your kids’ faces in a bit of dirt.

Go on, eat it. Photo: Nic Gibson.

Let them eat snails, and snot, and have their cheese sandwiches without washing their hands.

Because your hyper-vigilant cleanliness could, literally, be killing them.

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  • Jess says:

    04:51pm | 12/12/10

    Lee, that doesn’t disprove the theory at all. Your personal experience with YOUR children doesn’t just wipe away scientific findings. No one says that this will be the case for EVERY child, but there is a large enough correlation between the two to take a deeper look. Read more »

  • MattW says:

    02:33pm | 12/12/10

    Couldn’t agree with you more Rose, on all points. Let kids be kids - run around and have fun. Yes they’ll get dirty, they’ll hurt themselves now and then, they’ll break some things…. but in the end they’ll be healthier, happier and well adjusted Read more »

 

Will 2010 be the year that the prime issue facing most women and girls in developing countries earns the recognition and action it deserves?

Water, 884 million people can't just turn on the tap to get some.

Water, toilets and hygiene - there can be nothing more basic than this.

And yet these issues continually slide from the political priority list and lack the funds and action required to change this awful reality, mostly borne by poor women around the globe.

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  • Eric says:

    06:33am | 23/03/10

    Of course carrying water is hard work. But neither the article nor james’ comment mentions any of the work done by men. It is they who are denigrating men by pretending they do no work and exist only to abuse women. Read more »

  • marley says:

    06:14pm | 22/03/10

    Eric - if you think carrying buckets of water a few miles up hill and down dale isn’t heavy work, all I can say is, try it some time.  I’m not saying men in these villages aren’t also working hard, but don’t denigrate the women. Read more »

 

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