Because BeeGees asked it in 1977, and Calvin Harris is asking the same question in 2015.

How many times have you heard, ‘I wish it was a long weekend EVERY weekend…’ after a public holiday?? Australia has one of the highest rates of unpaid overtime in the western world. In a globally competitive, free-market (rat) race to make a living, are we forgetting to make a life for ourselves? Could a four day week be the ticket to improve our relationships, our mental health and our ability to find meaning and purpose in our lives? How would our economy react if we all collectively agreed to work less?

What with robots, computers, and all the other “help” we’re creating, not to mention jobs going offshore and/or “cheap labor” coming in from offshore, not to mention whole industries (manufacturing, mining) imploding, it looks as if it won’t be long before a goodly portion of the jobs will have disappeared. When three-quarters of working people can’t find a job in countries like Australia, surely we can’t rely on the old solutions of throwing them (us) a little dole money and calling them (us) bludgers (or leaners, if we’re being polite). Is it even possible to restructure the economy so that people can live well without working (or inherited wealth)? What would that look like? How would we get there?

We often think about beauty in terms of gender norms, but not often in relation to class. When we try to be beautiful, are we trying to shed any references to working class dom? Why do we describe poor people as “rough”? Are rich people genetically more likely to come out beautiful?

It seems as though more and more of us live a life of conformity and order, and few now life a live of ‘being wild’; of throwing caution to the wind; of taking a chance to follow their dream; to embark on an adventure. What is this doing to our evolution as a species? Where will humanity be in a hundred, a thousand years if we give up ‘being wild’ because our fears prevent us foresaking the safe places?

We need more people with disabilities employed as leaders. We need flexible workplaces that don’t just reward people based on the amount of hours they can work. We need deeper understanding in recruitment processes to why not everyone has a linear career path or the opportunity for any kind of regular employment.

Who gets to be an expat, and what makes them different from an immigrant? Why do we label new arrivals as immigrants with an implied scorn, while choose to label white, wealthy immigrants as expats?

Loneliness is something that I have been grappling with lately, and I have noticed an up-tick in think-pieces about technologies effect on social relationships between people and a loss of community. The connections people have with others has been a perennial interest of humankind.