We hear much of the obstacles confronting those seeking to buy their first homes. Back at the height of the Great Depression the same problem prompted an innovative solution, courtesy of Brisbane architect Arthur Bligh. Times have changed but the essence of his ideas might still be adapted and applied today

Political correctness is the anaesthetic, preventing society waking up to the distortions imposed by subservience to multiculturalism's demand that all differences be accepted without complaint. If the abrasive cultural norms of some new arrivals are called to account, it's a comment on unacceptable behaviour, not racism

The official line is that the Notre Dame fire was an unfortunate and innocent accident, probably related to ongoing renovations. If so, that would make it the exception, as hundreds of churches and cemeteries were desecrated last year alone

You won't have heard of it, as the pilots of the Virgin A320 brought their plane safely back to earth despite being blitzed with erroneous warnings of imminent catastrophe. Three years after that close call, an ATSB report has laid out the peril of avionic systems that, like those of the 737-MAX, can be too smart by half

Aircraft accidents rarely have a single cause, so many investigations reveal a tragic convergence of errors, mistakes, misjudgements or mechanical faults, trivial in themselves but deadly in conjunction. So seems to be the case with the 737 MAX and its alarming tendency to fall out of the sky

Sheer stupidity and megalomaniacal ignorance are the fountainhead of Brenton Tarrant's 'manifesto' and his pitiless exercise in mass murder. 'White supremacy' is the nominated culprit, but that odious sentiment is the metastasised symptom of poor education, a disdain for critical thinking and personal inadequacy

Why did the DPP return the brief three times before it was deemed fit for prosecution? How did an archbishop in full vestments molest two boys in six minutes in a bustling cathedral? Why was the complainant’s videotaped testimony from the first trial used in the second? Why were the Eureka Swimming Pool allegations, the topic of so much pre-trial publicity, abandoned for lack of evidence?

John Bradfield, the man who built the Sydney Harbour Bridge, wanted to turn rivers inland and flood Lake Eyre, believing it would green the surrounding country. We now know that wouldn't work, but a new and revised plan just might -- or so the scheme's latest disciples believe

A mere two weeks after Stalin's puppets took control of Czechoslovakia, foreign minister and national hero Jan Masaryk was found dead in the courtyard below his apartment. There was no suicide note nor hint of explanation beyond an enigmatic Bible verse. Today, seven decades on, the who, why and how remain a riddle that grows ever more intriguing