Bøger udgivet af Connor Court Publishing Pty Ltd

Are you proud to be politically incorrect, loathing alternate therapies and green activists, then this irreverent send-up of our modern culture's fashionable obsessions is for you. Mark Lawson, whose heroes are Darth Vader and Ebenezer Scrooge, satirises those things especially dear to the mass media and chattering classes, like climate change alarmism and the worship of youth. Young people, he says, are not special, being the same as older people, but with less experience. "They are just as clueless as their parents." The Zen of Being Grumpy will resonate with those of "advanced middle age" and beyond, "who have ceased to care", yearn to be "liberated from the perpetual pleas of do-gooders and activists" and keep themselves busy "ignoring all conscious-raising activities". The crazes for text messaging, twittering and the social media in general, loud mobile phone users, and even overseas tourism, are among Lawson's many inviting targets. This book is timely, empowering and above all hysterically funny. Mark Lawson was born middle aged and has been growing older ever since, and has long accepted his role as the curmudgeon with no time for the popular enthusiasms and youth-worship that fill the media. That means he is out of step with much of the community, including his own colleagues, defends lost causes such as the ultimate bad-guy Darth Vader (he was just trying to hold the Empire together) and arch-miser Ebeneezer Scrooge (why couldn't he be left alone to not enjoy Christmas) but does not care. That is the zen of being grumpy. He likes some things, if only he could remember what they are. When venting his spleen online he uses the sign-in name curmudgeon. Mark Lawson is a senior journalist and leader writer with the 'Australian Financial Review'.

This book comprises a collection of essays which emanated from an important Australia China Council (ACC) sponsored event conducted in Wuhan, China in November 2013. Entitled Australia-China Food Knowledge Exchange", the scholarly focus was on the potential of the food sector in both countries and the growing need for "Good food for all". This event led many of the specialists to convert their papers into peer reviewed, reflections on the key themes debated in China and subsequently ended up in the collection of essays contained in this book. While a snapshot of the event, this book captures the essence of the knowledge exchange that occurred and the experience that was brought to bear in relation to food knowledge across the these two important nations.

Do today's politicians have the courage to make hard choices? Or has the furious pace of modern politics put an end to the age of reform? In Quiet Achievers, Oliver Hartwich looks at New Zealand's record on spending, tax and welfare. He discovers that while Australia has been avoiding difficult decisions, the New Zealanders have been silently forging ahead. The R.G. Menzies Essay series is a forum for enlightened public debate commissioned by the Menzies Research Centre Oliver Hartwich is Executive Director of The New Zealand Initiative. Series Editor: Nick Cater "A perceptive analysis of the Key playbook" - Ruth Richardson "A message that resonates across the Tasman" - Henry Ergas

"This is a very timely book, as it addresses not only why there is a deepening moral abyss in this country, but also considers what Australia needs to do to avoid the pitfalls of other Western countries.Unlike many armchair theorists or disheartened clerics, the author has spent a lifetime at the coal face. He is therefore uniquely placed to understand why many denominations seek the wrong zeitgeist solutions to the religious inertia, apathy and disinterest which are threatening to overwhelm both churches and communities."