Summary Gender neutral parenting and play is a big subject in Sweden. The country has recently adopted the gender neutral pronoun ‘hen’ – teachers are encouraged to say ‘good morning buddies’ instead of ‘good morning girls and boys’, and toy catalogues regularly show images of boys in Spider Man costumes pushing pink prams. Meanwhile in...

As automation technologies such as machine learning and robotics play an increasingly great role in everyday life, their potential effect on the workplace has, unsurprisingly, become a major focus of research and public concern. The discussion tends toward a Manichean guessing game: which jobs will or won’t be replaced by machines?

The rise of the ‘fast food’ concept as it is understood in the 21st century is the result of a series of calibrations enacted over decades by business, society and technology. The expansion of fast food franchising has paralleled social and environmental change, particularly since the middle of the 20th century. Its origins may be...

During the second half of the nineteenth century, entrepreneurs eagerly built numerous European-style shopping arcades in Australia’s cities and regional centres. Popular throughout the world, they were ostensibly elegant shopping spaces for a genteel middle-class clientele. Such was the enthusiasm for them in Australia that both Sydney and Melbourne possessed arcades in a quantity that...

There isn’t another country in the world where the supermarket industry is so concentrated. This level of market concentration is ultimately bad for competition and for consumers. Australia needs: A mandatory industry code of conduct that covers the entire supply chain, from supermarkets through to processors and producers Tough new laws to allow the competition...