On average, Australians watch more than three hours of television a day, compared with 12 minutes a day spent by the average couple talking to each other.

The yearning for strong leadership is more about strength of purpose - clarity of vision - than about merely 'getting tough'.

Still, most of those effects occur in the context of harmless play and it is patently obvious that children are not normally turned into aggressive little monsters by TV or video games, since most children do not become aggressive little monsters.

A strangely reflective, even melancholy day. Is that because, unlike our cousins in the northern hemisphere, Easter is not associated with the energy and vitality of spring but with the more subdued spirit of autumn.

Obviously, every child should be given the best possible opportunity to acquire literacy skills.

If I were asked about what to do about the level of insecurity and anxiety in contemporary Australian society, I wouldn't start with politics and I wouldn't say too much about terrorism. I'd suggest as a first step, that you invite the neighbours over for a drink this weekend. Today a drink, tomorrow a barbeque, pretty soon, a community.

With increasing frequency and growing vehemence, you hear people saying they are ashamed to be Australians.