Almost Touching

Travel in exotic and isolated places, and in contemporary philosophies.

A. Astronaut Katherine Bennell-Pegg is Australian of the Year for 2026.

B. Indigenous athlete Cathy Freeman leads the Australia Day honours list.

C. Tyler Cowen’s experiences in Wellington, New Zealand in the early 1990s (when I also visited paternal family there).

D. On Nome, Alaska and its short distance from Russia.

E. Conservative philosopher John Gray on the currently unfolding geopolitical regime change.

F. Today’s MIT OCW free course is on Identity and Difference created by Professor Jean Jackson.

G. Eric Hobsbawm on the Consolations of History.

H. Jodie Foster visits the Criterion Closet.

I. Philosopher Slavoj Zizek on Gramscian Trumpism.