Today, as vaccinations are being used as a political weapon, we need to look again at the science and when, where and how they matter. We also need to question whether the punitive way the major parties are driving policy on immunisations will increase the vaccination rate.
Over hundreds of years, immunisation has been scientifically proven to prevent many diseases. It is worth examining some of the history that promoted the realisation that diseases can be prevented.
Scotland鈥檚 first minister Nicola Sturgeon says she plans to trigger another independence referendum. The Scottish National Party leader said the new poll should be in 2018 or 2019, reported on March 13.
鈥淩ight now, Scotland stands at a hugely important crossroads,鈥 Sturgeon said, referring to the 鈥淏rexit鈥 vote that will take all of Britain out of the European Union, despite a majority in Scotland voting to remain.
Friends of Victoria University and National Tertiary Education Union (NTEU) organised a protest outside the university鈥檚 Flinders Street campus during a Victoria University (VU) council meeting on March 14.
The protest was in response to plans by VU鈥檚 management to sack 115 academic staff affecting undergraduate courses in the creative industries, marketing, communication, and professional and creative writing. Six post-graduate courses in communication and education will also be affected.
Much has been made of US President Donald Trump鈥檚 potential impact on Mexico, but one critical story has been largely ignored in the Western media.
Coverage of Mexico in the Trump era has been dominated by speculation over the fate of the stumbling Mexican peso, the possibility of the North America Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) collapsing and, of course, the wall.
Meanwhile, a seismic shift is quietly taking place in Mexican politics: the right wing is the weakest it has been in generations, while the left is seeing a historic resurgence.
Opposition Leader Bill Shorten said Labor might be willing to support the deportation of children who commit crimes.
Australia does not currently deport minors.聽
But the Joint Standing Committee on Migration is examining the screening process when people are given Australian visas and聽support services when they arrive in Australia.
They are also looking into聽whether their visa can be revoked if child migrants join gangs.
Shorten said there may be merit in changing the law.
A look at three important new books on the growing global environmental crisis and two that mark the 100th anniversary of the Russian Revolution.
An interim report from the Koala Expert Panel, established by the state government after a catastrophic koala population crash in south-east Queensland last year, has offered little hope for the state鈥檚 faunal emblem.
Chilean hip-hop artist Ana Tijoux has penned a forceful call to re-empower the concept of feminism. In it, she calls for 鈥渁nother feminism鈥 that is at the same time anti-patriarchal, anti-capitalist and anti-fascist.
Dylan Voller joined a small crowd protesting against the conditions in NT detention centres as the Royal Commission into Juvenile Justice resumed hearings in Alice Springs on March 13.
Footage broadcast on the ABC showing Voller being tear-gassed, spit-hooded and shackled to a restraint chair prompted Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull to call the inquiry.
Speaking outside the commission, Voller said he wanted to support the other young people giving evidence.
The CSIRO will spend $29.7 million on a three-year project to conduct an assessment, separation and treatment of radioactive waste at a CSIRO facility located on Department of Defence land near Woomera, South Australia. The Woomera facility is one of Australia鈥檚 largest storage sites for low and intermediate-level radioactive waste.
The misogynist Fred Nile has opportunistically seized the moment 鈥 provided by Tanya Davies, the new NSW 鈥減ro-life鈥 minister for women 鈥 to reintroduce a bill to give foetuses legal rights.
Nile, a NSW MLC, introduced the Crimes Amendment (Zoe鈥檚 Law) Bill 2017 on March 9. The wording is the same as his last attempt.
Nile first tried to push his anti-choice law in 2010. He managed to get it through the Legislative Assembly in 2013 (63 votes to 26) with Davies鈥 support.聽
Among other things, Links International Journal of Socialist Renewal has recently published a wide-ranging interview with Kurdish activist Dilar Dirik on the role of women in the Kurdish struggle, the Rojava revolution unfolding in northern Syria and the rise of the Kurdish-led People鈥檚 Democratic Party in Turkey; and a number of new translations in the 鈥1917: The View from the Streets 鈥 Leaflets of the Russian Revolution鈥 series being co-ordinated by US historian Barbara Allen and Canadian socialist and Links collaborator John Riddell.