Articles by Bert Hetebry

About Bert Hetebry

Bert is a retired teacher in society and environment, and history, holds a BA and Grad Dip Ed. Since retiring Bert has become an active member of his local ALP chapter, joined a local writer’s group, and started a philosophy discussion group. Bert is also part of a community art group – and does a bit of art himself – and has joined a Ukulele choir. “Life is to be lived, says Bert, “and I can honestly say that I have never experienced the contentment I feel now.”

Building an imperfect perfect society

25 October 2026 Bert Hetebry 1

Have no fear of perfection – you will never reach it. (Salvadore Dali). Nothing lasts, Nothing is finished, Nothing is perfect. (Richard R Powell). What would we like our society to look like? I’m quite […]

The politics of abuse

19 October 2026 Bert Hetebry 8

A heckler interrupted a lecture with an attack on the presenter, rather than addressing the content of the lecture. The response from the lecture went something like this: “Your opinions define you, not me. They […]

Why support for Israel?

12 October 2026 Bert Hetebry 5

A nation… is a group of persons united by a common error about their ancestry and a common dislike of their neighbours. (Karl Deutsch, Nationality and its alternatives, 1969, as quoted by Shlomo Sand’s introduction […]

Is liberalism dead?

6 October 2026 Bert Hetebry 9

Is liberalism dead? Social engineering is alive and well. “Can women and men work together in the workplace?” Canadian academic, author and psychiatrist Dr Jordan Peterson posed that question in an interview in Vice News […]

The rise and rise of the right

17 September 2026 Bert Hetebry 8

Recent election results in Germany have seen the AfD, a right wing, neo-Nazi party achieve gains in regional elections. Likewise in Sweden and Norway, The Netherlands, Britain, France and Italy, right leaning parties are winning […]

The crime of being Aboriginal

10 September 2026 Bert Hetebry 4

“He was naturally suspicious of white strangers, having spent twenty-seven months in prison for actions would not have been ‘crime’ had a white man committed them.” (In the spirit of Crazy Horse, page xxxix). “The […]

Lessons on losing wars

27 August 2026 Bert Hetebry 15

Since the end of World War II there there have been many wars, including some fairly long conflicts which ran on for years. Trump’s definition: Forever wars. The first was the Korean War which was […]

Radicalisation

25 August 2026 Bert Hetebry 11

A construction of stairs heading down to a beach near where I live was being crafted by a man whose name I recognised from a previous life. I introduced myself and he remembered me and […]

Don’t ask why

13 August 2026 Bert Hetebry 13

‘Why’ can be such an inconvenient question. As the twin towers of the World Trade Centre collapsed, the Pentagon was hit by a crashing aircraft and another aircraft crashed in Pennsylvania, America and much of […]

In search of Motherland

3 August 2026 Bert Hetebry 4

Where in hell can you go Far from the things that you know Far from the sprawl of concrete That keeps drawing its way About a thousand miles a day? Take on last look behind […]

Immigrants: Searching for hope in in a time of hopelessness

22 July 2026 Bert Hetebry 5

Fiddler on the Roof is humorous, yet dark story of a Jewish family, set in Ukraine about 1905. Ukraine was part of Imperial, Czarist Russia, and the first Russian Revolution occurred in 1905. A bit […]

Power and Glory, or should that be Gory?

15 July 2026 Bert Hetebry 3

Recent travels have put me in a reflective mood. Trying to understand the fears which we live under, the arrogance of post colonialism, the sense of self-righteousness, the ongoing repression of indigenous people through the […]

Journalist typing on laptop at editorial desk

Shag, Marry, Date debacle

8 July 2026 Bert Hetebry 29

Oh dear, our Prime Minister has been caught out again. Trying to be Mr Ordinary when asked to engage in a game which objectifies women, he said OK. The game was to judge a woman […]

Smiling woman with "Are you judgy?" text

Culture and what to believe. (Book burnings, beheadings and bigotry.)

2 July 2026 Bert Hetebry 2

Culture, monoculture, multiculture. What does it all mean and why are these things bandied around as though our lives are dependent upon them being deemed to be correct, whatever ‘correct’ means. Probably a good starting […]

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