English Journal

9 July 2000

For those who wonder if I've given up on writing journals, the answer is "no." Writing journals has taken a back seat during the first six months in my new job. That also included a time when Katie wasn't well and I went back in Australia both to see her and for the exhibition she had in Canberra. I've been in touch separately with most friends & family about that, but if I've missed anyone, email me.

Katie's now on her way to the UK via Perth in Western Australia. She's not long back from taking a group of (mainly British) artists to the Simpson Desert in central Australia. It sounded a fantastic experience, and I hope eventually to put up an account on her section of this web site.

I've just been immersed in Australia Week in London - the commemorations of the 100th anniversary of the passing by the British Parliament of the Australian Constitution Act. I thought I'd put up a speech I made to a conference held as part of that.

While I'm at it, here are a couple of speeches from my day-job. One is a lecture on e-democracy I gave to the Hansard Society earlier this year. The other is a recent speech to the Woodrow Wilson Center in Washington.

Just to show you how far the Grateful Dead infiltrates the mainstream of US political life, see this extract from the Road Journals of Mickey Hart, one of the drummers with the Grateful Dead.

Alex