A few weeks back 3AW’s Neil Mitchell asked our Prime Minister, Scott Morrison, whether he’d ever told a lie in his public life, who incredibly (and seemingly incredulously) answered ‘I don’t believe I have, no’. 

I confess to having no clinical or medical training, but my reading of some of the literature increasingly tells me that laughter, and the hormones that trigger it, is a powerful healing and comforting tool that serves to help us cope with stress, anxiety, trauma and the challenges associated with living and navigating modern life. 

For years now, Australians have been told to be honest about their mental health: to openly seek help, to be unashamed about having discussions with employers and family about their struggles, and to fight the damaging, hurtful stigma around a common human experience.

In the week when Australia’s greatest political observer Mungo MacCallum put down his pen, it would have been nice if the nation’s politicians had given up their shenanigans momentarily, out of respect. Alas, it was not to be.

Yet another IPCC report has come out on the dire circumstances of the planet from human burning of fossil fuels, this time with a particular focus on our oceans. As Rolling Stone put it ‘UN Climate Report: Oceans Also F-cked’