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Are we civilised?

By David Horton - posted Wednesday, 11 June 2008

Sport and war are good, aren't they?

What are trade unions?

Some representatives left early after reading the paper and attempting no answers.

You decide to add up the points for Australia. Achieving 50 should be easy, we're a civilised country.

But you can't make it, even with some fudging, add up to more than 45 points. Is anyone going to pass this exam you wonder, surely they will have to drop the pass mark.

You walk disconsolately to the front of the hall, and hand your paper in to the Secretary-General. And you just know that when you get it back you will have a fail mark, and a comment from the examiner "Must try harder".

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First published in ABC’s Unleashed on May 29, 2008.

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About the Author

David Horton is a writer and polymath. He has qualifications in both science and the arts with careers in biology, archaeology, publishing some 100 scientific papers and a number of books on biology and archaeology. Now retired to become a professional writer and farmer, he screams often at the TV news bulletins, writes a blog called Greenviews, writes a newspaper column and edits his local newspaper. His books include The Encyclopaedia of Aboriginal Australia (1994 - winner NSW Premier's Literary Award) and The Pure State of Nature (2000).

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons License.