A very interesting article from Global Citizen listing the results of a survey on perceptions of the five most peaceful countries in the world.

Earlier this summer, research firm Ipsos released their findings from a poll asking this question to over 18,000 people across 25 countries. They asked participants whether a handful of countries and supra-national governmental agencies (like the European Union) were “having an overall positive or a negative influence on world affairs.”

Their results might surprise you.

One of the entities is not even a country, and based on the fact you’re reading this post on this website, you’ll likely be pleased at #1 and #2.

http://glblctzn.me/2hw43n5

Australia’s government is currently circulating a public survey, or something to that effect, on the topic of same-sex marriage. Many are questioning why that country’s leaders are taking this decision to this method of public consultation.

Online news source The Conversation writes in an editorial 

As the nation continues to wrangle over same-sex marriage – when much of the developed world has long since resolved the issue – it might be tempting to wonder if we’ve always been a little conservative on social change, hamstrung by a collective fear of the new. But as Frank Bongiorno writes, it hasn’t always been the case – you need only look at Australia’s early embrace of women’s suffrage, for example, to see that we were once pioneers rather than laggards on social progression.

What’s happening, Bongiorno argues, is a profound failure of leadership rather than any innate cultural problem. Political leaders are trailling behind public opinion rather than doing anything to influence it.

Read their whole story on the topic here.

Here’s another interesting series by the Aussie online editors of ‘The Conversation’ – and probably worthy of our DUCW readership’s attention…

Check it out here.

Our politicians talk a lot about “families”, but what do they really mean when they use this term? What does a modern Australian family look like and how does it compare with ten, 20 or even 30 years ago? In our ten-part series launching today, we examine some major changes in family and relationships, and how that might in turn reshape law, policy and our idea of ourselves.