The clear run
Hi everyone
Here’s my occasion personal newsletter for people who might be interested. Feel free to unsubscribe if you aren’t interested, and to share it with others who you think might be.
Like lots of people, I tend to imagine that, once I have cleared my current set of urgent tasks, I’ll have some time free to look around and decide what to do next. Almost invariably of course, by the time the current tasks have been done, new urgent tasks have arisen, or old tasks have become urgent. Such is the regularity of this sequence that “the clear run” has become a standing joke in our household.
But six months into my semi-retirement, it seems like it might be reality. Last week, I finished a major consultancy for the ACTU, and gave the opening plenary address (slides here) at the Foundations of Utility and Risk conference (the big meeting in my sub-sub-field of generalized decision theory).
I’ve also finished a couple of books. The first, After Neoliberalism, is a collection of my papers on neoliberal economic reform. The second, Public Policy and Climate Change, is based on the UQ course I taught in Politics, Philosophy and Economics. I also have drafted a comic book presentation of my ideas on privatisation, which is now with the illustrator.
Moving into our new apartment on the Sunshine Coast was not too difficult, as it was already furnished as a holiday apartment. That still leaves the task of dealing with our Brisbane house for the future, but we’ll take a bit of time before moving on that.
I even have a fairly clear run on sport on training. I just ran the Gold Coast half-marathon in 2:05, not fast, but satisfactory for me, and in the top half of my category. The Sunshine Coast 70.3 is coming up in a couple of months, but I’m relaxed about the fact that I will be very slow on that. So I’m not doing any special training, just trying to get out for an hour or so every day.
Now that I actually have a clear run, I'm thinking about what to do. A few thoughts
- I'd like to write at least one more book, about the future of work, socialism and so on, but I might take a breather before doing that.
- I want to read a lot more books, especially more recent fiction, as well as watching a bit more TV with Nancy (we've been enjoying Colin from Accounts)
- I've been focused on triathlon but I really want to get back to hiking. And now that I'm living at the beach, I want to get better at stand-up paddleboard and (a bit more of a stretch) learn to surf.
- I'm enjoying newsletters like this one and my Substack newsletters aimed at a broader public.
Feel free to get touch with me john.quiggin@icloud.com
Best wishes John