The United States is celebrating, if that’s the right word, its 250th anniversary of independence. President Donald Trump has announced a decidedly shaky agreement to ostensibly end his war of choice with Iran. That republic is heading into its midterm congressional elections in November with Trump’s blatant corruptions and authoritarianism clearly front and centre.

Here in Australia, our relatively robust democracy is also under an intensifying stress test. The far right party, One Nation, is on the rise electorally. Its leader, Pauline Hanson, after all these years, is a political figure with a renewed profile. She is addressing the National Press Club on the nineteenth of June.

Veteran political journalist, Margo Kingston, has been following and writing about Hanson and One Nation for decades including a recent substack piece on the party, as its fortunes improve. The next Australian state election is here in Victoria in November.

Peter Clarke caught up with Margo Kingston in her home in Comboyne, regional New South Wales.

We humans live within a triad of physical phenomena: SPACE, MOVEMENT and TIME. The three are intertwined in multiple ways and experiences. But TIME remains the most mysterious.

The revolution of our planet and its journey around the sun, with its seasonal shifts, are large scale indications and experiences of TIME.

From very early in human history, we invented ways of tracking and measuring the passing of TIME. Water clocks and sundials were part of that.

Organising TIME into units and then accurately depicting those units and the “time of day” came with clocks : mechanical tickers of time.

Today, we have achieved truly extravagant ways of measuring time down to the tiniest units.

And our lives are now fully tied to measuring, tracking and “obeying” the disciplines of time around the globe.

But we still have clocks. Vintage clocks and newly created clocks that pay homage to tradition.

In the Melbourne suburb of Warrandyte, artisanal clockmaking virtuoso, Will Matthysen, has his workshop.

Will is South African born. He initially studied architecture and worked in that field.

After migrating to Australia, he also studied watchmaking and returned to a love from his teenage years … making clocks.

And what clocks they are!

Peter Clarke visited Will Matthysen in his workshop.

◾️ Will Matthysen passed away suddenly on 31 December 2025 ◾️

https://www.woodreview.com.au/profiles/vale-will-matthysen-master-craftsman

WILL MATTHYSEN WEBSITE: https://www.willmatthysen.com

REFERENCES:

JOHN HARRISON CHRONOMETER PIONEER https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Harrison

FOLIOT (VERGE) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Verge_escapement

REMONTOIRE https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Remontoire

Theory of the Verge & Foliot Clock of the Early Medieval Age

http://hsn161.com/HSN/V&F_Theory_2018_Roess.pdf

ELTHAM AND DISTRICT WOODWORKERS https://www.elthamwoodworkers.org.au

Nicholas is CEO of Lateral Economics, a policy economist, and a frequent commentator on mainstream and independent media.

Over the last couple of years, Nicholas has been working on a video series, with the Lincolnian title, AWAKENING OUR BETTER ANGELS. It’s about democracy, which, as we all know, is being stress tested to the max globally right now, especially in the United States.

Peter Clarke visited Nicholas in his Melbourne home to discuss his video series including the potential role of citizens' assemblies (sortition) and the uncertain future of democracy.

THE VIDEOS

https://www.thesharedcentre.com

There are twenty videos in this series plus some companion videos, Talking it Through.