As his party votes for a new leader how will Shinzo Abe be remembered? What were some of the successes and failures of the longest serving prime Minister in Japanese history? Should some Australian universities consider merging? Consolidation may offer a better long-term path to sustainability. Can we compare this US election campaign, with Donald Trump and Joe Biden, with the 1948 campaign of Harry Truman and Thomas Dewey? Can you hear any birds singing right now? Do you think that people in the ancient world heard the same kinds of birds in the same kind of numbers that we do today?