Far be it from me to pollute this aspirational blog with reality but capping international students, a major slowdown in job ads, and a contraction in company profits, means we are in a recession when population growth is taken into account.

I know you literary types study the finance pages but on a per capita basis, the economy is on track for a fifth consecutive quarterly contraction, the worst performance since the early 1980s.

The ANZ-Indeed measure of job ads fell by 2.1 per cent in August, its seventh consecutive monthly drop. It has now tumbled by 15.3 per cent this year and is almost 23 per cent lower than at the same time in 2023.

Company profits fell by 5.3 per cent in the quarter to be 3.9 per cent lower over the year.

What does that mean for ‘creatives’ like yourself?

1. There goes arts funding
2. There goes creative writing grants
3. There goes creative writing courses
4. There goes your casual job.

What I’d do is borrow $35.00 off your Mum and buy Malcolm Knox’s new book, First Friend.

Then start stocking up on baked beans.