Albo, Macron – and the amazing Real Housewives of the United Nations tantrum
How Canberra can stop Victoria becoming Dictator Dan’s Dystopia
Imagine a place where all power lies with one man. He gets to dictate the rules by decree. He can…
Don’t forget Labor’s still loathsome
Prussian soldier strategist Carl von Clausewitz is best remembered for his statement, “War is the continuation of political intercourse with…
Yes, Virginia, there is a culture war
Voters in the Commonwealth of Virginia just delivered a message that will radiate hope to Christians and conservatives in the Commonwealth of Australia. Parents’ concerns…
Glasgow and the greenhouse gap
As we watch the bureaucratic minions and the behemothic motorcades circulating in Glasgow, the ‘Greenhouse Gap’ appears to be growing. On one side of…
Forget the French fury and focus: Australia needs nuclear submarines now, not later
In the debate which has ensued since the federal government decided not to continue with the French submarine contract, it…
Albo, Macron – and the amazing Real Housewives of the United Nations tantrum
As a general rule, I’m a great admirer of the French. They have an effortless style, an endearing self-confidence, and a love of the…
The logic behind net zero
Tony Abbott once said, ‘climate change is crap’. What he should have said was ‘catastrophic anthropogenic global warming is crap’,…
The climate moaners need to get some perspective from history
Greta Thunberg rejects all ideas of the enlightenment. Despite what she wails, she is now living in the best times…
New Jersey’s nothingburger governor underperforms
By removing Donald Trump from social media and New York governor Andrew Cuomo from office, progressives unwittingly gave an opening…
I’m with Durr: trucker who spent $153 on campaign could be new NJ Senate president
Think of a newcomer who delivered a shock upset against an establishment insider and triggered a political earthquake. No, not…
Where is the climate plan B?
The COP26 summit is unlikely to be an outright flop. There has been no shortage of drama, with speakersseeming to…
I failed my country at COP
I’m on my way to Glasgow for COP26. It’s the first time I have been abroad since before Covid. Conveniently…
Kiwi Life
Lorde vs Lana People who live in glass houses really shouldn’t get changed with the lights on. Doubly so, one…
Saint Jacinda backs a two-tier society
For many so-called liberals, Jacinda Ardern seemed to be the perfect premier. Warm, empathetic, progressive, above all – moderate –…
Vaping: one policy the Kiwis have got right
The Asia Pacific region has been split in two as to how to best deal with vaping. No bigger is…
Insufficient intent
To tell you the truth, I lost interest in Aussie rules football some time ago. My team is into a…
Gladys & the ICAC porn
The daily revelations at the Independent Commission Against Corruption in New South Wales are providing satisfying sport for those who…
At the fork in the road, the High Court took the low road
There is a story from the Cold War that may be apocryphal but deserves to be true. It’s difficult enough…
Twiggy’s fugitive gas
Renewables are so yesterday. It’s now all about hydrogen. But not just any hydrogen – it has to be green…
Lessons from Loudoun County
By the time you read this the result of Virginia’s gubernatorial election will be known. It is not known as…
Make me Covid Lord High Executioner, please
In Gilbert and Sullivan’s opera The Mikado, the character Ko-Ko is appointed to the position of Lord High Executioner. He…
The Petrovsky Affair
Professor Nikolai Petrovsky has just developed Australia’s first successful vaccine in 40 years. In any approximation of a normal world,…
Sorry, that’s not a holocaust
If you have heard anything about Dave Chappelle’s latest comedy special on Netflix, The Closer, it’s most likely the accusations…
Climate doom is harming the young
The Satanists came out to play in Noosa last week on Hallowe’en, staging a Black Mass at the Surf Club…
The Crucible
Sometimes you think the Apocalypse doesn’t go away. It just takes new and frightful forms. No sooner was the lockdown…
Keith Michell
So the lockdowns end, even in Melbourne, and we get a glimpse of what artistic performance may loom in a…
Bob Dylan
Only in Australia and perhaps only in Sydney, that cradle of the cons and the jailers, the Rum Corps and…
Maggie Smith
And so we look like being able to see live performance again in the two biggest cities in Australia: Sydney…
New tactics are needed for the wars of the future
The strategic bankruptcy of the West has twice so far this century demanded that our brave soldiers risk their bodies…
Life’s dark side: the catastrophic world of Stephen Crane
Long before Ernest Hemingway wasted his late career playing the he-man on battlefields and in fishing boats, or Norman Mailer…
Use it or lose it: has the public library had its day?
I write this in a garret a few doors down from the public library in Muswell Hill, north London. It…
Andrew Mitchell relives the agony of Plebgate
Andrew Mitchell, as he readily admits, was born into the British Establishment. Almost from birth, his path was marked out:…
Mass hysteria in Massachusetts: the 17th-century witch crisis in America
One September day in 1649, in the frontier town of Springfield, Massachusetts, Anthony Dorchester returned from church to the house…
It’s the fisherman who’s truly hooked
Trying to catch fish with rod and line is a pursuit that, for many, goes far beyond the pleasant passing…
The revival of the blacksmith’s craft — a new generation goes at it hammer and tongs
At Intelligent Life, the Economistmagazine where I worked for some years, it was easy to feel intellectually challenged. Even the…
Bright, beautiful and deceptively simple: the art of the linocut
In the 1920s the linocut broke out of the schoolroom and on to gallery walls. Here was a democratic new…
