Fight to win or don’t fight at all
How to survive coronavirus? Duck and cover
Not content with her discovery of the elusive “pizza box” strain of coronavirus, South Australia’s chief public health officer Nicola…
Why we’re slipping behind in the world game
Soccer is one of the most popular amateur sports in Australia. Out of the shadow of Covid-19, we’re expecting a…
The ABC does a Billy Snedden
The late Liberal leader Billy Snedden is well-known for his declaration after the 1974 election “We were not beaten. We…
Marxism has taken over Christianity
Australia cannot ignore reality any longer: an unhealthy relationship has formed between Marxist activism and the Christian church. Whether it…
The fantasy prediction of 510,00 deaths
In the evidence he gave to the British parliament on 26 May, Boris Johnson’s former chief of staff Dominic Cummings…
ABC 7.30: ‘Underwhelming – on any measure’
High paid ABC TV current affairs presenter, Leigh Sales, likes nothing more than rattling off carefully compiled, pre-prepared questions to…
Is this really about Israel?
The reignition of Israeli-Palestinian conflict was as inevitable as it is tragic. Following the prompts of mainstream media, the world’s…
Fight to win or don’t fight at all
Here are a few quick thoughts on the Christian Porter saga. First, though, let me say bluntly what regular SpecOz…
What happens now that Rhodes didn't fall?
Oriel College, Oxford’s decision to retain the statue of Cecil Rhodes has generated the usual voluminous fury. It has also shown it…
Watch: Keir Starmer refuses to deny taking drugs at university
Keir Starmer’s appearance on Piers Morgan’s ‘Life Stories’ is a sign of desperation. The Labour leader knows he must do…
Netanyahu's departure would be good news for Israel
Time is running out for Bibi Netanyahu. In the next couple of days, the fate of Israel’s next government will…
A shakedown in Tulsa
Cockburn was vaguely aware that yesterday, May 31, marked the centenary of one of America’s darker episodes, the ‘Tulsa Race…
Scott Morrison must remind Jacinda Ardern who her real friends are
If, to borrow Paul Keating’s description, Australia is the arse end of the world, New Zealand is the arse end…
Once were a democracy
There is no doubt New Zealand’s democracy is now under aggressive attack by the small minority of those of part-Maori…
The fight for New Zealand is now underway
In spite of government opposition, a radical report proposing destroying New Zealand’s democracy, unintelligibly called He Puapua (let’s not give…
A novel approach to New Zealand’s wine
The last Saturday of lockdown — inshallah — and we were discussing literature. Specifically, when does a detective story become…
The Rorting Twenties
We are now in the rorting Twenties. Wealth is being concentrated among a few global billionaire elites and large companies…
So have the Republicans really turned away from Trump?
Anyone listening to Washington insiders (by which I include the New York Times, the Washington Post, CNN, the usual gaggle…
Business/Robbery, etc.
Trust the Japs, but not the Poms. As Britain leads the way as chair and initiator of the latest G7…
Gazillionaires welcome
Have you heard the latest rumour? Larry Page of Google fame and gazillionaire is now the proud holder of an…
Fauci reads and reaps the political wind
Americans’ trust in public health institutions has slipped from over 80 to 52 per cent since the start of the…
Putting the West last
When Dr John Snow identified a Soho well as the source of a lethal cholera outbreak in London in 1854,…
The lies of euthanasia
The edifice of public support for euthanasia is built on a lie, that people know what they might want in…
Let’s hope it’s the Argentinian & not the Venezuelan model
With a handful of exceptions, today’s politicians seem determined to ensure that Australia never achieves its potential but instead declines…
Macbeth
It’s an extraordinary thing that a director of Bruce Beresford’s reputation should be directing for Melbourne Opera until you remember…
Brett Whiteley : Drawing is Everything (31 July – 31 Oct)
Demonstrating excellent timing, the Bendigo Art Gallery has announced a major exhibition Brett Whiteley : Drawing is Everything (31 July…
The Dry
It’s a hard thing, harder than it should be, to film a detective story. Is Billy Wilder’s version of Agatha…
Sydney Symphony Orchestra concert series
Last weekend’s sports pages told us that ‘the crowds have not yet been flocking back to the footy with pre-pandemic…
An orange or an egg? Determining the shape of the world
Thirty-two years ago the young Nicholas Crane, who would go on to become one of England’s most esteemed television geographers,…
Waiting for Gödel is over: the reclusive genius emerges from the shadows
The 20th-century Austrian mathematician Kurt Gödel did his level best to live in the world as his philosophical hero Gottfried…
A draining experience: Insignificance, by James Clammer, reviewed
Spare a thought for the white van man. It’s not yet nine on a summer’s morning and already Joseph, a…
The empire that sprang from nowhere under the banner of Islam
When the British formed the basis of their empire in the 1600s by acquiring territories in India and North America,…
Brave new virtual world: The Startup Wife, by Tahmima Anam, reviewed
Welcome to Utopia — not an idyllic arcadia but a secretive tech incubator in a Manhattan office block. Here a…
Russian memoirs are prone to a particular form of angst
Perhaps the secret to understanding Russian history lies in its grammar: it lacks a pluperfect tense. In Latin, English and…
The foghorn’s haunting hoot is a sad loss
Halfway through what must count as one of the more esoteric quests, Jennifer Lucy Allan finds herself on a hill…
An impossible guest: Second Place, by Rachel Cusk, reviewed
A great writer must be prepared to risk ridiculousness — not ridicule, although that may follow, but the possibility that…
