Governments might refuse to acknowledge the devastation of lockdown, but the top end of town is talking
All deaths are equal, but some are more equal than others – part two
The conclusion to a two-piece article. About 10.1mn people are estimated to have died from all causes in India in 2020, and…
Compelling children to wear masks
Should small children and even teenagers be compelled to wear masks against the Coronavirus variants? Given the pandemic in the…
Laurel Hubbard? No thank you
The footage today of three of the strongest women in the world politely declining to comment on the entrance of a male into their sport…
Governments might refuse to acknowledge the devastation of lockdown, but the top end of town is talking
One would be hard-pressed to find many silver linings as millions of Australians endured further lockdowns in July, but the admission by many business…
All deaths are equal, but some are more equal than others
Part one of a two-piece article. From the start, those sceptical of lockdowns for managing the coronavirus pandemic have offered three complementary…
Covid and the new class divides
I fought class identity for most of my life. For some reason, I believed it was something that held people…
No Newspoll? Don’t worry, political junkies. You can still get your Essential fix
Political junkies hanging out for a Newspoll yesterday or today have been disappointed, but won’t need to go completely cold…
Seven reasons why Scott Morrison is likely to lose the next election
Hello August 2021, that disappointing sequel to 2020. Or perhaps we’re actually in the 20th month of 2020 – Augustember.…
Why Iran is stepping up its maritime piracy
On Tuesday there was an attempted hijacking of a tanker in the Gulf of Oman. According to the UK Maritime…
UK moves towards child vaccination
It’s been confirmed today that those aged 16 and 17 in the UK are on course to be offered Covid vaccines within…
Why is the EU attending the butcher of Tehran’s inauguration?
At the beginning of the year Donald Trump’s Secretary of State, Mike Pompeo, was forced to hastily cancel a diplomatic…
What kind of empire is China building?
As Britain’s small fleet, headed by HMS Queen Elizabeth, cruises towards the South China Sea, there remains a question over…
Compelling children to wear masks
Should small children and even teenagers be compelled to wear masks against the Coronavirus variants? Given the pandemic in the…
Laurel Hubbard? No thank you
The footage today of three of the strongest women in the world politely declining to comment on the entrance of a male into their sport…
Is it fair for Laurel Hubbard to compete against women?
Today, the conversation about transgender rights and the interests of women turns to sport. At the Olympic Games, Laurel Hubbard…
New Zealanders are revolting against Ardern
Thousands of tractors this recent week lined the streets of towns and cities throughout the country. In ‘The Howl of…
The strange case of Covid-19
The responses to Covid-19 by rich countries across the world include some strange and inexplicable events. In the face of…
Waging the war on Covid
New South Wales Premier Gladys Berejiklian made headlines around the world this week when she put soldiers on the streets…
Business/Robbery, etc.
A (temporary) triumph of political reality over economic principle as the Morrison government seeks to avoid a very loseable electorally…
Is Grattan. Is Good.
Reform is one of those terms that means different things to different people. The dictionary definition talks about changes and…
Hart was right
For my day job I’m a law professor, having been a lawyer in London and Toronto way back in the…
True lies
The best form of gossip is always laced with the truth. It’s the same with active measures (AM) used to…
The People vs the Privileged
The long line of red lights stretching into the darkness ahead of me is a familiar sight. I am on…
No longer creative destruction
No longer, as Shakespeare might have said, ‘this other Eden, demi-paradise,’ a land of gradually advancing prosperity, based on liberty,…
Rose Byrne
‘Unemployed at last!’ That wonderful bit of national self-mockery that opens the classic Australian novel Such is Life takes on…
John Mortimer & Leo McKern
What earthly guarantee do we have that live performance is going to be a viable option for Sydney or Melbourne…
The Greeks
What a time of captivity, what a time of plague. The Disney musical Frozen, long delayed by the mammoth Melbourne…
Martin Clunes
Just as the lockdown imprisons the people of Sydney those in Canberra have had the chance to see that exhilaration…
Death and dishonour: The Promise, by Damon Galgut, reviewed
If death is not an event in life, as Wittgenstein observed, it’s a curious way to structure a novel. But…
Why do anglers get so hooked?
The other day a friend asked me what a lascar was. Fair enough: it’s not a word you come across…
What is the secret of Duran Duran’s durability?
In my second year at secondary school we were all deeply envious of a girl named Judi Taylor because, obviously,…
The disappearing man: who was the real John Stonehouse?
November 1974 was the month to disappear. On the 7th, Lord Lucan went missing, and a fortnight later John Stonehouse…
Prehistoric footprints in Norfolk set us wondering
During the first lockdown last year, taking my lockdown puppy for our Boris-sanctioned daily walks, I discovered a love of…
The book as narrator: The Pages, by Hugo Hamilton, reviewed
It is a truism that a book needs readers in order to have a meaningful existence. Hugo Hamilton’s The Pages…
On the run from the Nazis: a Polish family’s protracted ordeal
Writers of memoirs are often praised for their honesty — but how do we know? I found I did believe…
Foucault was shielded from scandal by French reverence for intellectuals
Consider the hare and the hyena. The hare, Clement of Alexandria told readers of his 2nd-century sexual self-help manual Paedagogus,…
