Sco Mo, the Chamberlain of the culture wars
The reef is fine but academic freedom remains in peril
The first images I saw of the Great Barrier Reef were in 1980s television news reports warning that the crown-of-thorns…
The Greens: we’re washed up
Can I interest anyone in a festive tea-towel? The Australian Greens are flogging a new range optimistically titled ‘legends’ featuring…
The Greens: we want to change the world, so let’s first get stoned
I hate to admit it, but there seems little point trying to hide the obvious. We’re losing the war on…
Andrew Bolt drives the Mad F–king Witches madder still
Only a small handful of people can trigger the Mad F***ing Witches. Rupert Murdoch, is up there, obviously. Ditto most ‘conservative white…
Annastacia Palaszczuk’s arrogant Twits
A Twitter incident from Wednesday last week reveals a few interesting things about the Queensland state government and modern politics…
Their ABC presents: Jimmy Barnes, the China expert of the Largs Piers Hotel
Jimmy Barnes is better known for his screaming than for his expertise on foreign affairs which, of course, makes him…
The compelling case for replacing stamp duty
Grey-haired Australians can sit on their porches and yell at lawn-trespassers to their heart’s content. But they need to stop…
What’s the magic word, Lidia? Justice?
As any toddler will tell you, there’s usually a way to get what you want. There’s a magic word to…
What does the different Covid data tell us?
In spite of the approval of one vaccine and the likely approval of at least two others, the government seems…
Brexit negotiations paused ahead of crunch talks
Those hoping for white smoke in the Brexit negotiations tonight will be left disappointed. After a week of intense negotiations,…
A Sudan-Israel peace deal could be Trump's crowning achievement
Twitter is not always kind to the Jewish state. But the peace accord between Israel, UAE and Bahrain that was…
France would be foolish to veto a Brexit deal
Britain and France are heading for an almighty bust-up over Brexit. This morning the French junior minister for European affairs,…
They are spitting in our face
Why are we so surprised and outraged by the recent behaviour of the Chinese government? A nation which can machine-gun…
Playing politics with mental health
As a psychiatrist working in the public sector, I was depressed to see that the Productivity Commission’s Inquiry Report into…
Bad trip, man
The 5 January runoff election for the last two vacant seats in the US Senate is a do-or-die affair for…
Scapegoating Trump for US Covid mess
The US presidential election was more a referendum on Donald Trump than a contest between him and Joe Biden. Trump’s…
Iran’s deadly diplomacy
Iran’s deadly diplomacy is no joke, even if it is prosecuted by blundering buffoons. The release of Dr Kylie Moore-Gilbert…
Dismissing Pearl
Contrary to claims in two articles by David Pearl in these pages (‘The demonisation of Sir John Kerr’ and ‘Dismiss…
Military madness
Why has the government, with the high command, effectively declared war on Australian soldiers who served in Afghanistan, including those…
Welcome to Boola Bardip
Are you a visionary leader capable of delivering a $180 million arts and culture precinct in Alice Springs? If so,…
Gary Garrels
Let me take you down the strange rabbit hole of contemporary art museum culture. The senior curator of painting and…
Richard Tognetti
There’s no doubt about the Australian Chamber Orchestra; full of confidence it is sailing into 2021 with its most ambitious…
The Queen’s Gambit
As the Covid virus recedes even from Victoria – and the South Australian scare proves less serious than it looked…
Eryn Jean Norvill
Normality is returning, bit by bit, to public entertainment.Apparently fifty thousand people can go to a football match, yelling themselves…
In the land of the blind
Carter William Page, born in 1971, is the former United States Navy officer with personal, business, scholarly and government connections…
Who killed Jane Britton in 1969?
The problem with telling stories about Harvard is that Harvard, if it teaches anything these days, teaches distrust of stories.…
No one ‘got’ the Sixties better than David Bailey
What caught my eye towards the end of Look Again was this conversation between David Bailey and the shoe designer…
Bright and beautiful: the year’s best art books reviewed
When he was a student, the celebrated American modernist master Robert Rauschenberg once told me that his ‘greatest teacher’ —…
The plight of the migrant: Crossed Lines, by Marie Darrieussecq, reviewed
‘We should be living in a brave country and on a brave planet that bravely distributes its occupants,’ thinks Rose…
The British Empire is now the subject on which the sun never sets
Wrestling with the history of the British Empire is the unfinished and unfinishable project of our history. Time’s Monster takes…
Roy Strong’s towering egotism is really rather engaging
There is nothing wrong with being self-invented. The most interesting people in the world designed themselves. And in this matter…
Blame game
Ah, millennials. Golden children of the Digital Age or dysfunctional, over-educated slackers? Bit of both, says Anne Helen Petersen, although…