A tale of two rallies: freedom vs teachers
I’m not a person who has ever attended rallies or protests. Over the years, the most interest I could muster…
Will the US welcome a new president in 2022?
Over a year ago, I wrote that no Democrat voted ‘for Biden’ – they voted ‘for anyone but Trump’. Only…
Major parties 2: Democracy 0
The Liberal Party has won a ruling from the Australian Electoral Commission to force the increasingly popular minor party, the…
What about faith? A Christmas letter to the Prime Minister
It is encouraging to hear that our Prime Minister has resolved to protect the expression of honestly held religious beliefs…
Comparing Pearl Harbor and the Darwin Raids 80 years on
Pearl Harbor is often compared to the Darwin attack but the similarities are very few. Although both were ‘surprise’ initial…
Josh Frydenberg: the man who would be king
He’s the man who would be king, but Josh Frydenberg originally wanted to be a tennis pro rather than a…
'Not an organ donor anymore' trends after vaccine mandate
#NotAnOrganDonorAnymore has been trending on social media for the last few days after Australians began taking themselves off the organ…
The electric highway – a ‘fuelish’ policy
Scott Morrison has had another green brainwave – spend a zillion dollars to build Australia’s electric/hydrogen highway. Naturally, this ‘Fuelish…
The three problems facing Boris Johnson
Boris Johnson may be celebrating the birth of a baby daughter but that doesn’t mean the pressure on him is…
Jussie Smollett and the rise of American hate hoaxing
So Jussie Smollett, the world’s most notorious hate hoaxer, has at last been found guilty of lying to the police. …
China is right to laugh at the west
Signs of the enervating weakness of the west’s governing elites aren’t that hard to find but the case of the…
The rise of the second-string left
If a recent Scientific American opinion piece purporting to explain how growing opposition to critical race theory damages public education…
Decline and fall of New Zealand
As some readers of this fine weekly will know, my family and I spent eleven wonderful years living and working…
Saint Jacinda's war on fags
It is a curious irony that the West’s leading progressive icon is probably the most authoritarian leader in the free world…
Kiwi Life
A government in jackboots A recent headline echoes the current mood of this now fed-up country, with Sir Russell Coutts,…
He Puapua?
Now why on earth why would the New Zealand government, dominated by the far-left Prime Minister, Jacinda Ardern, produce a…
Decline and fall of New Zealand
As some readers of this fine weekly will know, my family and I spent eleven wonderful years living and working…
The tide’s gone out
‘Only when the tide goes out do you discover who’s been swimming naked’. It’s one of my favourite sayings from…
Business/Robbery, etc.
‘Chaos’, said the headlines. ‘Revolts on the left and the right’, along with ministerial and backbench departures, both voluntary and…
Are the kids OK?
On Sunday, Ben Madgen who plays football for Southeast Melbourne Phoenix tweeted that he ‘ended up in the emergency room…
Last rights
Fraud is an intrinsic and disgraceful part of the Australian electoral system. If our credit card or registered mail systems…
High courts and misdemeanours
The latest forensic disaster, in which one of Australia’s most respected forensic scientists, Kirsty Wright, laid out the serious errors…
Pork-barrelling: the real reason to be in politics
When it comes to parliamentary question time, I hold an equivocal position. On the one hand, I feel I should…
China’s behaviour demands a boycott of the Winter Olympics
First it was former prime minister, Paul Keating, telling us that Australia has no interest in defending the democratic freedoms…
Jane Campion
A new film by Jane Campion is always going to be a magnetsing prospect and the idea of it suddenly…
Nitram
Nitram is the Martin Bryant film which sent shivers down everyone’s spine at the mere prospect. Justin Kurzel’s film about…
As You Like It
As You Like It is middle Shakespeare, probably lateish 1590s. It’s not one of the earlier happy comedies like the…
Don’t forget the motor city
Detroit is the only American city where I always felt uneasy. Even the cops look at you as if you…
Children’s books for all ages: the best of 2021
She’s done it again: J.K. Rowling has written a captivating children’s book. The Christmas Pig(Little Brown, £20) is about a…
A book trade romp: Sour Grapes, by Dan Rhodes, reviewed
Dan Rhodes’s career might be regarded as an object lesson in How Not to Get Ahead in Publishing. Our man…
Has nostalgia become the Greeks’ national disease?
Imagine a new take on the Greek myth of Pygmalion. A love-shy artist makes a woman out of marble who…
The 17th-century Huron chief Kondiaronk can still teach us valuable lessons
Ten years ago, David Graeber was a leading figure of the Occupy Wall Street movement. He and his fellow protesters…
Lost in the fog: The Fell, by Sarah Moss, reviewed
Novelists are leery about letting the buzzwords of recent history into their books. The immediate past threatens to upstage the…
Richard Needham takes a businesslike attitude to the Troubles
This memoir from Sir Richard Needham, 6th Earl of Kilmorey, businessman and former Northern Ireland minister, has a frank opening:…
Father Christmas battles through the Blitz
When the shrill air raid sirens blared their familiar warning cries over the city at 6.01 p.m. on 29 December…
Culture clash: Things We Don’t Tell the People We Love, by Huma Qureshi, reviewed
Apart from what the title tells us, these stories are about a fundamental difference in cultures. Huma Qureshi writes like…
