Desperate Dan is ditching democracy
Melbourne University’s attack on freedom, on women – and itself
Melbourne University has warned staff teaching a course on feminism they must not say anything that could cause harm to…
High noon for academic freedom at the High Court
The views expressed in this piece are those of the author and do not necessarily represent the views of Curtin…
Sing me a ditty about Palestine
There is something profoundly disturbing and morally challenging in the way many view the Israel-Palestine conflict. The chant “from the river to the…
The Australian public dis-service: part II
On Monday, I wrote in these august pages about the lack of economic reform in Australia being a function of both poor quality…
A great badness is abroad
I was recently contacted by a highly intelligent woman whose granddaughter came home from school very upset about things she…
Desperate Dan is ditching democracy
It seems that the Victorian Labor government has become fed up with having to operate in a parliamentary democracy. The Age reports…
When’s Four Corners coming for Alfred Deakin?
When is Four Corners coming for Alfred Deakin? He’s been dead for 102 years so can’t sue, surely an advantage…
The western world’s elites conspire to outlaw cheap energy
Aspirations of the “have nots” or “have too littles” have, through their elected representatives brought an inexorable growth in the…
Identity crisis: how the politics of race will wreck America
The American experiment is fragile. It has always been fragile and always will be fragile because it is so extremely…
Brexit, lockdown and the fracturing of British politics
Is our society becoming less tolerant and more viscerally tribal? Or is our politics provoking people into committing more angry…
Why the Biden-Putin summit wasn't a waste of time
The meeting between U.S. president Joe Biden and Russian president Vladimir Putin in Geneva started cordially enough. A quick handshake, toothy smiles…
Rishi Sunak: I'm a fiscal Conservative (unlike Boris)
When Rishi Sunak told Andrew Neil this evening that he had his eyes on the future, he was ostensibly talking…
A great badness is abroad
I was recently contacted by a highly intelligent woman whose granddaughter came home from school very upset about things she…
Kiwi Life
Of the various little stories about the rather wonderful Joni Mitchell in her early years, my favourite concerns Leonard Cohen.…
Kiwi Language
A friend of mine recently sent me a notice from a big law firm announcing the introduction of ‘Gender Affirmation…
While we were sleeping, New Zealand has lost a democracy
Jacinda Ardern believes New Zealand will become a republic. It’s all right, though, because she’s not in a hurry. But…
Fables of the Dark Emu
With the power of the ABC’s propaganda unit behind it, Dark Emu, by the self-proclaimed Aboriginal historian Bruce Pascoe sold…
Digital revolt & anarchy in the air
Comedian Kitty Flanagan suffered a discombobulating start to her new national tour in Noosa recently, during a riff on how…
Don’t cheer for NSW
The Berejiklian government in New South Wales is rightly patted on the back for its mature approach to the management…
Pravda rides again
In the West today we can see that a once free press is voluntarily becoming unfree. Or such is the…
The Last Emperor
As Australians now know, hell hath no fury like a dictator scorned. They have learned the hard way that Canberra’s…
Black Parents Matter
You are probably familiar with the concept of parenthood. It denotes a certain set of responsibilities in relation to a…
Abbott’s leadership
We do, indeed, live in strange times. Not so long ago, the thought that I would be nodding in agreement…
Covid’s warped vaccines
Samuel Langley, the inventor of a catastrophically incompetent ‘flying’ machine is a striking example of governments picking losers. When his…
Andrea Riseborough
National Treasure is a remarkable piece of TV drama, and it looks for a long, bewildering moment like a masterpiece.…
King Kong at Universal Studio in Hollywood before the fire
Two weeks ago, a fire broke out at the Universal Studios in Hollywood, 13 years to the day after another…
Dylan
Bob Dylan turned 80 the other week. Does that seem to consign not just the vanished twentieth century but the…
Festival music in Townsville
For those music lovers who can travel, the prospect of a festival in Townsville in mid-winter is an alluring one.…
The scandal of OxyContin, the painkiller that caused untold pain
Last week I was staying in a cool hotel in the middle of San Francisco. When I walked out to…
Brightest of the Bright Young People: the rich, rackety life of Cecil Beaton
In December 1979, the 28-year-old Hugo Vickers, dining with a friend, declared: ‘I see little point to life these days.’…
A smart take on literary London: Dead Souls, by Sam Riviere, reviewed
Sam Riviere has established himself as a seriously good poet who doesn’t take himself too seriously: his first collection, 81…
Robert Thompson’s memoir is worth reading for the ‘Fairport years’ alone
One of the more surreal conversations I have had with a musical hero of mine came in 2017 when I…
The difficulty of building heaven on Earth: why utopias usually fail
The years after the first world war were a boom time for utopian communities. As the survivors of the conflict…
Mothers and daughters: I Couldn’t Love You More, by Esther Freud, reviewed
A new novel by Esther Freud — her ninth — raises the perennial but always fascinating question about the use…
Death by negligence: why did no one diagnose my sister’s TB?
In 2016, Arifa Akbar’s elder sister, Fauzia, died suddenly in the Royal Free Hospital, London at the age of 45.…
Journey to the Moon: The Things We’ve Seen, by Agustín Fernández Mallo, reviewed
‘Peace — slept for 14 hours. The roar of the sea slashing the rocks — is there any more soothing…
