Ten reasons why climate catastrophists need to cool down
If we are to believe the hype, then human civilisation as we know it is on the brink of extinction.…
Scrap the family law inquiry, Greens? Hell no!
On Monday, Larissa Waters moved a motion calling for the abandonment of the Family Law Inquiry. She posted on her…
Let sport be sport — and sod the Chinese cash
Sport used to be one of the last institutions that could transcend all the divisions in society – at least…
It’s not just Ellen. The left will now decide your friends
According to Age columnist, Robert Moran, progressives will now choose our friends. We don’t have to worry about making friends…
Menzies to Morrison: the master to the miracle-worker
This week the Liberal Party of Australia turns 75. And like most milestones, it encourages a bit of reflection. In…
Forget Extinction Rebellion, how about an earth history education revolution?
We don’t need rowdy Extinction Rebellions on our streets. We need education on extinctions in our science academies, classrooms and…
What confidential talking points?
As everyone and their dog knows, the Prime Minister’s media office mistakenly sent today’s official confidential Coalition talking points to,…
Ita fails the ABC of race relations
ABC chair Ita Buttrose laments that the Australian media landscape is “too white” and not representative of our multicultural society.…
Did anyone take today’s Queen’s Speech seriously?
If today’s Queen’s Speech was meant to offer a preview of what the next general election and life after it…
Andrew Yang is 2020’s ad blocker candidate
Every so often, a political candidate rises to the fore fueled by the grievances of people who are seriously annoyed.…
The biggest risk with Boris Johnson’s Queen’s Speech
This is more an election manifesto launch than a conventional Queen’s Speech, because Boris Johnson simply does not have the numbers in…
Could Boris Johnson win an election but lose his seat?
Is Boris safe in Uxbridge? The Lib Dems have an eye on the Prime Minister’s 5000 vote majority and their…
2018 Thawley Essay prize runner-up
At the time of writing, December 2020, the #newedition movement can be considered a truly global phenomenon. As it sets…
Eat the activists
I have a modest proposal. Lately, there have been some commendable if flawed solutions put forward to deal with the…
Letter to Greta
Dear Greta, You should feel very proud of yourself. Your crusade against Climate Warming has taken you into the homes…
Off with his head!
The President of the United States is a sort of elected monarch, which is why the office itself is imbued…
All the dumb things
‘Gee our schools are good!’ a friend once said. ‘By the time our kids are 12, they know everything!’ No…
Recognising China (for what it is)
Scott Morrison’s recent speech to the Lowy Institute was the most important prime ministerial foreign policy announcement in some years.…
Coyote and Road Runner
The biggest news story for years has been a real-life depiction of those classic cartoons, Coyote and Road Runner. In…
Turmoil in the Anglosphere
Well, there’s certainly a fair bit of action coming out of Canada, Britain and the US these days. In my…
Anna Karenina
Tolstoy’s most fascinating character, Anna Karenina clearly fascinates David McAllister who has recently announced his 20th and final season as…
Violins of the ACO with Richard Tognetti
Every year is a year of anniversaries, not least 2020 with the 250th anniversary of Captain Cook’s voyage along the…
See You at the Toxteth
The Toxteth is a hotel on Glebe Point Road in Sydney. Cliff Hardy probably called it a pub. Hardy was…
In Vogue
A kangaroo on the beach with a model was the unsubtle cover of Vogue in December 1965. It will be…
Three remarkable sisters at the heart of 20th-century Chinese politics
In their lifetime, and afterwards, the Soong sisters from Shanghai seemed like figures from a Chinese fairy tale. There were…
David Cameron’s For the Record ends where the sorriest three years in modern British history begins
It’s fun to look for what’s missing in a memoir; the forgotten egos, the policy howlers buried for posterity. Some…
A work of art in more ways than one
Neil Hegarty’s new novel, The Jewel, is a mass of contradictions. It’s about an art heist, but it’s not fun.…
Living on a nuclear submarine does your head in
Richard Humphreys spent a good part of five years, between the ages of 18 and 23, living inside a nuclear…
Oswald of Northumbria – an Anglo-Saxon saint-king of the north for our time
In Hamlet a gravedigger asks the riddle: ‘What is he that builds stronger than either the mason, the shipwright, or…
Gilgamesh, Michael Schmidt’s ‘life’ of a poem
In the mid-19th century, around lunchtime, a pale young man with an enormous beard could be seen in the British…
A thought-provoking work of ‘moral atonement’ and ‘comparative redemption’
No nation’s defeat is ever quite straight-forward, and sometimes downfall can bring its own kind of posthumous victory. By the…
Betrayal in Berlin – a small but important part of the Cold War story
The Berlin Tunnel was an Anglo-American eavesdropping operation mounted against Russian-controlled East Berlin in 1955–56. It was a technical and…