BOM-shell
Not content with changing historical data to protect the image of Climate Change (sorry ‘homogenising weather data and closing stations…
The rings have lost their power
Well, I can cancel my Amazon Prime subscription again. The last episode of The Rings of Power came out recently.…
Floods and droughts are nothing new
There is nothing unusual about floods, fires, droughts, homelessness, and hunger – they have always been part of the human…
NDIS: improvements that make things worse
Sometimes, when English is insufficient to describe a particular situation, we have to turn elsewhere. German has a terrifying phrase ‘verschlimmbesserung’ or…
Mount Warning banned! Which park will be next?
In June this year, the New South Wales ‘Liberal’ government announced plans to hand over control of all our NSW National Parks…
Rob Roos and Rowan Dean on the abuse of rights
The admission Dutch conservative member of the European Parliament, Rob Roos, dragged out of Pfizer representative Janine Small has thrown…
Australia’s dumbed-down schools are going nowhere
Over the last month, there have been yet another two initiatives designed, supposedly, to improve the performance of Australian schools,…
Dirty dependency: superannuation and ESG
Condemning those who have glued themselves to roads to create chaos, the (now former) UK Home Secretary Suella Braverman hit out…
Lessons have not been learned about child sex abuse
This week, the Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse (IICSA) published its long-awaited final report. It describes in harrowing detail…
The town John Fetterman ran is in ruins
Americans concerned about the economy — once again voters’ top priority — are turning their backs on the left. “Democrats’ momentum…
Will Boris get the numbers he needs?
The question on everyone’s lips tonight is whether Boris Johnson can get 100 MP nominations by Monday. This is the…
A bluffer’s guide to (yet another) Tory leadership race
Here we go again – another leadership contest, another round of intense Westminster blather. Lightweight would-be commentators may feel their…
New Zealand’s pandemic science is cracking up
For the best part of a year, Kiwis were urged to get vaccinated to protect their families. However, this week’s…
Jacinda & Ursula
Looking at the problematic behaviour of both the President of the European Union and New Zealand’s Prime Minister, I’m struck…
Tyranny’s higher education production line
Reflecting on Jacinda Ardern’s recent attack on free speech at the United Nations, British pundit Brendan O’Neill astutely declared that…
Shadows over New Zealand
Not only have we seen the passing of a universally admired and much-loved woman who, as Queen Elizabeth, dedicated her…
Best of times, worst of times
I almost never sign group letters or put my name to group efforts aimed at correcting some governmental or administrative…
Bursting the bubble
In complex and chaotic times, our reliance on ‘sensemaking’ institutions is greater than ever. Media and academic institutions are at…
A real tipping point
Climate catastrophists are very keen to talk about tipping points. So let me steal their thunder and talk about the…
Elon, meet Paul
Xi Jinping, expected to be installed as the General Secretary of the Chinese Communist Party for a third term this…
Adrift in a Hobbesian world
It is a safe bet that Sir Robert Menzies would be deeply disturbed by the latest amendments to the national…
Gillard’s guilt
It is a terrible shame the chief legacy of our first female prime minister seems to be her so-called ‘misogyny…
Nord Stream whodunnit
Moscow blames hostile actors for last month’s underwater explosions that blew up the Nord Stream pipelines connecting it to Germany.…
The media and the Constitution
After the 2016 presidential elections, it became obvious that the US mainstream media had abandoned its vocation of being both…
One night in a Gentlemen’s Club
How fascinating it is to see that Australia’s Brendan Cowell is playing John Proctor in the new English National Theatre…
Swerves of warmth and coolness
One of the great things about the Australian Ballet’s Romeo and Juliet is that the kids love it. Even the…
A sapphic rom-com not to be missed
What a relief it is that Virginia Gay’s adaptation of Rostand’s Cyrano de Bergerac should finally have opened in Sarah…
Footy versus ballet?
All the different aspects of a culture collide and interconnect. Melbourne is the undisputed capital of Australian rules football (which…
A cinematic offer we could not refuse
Francis Ford Coppola’s superb film The Godfather changed American cinema and, by extension, American culture. The film had it all:…
The rocky path to Christian dominance in Europe
Mutilated, strangled, suffocated or beaten to death: these are just some of the methods used to get rid of popes…
Was Mussolini’s wilful daughter his éminence grise?
In 1930, when she was 19 years old, Edda Mussolini married Galeazzo Ciano. His father was a loyal minister in…
Why Ronald Blythe is so revered
Ronald Blythe, the celebrated author of Akenfield, is to turn 100 next month, and to mark his centenary a beguiling…
Artistic achievements that changed the world
‘Astonish me!’ was the celebrated demand that the impresario Sergei Diaghilev made of Jean Cocteau when he was devising Erik…
Horribly described sex: The Last Chairlift, by John Irving, reviewed
Some time ago I was a guest at a book festival in France where we were invited to dinner in…
Mitfordian mischief: Darling, by India Knight, reviewed
It takes chutzpah to tackle a national treasure as jealously loved and gatekept as Nancy Mitford’s The Pursuit of Love.…
We love you, Uncle Xi!
In 2015, I had lunch with an old chum of Xi Jinping. He described how China’s most powerful leader since…