A Newspoll tick, but Daniel Andrews is still bottom of the class
America’s wildfires: products of the policies that left us so badly burnt
First Australia in the first months of the year — and now the western parts of the United States. Australian…
New health advice from Victoria: get stoned
If you are a Victorian who has never tried illegal drugs, now might be a good time to start. Get…
More great jobs news from Victoria
There’s yet more evidence out today from the Bureau of Statistics that instead of #IstandwithDan, the hashtag should read #IstandinaqueueatCentrelinkthankstoDan.…
Celebrity pollies and turncoats may flame in – but most simply flameout
No-one could accuse Senator Kristina Keneally of being a turncoat, but a political ‘celebrity’? I reckon she’d settle for that. …
A Newspoll tick, but Daniel Andrews is still bottom of the class
There’s been much buzz this morning around the Newspoll in The Australian which shows 62 per cent of Victorian voters…
Daniel Andrews’ indefinite detention plans – and yet more questions
The lack of specificity in the Covid-19 Omnibus (Emergency Measures) Bill raises critical questions on which the Bill is mute…
The danger of following the experts
People should be wary of politicians justifying their actions in terms of “following the experts.” Victorians are learning that lesson…
Replacing RBG – much ado about the same thing
Aren’t the Democrats hoping to win the Presidency so they can nominate a left-sympathiser judge to the vacancy on the…
The dangers of a Covid ‘elimination’ policy
It’s understandable that, in a crisis, politicians reach for wartime metaphors – but they don’t always fit. There was the…
How environmentalists destroyed California’s forests
I believe it was John Fremont who once exclaimed in astonishment and pride that one could ride his horse at…
Five questions for Chris Whitty and Patrick Vallance
The chief medical officer, professor Chris Whitty, and chief scientific adviser, Sir Patrick Vallance, made a statement this morning on…
Is Covid really rising in Spain? A look at the data
In a press briefing today Professors Chris Whitty and Patrick Vallance showed epidemic curves for Spain and France — demonstrating…
Has Sweden really pulled it off?
Those who question Australia’s official coronavirus narrative are met with the dismissive retort: Australia with 25 million people has 770…
The rise of the bureaucrats
Victorians seem to have accepted the need for their extended Covid lockdown, which has been the longest and harshest anywhere…
The ABC’s democracy deficit
‘The fires. The virus. The crisis,’ intones the ad in the weekly rural paper. ‘Imagine them without the ABC.’ One…
Virtual reality check
There is an old joke that a geologist, a physicist and an economist are marooned on a desert island with…
The Melbourne disease
Alas, Australia’s sad little secret is out. If we ever were a nation of larrikins, we are no longer. Larrikin…
Business/Robbery etc.
Rio Tinto’s ‘cave-in’: a major boost to shareholder activism A triumph of shareholder activism in a good cause – or…
Once upon a time there was a wicked virus…
Australia’s political class is bewitched, bothered and bewildered by a fairy tale. It goes like this: Once upon a time,…
Remembering the Greatest
‘You don’t have it!’ Muhammad Ali bellowed at Joe Frazier as his rival clambered into the ring and made his…
Sheku Kanneh-Mason
The world became aware of Sheku Kanneh-Mason when he played the cello at the wedding of Harry and Meghan Sussex…
Cynical Theories
They are possibly the most politically incorrect authors in the world. And they have universities squarely in their sights. Helen…
Angus Cerini
No longer confined to the digital space, the Australian Chamber Orchestra is returning to the platform in City Recital Hall…
Paul Newton
Things are starting to happen culturally, at least outside of Victoria. Sydney’s Belvoir St Theatre is rehearsing a play to…
City of dazzling mosaics: the golden age of Ravenna
When we refer to someone as ‘Byzantine’ we usually mean guileful or too complicated and labyrinthine in manner or speech.…
The Special Relationship was never very special
I have a book of essays from 1986 by a group of British and American scholars called The Special Relationship.…
A dazzling fable about loneliness: Piranesi, by Susanna Clarke, reviewed
Susanna Clarke is a member of the elite group of authors who don’t write enough. In 2004, the bestselling debut…
Bringing up Benzene: Charlie Gilmour adopts a magpie
One day a baby bird falls from its nest into an oily scrapyard in Bermondsey, south London and seems unlikely…
Family secrets: Love Orange, by Natasha Randall, reviewed
The line between obsession and addiction is as thin as rolling paper. Neither are simple and both stem from absence,…
When sexism was routine: the life of the female reporter in 1970s London
This book made me almost weep with nostalgia, but heaven knows what today’s snowflakes will make of it. Fleet Street…
Is Germany really such a role model?
The British romance with Germany has always been an on-off affair. At the turn of the century, Kaiser Bill enjoyed…
Eager for beavers : the case for their reintroduction
Conservationists are frequently criticised for focusing on glamorous species at the expense of others equally important but unluckily uglier —…