Ah, Daniel Andrews, you've done it again
What about civics education?
The current review of the national Curriculum seems an almost covert operation, and neglects the pressing need to elevate Australian…
What’s wrong with a nice little bit of consensual kink?
Fifteen women have accused American singer and songwriter, Marilyn Manson of horrific sexual abuse. Manson has responded to the sexual abuse…
What Saint Valentine and Margaret Court have in common
The same people who revile Margaret Court will today celebrate Valentine’s Day, without even a hint of irony. Few will…
The new necessity for civil disobedience
The twenties are a difficult period for any century. We are no different, having reached the point where the stresses…
Daniel Andrews’ corona incompetents: name them
The Nine newspapers today contain an interview with the supposed “patient zero” of the latest Victorian quarantine disaster that my…
What’s woke this week?
Wokeworld really is a fairyland where all kinds of magical and amazing things happen. Its residents are the super-sensitive princesses…
How the left can’t let Trump die – while wishing death upon him
US media continues to be gripped by Trump derangement syndrome with Thursday’s New York Times breathlessly reporting a non-story about…
Ah, Daniel Andrews, you’ve done it again
Melbourne’s famed Brunetti’s pasticcerie turn out the most exquisite pastries and cakes, but their decor resembles that of a Las…
The Biden administration’s bad romance
In a modern romance reminiscent of the classics, two star-crossed lovers found one another on the fair 2020 campaign trail.…
Boris hits vaccine target – what happens next?
The government has good news to shout about this afternoon with ministers reaching their target of offering a first dose vaccine…
Why unconscious bias training doesn't work
It’s hard not to feel a bit sorry for Bill Michael, who recently resigned as UK boss of KPMG. While he…
Will Iron Felix scare Moscow’s protesters?
While in the West, the debate seems to be about which statue to topple next, in Russia it’s rather different.…
Andrews vs the Christians
As long as the federal government is awarding Australia Day honours on the basis of individual sporting prowess then Australian…
New Zealand is being transformed, but not in a good way
Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern promised, on the night of her general election triumph last October, to govern for all New…
Saint Jacinda’s climate change lucky dip
For most commentators in Australia’s mainstream media, the prime minister of New Zealand should always be referred to as Saint…
National socialism with Chinese characteristics
Kevin Rudd once upbraided then-Prime Minister Turnbull for his lack of ‘diplomatic sensibility’ to China. Last year he blasted Morrison…
Trapped between geo-politics and geo-baloney
China’s economy, military might, diplomatic weight and self-confidence have grown dramatically in recent years. This is reflected in China’s growing…
Beware of Geeks bearing gifts
Bill Gates, the founder of Microsoft worth a cool $133 billion, has become ‘the voodoo doll of Covid conspiracies’, according…
Kellyleo
Pilate’s contemptuous dismissal of truth echoes down the ages. Those who, like Pilate, wash their hands while authoritarians try to…
The 4th horseman
Epidemics and pandemics of infectious disease have been a deep-seated and inescapable part of Australian life for more than 220…
Das Rheingold
You could hardly ask for a more exorbitant return to mainstage theatre than a production of the first part, the…
Robyn Nevin
The Adelaide Festival program describes her, accurately, as ‘our finest stage performer’. Robyn Nevin is appearing there (2 Feb-14 Mar)…
It’s a sin
It’s easy to forget what Russell T. Davies has achieved to date. Twenty-odd years ago, Queer As Folk altered a…
Ensemble Theatre, Kirribilli
For 60 years, in an idyllic location at Kirribilli, the Ensemble Theatre has been providing entertainment in an intimate format.…
On the track of a mysterious recluse: Maxwell’s Demon, by Steven Hall, reviewed
This is not the age of experimental fiction — it’s Franzen’s, not Foster Wallace’s. That shift was on its cusp…
What does ownership of land really mean?
At the end of the last century, Simon Winchester bought 123 acres of wooded mountainside in the hamlet of Wassaic,…
The cannibal feast: Mother for Dinner, by Shalom Auslander, reviewed
Seventh Seltzer is a nice family man, working as a publisher’s reader in New York, who happens to come from…
Who in their right mind would choose to be a forensic psychiatrist?
When police were called to a block of flats in north London at the beginning of 2002, they expected to…
Francis Bacon: king of the self-made myth
In 1953, Francis Bacon’s friends Lucian Freud and Caroline Blackwood were concerned about the painter’s health. His liver was in…
The serious rows at Marvel Comics
In August 1961, two middle-aged Jewish New Yorkers, Stan Lee and Jack Kirby, launched a new superhero comic book for…
From cheap sex comedies to gritty brilliance: British culture comes of age
As readers of a certain age will realise, Looking for a New England derives its title from ‘A New England’,…
Imagining a future for John Keats — the novelist
Keats long ago became the meaningless emblem of poetic genius. When the poet Amanda Gorman appeared at President Joe Biden’s…