Pork-barrelling: the real reason to be in politics
Last drinks for the Canberra bubble
It’s ironic that a federal minister should again promote alcoholic abstinence as a cure for whatever allegedly ails (or should…
Norway wishes you a Merry Wokemas
Not even Father Christmas is off limits to the unoriginal, hypocritical Woke mob. Last week the virtue signalling Norwegian postal…
Morrison wades blindly into the Solomon Islands
Civil chaos in the Solomon Islands has created an intricate geopolitical problem for Scott Morrison. Anti-government protests turned violent last…
Did we learn anything from 2021?
The last two years have been packed with chaos. Politicians have gone mad with power. Division has run rife throughout…
Vale Christian Kerr
It is with profound sadness that I must inform the family of Spectator Australia writers, readers and fans of the…
I won't take the vaccine, here's why
I won’t take a COVID vaccine. Here’s why. In 1783 the Treaty of Paris formalised American independence from Great Britain.…
Christian Kerr
As you’ll have seen from Rowan Dean’s announcement yesterday, our hitherto anonymous online editor, Christian Kerr, custodian of Flat White,…
Woke work is unhappy work
The more that we talk about work/life balance and diverse and inclusive workplaces, the unhappier we seem to be. Over…
Eric Zemmour's big weakness has been exposed
George W Bush will forever be in debt to The Donald. Before Trump became the 45th president of the United…
Is Twitter about to step up its censorship?
Farewell then @jack. Jack Dorsey’s departure from Twitter on Monday came as no surprise given that the firm Elliott Management,…
Why it matters that tennis is standing up to Beijing
The commercial road to Beijing is littered with grovelling apologies, cringeworthy kowtows and silent complicity in repression. That’s why the…
Jimmy Carr's anti-vaxxer joke isn't funny
Jimmy Carr was once the smug face of shock comedy. As a stand-up comedian, and a host of various comedy…
Kiwi Life
A government in jackboots A recent headline echoes the current mood of this now fed-up country, with Sir Russell Coutts,…
He Puapua?
Now why on earth why would the New Zealand government, dominated by the far-left Prime Minister, Jacinda Ardern, produce a…
Kiwi notes
Our tired democracy teeters When is enough? When Aucklanders recently heard the seemingly interminable lockdown which the Prime Minister Jacinda…
Kiwi Life
Lorde vs Lana People who live in glass houses really shouldn’t get changed with the lights on. Doubly so, one…
Pork-barrelling: the real reason to be in politics
When it comes to parliamentary question time, I hold an equivocal position. On the one hand, I feel I should…
China’s behaviour demands a boycott of the Winter Olympics
First it was former prime minister, Paul Keating, telling us that Australia has no interest in defending the democratic freedoms…
Stench of Greens
The Australian Greens have consolidated a reputation as one of the most antisemitic political parties in the world’s Western democracies.…
Conservative game theory. Is it nuts?
‘For a sitting US President to see our [Nato] allies [none of whom, save Britain, come close to meeting their…
The Big O
If it feels as if Sars-Cov-2 is turning into a shlock horror sci-fi comedy, blame the World Health Organisation. The…
For sale: Berrima Gaol and a slice of coup d’état
Whoever buys the Berrima Gaol will not only acquire a dark slice of history and a host of ghosts, but…
Why Australia always cops it
The Climate Action Network branded Australia a ‘colossal fossil’ for its ‘appalling approach to climate change policy’ at Cop 26…
Testing Perrottet
A brave cohort of minor-party politicians and would-be politicians have dared to oppose the Covid cult and the imposition of…
Nitram
Nitram is the Martin Bryant film which sent shivers down everyone’s spine at the mere prospect. Justin Kurzel’s film about…
As You Like It
As You Like It is middle Shakespeare, probably lateish 1590s. It’s not one of the earlier happy comedies like the…
Don’t forget the motor city
Detroit is the only American city where I always felt uneasy. Even the cops look at you as if you…
Sean Connery
Anyone who cares about the theatre should rush to see Kendall Feaver’s Wherever She Wanders which Griffin Theatre Company is…
There is nothing cosy about Penelope Lively
At one time, Penelope Lively was routinely shortchanged by critics. Her protagonists are often middle-class professionals — historians, archeologists, scriptwriters…
Why I was labelled a bitch: Joan Collins remembers the old Hollywood days
Readers of this magazine will have enjoyed Joan Collins’s diaries, and her Past Imperfect was one of the funniest showbiz…
A celebration of natural wonders: the best of the year’s art books
If one of the purposes of art is to help us see the world around us, then Sebastião Salgado’s photographs…
A broken nation: Chronicles from the Land of the Happiest People on Earth, by Wole Soyinka, reviewed
One of the best episodes in Wole Soyinka’s third novel (his first since 1973) takes place not in Nigeria but…
In defence of capitalism – ‘the greatest engine of human progress ever invented’
For all its faults and foibles, its busts and bailouts, modern market capitalism demonstrates a remarkably bullish resilience. We don’t…
Is Christianity about to end in the place it began?
Janine di Giovanni’s book begins in a Paris apartment during the first lockdown. She’s at a friend’s home, which she…
Why the mid-1960s was the golden age of pop music
On a Monday evening in May 1966, Paul McCartney and John Lennon visited a nightclub called Dolly’s in Jermyn Street.…
A glimpse of the real Patricia Highsmith through her diaries and notebooks
There are three ways of knowing Patricia Highsmith. First, of course, she was the author of 22 novels and several…
