I am sure you remember The Year My Voice Broke. You probably also remember The Year of Living Dangerously. You might even remember The Year of the Locust. But you probably have not heard of The Year I Fell out of Love, but you are about to. The ten-pins of my affection are falling over one by one, and so rapidly, that I have decided to name this year as The Year I Fell out of Love. And if Hollywood plays its cards the right way, it might end up with a smash hit about my growing disenchantment with a whole series of icons that, until recently, were the mainstay of my beliefs, especially on the major issues of our time. The most favourable thing I can say about my fallen heroes is that even at this late hour they have a chance to redeem themselves and be restored to their rightful place in my affections. But at the present they are all definitely on remand. And bail is refused.

The most recent idol to fall from grace is my alma mater, the University of Melbourne. This hitherto distinguished centre of learning has now lost my affection by throwing in its lot with the campaign to change our constitution and become just another political axe-grinder that wants to turn Australia into a racist and anti-democratic country through the so-called Aboriginal Voice. It is bad enough that the university should do this before the actual question to be asked and the mechanics of the process have been settled. But even to contemplate it at all is appalling. A university should never argue for special entitlements for people of one race to the exclusion of all others. Nor should it join in destroying the stable and democratic basis of our system of government by advocating for a new, exclusive and unelected body with undeclared powers and the certainty of perpetual and divisive litigation that will turn this country into a collection of warring tribes. It is a great sadness, but I simply cannot continue to show affection for an institution that has so blatantly abandoned its traditional role of independence and impartiality.Next, the City of Melbourne has lost me by taking woke eccentricity to the level of utter madness by abolishing the Lord’s Prayer at ceremonies in the absurdly named city of Naarn as it now calls itself, naturally without asking the public if we agree. We abolish these traditions at our peril and I can have no affection for a city that would do such a stupid thing. What next? The Supreme Court of Naarn?

Then, on wider issues, I have fallen out of love with the Liberal party, which seems no longer a party of free enterprise, self-reliance and small government, where the individual is supreme, but a party where government and ever-increasing government spending has become the solution to all problems. The accepted line, of course, is that the party lost the last election because it was not left-wing enough and not sufficiently attuned to the latest fads and fetishes doing the rounds.

That is another trap being set for the Liberals and, from what I see these days, the party is silly enough to fall for it. In reality, the more left-wing the Liberal party becomes, the easier it is for voters to slide across and vote for Labor, the Greens and the Teals. So there was no real choice at the last election that made the Liberals stand out from the others and it became so easy and painless for voters to change their allegiance. And that parlous state of affairs came about because, amazingly, there was no argument put forward for traditional Liberal positions that have actually won elections in the past. Instead, the party opted for the vagaries of middle-of-the road policies that actually lose elections and throw voters into a state of confusion.

And to give my disillusion an international touch, I fell out of love for Israel and India when they decided on the issue of Ukraine, the great visceral issue of our time, that they are ‘neutral’. How can they be neutral when a dictatorship wreaks death and destruction on a fellow democracy and its innocent civilians, invades its territory and engages in one hideous war crime after another? Both countries might also reflect that if neutrality is an option on Ukraine, it might also be an option on issues like the Golan Heights and Kashmir.

And finally, I have fallen out of love with the United States and a lot of Europe. True, the US has sent arms and equipment to Ukraine, as has Europe, and that of course is to their credit. But they will not send what Ukraine really needs to win: long-range and powerful artillery, missiles and aircraft. In fact, it seems that they will send anything and everything, except the very resources that Ukraine needs to win. Moreover, there can be no objection in law to the US attacking Russian positions that are illegally within the sovereign borders of Ukraine; that is what allies are meant to do. As the leader of the free world, the US has the responsibility of leadership and that responsibility means it should be sending all of the materiel and assistance that Ukraine needs to defend itself. The EU should be following and with enthusiasm, and it should not be deterred by the feeble excuse that it does not want to provoke the enemy. Russia’s appalling conduct has come about without being provoked and it has delivered more than enough provocation by itself. Indeed, Russia’s obvious weaknesses suggest it would not matter if it were provoked or not, as even on a wider battle field it would be defeated. And as for the current US cry that it does not want to be involved in endless wars, they would not be endless if it really wanted to win some and set about doing so.

So I hope these fallen idols will think again and redeem themselves.