James Allan

I believe the children are our future?

13 August 2017 7:15 pm

What do German Chancellor Angela Merkel, French President Emmanuel Macron, British Prime Minister Theresa May, Scottish First Minister Nicola Sturgeon,…

A politically incorrect three-point plan for government

9 August 2017 7:16 am

Same-sex marriage off the agenda? Here is my politically incorrect list of what any right-of-centre political party in Australia needs…

Australian notes

29 July 2017 9:00 am

Sensible centre is for suckers   I am going to point to the US, the UK and modern mainstream protestant…

Gillian Triggs: the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth

26 July 2017 1:01 pm

In today’s Australian Chris Kenny has a wholly accurate piece on Gillian Triggs. Kenny sets out the ways in which Triggs…

Australian notes

15 July 2017 9:00 am

On expertise The Wealth of Nations, by the Scottish Enlightenment thinker Adam Smith, is a great book. When you read…

The crucial left/right divide

12 July 2017 10:29 am

Forget all the recent talk about labels and who gets to wear the tag of ‘centrist’ or ‘liberal’ or ‘conservative’…

Australian notes

8 July 2017 9:00 am

Malleable expectations Gary Johns is a fellow Speccie contributor. He’s also a friend. In fact, next month my wife and…

The black hands of Liberalism

27 June 2017 11:29 am

Somewhere near Liberal Party HQ the comrades of the Black Hand gathered to discuss their next move in the overthrow…

Australian notes

24 June 2017 9:00 am

The new aristocrats Listen these days to some of the world’s elite politicians, commentators and officials pontificate and you’d think…

Turnbull’s twilight urgatory

20 May 2017 9:00 am

‘I Told You So!’. These are not words that listeners usually enjoy hearing. In fact, if you’re looking for a…

Australian Notes

13 May 2017 9:00 am

Let’s keep Triggs for the fun of it I wouldn’t trust Malcolm Turnbull or George Brandis to pick what type…

Australian notes

6 May 2017 9:00 am

The ABC of ESPN I confess to being something of a sports addict. I like playing and watching competitive sports,…

Canadian notes

29 April 2017 9:00 am

Liking/loathing Trump I’m over in Canada for another few days and while here have been getting a lot of news…

New York diary

22 April 2017 9:00 am

The Brexit symposium I am here in New York City thanks to New York University, and in particular to the…

Australian notes

15 April 2017 9:00 am

Diversity’s hypocrites Let’s say that you’re a ‘diversity’ freak. What you want in life is to take some group X,…

If you thought the federal Liberal Party was bad…

10 April 2017 3:17 pm

This weekend’s truly awful swing against the Libs in NSW reminds us all that as bad as the Liberal politicians…

Australian Notes

8 April 2017 9:00 am

Well, that was another depressingly terrible week for free speech in this country as political correctness and identity politics stayed…

Conservative notes

1 April 2017 9:00 am

O’Sullivan’s Law & the Ramsay Centre John O’Sullivan is a British journalist, one time editor of the US’s National Review,…

Del-con notes

25 March 2017 9:00 am

Terry, you’re wrong… My esteemed fellow Speccie contributor Terry Barnes last week offered some advice to the federal Coalition based…

There is no alternative?

6 March 2017 7:34 pm

How many readers believe that any political party in the democratic world can continue to win every single election for…

Australian notes

25 February 2017 9:00 am

Tim wilson is wrong In this past Saturday’s Inquirer page, Liberal MP Tim Wilson – former Commissioner in the Australian…

Thinking further about your departure, Cory…

22 February 2017 12:21 pm

What’s done is done and can n’er be undone.  You’ve left the Liberal Party behind and barring a Black Swan set of circumstances…

Fatuous fallacies

17 February 2017 7:33 am

I confess that my expectations when it comes to Liberal Party MPs are pretty low these days.   Many of them are quite content with…

Brief candle

11 February 2017 9:00 am

Tomorrow and tomorrow and tomorrow creeps in this petty pace from day to day to the last syllable of PM…

The 16 per cent non-solution

8 February 2017 7:03 am

As you read this it will have been half a year since Mr Turnbull and the Coalition limped back into…