Trade notes
Boris picks a real Tory In his two years as prime minister, Tony Abbott achieved more to help Australia’s exporters…
Euro notes
How dangerous for Boris is Nigel? The first anniversary of Boris Johnson’s prime ministership didn’t bring him good news. Firstly,…
Euro notes
How DFAT (yet again) let us down Foreign Minister Marise Payne’s robust initiative in leading the call for an independent…
Euro notes
Two countries divided by a common pandemic In late 1970, British prime minister Ted Heath learnt that his Australian counterpart…
Euro notes
Europe’s bogus bogeyman The coronavirus pandemic is proving a tough time for the Left. The all-consuming focus on a real…
Euro notes
Tories in the time of Coronavirus Who would have thought until a few weeks ago that Boris Johnson’s success over…
Euro notes
Auf Wiedersehen, Willkommenspolitik What a difference five years makes. In the European summer of 2015, a huge wave of illegal…
London notes
Drinking English champagne A visit to London to watch the end of Britain’s 47-year membership of the European project reveals…
So, how did I do?
Few tasks are more daunting than writing an election forecast which won’t appear in print until after the result; so…
England diary
In two recent visits to England, the ostensibly Conservative government has allowed the Extinction Rebellion extremists to shut down central…
Euro notes
Hungary rhapsody for Tony Abbott If only the voters of Warringah had been Hungarian. The land of goulash and paprika,…
Molotov’s poisonous cocktail
Yesterday’s 80th anniversary of the signing of the Molotov-Ribbentrop pact, the curtain-raiser for Hitler’s invasion of Poland a week later,…
Euronotes
Re-stocking the knacker’s yard If there is an Englishman more hated by the European establishment than Boris Johnson, it’s Nigel…
Euronotes
The hybrid Boris Johnson How is it that the likeable Boris Johnson has become such a hate-figure? The British Left…
European notes
Inside the knacker’s yard Why should we care about the European Union’s elections? The most famous thing about the European…
London notes
A Right shambles One of the glories of London is its vast Hyde Park and adjoining Kensington Gardens. On a…
Diary
A visit to Britain reveals growing anxiety that we’re witnessing the Great Brexit Betrayal. One of Twitter’s funniest and most…
The march of Europe’s nationalists
Brexit will be the defining event for Europe in 2019. But another big story will also hog the headlines: the…
Conservative notes
Lefty Tory Brits Arriving in London for a posting at Australia House during the dying days of the Blair government,…
Spanish diary
On arriving for the first time in decades on Spanish soil I realise that the last time I visited –…
Turnbull’s ‘progressive’ legacy
In August 2011 the Australian American Leadership Dialogue talkfest convened in Perth and one of its sessions was a panel…
London diary
One of the things I used to look forward to on London visits was the theatre; but too often now…
Austro-Hungarian diary
One of the great pleasures of spending time in Budapest is admiring the city’s restoration. Despite war, communism and 1956,…
Hungarian notes
Merkel’s nemesis Before German Chancellor Angela Merkel picked a fight with her Hungarian counterpart Viktor Orbán in 2015 by opening…
Eyeballing DFAT
The problem with our foreign affairs bureaucracy isn’t just the consistent political correctness and suspicion of the Coalition. Much time…
