It’s university open day season
It hasn’t been the same since the twins said they’ve just turned 18, and need a lift to the university.…
Corporate speak
ASIC is telling us corporates to employ psychologists to get inside the head of our CEOs and Boards and understand…
Essington Lewis: I am Woke
Legend has it that at the financial end of Collins Street where all the smart people go to beg there…
More quality political analysis
I was in Sydney during the Berejiklian landside and the tyre burning that followed and I stayed in a cheap…
I love my job
It’s my first day at the job. I’m walking down Flinders Lane with its shadowy art deco buildings passing Degraves Street…
Nazi-hunting in Kooyong
Hunting Nazis is hard work so painting Hitler moustaches onto Josh Frydenberg posters does us all a big favor. We’re…
Election 19 and the Pam Ewing effect
In 1987 Pamela Ewing woke up to find Bobby emerging from the bathroom wearing only a towel and haircut. Presumed…
Doing it for the kids
There’s been a lot in the news about how cool the kids are. As Whitney Houston sang before using her…
Check your blowhardism
Being a blowhard means never having to say you’re sorry. When you’re not telling everyone what to think about climate…
Married at First Sight and the unkindness of strangers
Critics ask, ‘why MAFS’ – and it is certainly a polarising topic. This take, for example: ‘Fucking hard hitting journalism…
I’m rooting for the virgin
Strange things happen on Married at First Sight. A strange thing so strange that even the hair gelled, shaved skulled,…
The Wintour of our discontent
When it comes to fashion, one minute you’re talking about something and then next thing they’re talking about something else.…
Merry Xmas, literally Just Like Hitler
And so this is Christmas. That time of year when you make a list of all the people that aren’t…
Life tips for getting ahead in the modern era
Malcolm Fraser said life wasn’t meant to be easy and then went and joined the Greens anyway. So here are…
The new Big Day Out
Hi mum, just got back from the Parliament House climate change protest. Protesting is just like Schoolies Week with lots…
Dismembering diplomacy’s fourth wall
Strange things happen at international embassies all the time. In 1984 a female British police officer was shot from the…
Writer’s notes
Travelling with The Gillian Like any writer waiting on the tarmac I was trying to think of ways to monetise…
Malcolm’s suit
The first thing I noticed was Malcolm’s suit. Immaculately dressed at those daily pre-coup press conferences most days he seemed…
The Honey Badger, The Block — and Ronald Reagan
On the Other Channel, The Block contestants have what is called their ‘hero piece’. This is when you furnish your…
Writer’s notes
On writing Every writer writes an ‘on writing’ piece. So here’s mine. Last week in Melbourne, I went to a…
The Canberra convulsions and the Honey Badger
I don’t follow rugby so I don’t know the Honey Badger. But I do follow politics and know that a…
The renovation memory hole
Anyone hip enough to know inner-suburban Melbourne knows the Gatwick Hotel. It is (or was) that sleazy, abandoned, druggie flophouse…
Rock and roll realpolitik
Welcome to world politics where, as the old song used to go, ‘It’s a little bit tyranny, a little bit…
Stuff happens
Everything is inevitable. Stuff happens. This is how international relations work. The US-North Korea summit was always going to happen…
The great rock ‘n’ roll show off
Right now in Facebook world, they’re running the Facebook Greatest Album Challenge and it keeps cluttering up my wall. Nominate…
