Diary Australia
Quarantine diary
After 404 days in solitary as a guest of Her Majesty, I was loath to spend a fortnight in institutional…
Christmas diary
My Christmas present to myself is a new life. I’ve always wondered what I will do when I grow up,…
Quarantine diary
I am now halfway into my 14-day internment in the Howard Springs Quarantine Facility, located in the Top End, a…
Diary
Gulag survivor and author Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn famously said that one of the biggest mistakes people make is assuming totalitarianism can’t…
NT diary
The murranji frog is a desert amphibian that can survive long stretches without water. It is an apt name for…
Easter diary
Chocolate eggs still. Tick. Roast dinner still. Tick. Church still. Tick. But as if in a strange, distorting dream. This…
Diary
What a difference a few months makes. At the close of last year, all the talk in the United Kingdom…
Des Moines diary
As is obvious from recent events, we live in times where it is not enough to disagree with someone and…
Summer diary
Excuse me for starting on a flat note. On my mind this Christmas is that Australia’s most famous living Christian…
Diary
The words on the roadside hoarding capture the spirit of Singapore. ‘Let’s make Singapore our garden,’ they proclaim. Kilometre after…
England diary
In two recent visits to England, the ostensibly Conservative government has allowed the Extinction Rebellion extremists to shut down central…
Pearl Harbor
The Punchbowl in Honolulu, Hawaii is a place of reverence in which 34,000 American battle-dead are interred. Battlefield remains are…
Diary
I flew into a tempest. Although still early autumn, wild, windy and wet weather ravaged the UK, causing traffic chaos…
Diary
Despite the old saying and the best efforts of Qantas, you can go home again, even if home is New…
Spanish diary
My choice of newspapers was limited. Given my little Spanish, the New York Times was always going to win out…
Diary
When a few months ago my friend Tom Switzer – former editor of this magazine and now director of the…
Diary
For the past three years, I had been looking to say something strong and substantial about Brexit. I first had…
Diary
It’s been a long time away from home in Tasmania. I arrived in Rome in early July to teach Latin…
Diary
Donald Trump’s border wall may not yet be built from coast-to-coast but the barrier between those who support the president…
Diary
Even in parliament, fashions change. I am not referring to the width of lapels, the length of dresses, the style…
Ex-Pollie Pedal
Maybe it wouldn’t surprise you to know how constrained and routine most MPs’ lives become. It’s day after day of…
Diary
The Holy Land. The Promised Land. The Land of Milk and Honey. Few countries have as many nicknames as Israel.…
Diary
The gloss of a new political year doesn’t take long to wear off. The shiny enthusiasm that accompanies the pomp…
Diary
Reading the spectacular biography Nixonland is like stepping back into the future when it comes to the current presidency, and…
Diary
I stepped out in Warringah on Saturday and stepped into a social media storm. I had earlier asked my old…
