Guest Notes
UK notes
Would the United Kingdom be better off without Scotland and Northern Ireland? This question arises in the light of the…
Dis-Con notes
Watching results on Saturday night, my chief thought was less ‘Who’s going to win?’ than, rather, ‘Thank God that’s over.’…
Dis-Con notes
In the Australian recently ‘a senior Liberal front-bencher’ reportedly said that voters ‘want to return us to office, but they…
Dis-con notes
How often recently have you heard that ‘Ukraine has changed everything’? It has certainly changed my previously intended vote in…
Euro notes
Putin’s brutal imperialism Putin signalled early during his rule his fury that Moscow’s former empire had slipped the leash. After…
Euro notes
Putin’s poker game If the latest warnings of a Russian invasion of Ukraine prove right, you’ll be reading this as…
Euro notes
Testing times for the second Covid Christmas Those like me inclined to whinge about Europe’s reaction to Covid are regularly…
Literary notes
The new self-effing help books In a bookshop at Adelaide airport last Christmas I saw a well-dressed woman, seemingly in…
Covid notes
The worldwide spread of Omicron Indulge me for a moment and imagine the following scenario. A new Covid-19 variant originates…
Euro notes
Tories all at sea on boats On hearing France’s interior minister, Gérald Darmanin, on why so many would-be migrants cross…
Euro notes
The green zealot in number 10 After opening the Glasgow eco-jamboree, Boris Johnson did something which once would have been…
Kiwi notes
Our tired democracy teeters When is enough? When Aucklanders recently heard the seemingly interminable lockdown which the Prime Minister Jacinda…
Dis-con notes
ScoMo will lose, thanks to net zero Last week I focused on the media noise over AUKUS and nuclear-powered submarines.…
Cultural notes
Heroes and villains According to a paper published by the Australian Institute of Criminology in 2020, it would seem that…
Dis-con notes
Two revolutionary ideas to keep our subs afloat In June 1989 Paul Keating memorably said, ‘I guarantee if you walk…
Euro notes
Merkel’s woeful legacy How ironic but unsurprising that Angela Merkel, for sixteen years leader of her country’s once-conservative Christian Democrats,…
Euro notes
App-artheid europe Here’s an interesting thought. Imagine Australia’s state premiers were put in charge of Europe. How would our politicians…
Aukus notes
The lost decade Australia should buy or lease a fleet of nuclear-powered submarines to replace the calamitous Collins Class boats…
Covid notes
Covid kilos Throughout this pandemic, our leaders have bombarded us with slogans about the importance of social distancing, vaccinations, staying…
Kiwi notes
Freedom after speech? I recall a very fine lawyer, New Zealand’s most highly regarded QC, once saying that no law…
Euro notes
Travels with my App How the Covid tables have turned. In the pandemic’s initial stages, the Anglo world congratulated…
Cultural notes
Hobart’s historical heretics violated ‘Vitalist, unscrupulously optimistic cultures, cruel, bigoted and superstitious, all detest the grace-saving presence of the statue…
Covid notes
A day at the anti-lockdown rally When your only observations of protest marches are from television news reports, it’s easy…
Covid notes
Upholding the truth in a time of universal deceit Australia’s disproportionate March 2020 response to the Covid pandemic has morphed…
Euro notes
Europe’s rightward drift Two of the great issues which animated the woke EU establishment until recently were hatred of Donald…
