Blame, Brexit and the great tomato shortage of 2023
It’s funny how powerful a concrete example of something can be, isn’t it? The thing that brings a situation home to…
Us and them: how the media seeks to divide
What did Julie Bishop really mean when she identified politicians as being members of the ‘political class’? It was rare,…
Indian diary
Eight weeks all up. Two of them on the well-trodden tourist path of Delhi, Agra, and Jaipur, but none of…
Peter Dutton: incapable of giving a straight answer on the Voice
Blue-Ribbon Liberals desperately want Peter Dutton to succeed. They want him to stand up and emerge from the Turnbull-Morrison rubble…
Sunak and Von der Leyen to meet as Brexit deal nears
A new deal on the Northern Ireland Protocol is imminent. Today, Rishi Sunak will meet with European Commission president Ursula…
How to fix the teaching crisis: ban mobile phones, absolutely and completely
Thirty years ago I was teaching in a high school when a student brought in a very early mobile phone.…
The climate change debate: lessons from evolutionary psychology
One of the many perplexities of life is how some new scientific discoveries and insights quickly find their way into…
How will the GOP survive without Paul Ryan?!
Psychologists and self-help gurus agree: it’s the little things that bring a smile to one’s lips and impart savor to…
Labour does not deserve Luciana Berger’s forgiveness
Luciana Berger’s return to the Labour party is not only a restoration but a supreme act of forgiveness. The former…
‘For Ukrainians, this is a matter of survival’
Andriy Zagorodnyuk was Ukraine’s minister of defence from 2019 to 2020. He is Chairman of the Centre for Defence Strategies…
Newcastle United’s success comes at a heavy price
Newcastle United play their first cup final for over 20 years this afternoon. Facing Manchester United in the Carabao Cup…
Jacinda Ardern’s resignation has saved New Zealand’s Labour party
Many expected the abrupt resignation of Jacinda Ardern to fatefully deprive New Zealand’s government of its best asset. However, the…
Why China is courting Hollywood again
Until a few years ago, Hollywood dominated Chinese cinemas. In the People’s Republic, Marvel’s superhero romps were the people’s favourite. In 2019, Avengers:…
Live not by lies – climate edition
I used to correspond with Cardinal Pell. He was the only cleric in Australia who took a stand against the…
Worth fighting for
Germany could never have won the first world war. She was opposed by Great Britain, France, Italy, Russia, and eventually…
Biden’s muddle on Chinese arms for Russia
Will China send arms to support Russia? That was the possibility that US Secretary of State Antony Blinken raised at…
The secret truth about Dom: The Play
‘Who wrote it?’ asks the Times, of Dom: The Play. I’ll let you in on a secret: it was me.…
Is ‘woke’ dead?
If you don’t live online, you may have missed the controversy over Hogwarts Legacy, the latest computer game to have…
What happened to the Russia I loved?
For three and a half years, between Autumn 2018 and 2022, the most thrilling words I could say to anyone…
Has Prigozhin pushed his luck too far with Putin?
Yevgeny Prigozhin, the businessman behind Russia’s Wagner Group mercenaries, is hardly a man to keep a low profile. He is…
Hate speech or free speech? Balancing religious sensitivities with liberty
The New Zealand government’s most recent failed attempt to enact hate speech laws shows just how difficult it is to…
Is it time to defund public education?
For quite some time, I have been concerned about the attack upon private schools, and in particular, those who are…
Super villains
Climate wars? Solved! Energy wars? Done and dusted. Culture wars? Sorted. The Albanese government’s blueprint is now clear: declare that…
Mombasa diary
Kenya’s second-largest city, Mombasa, is the sprawling home of some 3.5 million people on the nation’s east coast. Situated on…
