Woke symbolism holds Indigenous Australians back
Whether it is a silly stunt that ostentatiously parades reverence for the Aboriginal flag (looking at you, Adam Bandt) or…
Boris Johnson wishes Putin was a woman
UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson has claimed that Vladimir Putin would not have invaded Ukraine if he was a woman.…
Brown study
What an extraordinary turn of events. After years of Liberal party waste and profligacy in government spending, we might just…
UK notes
Would the United Kingdom be better off without Scotland and Northern Ireland? This question arises in the light of the…
A very polished performance
Sam Neill is one of those Kiwis we want to claim as we do everyone from Russell Crowe to Neill’s…
Aussie life
Perhaps we could pay tribute to the US Supreme Court’s courageous decision to remove an entitlement to wholesale abortion that…
Language
Is it time to revisit how we define the word ‘racism’? Early in the 20th century the settled definition became…
Scared
In news that won’t necessarily come as a surprise, a recent poll by the Lowy Institute claims that nearly half…
Solution to 2559: Platinum upgrade
The perimeter, starting at square 38, yields six of the CITIES created to commemorate the Platinum Jubilee: DONCASTER, MILTON KEYNES,…
P is for pointless
The Princess, a new documentary film, is the first re-framing of the Princess Diana story since it was last re-framed,…
Measure for measure
In Competition No. 3255, you were invited to submit a poem about imperial measures. Brian Bilston’s terrific poem ‘The Empire’s…
Puzzle No. 709
White to play. Miles-Pritchett, Lloyds Bank Masters 1982. Tony Miles found a powerful counter to the queenside threats. What did…
Indie heaven
‘Well, it’s just not Glastonbury, is it?’ said my daughter aggressively, when told that our yurt featured an actual bed,…
Maximum mischief
Forbidden things have a secret charm – that delicious paradox applies to the chessboard just as it does in life.…
How to get it all wrong
The Glass Menagerie directed by Jeremy Herrin is a bit of an eyeball-scrambler. The action takes place on a huge…
More melancholy, please
The Yeomen of the Guard has been called the ‘English Meistersinger’ but the more you think about that, the dafter…
