Russia has been preparing for war with the US for decades
The lights were blinking off. As raucous pro- and anti-Trump crowds flooded into Washington for the presidential inauguration in January…
Is Russia becoming a dictatorship?
Is Russia heading for dictatorship? Some would think it is already there, but even today there are still some remnants…
The reality of being ‘under siege’ in Kyiv
Kyiv, Ukraine I’ve never commuted into a warzone by train before, but I can now recommend it. The express train…
Putin’s dream of annexing Ukraine is over
As the Russian invasion of Ukraine enters its third week, it is becoming abundantly clear that the Kremlin’s maximalist geopolitical…
The prospect of an independent Scotland is fading away
Whisper it, but the dream of a separate Scotland could be fading for Scottish nationalists. A new poll shows that…
Where are the strategists and tacticians?
There’s nothing like the whiff of distant grapeshot to energise Australia’s plethora of armchair military strategists. Military professionals, on the…
Abandon ‘net zero’ and win
The path to electoral victory is crystal clear. Scott Morrison must abandon net zero to win the next election. Much…
Vote for the conservative candidate!
Yet another Speccie columnist stands for Parliament. This time in South Australia
Great musicals
It’s strange how literature finds its way into other mediums. The current French film festival includes a film of Balzac’s…
Aussie life
There’s nothing like a war and a flood to ease pretend problems like exaggerated viral outbreaks off the front pages.…
We must act with courage, principle and honour
Ukraine: the West must stop rolling over to the Russian war criminal
The Weather Station: How Is It That I Should Look at the Stars
Grade: C– Anyone remember that TV advert for Canada from the 1980s – a succession of colourful images, including a…
2546: Picture book
43 (two words) created 1A (four words) and 3 10 14 (seven words). The latter inspired 17 30, whose work…
Which Mary is which?
Is there a patron saint of conjecture? Perhaps it is a name known only to Bible scholars, who have rich…
An awful warning
Sins of My Father begins with an ending. Describing her 61-year-old parent’s final desperate flight from a life of vibrant…
Renaissance radical
‘Camp,’ wrote Susan Sontag, ‘is the paintings of Carlo Crivelli, with their real jewels and trompe-l’oeil insects and cracks in…
