Don’t bet on interest rates rising
So is this really it: the end of the era of virtually zero interest rates? There was a marked pullback…
Triple J’s Hottest 100 – there’s an elephant in the room
As most people know by now, a few days ago The Wiggles became the first ever debutant band to win…
‘Kamala for SCOTUS’ is a distraction Biden wants
No, Kamala Harris will not be Joe Biden’s nominee to replace Justice Steven Breyer when he retires from the Supreme Court later this…
Where is Tennis Australia’s credibility?
Tennis is a pretty simple game. Two people take turns to hit a fuzzy ball over a net. That’s it.…
ScoMo in SloMo slide toward fatal collision at next election
The next federal election will be held no later than May 21, 2022. It looks like a re-run of 2007…
Mario Draghi and the murky quest to find Italy’s next president
In ancient Rome, a diviner called a haruspex would observe the entrails of sacrificed sheep and poultry, especially their livers,…
Get ready for a brutal Supreme Court fight
During the recent Supreme Court arguments in the school choice case Carson v. Makin (full disclosure: my wife does paralegal work…
Operation Save Big Dog and the real scandal of Boris’s leadership
There is a theory which states the primary reason for Boris Johnson’s political longevity is that there are simply so…
Is constitutional recognition a good idea for democracy?
Janet Albrechtsen has a piece in Wednesday’s Australian concerning the proposed Voice to Parliament and constitutional recognition of Indigenous Australians.…
Six of the silliest ‘cakegate’ defences
Polls might show that two in three voters think Boris Johnson should quit over No. 10’s parties but crucially less…
Can Boris Johnson now afford to scrap the National Insurance rise?
After promising not to raise National Insurance in the 2019 manifesto, the Tories are preparing to do just that in…
Did Plan B work?
Today is England’s last day under Plan B restrictions, brought in by the government at the beginning of last month…
France’s election has become a race for second place
This year’s French election campaign is a strangely muted affair. The incumbent, president Emmanuel Macron, has still neglected to declare…
The truth behind the Pope Benedict inquiry
How are we to interpret the revelation that Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI misled a sex abuse inquiry? That might seem an…
A rather pointless PMQs lets Boris off the hook
Given the extraordinarily low expectations, Prime Minister’s Questions went reasonably well for Boris Johnson today. That is partly because it…
Did Boris lie about the Afghan dog evacuation?
With Sue Gray keeping the lobby on tenterhooks, it’s a good day to bury bad news. Earlier today, the Foreign…
What it’s really like facing a Downing Street police probe
Boris Johnson and No. 10 staff could soon face being interviewed under caution over partygate. While this is remarkable, it…
Macron’s vaccine culture war
When French prime minister Jean Castex and health minister Olivier Véran held a press conference last week, they outlined the timetable…
The Daily Mail’s curious partygate U-turn
The Daily Mail has long been the favoured mid-market newspaper of the masses, as the self-styled champion of Middle England.…
Springtime for liberal interventionists
It’s springtime for liberal interventionism. Russian President Vladimir Putin may not have intended it, but he is doing a good…
Who cares about partygate?
Does anyone else feel uncomfortable with the idea of the police investigating the elected government? I have laughed and fumed…
We should chat about WeChat…
‘Rules are rules!!!’ Scott Morrison insisted, during the Djokovic saga. Well, ‘rules are rules’ unless you’re Scott Morrison trying to…
The re-enthronement of capitalism: are ‘woke’ investment funds falling behind?
Over many years now, superannuation funds have been orientating their investments towards options that avoid unapproved Environmental and Social goods…
Always was, always will be a smokescreen
As Roger Scruton wrote: ‘The fictions were far more persuasive than the facts, and more persuasive than both was the…
Downing Street braces for Sue Gray’s party report
It’s groundhog day in Westminster as once again hacks and ministers ask: when will Sue Gray’s report come out? On…
