Roll up
This week, a ‘voluntary assisted dying’ Bill will be presented to the NSW Parliament, following the recent passage of similar…
Dis-con notes
Two revolutionary ideas to keep our subs afloat In June 1989 Paul Keating memorably said, ‘I guarantee if you walk…
Australian notes
What would happen after a loss? Here’s an important question to ponder. What direction would the federal Liberal party take…
Maggie Smith
And so we look like being able to see live performance again in the two biggest cities in Australia: Sydney…
Aussie Life
The political career of Christian Porter has been destroyed by the ABC. This is someone who was the Commonwealth Attorney-General…
Aussie Language
A Speccie reader has emailed asking me for an explanation of the word ‘climatarian’. We know what Presbyterians are, she…
Aux bien pensants
Net zero only the beginning ‘Net zero emissions’ are only the beginning. A similar sleight of hand is occurring with…
Real life
The horse lorry arrived and lowered its ramp — and I stood in front of it knowing that my thoroughbred…
O what a lovely Waugh!
Sumptuous, glorious, luminous, lavish: Granada’s 40-year-old adaptation of Brideshead Revisited remains the sine qua non of mini-series, says Mark McGinness
Low life
Catriona and I were late for lunch at Vernon’s because I couldn’t get out of bed. The four of them…
Bridge
The Gold Cup is the most prestigious Open Teams event in Britain, and has been ever since Colonel ‘Pops’ Beasley…
The turf
I know what Keats was on about with his mists and mellow fruitfulness, but autumn is less of a joy…
The dangers of a Covid state of mind
Covid transformed the role of the state. During the pandemic, the government did things it would never normally even contemplate.…
Bleak, brutal and bloody
Ridley Scott’s The Last Duel is set in the 14th century and is a tale of rivalry and rape told…
Heart and Seoul
Should we be worried that Squid Game is the most popular show in Netflix’s history? If it’s a case of…
The sultans of sulk
Many negative qualities are ascribed to politicians — name-calling, absenteeism, drunkenness — but you rarely hear of my favourite political…
