French democracy is in trouble – and the EU is to blame
France’s airwaves have been crackling with indignation this week, as politicians wring their hands at the record abstention in the first…
Getting Ridd of junk science
As the High Court judges retire to consider the Science Case of the Year, Peter Ridd v James Cook University,…
Why don’t we hear about the $40,000 per household cost of decarbonisation?
The Irish Times reports that an IMF study of Ireland estimates that the nation will need to spend 20 billion euros a…
Boris’s junk food crusade is absurd
The government is to ban ‘junk food’ adverts before the 9 p.m. watershed as well as restricting online food ads. Boris…
Is J.D. Vance the right man for the right?
J.D. Vance is the man Republicans have been praying for since the day Donald Trump stormed to the party’s presidential…
Mar-a-Lago nights with Donald Trump
Palm Beach, Florida I’d visited Mar-a-Lago before, briefly. This longer trip was my chance to get better acquainted with the…
Joe Biden is not Mr Normality
Isn’t normality great? That’s been Joe Biden’s selling point from the beginning, ‘normality’. Back in March 2020, the former conservative…
When can conservatives disobey the law?
The great English novelist Charles Dickens, based on his experiences, had a very dark view of lawyers and the legal…
Mumford & Sons banjoist quits in cancel culture row
Oh dear. Back in March, Mumford & Sons banjoist Winston Marshall landed himself in hot water after praising a book by conservative…
Ever weaker Union: The Tories lack a constitutional theory
No doubt Michael Gove is satisfied with how his latest comments on Scottish independence have gone down. The Chancellor of…
Has the Bank of England just blown its chance to stop inflation?
The economy is growing at a blistering pace, and likely to recover all its Covid losses by the autumn. Labour…
It’s time to put power lines underground
In the Irish stronghold of south-west Victoria, St Patrick’s Day is a notable date on the celebration calendar. Danny Boy…
Don’t blame ‘white privilege’ for the plight of working-class kids
Tory MP Robert Halfon is right to say that the underachievement of white working-class students is a ‘major social injustice’. He is also…
Beware Boris’s sinister crackdown on free speech
A Conservative government that boasts it is a defender of free speech against the attacks of ‘the woke’ is about…
An abundance of dread as Daniel Andrews’ comeback looms
In just days, the architect of one of the worst chapters in the life of Victoria (outside of war and…
The real reason Putin targeted HMS Defender
When military personnel talk of ‘theatres’ they mean a zone of conflict. Moscow seems to take the term increasingly literally,…
It’s time outrage at sexual exploitation extended to prostitution
A story has surfaced about a prostitute in Adelaide who alleged she was raped after a male client removed his condom…
Time for a sports revolution: let’s have Gender of Origin
The SpecOz has already registered disgust at New Zealand male-born Laurel – formerly Gavin – Hubbard’s selection in the Kiwi…
In praise of Western civilization
‘Western civilization would be a good idea,’ joked Mahatma Gandhi, one of its most successful pupils. We are accustomed to…
Time to end the MAGA madness
The Republicans need to separate the MAGA from the message. The Democrats are already doing this. While congressional Republicans pander…
A party and a half
The future of the GOP is the same as the future of the Democratic party. That is because the parties…
The Lincoln Project or Hunter Biden: who is more bulletproof?
Surely they can’t keep getting away with it. Oh, who is Cockburn kidding? Of course they can. Tuesday was a…
How to fight with your family
Like many families, mine is home to a diverse array of political orientations, ranging on an ideological spectrum from Calvin…
How moderate immoderation is rocking the South Australian Liberals
Something strange is happening to the Liberal Party in South Australia, long captured by the ascendant so-called “moderate” faction, led…
Forget race or class, marriage is the big social divide
The latest spark to ignite the culture wars is a report from the parliamentary education committee on the underachievement of…
