HMS Defender: What’s behind the Navy’s Russian incident?
Assuming that reports are accurate, the world has just witnessed the most serious escalation between the UK and Russia since the…
What can we learn from Israel on ending lockdown?
Israel has been the world’s whole-country experiment to establish how, and how fast, Covid vaccination can return life to normal…
Viktor Orbán goes to war on the European parliament
‘Times have changed, and whereas thirty years ago we believed Europe was our future, today we understand that we are…
Why the Twits cannot be taken seriously
Did you see the recent Pew surveys in the United States about Twitter? Twitter users make up under a tenth…
Miss New Zealand
Male-born Laurel Hubbard’s admission to the women’s Olympic weightlifting competition as a representative of New Zealand is, of course, absurd. …
Mark Vaile and the new coal-black blacklist
This week has proved the National Party leadership is a poisoned chalice, even when someone hasn’t been leader for years.…
Three in five believe white Australians are ‘victims of discrimination to some extent’
It’s no surprise Inclusive Australia’s ‘Measuring Social Inclusion’ survey last year discovered three out of five respondents “believed that White Australians…
Is Perth the new Fallujah?
It’s a little complicated trying to stay on top of everything and all the premiers — or the coppers or…
How Israel can block Iran’s nuclear dreams
In his first press conference, Iran’s new President unequivocally objected to renegotiating the Obama-era nuclear deal. Israel’s new Prime Minister,…
Beijing’s battle to crush Hong Kong’s final freedoms
The Apple Daily was born on 20 June 1995. Its opening editorial was a statement of intent, setting out its stall…
Democrats: OK, now crime is a problem
The New York City mayoral race is split between two factions of Democrats: those who cut a tempered figure offering…
Pugnacious polemic and Dark Emu
At the risk of seeming a little obsessed, and possibly boring readers, I wonder if I might be indulged in…
Listen: Department for Education’s new patriotic anthem
After last year’s A-level results day debacle and the ongoing saga about catch-up funding, Gavin Williamson is one of the…
The DeSantis doctrine
The term ‘Florida man’ usually comes loaded with negative connotations, but not if you’re talking about Ron DeSantis. The first-term…
Labour’s worrying descent into communalism
Labour’s candidate in Batley and Spen, Kim Leadbeater, reportedly pulled out of a hustings featuring George Galloway over the weekend.…
Laurel Hubbard is the beginning of the end of women’s sports
When women’s professional soccer was deemed good enough for our TV screens a couple of years ago, I was watching…
Spain’s pardoning of Catalan separatists may backfire
In one of his adventures on the highways of 17th-century Spain, Don Quixote encounters a gang of prisoners ‘manacled and…
Do we overemphasise ‘smart’ ahead of ‘skilled’ or ‘practical’?
Living back in my hometown — being slightly starved of cultural content — I quickly bought tickets to Bri Lee’s…
John Anderson’s victory
The decision of the good pre-selectors of the National Party to resist the attempt by its remaining elder statesman, John…
The politics of Germany’s Stasi archives
‘Oh please… not the letters I sent to my mum,’ sighed the East German pastor Gernot Friedrich as he randomly…
Why were my colleagues murdered?
Two weeks ago, the charity I run suffered the greatest loss of life in its 33-year history. The Halo Trust…
Prepare for the EU’s ‘Hamilton moment’
The EU may boast a common currency like any other state (even if nearly a third of its 27 members…
Who really benefits from health care?
It’s not obvious who sets health care policy in Australia and it’s not obvious for whose benefit it even is.…
How we’re pushing the off button on China
Another Tuesday, another Essential Poll — one that has some fascinating insights on how we’ve cooled on China. Australians, it…
Oxford, ‘sensitivity readers’ and the trouble with safe spaces
The list of things that students must apparently be protected from grows longer every day. Controversial speakers, rude comedians, sombreros…
