Why Keir Starmer is failing against Boris Johnson
The way to beat Boris Johnson is to offer a stark contrast to his political persona. At all points radiate…
Coronavirus and the BBC’s anti-American bias
One keeps hearing, particularly on the BBC, that the United States is ‘the worst in the world’ for coronavirus, stated…
Why stop at ending HECS-HELP for failing students? Give the universities some skin in the game
Some students have accumulated hundreds of thousands of dollars in student debt without obtaining a qualification. In response, the government…
Hello. I’m a smiling bureaucrat. Would you like to be patronised? Let me patronise you…
Hello. Are you an idiot? Would you like me to treat you like an idiot? Are you under 10? Would…
Public Health England scrapped over handling of Covid crisis
Health Secretary Matt Hancock is set to scrap Public Health England (PHE), according to the Sunday Telegraph – the body that was…
Beneath the mask
With mask-wearing obligatory and restrictions in our movements, we sink further into ourselves. This is not necessarily a bad thing;…
Kamala Obama?
Kamala Harris is no radical. Indeed, no matter how vaguely inclusive the label ‘progressive’ may be, Harris’s long record as…
Not so accidental guerillas: how to counter the modern rioter
“They sayin’ Black Lives Matter and all this stuff,” he said. “But man, you’re hurting the black community.” These are the…
Will health trump freedom in our post-coronavirus world?
Bernard Henri Levy’s latest book, The Virus in the Age of Madness, contains a striking quote from Rudolf Virchow, the 19thcentury…
What lies behind the Japanese obsession with face masks?
If there is one country where the wearing of face masks in response to the coronavirus outbreak has caused no…
What price is too high in the war against Covid?
Wars reshape states. The powers and size of governments grow. Economic activity is controlled or subsidised. Liberties are curtailed. Identity…
Stay calm, Gladys
The next few week’s will be the ultimate test of Gladys Berejiklian and her New South Wales Coalition government. Will…
Brown study
Well, Arthur Sinodinos turned out to be a damp squib, as I predicted. It was bad enough to denigrate the…
Lockdown notes
A good war Who could ever have imagined that the greatest act of rebellion in the second decade of the…
Euro notes
How dangerous for Boris is Nigel? The first anniversary of Boris Johnson’s prime ministership didn’t bring him good news. Firstly,…
Weaning a nation off welfare
Has the government condemned another generation to long-term unemployment?
Business/Robbery etc.
Ending Australia’s ore-inspired Chinese boom? Enjoy it while it lasts. The Australian economy has been carried through the Covid-19 disaster…
Anatomy of fiction
By more than a mile the best book I have read during the pandemic is Tim Finch’s Peace Talks. It…
American road trip
Like a lot of Australians I look at what is happening in America with sad bemusement if not alarm. Over…
A.N. Wilson
Kathy Lette says that during lockdown she has been reading Dickens. Her choice illustrates the enduring appeal of Charles Dickens…
Aussie Life
I’ve always been a bit of a ‘prepper’. Pre-2020 that’s something I would’ve never admitted. It’s embarrassing to say I…
