The bank that keeps poor nations poor
What is the point of the World Bank? You probably think of it, if at all, as a benign institution,…
That idiot Trump has got one thing right
I have been watching Donald Trump closely for more than a year and I have come to the considered opinion…
Portrait of the week
Home Theresa May, the Prime Minister, and David Davis, the Brexit Secretary, went to Brussels and had dinner with Jean-Claude…
Comedy of terrors
Armando Iannucci’s The Death of Stalin is nearly two hours of men in bad suits bickering, but if you have…
Saints and sinners
Any rival reality-TV makers watching Channel 5 on Thursday will, I suspect, have been both mystified and slightly embarrassed at…
Seeing the light
Dance is an ephemeral art. It keeps few proper records of its products. Reputations are written in rumours and reviews.…
The bad sex award
Simon Stephens gives his plays misleading titles. Nuclear War, Pornography and Punk Rock contained little trace of their advertised ingredients.…
Meanwhile, across the ditch…
“Jacinda, you can get up off the floor now, you’ll ladder your stockings and you know, if you’re going to…
How will you celebrate a “Yes” win?
The Labor caucus has said “no” to inserting extra protections for religious freedoms in any bill to legalise same-sex marriage…
Gender dysphoria: scientifically baseless
The challenge we face today is to maintain rigorous discernment and objectivity despite the concern we all feel when greeted…
Winston Oakeshott
Today, the last effective centre-right government of the Anglosphere has fallen. The New Zealand National government led by Bill English…
Tax creeps
Last week, the Parliamentary Budget Office issued a report Changes in average personal income tax rates: distributional impacts’ which found…
Mango and the “delightful discovery” of childhood sexual abuse
You know you’re getting old when your kids have to tell you what the different emojis really mean. You see,…
More hot days — or “purpose-designed” temperature sensors at play?
I don’t believe in conspiracies of silence except when it comes to Harvey Weinstein and the Australian Bureau of Meteorology.…
Dangerous sex
It is safe to say, that nowadays, sexual gratification is fraught with danger. It’s probably always been that way for…
Don’t cry for Hillary, Australia
The ABC Four Corners is supposed to be a gutsy, fact-finding expose-type television program. Most of the time it is.…
“My family’s voting ‘Yes’!”
Last Saturday evening I had a curious encounter. I was busy running around LibertyFest making sure everything ran smoothly when…
18c, weaponised
Who can forget the Beaconsfield Mine Disaster of 2006? For two weeks, the entire nation was gripped with the rescue…
Let the poor pay more for electricity
An outfit called the Victorian Council of Social Service, one supposes, would be concerned with the less well-off. Apparently not.…
Victoria’s euthanasia bill is not safe
The Parliament of Victoria is about to vote on a bill to legalise assisted suicide and euthanasia. Health Minister Jill…
End the renewables rorts now for cheap power
The government’s abandonment of the expanded renewable energy target that the Finkel report recommended represents a careful compromise. The Prime…
Please welcome our new PM, Julie Bishop
At this point, even Malcolm Turnbull knows he’s not a competent leader. He’s updating his CV, dry-cleaning his ties and…
No ticket, no start
What is the point of a Liberal government? Tomorrow the New South Wales parliament will debate the Fair Trading Amendment…
Domestic violence industry tries to tap into terrorism for cash
In July, Fairfax wrote that 46 per cent of Australians who think we should be spending more on anti-terrorism measures…
What do taxpayers get from UNESCO?
Last week the United States withdrew from UNESCO, the UN’s Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation, citing politicisation, after UNESCO designated…
