Sink or swim
I used to worry that I would never be a good writer because my childhood wasn’t interesting enough. I now…
Hornet highballs anyone?
After school last Wednesday, I watched my five-year-old daughter pop a dead cricket on to her tongue and proclaim it:…
Three for the road
One of the great challenges in life, writes Richard Ford in Between Them, ‘is to know our parents fully —…
Cries and whispers
There’s a moment in A Boy in Winter where a young Ukrainian policeman has to escort his town’s Jewish population…
High life
I was busy explaining to a 23-year-old American girl by the name of Jennifer why the election result was not…
Time bandits
‘Oooooo,’ coos the middle-aged box office lady with a wink, as I pick up my tickets to the World Science…
So it’s all about the, er, settlements then?
There has long been a conventional wisdom in some foreign policy circles that runs like this: solve the Israeli-Palestinian conflict…
Excuse me, your cognitive dissonance is showing
On June 5 in Brighton, Melbourne, at a spot I have driven past countless times, there was a terrorist incident.…
Business/Robbery etc
The foxes have already been let into the henhouse. Led by the nastiest fox of all, the thuggish, serial law-breaker…
Down the social media rabbit hole
‘Whatever it is I’m against it,’ Groucho Marx sang in the 1932 film Horse Feathers. Bill Shorten’s Labor Party is…
Portrait of the week
Home Theresa May, the Prime Minister, spent the week confronting the consequences of the general election that she had called…
Woolly thinking won’t help with education
Some weeks more than others, the woolly thinking that leads to poor policy is blindingly obvious. Education policy development is…
For God or country?
A few months ago I mused on this page whether the UK had shifted to the point where a faithful Christian could…
We need more than concrete barriers to protect us from terrorism
The general atmosphere of Melbourne has changed. Innocence has been lost. Citizens feel insecure. A cloud of doom and trepidation…
The hangover after the ball
It was Paul Keating who said that if you needed a friend in Canberra you should get a dog. Malcolm…
High tax: the pillar of what civilisation?
“Progressive” think tank Per Capita recently released the results of their annual tax survey. It turns out that 51.5 per…
Safe school days
Once upon a time, schools were for teaching things like reading, and writing, and arithmetic. Today, schools teach reading, writing,…
Goodbye to all that
The Age made a song and dance today about the departure of their political editor Michael Gordon. And rightly, too.…
Elder abuse: it’s real
Today, June 15, is World Elder Abuse Awareness Day. Timed to coincide with this international day, the Australian Law Reform…
Trumpism, post-Trump
BOSTON, UNITED STATES — Professor David Flint made a statement in the last print issue which I’d like to tease…
Manus: a ten point plan to recover our honour, our borders and our country
The Turnbull government has gone to water over the claim by about 1900 Manus Island detainees. It could have and…
Letters
Divining Rod Sir: Please congratulate Rod Liddle on being the only commentator who accurately forecast the uncertain general election result…
Art of darkness
Brett Dean’s new opera for Glyndebourne is a big-hearted romantic comedy, sunny and life-affirming. Only joking — this is contemporary…
2314: 4÷4=8
The unclued four-letter words can be paired in a particular way to form the remaining unclued lights, one of two…
No Hils, you’re no Wonder Woman
Hillary Clinton has learned nothing from losing the election. She’s still living life in one of two modes. She’s either…
