May Day and the noble worker, sure – but what about the bold entrepreneur?
It’s the first of May, and so I can’t help but remember the May Day marches of my Polish childhood;…
Goosey Lucy goes independent
Kenyan-born lawyer, now Family First Senator for South Australia Lucy Gichuhi was confirmed in her Senate seat after Labor decided…
The oddest British poll issue: Gaysexit
A make or break question has emerged in UK election fever over the past week. Is it school funding? No.…
Halal Certification Authority president: white Australian Christians lack compassion
Social media starlet Yassmin Abdel-Magied, she of “Islam is the most feminist religion” and more recently “Lest We Forget [insert…
Cultural relativism sees justice denied
A teenager who migrated from Afghanistan recently plead guilty to a series of sexual assaults in Surfer’s Paradise committed in…
The turf
Any of us can forget little things on leaving home in a hurry. To the chagrin of Mrs Oakley, who…
Barometer
Pippa goes public Church of England lawyers ruled that the public must be allowed to attend the wedding of Pippa…
Diary
When Trevor Phillips stood down as chairman of the Equality and Human Rights Commission, he had served nine years. His…
Uniting the kingdom
When launching the Scottish National Party’s election campaign, Nicola Sturgeon said the word ‘Tory’ 20 times in 20 minutes. For…
Australian letters
Consequential Sir: Appreciated very much Michael Davis’s article ‘Gay Marriage Notes’. It should be mandatory reading for many of our…
Consider this…
Your body belongs to the nation For a bloke who doesn’t mind a bit of regulation – you may recall…
Isaiah Firebrace (centre) with Myf Warhurst and Joel Creasy
It’s been going since 1956. The 62nd season of the Eurovision Song Contest to be held in Kiev, Ukraine, starts…
Conservative notes
Ultimately, it doesn’t matter whether Marine Le Pen or Emmanuel Macron is elected President of France on May 7. As…
Dis-con notes
Decision time Recent events make it necessary for us Dis-Cons to ask where things now stand. Despite ever-mounting evidence against…
Canadian notes
Liking/loathing Trump I’m over in Canada for another few days and while here have been getting a lot of news…
Aussie values
We have heard much over the past fortnight, thanks to a new citizenship test and the Anzac commemorations, about Australian…
Capping prices to win votes is no substitute for a serious energy strategy
Is capping domestic energy prices an equitable way to help the ‘just about managing’, or an electoral gimmick with a…
What would Darwin make of trainspotters?
Why are men so much more likely to be interested in trains than women? I believe this to be a…
Why Tories are talking up Labour
Considering that their party is expected to win by a landslide, the Tory spin doctors sound unusually panicked. They are…
Tim’s a Christian, so he’s not allowed an opinion
Maybe I’m wrong about this, but I don’t remember the BBC running a documentary 100 days into Barack Obama’s first…
The Spectator’s Notes
With Emmanuel Macron and Marine Le Pen through to the final in France, people of a conservative disposition might feel…
Bridge
Last week we played round four of the Gold Cup. I had eagerly looked at the email to see who…
Bugged
Polish grandmaster Akiba Rubinstein was one of the strongest players never to win the world title. Up to 1914 he…
no. 454
Black to play. This position is from Belsitzman-Rubinstein, Warsaw 1917. How did Rubinstein finish off? Answers to me at The…
Notebook
I’m an unashamed Archers fan. But for the first time in 50 years I’m exasperated by the storyline. A fortnight…
