Diary
Donald Trump was gushing about one European leader in his Times interview this week. But it was the wrong one.…
Revealing nudes
Nude begins with that most perfect of bodies: champion archer Teucer drawing his bow, his youthful face absorbed in concentration,…
The xx: I See You
The xx is a trio of Londoners whose eponymous first album, released in 2009, has defined the way pop music…
The xx: I See You
The xx is a trio of Londoners whose eponymous first album, released in 2009, has defined the way pop music…
Stupidity takes hold of another students’ union
I had never heard the acronym Soas before I started work at the BBC, almost 30 years ago. But as…
Trump’s evangelical supporters are on the wrong side of history
“If my people who are called by my name humble themselves, and pray and seek my face and turn from…
About that Australia Day billboard…
So. About this Australia Day-hijab-billboard thing. A billboard promoting Australia Day celebrations that featured two girls in hijabs has been…
Live outside Tram Zone 1? Piss off!
The Age has let us know what it thinks of people who live outside Melbourne (read inner-city Melbourne, as Age-types…
Where’s the bloody Human Rights Commission while Valhalla’s burning?
Although the Human Rights Commission spends a lot of its time digging up imaginary wrongs and encouraging people to get outraged and…
There’s still an elephant in the room, Prime Minister
So we have a new ministry. Or an amended ministry, anyway. But there’s still an elephant in the room. Or…
Julian Assange, Australian of the Year
Without question, the most internationally famous, influential and impactful Australian in 2016 is Julian Assange. Through Wikileaks, Assange had a…
And they tell us the science is settled?
Please find below three examples of wisdom from the groves of academe, courtesy of The Conversation. Read the three “You…
Fox politics in the Year of the Rooster
As we’re coming up to the Chinese New Year of the Rooster I’ve named my three new hens after former…
Free speech gets shredded
Last Thursday Dr Anne Aly, the Member for Cowan, shared a video of herself shredding the Institute of Public Affairs’ submission…
Nationalism or neo-liberalism, just sell your case better
Surely you’ve all seen Tony Abbott’s punchy op-ed in The Australian, and the wee tiff it’s sparked within the Liberal government. In case not, here’s…
Privatise the ABC
The Middle-Class Rip Off is an episode of the great British satire Yes Minister, where Humphrey Appleby excoriates his minister Jim Hacker, for suggesting that…
A grey beard isn’t everything in politics
Change is the only constant. Ultimately, that is the only truth there is, and anything else you hear is more…
Making work for ourselves
In 1929 John Maynard Keynes predicted that by 2029 people in the developed nations could enjoy a perfectly civilised standard…
Wild life
We had my parents-in-law Gerry and Jean to stay with us on the farm over Christmas and being in a…
Barometer
Black background A Morris dancing troupe with blacked-up faces had to abandon its performance in a Birmingham shopping centre after…
Diary
In December I was in a group of writers on a British Council visit to Moscow, where the UK was…
Bonds of friendship
From ‘The Rome conference and bonds of alliance’, The Spectator, 13 January 1917: There may be the greatest possible good,…
Letters
Defund Palestinians Sir: Former prime minister Tony Abbott is clearly on the money when he argues that the Australian taxpayer…
Portrait of the week
Home Jeremy Corbyn, the leader of the Labour party, proposed a limit on incomes: ‘I would like to see some kind…
Stealing beauty (and everything else)
A new front in the war against racism has opened up and the fight is being taken to a new…
