The barnacles just keep growing
The latest travel expenses affair is no more than another recurring symptom of the serious malaise in the Australian political…
Inflation creeps back like the forgotten whiff of cigarette smoke
From supermarkets to superyacht builders, sales figures are remarkably buoyant: consumer debt may be rising too, but no one can…
How the Donald will beat the Green Blob
Just before Christmas I popped over to Washington DC to test the waters of the Trump administration. I spoke to…
As the cab doors locked, I wanted to get out
I meant to get the bus, but by the time I arrived at the stop at 5 p.m. last Tuesday, I…
Theresa May, left-wing Tory
Curbs on executive pay, restrictions on foreign takeovers and workers on boards. Not Jeremy Corbyn’s plan for Britain, but ideas…
The Spectator’s Notes
At the Golden Globes ceremony, Meryl Streep attacked Donald Trump because he ‘imitated a disabled reporter’. ‘When the powerful use…
Shall we dance?
‘Blimey! How on earth did they think of that?’ is unlikely to be anyone’s response to Our Dancing Town (BBC2,…
Business/Robbery etc
The cost effect on the real world of the ideological fairyland of anti-coal campaigners is now becoming worryingly evident. Not…
Haus of ill repute
Here in Munich, in the gallery that Hitler built, this year’s big hit show is a spectacular display of modern…
The lies we tell ourselves about the NHS
The language of the left is a truly transformative grammar, so I suppose Noam Chomsky would heartily approve. There are…
Parliamentary perks: entitlement versus inconvenience
They say that if you want friends in politics you should get a dog, but if pollies want to find…
What went wrong with The Economist?
I first encountered The Economist magazine as an undergraduate at the London School of Economics in the early 1960s. Richard Lipsey…
South Australia: political geography and globalisation
In 1996 I published Globalising Australian Capitalism. The book generally gave a favourable account of the then bipartisan policy response…
Sussan Ley: every cloud has a silver lining
Notwithstanding investigations under way into stood-aside Health minister Sussan Ley’s touching fondness for the Gold Coast, it now appears she…
Legal euthanasia for Victoria? Beware
Victorian Parliamentary Secretary for Treasury and Finance, Daniel Mulino, has hit back at suggestions that assisted suicide and euthanasia can…
Meryl darling, check your privilege
What is there to say about Meryl Streep’s speech at the Golden Globes that hasn’t been said already? Probably nothing,…
What? The Age is still publishing?
Back from hols and what do I find? Much to my surprise, there’s still a print edition of The Age.…
The RSL must embrace change or die
Once Australia’s premier veterans’ advocacy organisation, the Returned and Services League is in rapid if not terminal decline. Its leadership…
The solution to the F-35 nightmare
We who have fought on the side of the angels in the global warming battle may soon have our rest.…
Serious-ley, Prime Minister?
Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull has blundered today by referring his embattled Health Minister Sussan Ley’s travel claims off to the…
Trump and Russia: too much too soon
Donald Trump wants closer and friendly ties with Russia and has long declared he will push for a realignment towards…
On sh-t art
We’re now well into the thirteenth hour, where basically all modern art is the epitome of what’s wrong with modern…
Big Brother is watching you (for training purposes)
As the dust settles after the momentous earthquakes of Trump and Brexit, one fact remains standing amongst the rubble: our…
The Spectator’s Notes
‘My deep concern is that because of changed ways that news is now gathered, collated, packaged, delivered and displayed, the…
Red faces
How to celebrate the centenary of the Russian revolutions of 1917? Modern Russians are deeply divided over the legacy of…
