Giving it both barrels
In Joseph Roth’s The Radetzky March, the ageing Emperor Franz Joseph regrets the drab field-grey that has replaced his army’s…
Joining the dots
A new website, radio.garden, lets us browse radio stations across the globe. Nothing new about that. That’s been a key…
Joining the dots
A new website, radio.garden, lets us browse radio stations across the globe. Nothing new about that. That’s been a key…
Java diary
Outdoors, Jakarta’s heat and humidity were oppressive. Inside the 6th World Peace Forum (WPF), most delegates were in heated agreement…
Bridge
Simon Gillis’s team has had a very successful year. They won the Gold Cup (for the second time), they joined…
The evil of 2334
If, as the Australian newspaper implied this week, The Spectator Australia has played a minor role in the recent acknowledgment…
The evil of 2334
If, as the Australian newspaper implied this week, The Spectator Australia has played a minor role in the recent acknowledgment…
In our virtual future, why would anyone work?
A flash of the future, over the holidays, that felt like a flash of the past. It happened on Christmas…
Markets start the year strong while Italy totters towards the next crisis
The headline business story of the holiday season was the latest bailout of Banca Monte dei Paschi di Siena. This…
The Spectator’s Notes
‘My deep concern is that because of changed ways that news is now gathered, collated, packaged, delivered and displayed, the…
Holmes spun
One of the few intelligent responses from the liberal-left to our radically altered political landscape was an essay published last…
A new breed of ‘historian’
In the next few weeks, thousands of young Australians, having just finished 12 years of schooling, will be preparing themselves…
May’s big chance
It is the fate of all new prime ministers to be compared with their recent predecessors. Theresa May has already…
My poster girl for free speech
Now is the time of year to take down the Christmas decorations from your front window and put up, in…
Chrenkoff and the delcon ding-dong
One of my Facebook friends has re-published my piece on The Road to Ruin his wall, and boy, haven’t I…
The war on Christianity in the Arab world continues
As you celebrate with your loved ones the New Year, spare a thought for the Christians in the Middle East…
The Road to Ruin (traveled slowly)
At the beginning of last month, until I was rudely interrupted by a Jordanian hacker, I started writing thoughts on…
South Australia: two turning points for the economy
The Mike Rann Labor government was formed in South Australia in 2002 and thereafter enjoyed a decent decade. It then…
Nanny won’t trust us with cold and flu tablets?
The announcement by the Therapeutic Goods Administration that pharmaceutical products that contain codeine will no longer be available over the…
The success of soft multiculturalism
Australian politicians feel it necessary to keep reminding the public that their country is the most successful multicultural society in…
Israel is Jewish
At a time when Australian Christians have been celebrating Christmas and the New Year and Australian Jews marking the Festival…
2016 an annus horribilis? Grow up
We close 2016 with the knowledge that it will be remembered as one of the most momentous years in modern…
Is the defender of the faith quailing?
Firstly, let me say in response to that headline, I doubt it. The Queen has spoken frankly throughout her life…
Obama’s destruction of Israel
I remember a few months back Benjamin Netanyahu gave a striking order to his cabinet ministers: ‘First of all, the…
Dear Mary
Q. Our first Christmas card arrived on 2 December and it was a lovely thing — a Burne-Jones angel musician,…
