The Bolt crucible
Yes to free speech, no to racism. It should be a pretty simple formula but, of course, the devil is…
Diary
I don’t normally put a great deal of thought into my tweets. Chatting idly on Twitter one night I had…
Australian notes
Cheers all round for Andrew Bolt who extracted an apology, however grudging, from the ABC for broadcasting false and defamatory…
The devilish problem of Tasmania
Trace the rot in the island state to Canberra’s interventionism in the early 1980s
On the contrary
I was on the edge of a rather hairy deadline when disaster struck. Tired of being cooped up in an…
Under the house with Hergé
Could my signed copy of a famous adventure comic book be worth a king’s ransom?
Brown study
The next step has been taken in Victorian barristers’ consideration of changing their titles from the rather anodyne Senior Counsel…
Stop ringing me!
How does Australia benefit from foreign call centres using Australia as a source of income totalling billions?
Lost in translation
At the Venice Biennale last year, Jeremy Deller presented English Magic in the British Pavilion. It was an aggressive look…
Cracking up
The troubles of Richard Pryor’s life are well known — from his childhood in a brothel to his self-immolation via…
Småland
Småland’s wooden cottages with sunflowers lack nothing. Brightly-painted, small in the distance like stories, they call the eye on and…
A Short Attachment
I was in love for a whole week after Episode One: Your voice so tender, so knowledgeable, your slender hands…
A Short Attachment
I was in love for a whole week after Episode One: Your voice so tender, so knowledgeable, your slender hands…
Lamb rump without the prince
Highgrove is the country house of the Prince of Wales. I write about Highgrove because, although it is not a…
Whisper it, but could England win the next Rugby World Cup?
There are many eternal questions. Why do all aircraft, no matter how much your ticket cost, where you’ve come from,…
A Cheltenham of contrasts
No sporting event anywhere compresses so much drama, emotion and character into a single venue as the Cheltenham Festival. It…
Lost in translation
At the Venice Biennale last year, Jeremy Deller presented English Magic in the British Pavilion. It was an aggressive look…
The third way
It all started in 1971, when a group of physically and artistically talented youngsters decided to create a dance company…
The Menuhin test
‘The truth is,’ says Gordon Back, lowering his voice, ‘that if the violin finalists from the BBC Young Musician of…
The Menuhin test
‘The truth is,’ says Gordon Back, lowering his voice, ‘that if the violin finalists from the BBC Young Musician of…
Cracking up
The troubles of Richard Pryor’s life are well known — from his childhood in a brothel to his self-immolation via…
Småland
Småland’s wooden cottages with sunflowers lack nothing. Brightly-painted, small in the distance like stories, they call the eye on and…
Must every quality TV show begin with a young woman’s corpse?
It was Shetland that tipped me over the edge. Not the place, but the TV series. Although that’s set in…
Why it’s right to criticise the newly dead
I could start by remarking that we should not speak ill of the dead, quoting the pertinent Latin phrase: de…
