Rooted in failure
Australia is rooted. That is the message from the Albanese government as it heads towards an election it thoroughly deserves…
Brown study
One of the great mysteries of life here in Marvellous Melbourne is why the Age is assumed to be so…
Australian notes
In 2023 a constitutional referendum was held on an Indigenous Voice to parliament. Had the Yes vote carried the majority…
Intensely engaging
The Australian National Academy of Music gala performance on Friday 21 March was dazzling with guest conductor Asher Fisch leading…
Aussie life
A sad legacy of Dark Emu, or rather of the embarrassing embrace of its ludicrous central thesis by our education…
Language
It’s easy to picture the situation: a politician who has been an outspoken supporter of China (insisting their government is…
UK tax on US tech is a useful bargaining chip
The Digital Services Tax (DST) is a relatively easy bargaining chip to give away in a last-ditch bid to appease…
Why do we diminish ‘compendious’?
My husband has been telling me, at some length, about the Gamages Christmas catalogue that fired his childhood imagination and…
How Dr Seuss took on American isolationism
A cartoon is doing the rounds online, critiquing American isolationism and the reluctance to engage with the war in Europe.…
My hunt for a doctor took a horror movie turn
My American guest went down with a cough he could not shift and, after a week of protesting that he…
Is Simon Heffer a security threat?
Airport security was much on my mind last Friday afternoon. I had been due to fly from Heathrow to Zurich…
Letters: The futility of net zero
Not zero Sir: I was delighted to see your leading article about the impossibility of net zero (‘Carbon candour’, 22…
Dope Thief is a cut above your usual inner-city crime-drama porn
I really had no interest in watching Dope Thief. It’s another of those crime dramas set in a bleak-looking city…
My highlights from the Cheltenham Festival
When Poniros, trained by Willie Mullins, swept home in this year’s Triumph Hurdle as the first 100-1 Cheltenham Festival winner…
I’m ready to defend my Tesla from the mob
Occitanie, France In France, burning cars is practically a national sport. Almost 1,000 were set on fire on New Year’s…
The Boden Belt: the Lib Dems are the new party of the posh
The English social season has begun, kicking off with Gold Cup day. But this year, there is a new common…
How to be a Lord
At the end of my first day at the House of Lords, I staggered out with so many books and…
