Cash (was) King
The Reserve Bank recently published statistics that showed cash payments for everyday purchases have fallen from 70 per cent in…
Bridget Phillipson has a lot to learn from Donald Trump
Over the past few months, I’ve wished that almost anyone was education secretary instead of Bridget Phillipson, who seems to…
Have we become too reliant on antidepressants?
One in seven British adults – almost nine million people – now take antidepressants. Yet a study attached to the…
Does Japan want its own nuclear weapons?
Japan is planning to strengthen its ‘counterstrike capabilities’ by deploying long-range missiles on the southern island of Kyushu. The missiles…
London is not as bad as people say
Complaints that ‘London isn’t what it used to be’ or ‘London is a hell-hole these days’ are hardly original or…
I recommend not walking the Camino de Santiago
A lefty friend who just loves political arguments, currently living in Buenos Aires, made a rare concession. He’s usually so…
Nigel Farage has won the row with Rupert Lowe
The Reform schism, which the party’s many establishment detractors hoped would prevent it securing a breakthrough at the local elections,…
Adolescence is not a template for social media policy
What was Netflix’s Adolescence? An undoubtedly skilled portrayal of provoking fiction by an ensemble of gifted actors. What is it…
Dutton’s referendum
Long-term readers of this magazine are familiar with a strange tingling sensation that frequently runs up and down the spine,…
Brown study
During my 21 years in the federal parliament, I never got a satisfactory answer to the question why one side…
Presidential paradoxes, priceless real estate
We don’t have to like Trump, we just have to earn his respect
Theatre vultures will kill
Having a sportswriter father is no excuse. The young man was tall, long fair-haired with a hat. ‘What do you…
Aussie life
In a world of pointless questions like ‘Are tariffs good for me?’ and ‘Why does Kevin Rudd have a beard?’,…
Language
I am frequently asked about the expressions ‘First Nations’ / ‘First Peoples’. And Speccie reader Kay has raised it again,…
What Five Eyes does – and doesn’t – see
In the famous ‘Rainbow Portrait’ of Elizabeth I her gown is embroidered with eyes and ears, a reference to her…
Do you ‘damp down’ or ‘tamp down’?
‘Dampfschifffahrt!’ shouted my husband as though it were funny. I had been saying how strange it was that explosive gas…
Why I won’t accept the Laurels of Dante
Dante’s Beach, Ravenna I have just refused to accept the local equivalent of an Oscar, which was to have been…
