Why Mogadishu has better mobile phone reception than Manchester
While the UK government struggles to deliver reliable mobile coverage across some rural communities, Somalia – a country that hasn’t…
Why free speech is an essential election issue
As the 2025 election is looming – scheduled to be held sometime before Saturday, May 17 – many people have…
Darwin: can we please have our port back?
In 2015, the Northern Territory Country Liberal government, controversially, leased the run-down port of Darwin to Chinese company Landbridge, to…
Healing from the inside out
Gut health, ketogenic diets, insulin resistance, and the weight of the food pyramid
Storms ahead
Unless the predicted Queensland cyclone skewers his plans, Prime Minister Anthony Albanese is expected this weekend to call a federal…
Australian notes
A Chinese naval flotilla perambulating down the east coast of Australia sends two messages. One is, ‘Here we are and…
Devotion and betrayals
There is a Roman saying, ‘What the barbarians started the Barberinis completed’ with reference to one of the great dynastic…
Aussie life
Following the BLM protests in the US, which were seized on by the Aussie media and in schools, Disney declared…
Language
A Speccie reader, Lillian, has sent me this information about a brand-new word – governmentium. ‘Scientific research has led to…
Jonathan Bowden: my eccentric school friend who became a far-right hero
When my old school, Presentation College, Reading, was demolished a decade ago, the Labour council desperately searched for famous old…
McSpaff: Scotland is the worst when it comes to government waste
No country in the UK receives more public money per head than Scotland. An extra £2,200 is spent on every…
The seductions of Provence
Riches, ancient cities, great architecture, splendid landscape, agriculture to match, trade routes, romance. Records of human settlement stretching to the…
My brush with a rabid money
India A crowded bus station. A lady monkey with a baby clinging to its neck sidled past me, eyeing the banana…
In defence of red velvet cake
I will admit to having been dismissive of red velvet cake in the past, considering it to be bland in…
