American diplomacy might not stop a Middle East war
On the face of it, the assassination of Hamas leader Ismael Haniyeh in Tehran on 31 July was a brilliant,…
Will Erdogan go on and on?
Today marks ten years since Recep Tayyip Erdoğan was elected president. There will be no celebrations, and Turkish media may…
Franklin Roosevelt was made in world war one
Many of those around Franklin Roosevelt were puking their guts out – but he could not have been happier. It…
Does Australia have a crocodile problem?
During the cold months of July and August, many southern Australians head north to warmer climes. A favourite destination is…
Albo’s intersectional economics
At the Garma festival in Arnhem land recently, the Prime Minister of Australia, Anthony Albanese, reached peak woke stupidity. The…
Language
A Speccie reader has been in touch to complain about the use of the expressions ‘wind farm’ and ‘solar farm’.…
Aussie life
Off the beach of Ipanema where the tall and tanned girls go, they’ve found Brazilian sharks with cocaine in their…
The standard of beauty
Maxim Vengerov is touted as one of the world’s greatest violinists, the kind of musician who can fill Carnegie Hall…
Brown Study
This is the story of the column I almost wrote, but which was overtaken by events. It all started a…
My ringside seat at the Nixon resignation melodrama
American politics seem particularly febrile in 2024. The sitting President has withdrawn from the election, days after his predecessor was…
Why children have stopped reading
It’s only when you read the old stories again, to a child maybe, that you become aware of the extent…
Bring on the new football season
On a summer’s evening in 1978 I was standing on the platform at Redcar Central station, wondering if I had…
How long have we spent failing to upgrade the A303 past Stonehenge?
Deal or no deal Have public sector workers had a worse deal in recent years than private sector ones? –…
Sharing riot videos? You’re part of the problem
We’re told these riots are about immigration, racism, angry Islam, elite blindness and identity politics – and, to a point,…
