Australia
Heartbreak in the workplace: Green Dot, by Madeleine Gray, reviewed
Hera is 24, bisexual and usually dates women. But her infatuation with Arthur, an older, married journalist in her office, grows all-consuming
From the Odyssey to The Wizard of Oz: Praiseworthy, by Alexis Wright, reviewed
Everything blends into everything else as an Aboriginal knight errant sets out on a quest to save his scorched native bushlands
Has Bazball rescued — or ruined — cricket?
Thanks to Ben Stokes and Brendon McCullum, English Test cricket has been revolutionised – at the expense of the gentle, contemplative game
The crushing defeat of Australia’s divisive Voice referendum
Australia’s Prime Minister, Anthony Albanese, urged his fellow Australians to take ‘the opportunity to make history’ today. And they did,…
Why did Australia vote No in the Voice referendum?
I’m in Sydney for the Voice referendum result and was ready to settle in and watch the declarations for each…
Australia’s disastrous indigenous voice referendum
My partner and I have just returned from the most magical trip. As guests of Western Australia’s tourist board we’ve…
Why I’m addicted to Australian MasterChef
Why is Australian MasterChef so much better than the English version? You’d think, with a population less than a third…
A fable for our times
When phylloxera destroys the vines on the Aoelian island of ‘S’, the inhabitants, forced to emigrate, blame the recently established prison colony
Watching Queen Cleopatra felt like witnessing the death of scholarship
The most controversial aspect of Netflix’s new drama-documentary Queen Cleopatra – not least in Egypt – was the casting of…
Who killed Australia Day?
Australia Day was once a big deal Down Under, but in recent years the annual celebration has been somewhat muted.…
Removing PMs hardly ever ends well
As Tory MPs appear to descend into a panic of buyers’ remorse over the election of Liz Truss, they would…
Must we now despise colonial architecture too?
Here’s a thing. A disturbing book about disturbing cities. And it’s full of loaded questions. Like Hezbollah, the publisher uses…
Are the Australian election results a bad sign for the Tories?
Scott Morrison’s Liberals were absolutely thrashed in the Australian elections this weekend. The party’s vote collapsed, and there were big-name…
How Scott Morrison was defeated in Australia
‘Scott Morrison is empathetic – without the “em”.’ Those words, spoken on Friday by the Labor party frontbencher Jason Clare,…
New Aussie rules: Conservative values have fallen out of fashion
Conservative values have fallen out of fashion
Could Australia’s answer to Corbyn become PM?
While the main electoral attraction of the moment is the French presidential showdown between Emmanuel Macron and Marine Le Pen,…
Rest in peace, Shane Warne
Headingly, July 22nd 1993 and the opening day of the fourth test that summer between England and Australia. This, as…
Novak Djokovic is treating Australians like mugs
Just minutes from the heart of Victoria’s capital, Melbourne Park is one of the great tennis complexes. For a fortnight…
Why England lost the Ashes
England’s wretched performance in the Ashes – which saw the side lose three tests and so the series to Australia…
China has begun its campaign to take Taiwan
Normally, if the response to a speech of mine was that it had been a ‘despicable and insane performance’ from…
How 19th-century gold rushes led to a distrust of China
For a brief moment three summers ago it seemed that the clear Idaho air wafting through the Sun Valley Literary…