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Albo’s Orwellian Bill

A friend of Socrates once visited the Delphic oracle to ask who is the wisest man in the world. The…

12 Oct 2024

Misinformation laws will feed attacks on Western history

Tucker Carlson has a unique ability to blow up the internet, and he did so again recently when history podcast…

12 Oct 2024

Hostage to evil

In the year since 7 October, a Hebrew song has emerged as an unofficial anthem. The song is ‘Acheinu’, a…

12 Oct 2024

Israel’s strategic circles

The serially repeating cycles of violence and ceasefires have produced bloodshed without end in the Israel-Palestine conflict. The line between…

12 Oct 2024

‘Je suis Juif? Non’

‘Je suis Charlie!’ was the cry adopted by supporters of freedom of speech and freedom of the press after the…

12 Oct 2024

Spare us the cringeworthy back story

I’m in charge of streaming in our household – someone must be. Luckily, there is a joint preference for contemporary…

12 Oct 2024

Iran’s toxic foreign policy

In 1985 when Soviet diplomats were kidnapped by Islamist extremists, the KGB resolved the misunderstanding by castrating a relative of…

12 Oct 2024

Let freedom ring out (and go through to voicemail)

As we know from the debate around the Voice referendum last year, most of us want equality for indigenous Australians…

12 Oct 2024

Macron is in office, but is he in power?

Emmanuel Macron is said to be appalled by his new right-wing government. A confidant of the French president conveyed to…

15 Oct 2024

India’s ‘murder’ spat with Canada has come at the worst time

The alleged involvement of agents of a foreign government in the murder of a citizen is a crime that violates…

15 Oct 2024

Australia’s republicans are embarrassing themselves over King Charles’s visit

Australia, where King Charles will return to on Friday, is where the monarch became a man. In 1966, Charles had…

15 Oct 2024

Tim Davie and the death of BBC ‘talent’

Has anyone ever come up with a better put-down for Nick Robinson? It is even better that it came from…

15 Oct 2024

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How New Zealand managed to sink a tenth of its naval fleet

New Zealand just lost one tenth of its naval defence fleet. The HMNZS Manawanui – the jewel in the nation’s small military…

7 Oct 2024

How does New Zealand solve a problem like China?

New Zealand’s most important trading partner is also the nation’s biggest security headache, according to a new risk-assessment report produced…

8 Sep 2024

Why are so many young people abandoning New Zealand?

Heading to the UK is a longstanding rite of cultural passage for many Kiwis. People like my youngest son, who…

24 Aug 2024

Kiwi life

New Zealand in crisis Given the destruction the previous Labour government inflicted on this country, and the damage caused by…

29 Jun 2024

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Aussie life

‘When I was 14, my father was so ignorant I could hardly stand to have him around,’ wrote Mark Twain,…

12 Oct 2024

Convict life

In a country that loves its anti-heroes as much as it loves a pub yarn, we’re faced with an important…

12 Oct 2024

Dear Mary: how can I stop guests waking too early?

Q. I meet a very old and dear friend for lunch on a regular basis. We meet at a lovely…

12 Oct 2024

Beware the ‘sourdough effect’

As the joke goes, there are two ways to become a top judge. You can study law at university, then…

12 Oct 2024

Three great minds explore the enigmas of the universe

It sounds like a Tom Stoppard play. A big-shot philosopher meets a big-shot boffin by way of a big-shot writer…

12 Oct 2024

Panning for music gold: The Catchers, by Xan Brooks, reviewed

They were known as song catchers: New York-based chancers with recording equipment packed in the back of the van, heading…

12 Oct 2024

Small-town mysteries: A Case of Matricide, by Graeme MacRae Burnet, reviewed

The gifted writer Graeme Macrae Burnet makes a mockery of the genres publishers impose on credulous readers. The author of…

12 Oct 2024

Potato crisps and the British character

Pickled fish. Lemon tea. Cucumber. Doner kebab. Stewed beef noodles. Salted egg. Soft shell crab. Coney island mustard. Smoked gouda.…

12 Oct 2024

Familiar scenarios: Our Evenings, by Alan Hollinghurst, reviewed

There’s a certain pattern to an Alan Hollinghurst novel. A young gay man goes to Oxford. He’s middle class and…

12 Oct 2024

What do we mean when we talk about freedom?

When the Yale historian and bestselling author Timothy Snyder was 14, his parents took him to Costa Rica, a country…

12 Oct 2024

The Christian view of sex contains multitudes

Lower Than the Angels (that is the condition of man, according to the psalmist and St Paul) is a book…

12 Oct 2024

How can Ireland survive the seismic changes of the past three decades?

Historians in Ireland occupy a public role – unlike in Britain, where those with an inclination towards the commentariat usually…

12 Oct 2024