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Laughter is the best medicine

The vagaries of print publication are such that this week’s issue’s deadline occurs before we know the results of what…

9 Nov 2024

What do we want? $2 coffee

Forget universal childcare. Forget free school lunches. Forget discounts on electricity. Forget sports vouchers for the kiddies. I’m demanding $2…

9 Nov 2024

Chalmer’s fatal flaw

Picture the scene. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is in his situation room. He is minutes away from giving the…

9 Nov 2024

Covid’s abuse of power

On 24 October, Jay Bhattacharya, once derided by Anthony ‘Mr Science’ Fauci as a fringe epidemiologist, was awarded the Zimmer…

9 Nov 2024

Governments confront unsustainable debt

When French Prime Minister Michel Barnier addressed parliament for the first time in October, he warned higher taxes and spending…

9 Nov 2024

Student debt is a farce

American economist Thomas Sowell famously noted that, ‘The first lesson of economics is scarcity: There is never enough of anything…

Return of the Trumpinator

No one has confidence in American elections.  Not Hillary Clinton who still claims she won the 2016 election. Not Trump…

9 Nov 2024

Monopoly on the truth

‘There is no absurdity so palpable but that it may be firmly planted in the human head if you only…

9 Nov 2024

Trump hails new ‘golden age’ in Palm Beach victory speech

At just before 2:30 a.m. ET, President-elect Donald Trump took the stage in West Palm Beach to declare victory as…

6 Nov 2024

Markets must wait and see what Trump 2.0 will bring

Truth Social rocketed. Bitcoin soared in price. The dollar rose, and bond yields were up, while Chinese equities wobbled. Over…

6 Nov 2024

How a Latino wave carried Trump to victory

Donald Trump’s victory this time may not be the surprise that his 2016 win was, but for his critics it’s…

6 Nov 2024

The reason Kamala Harris is losing

Whatever you think of Donald Trump, watching the mood change in the BBC’s election studio has been delicious. It was…

6 Nov 2024

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Why is this New Zealand airport clamping down on hugs?

‘Whenever I get gloomy with the state of the world,’ Hugh Grant famously offered in the heartwarming opening scene of Love,…

24 Oct 2024

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

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Ausie life

‘Now, Jill, what would you like to be when you grow up?’ ‘I’d like to be an equal opportunity commissioner.’…

Language

A Speccie reader (Greg) has asked me to say something about the expression ‘AI’, meaning artificial intelligence. The expression is…

9 Nov 2024

Aussie life

Despite historically owning less property than men, women have always exerted a powerful influence in the sector. Like lyre birds,…

2 Nov 2024

Language

When human rights commissions were established both federally and in all the states, we assumed this was a good thing…

2 Nov 2024

Books of the Year I

Jonathan Sumption Barbara Emerson’s The First Cold War: Anglo-Russian Relations in the 19th Century (Hurst, £35) is an outstanding account…

2 Nov 2024

From public bar to cocktail bar: books for the discerning drinker

One of the joys of getting older is the appreciation of the solitary pint. But what to do as you…

2 Nov 2024

Waifs and strays: Gliff, by Ali Smith, reviewed

‘Gliff’ is a word which can mean ‘a short moment’, ‘a wallop’, and ‘a post-ejaculatory sex act’; to ‘dispel snow’,…

2 Nov 2024

The mystery of Area X: Absolution, by Jeff VanderMeer, reviewed

I have to confess that I am not a fan of horror fiction. I have a stack of unread H.P. Lovecrafts sent…

2 Nov 2024

Truly inspirational: the hospital diary of Hanif Kureishi

You’d think a book about a paralysed man lying in hospital for a year would be bound to be depressing.…

2 Nov 2024

The many passions of Ronald Blythe

In Regency Britain, balls were often timed to coincide with full moons. Provided there was no cloud cover, moonlight made…

2 Nov 2024

Out of the depths: Dante’s Purgatorio, by Philip Terry, reviewed

Many readers of Dante get no further than the Inferno. The inscription over the gates of Hell, the demon-haunted circles,…

2 Nov 2024

You didn’t mess with them – the doughty matriarchs of the intelligence world

As Hilary Mantel memorably noted, history represents what people try to hide, and researching it is a question of ferreting…

2 Nov 2024