Triumph
Donald Trump: ‘This will be a Golden Age’
The first thing you notice about Donald Trump’s victory speech is the stage behind him. America is standing on that…
Petricide: the killing of Peanut and Fred
Cruelty to animals is linked to criminal behaviour and is an indicator of future violence toward humans. FBI investigators have…
Buzz Aldrin’s Trump endorsement matters
There are celebrity endorsements – and then there is Buzz Aldrin. Instead of being endorsed by the dregs of Hollywood,…
Garbage, the free press, and the war over apostrophes
The future of the free press, citizen journalism, and the public voice hangs in the balance. Elon Musk has made…
Triumph v Karma-la – the second coming
The problem for the Democrats is not that they’re out of touch, as everyone is saying in election postmortems. Their…
The world has changed
(Outgoing) Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen says Net Zero is necessary to combat the ‘existential threat’ of climate change at a…
Trump’s win means we’ve narrowly avoided war
There is little doubt that the US is the mightiest military power in human history. At a time when Australia’s…
Covid Inquiry was not fit for purpose
The 868-page report of the official inquiry into Australia’s Covid-19 response, like the inquiry itself, is not fit for purpose.…
Monica Smit fights back against the Candace Owens visa ban
Recently, MP Tony Burke stated that Candace Owens ‘has the capacity to incite discord in almost every direction’. The right-wing…
The cost of skipping democracy
In July 2024, the Democratic Party faced a pivotal moment when President Joe Biden withdrew from the presidential race, endorsing…
Would you like fries with that?
Last week, I was interviewed by Bill Mitchell as part of the run-up to the US election. It always seems…
Democracy: the most misused word in political discourse
Headlines such as, Democracy is at risk, Democracy in crisis, The risks facing Democracy, and Democracy is hanging by a…
Wind and solar: the energy thieves
Wind and solar power can only survive as parasites on more efficient generators. This slim and elegant book by Lars…
Teachers as tradies
‘What is the difference between an hourly rate and a salary Dad?’ asked the inquisitive teenager. His quiet and thoughtful…
Starmer’s Britain is a death cult
It was Nietzsche who described the ‘fin de siècle’ era of the 19th Century as one of ‘nihilism’. With the…
The Harris campaign cannot resist Trump’s ‘protect women’ bait
Once again Trump has demonstrated his genius for political promotion by decorating a simple, solid, positive message aimed at undecided…
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…
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…
Chalmer’s fatal flaw
Picture the scene. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is in his situation room. He is minutes away from giving the…
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…
Governments confront unsustainable debt
When French Prime Minister Michel Barnier addressed parliament for the first time in October, he warned higher taxes and spending…
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…
Monopoly on the truth
‘There is no absurdity so palpable but that it may be firmly planted in the human head if you only…
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…
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…
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…
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…
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,…
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…
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…
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…
The OnlyFans model, the milkshake and me
Narrative robbery
So the silly season, the festive season when we celebrate the incarnation of the Good is looming, yet again, and…
The all-powerful hand of the director
When that writer of spare French prose André Gide was asked who the greatest French poet was he replied, ‘Hugo,…
What Fight Club got right
There are three great makers of popular man-art working in Hollywood today – Michael Mann, Christopher Nolan and David Fincher…
Such wild and tumultuous art
Jonathan Mills’ opera Eucalyptus based on the superbly designed novel by Murray Bail has left audiences dazzled and rushing to…
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…
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…
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’,…
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…
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.…
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…
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,…
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…