Mandarin jammed?
One of the most passed-over media stories was the Malcolm Turnbull payback on the 13 ministers who challenged the then-prime…
Only certain outrage makes the Letters to the Editor
There are some words and phrases that are better left unsaid and newbie Senator Fraser Anning has now probably realised…
Their really unbiased ABC
Paul Bongiorno writes for Saturday as well as being an ABC Radio National commentator on politics and cultural affairs. Very…
What’s Paris still worth?
In 1593 Henry of Navarre, a Protestant prince turned Catholic to win the French crown, supposedly remarked, “Paris is well…
Spring is coming?
A recurrent theme in the avidly-watched Games of Thrones is ‘winter is coming’. This has been interpreted to mean various…
Don’t forget the hosts
There was one not-terribly-well-acknowledged behind-the-scenes heroic figure during the Kim-Trump Singapore Summit. That was Singapore’s leader, the distinguished former Brigadier,…
Maybe it’s not academic freedom, but the wrong name
The debate grinds on. Last week Australian National University Vice-Chancellor Brian Schmidt, an astrophysicist who probably never imagined things could…
The ANU fails western civilisation
Manning Clark must be mightily vexed from wherever he now exists (as an admirer of Soviet Man, Manning did not,…
Hastie wasn’t hasty but right on time
When the Member for Canning, Andrew Hastie, rose last week to warn, under parliamentary privilege, of the encroachment on Australian…
Love in the time of austerity
It’s usually the stranger, the foreigner, who see a nation’s flaws, fears and foibles more clearly than the natives. Think…
Beer can craft and other symbols of war
The beer can plane was perched high on a seldom-dusted shelf in the local op-shop. The last time I had…
Tree huggers – and haters
Dame Judi Dench, that most British of thesps, appeared on SBS TV last week speaking of her love and admiration…
A Corbyn in the capital’s ALP?
Last week in affluent, well-educated, politely spoken, avowedly Labor and impeccably PC Canberra, someone wrote something in a small throwaway…
Buy Australian
It’s reported the NT government is to look at breeding donkeys for meat export to China. So we may soon…
China, red in tooth and claw
One of the photographs in Clive Hamilton’s ground-breaking expose ‘Silent Invasion China’s influence in Australia is of ANU Vice-Chancellor Brian…
Malgorithms
There is no disappointment so deep, no betrayal so wounding, as that felt by those who put their faith in…
Why we won’t get into ASEAN any time soon
Indonesians, especially Jakartans – have a wicked sense of humour. Their biting jokes, fine-tuned by years of authoritarian rule, were…
Silent – or stealth – invasion
The first jolt for readers of Clive Hamilton’s polemic new book ‘Silent Invasion – China’s Influence in Australia’ is the…
Mr Trumble comes back from Washington
Monday morning the VIP aircraft carrying the returning PM’s entourage touched down on home soil and Australians began to wonder,…
Riding the dragon with Bob Carr
The ‘little dragons’ of southeast Asia, including the Philippines, Thailand, Laos and Indonesia share the same problem Australia has with…
Morality drones
The young receptionist in her Minister’s office was momentarily taken aback. The PM’s office? God, it’s heavy. And something rattles.…
Conservatively speaking: an exclusive interview with Cory Bernardi
Reminding Canberrans and visitors alike that Parliament House is not actually part of Australia but a strange sort of parallel…
Baby blues
This is a story about a senior media figure and a younger woman who discovered, perhaps to her dismay, that…
Barnaby Joyce and the return of the scarlet letter
With all the grubby reporting of a private matter between two consenting adults, the media pack, led by the Daily…
Ex-govvie furniture – quality checked
Canberrans are used to buying ‘ex-govvie’, from houses (not much on the market now) to pre-used chairs, desks, PCs, whiteboards and filing…
