Doomed revolutions
Some revolutions such as the American War of Independence, succeed and result in the birth of great nations. Some, such…
Doing the Makarrata
So here we go again. What I will call ‘Atsic mark II’ is currently getting pollies, journos and lawyers in…
Immigration and the demographic brioche
The Conversation is an online journal publishing commentary from Australian academics about current issues. It claims to present articles with…
The Thuringian flagellants and the green gluers
Those young men and women who have taken to gluing themselves to walls and roads in order to save the…
The immigration iceberg
In the Middle Ages the periodic return of plague from the Middle East to communities throughout Europe killed off possibly…
Whither withering democracy?
In June 1995 the New Yorker magazine published a long article by the distinguished American journalist Michael Kelly examining dissatisfaction…
Identity notes
Colourful opinions In the last edition of the Saturday Paper for 2018 there is an article by a self-styled ‘Person…
Reggae, Ramsay and Beethoven
The recent news that the form of music known as Reggae is to be added to the Unesco world heritage…
Should we bomb Iran?
Clearly, when I say ‘we’, I don’t mean you and me. As a responsible Speccie reader I’m sure you know…
Clash of teaching civilisations
In 1942 Dr Joseph Needham was sent by the British government to China to study China’s universities and see what…
Dark truth behind white lies
If we look at the former British colonies of India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka and South Africa, we can see several…
Send the white farmers to the outback!
In a characteristically pungent Speccie piece, Rod Liddle recently described as ‘genocide’ the situation of white farmers in the semi-arid…
The new great Australian silence
In Down Among The Wild Men, the anthropologist, John Greenway, describes the process by which Aboriginal adolescents from the Western…
The sorry sorry business
In December 1970 the then Chancellor of West Germany, Willy Brandt, while on a visit to Poland went down on…
On culture, parenting and education
The Sydney Morning Herald recently announced that the NSW Education Minister, Rob Stokes, is considering opening up the selective schools…
Is nothing sacred?
The majority of Australians have now indicated their support for the principle of same-sex marriage and the Government has introduced…
On a sensitive issue
In 1939 Paul Hasluck published ‘Our Southern Half Caste Natives and their condition.’ It was a pamphlet based on a…
The incompatability of Islam
In the Australian on the 6th of June, a senior British Muslim politician, Sajid Javid, in response to the latest…
Death penalty for wannabe martyrs
Sooner or later some deranged Islamic fundamentalist is going to kill a lot of Australians for the greater glory of…
The refugee fetish
On February 8, the Australian published a full page advertisement paid for by 72 organisations calling for the evacuation of…
The refugee fetish
On February 8, the Australian published a full page advertisement paid for by 72 organisations calling for the evacuation of…
Dumbing down NSW
What do Mary Durack, Christina Stead, A. B. Facey, Xavier Herbert, Les Murray, Thomas Keneally and Clive James have in…
Dumbing down NSW
What do Mary Durack, Christina Stead, A. B. Facey, Xavier Herbert, Les Murray, Thomas Keneally and Clive James have in…
Vagabondism and harlotry
That we are to have yet another Royal Commission into Aboriginal Affairs is good news for some. It is good…