Features Australia
Insiders won’t go down without a fight
The European Union has a habit of working with the establishment figures in countries to topple governments that…
Eavesdropping on sin
Whatever the federal government is thinking of doing to protect what the Constitution calls the ‘free exercise’ of religion, it…
Politicians are responsible for the drought
‘I’m going to make a shitload of money.’ Peter, a farmer, listened intently to the merchant banker boasting to the…
Trump’s blood-Kurdling stupidity
‘After defeating 100 per cent of the ISIS Caliphate, I largely moved our troops out of Syria,’ tweeted President Donald…
Antisemitism’s perfect storm
It’s the world’s oldest bigotry and it’s on the rise again. Antisemitism is associated with the darkest chapters of human…
Made-up Maori
In what may seem a strange request, I recently replied to a government department asking to be addressed in English,…
Harvard’s racist selection process
You might be surprised to know that Harvard University, along with other American tertiary institutions, routinely and explicitly discriminates on…
Hold on, what about Holdaway?
What do the years 700, 800, 900, 1000, 1100, 1200, 1300 and 1400 AD have in common, asks British Professor,…
2018 Thawley Essay prize runner-up
At the time of writing, December 2020, the #newedition movement can be considered a truly global phenomenon. As it sets…
Eat the activists
I have a modest proposal. Lately, there have been some commendable if flawed solutions put forward to deal with the…
Letter to Greta
Dear Greta, You should feel very proud of yourself. Your crusade against Climate Warming has taken you into the homes…
Off with his head!
The President of the United States is a sort of elected monarch, which is why the office itself is imbued…
All the dumb things
‘Gee our schools are good!’ a friend once said. ‘By the time our kids are 12, they know everything!’ No…
Recognising China (for what it is)
Scott Morrison’s recent speech to the Lowy Institute was the most important prime ministerial foreign policy announcement in some years.…
Coyote and Road Runner
The biggest news story for years has been a real-life depiction of those classic cartoons, Coyote and Road Runner. In…
Turmoil in the Anglosphere
Well, there’s certainly a fair bit of action coming out of Canada, Britain and the US these days. In my…
Our Manchurian candidate
‘Power grows out of the barrel of a gun,’ said Mao Zedong and there were plenty in evidence in Tiananmen…
Labor’s forgotten voters
At the May federal election, Labor’s primary vote in the lower house was just 33.3 per cent – its worst…
Profits not passé
CEOs have wealth that far exceeds that of the average shareholder in their company, which they have every right to…
Portrait of an artist as ghost
There are difficult decisions to be made when writing the posthumous biography of a close friend who was as famous…
Revenge of the Remoaners
If the UK Supreme Court’s decision on the prorogation or ending of the current session of Parliament were handed in…
Persian palimpsest
It was 1966. We were two young Australians, fresh out of Melbourne University. We decided to drive from India to…
Fabulous and forgotten
Frederick Kelly was a celebrated Australian sportsman who won the Diamond Challenge Sculls at the Henley Regatta three times and…
The story of Mrs O
Of the 27 original candidates who entered the race for Democratic Party nomination for the 2020 US presidential election, only…
Academies or madrassas
Whether our universities have ever lived up to their lofty ideals is difficult to say. What is clear is that…
