Flat White

In-depth analysis of the day’s news, plus stories and gossip from Australian politics.

Happy hangover reflections on Trump’s win

7 November 2024 6:18 pm

People of class and good breeding learn early on that gloating is unseemly and unbecoming. I suppose that makes me…

The spell of the elite has been broken

7 November 2024 2:11 pm

They tried to bankrupt him, they tried to jail him, and they even tried to kill him (twice) – but…

Triumph v Karma-la – the second coming

7 November 2024 9:17 am

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

7 November 2024 9:01 am

(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

6 November 2024 8:18 pm

There is little doubt that the US is the mightiest military power in human history. At a time when Australia’s…

Donald Trump: ‘This will be a Golden Age’

6 November 2024 7:48 pm

The first thing you notice about Donald Trump’s victory speech is the stage behind him. America is standing on that…

Covid Inquiry was not fit for purpose

6 November 2024 2:30 pm

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

6 November 2024 7:00 am

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

5 November 2024 5:09 pm

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?

5 November 2024 4:44 pm

Last week, I was interviewed by Bill Mitchell as part of the run-up to the US election. It always seems…

Petricide: the killing of Peanut and Fred

5 November 2024 11:40 am

Cruelty to animals is linked to criminal behaviour and is an indicator of future violence toward humans. FBI investigators have…

Democracy: the most misused word in political discourse

5 November 2024 1:56 am

From an American perspective

Wind and solar: the energy thieves

5 November 2024 1:34 am

The unpopular truth about electricity and the future of energy

Teachers as tradies

4 November 2024 2:47 pm

‘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

4 November 2024 1:26 pm

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

4 November 2024 10:55 am

Once again Trump has demonstrated his genius for political promotion by decorating a simple, solid, positive message aimed at undecided…

Buzz Aldrin’s Trump endorsement matters

4 November 2024 9:22 am

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

3 November 2024 12:33 pm

The business of liberating free speech

The Ron Paul masterstroke

3 November 2024 9:38 am

In what’s shaping up to be the most audacious political upheaval since Argentina’s very own libertarian lion, Javier Milei, exclaimed…

The nuclear disconnect in Australia holds us back

2 November 2024 10:24 pm

As Australia’s nuclear debate heats up, the stark contrast between our approach and that of nations like Canada grows more…

Twenty truths from the Rogan-Vance interview which show the Old Left is the New Right

2 November 2024 7:09 pm

We are currently living in a time where the old-Left are now the centre-Right. That’s because more and more people…

Whistleblower police

2 November 2024 2:23 pm

The feminists have it all sewn up. All it took was very effective bullying of politicians to have draconian legislation…

Academic elites and the status quo

2 November 2024 11:54 am

Western universities have often prided themselves on being places of open debate, where all viewpoints could be heard, criticised, and…

The path to falling university rankings is paved with bureaucratic intentions

1 November 2024 11:16 pm

Regulation of speech leads to regulation of thought

Values, ethics: what’s the difference?

1 November 2024 10:48 pm

In response to a decision by Jeff Bezos, the owner of the Washington Post, not to endorse a Presidential candidate,…