Flat White

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

An early coronavirus vaccine rollout? Be careful what you wish for…

20 January 2021 7:13 pm

Following reports that 30 people died in Norway after receiving the Pfizer vaccine, the government, its health officers and Pfizer…

Trains, plains and escalators

20 January 2021 5:00 pm

Vladimir Lenin once said that there are decades where nothing happens; and there are weeks where decades happen. The events two…

Biden’s basement or Blofeld’s lair?

20 January 2021 2:30 pm

Former senator, strategist and Spectator Australia and Australian’s contributor Stephen Loosley wrote yesterday of what he called “conspiracy-saturated claims” about…

Will Albo be elbowed?

20 January 2021 12:00 pm

In 2005 American psychologist Philip E Tetlock published a book Expert Political Judgement in which he analysed 82,000 expert political…

Why are we wasting so much of Australia?

20 January 2021 5:00 am

‘Social distancing’ was the motto of 2020. However, with around 90 per cent of Australia’s population crammed into 0.22 per…

How will we feel about that nice Mr Biden when China next rattles the sabre?

19 January 2021 7:22 pm

I have attempted on a number of occasions to have a conversation with my family about Donald Trump’s presidency with…

Conservatives must be unafraid to speak out

19 January 2021 5:06 pm

Rarely do people seek confrontation. In fact, most people look for ways to avoid it. The opportunity for confrontation surrounds…

How have we missed Matt Damon’s true hypocrisy?

19 January 2021 1:09 pm

Aficionados of the high arts will remember the Matt Damon from the classic Team America, World Police, a moronic member…

How not to be a Twit

19 January 2021 5:00 am

Every once in a while, if you’re even a bit like me, you see something on social media that you feel is…

Covid-19 and the real problem with experts

18 January 2021 7:33 pm

The problem is not listening to experts. The problem is having experts who pay no price for their advice being…

The consistent inconsistency of Daniel Andrews

18 January 2021 3:33 pm

As Novak Djokovic today bewails the misery of the multi-millionaire whose minders fail to read the small print, The Age…

Why is so much big business leaning left – and what will it mean for jobs and growth?

18 January 2021 5:00 am

One of the truly remarkable developments over the past half-century is the reversal and the relative flows of electoral funding going to parties…

How Dan Andrews is using covid as cover to kill the arts in Victoria as we know them

17 January 2021 7:13 pm

Victoria’s state budget cash splash is a boon for the state’s arts industries and a guarantee that they will continue…

Daniel Andrews: 40-love

17 January 2021 5:22 pm

Hmmm. What can be said? Victorian Premier Daniel Andrews in July 2020: Bored is better than intensive care. Victorian Premier Daniel Andrews…

Covid confusion and the vagaries of values

17 January 2021 12:24 pm

The covid wars continue unabated, with border closures mid-flight and arguments about whether a cluster is the same as a hotspot?…

Robert Menzies “we forgot to go beforehand” people

17 January 2021 7:00 am

If you need reminding of the depths to which the Liberal Party has fallen — particularly in the lobbyists’ playground…

The sixth ‘c’ shaping Australia–India relations: China

16 January 2021 6:42 pm

On December 30, the Australian’s business section reported that China is cutting Australian wheat imports. Meanwhile, a front-page story said that in…

Covidintimacy for covidiots

16 January 2021 4:27 pm

“There is no greater glory than to die for love” cries Florentino Ariza in Gabriel Garcia Marquez’s, Love in the Time of Cholera.…

Finally, something to keep Malcolm and Krazy Kev off the streets

16 January 2021 2:03 pm

Is there a better reason to export Malcolm Turnbull and Kevin Rudd? They can go and consult to the US…

What on earth is wrong with saying “all lives matter”?

15 January 2021 4:28 pm

It’s that time of the year again where no one’s doing all that much and the most innocuous comments are…

Still not cheered by the change from Coon – and now there’s a Scrabble scuffle brewing

15 January 2021 12:26 pm

Every parent knows that if you give in to your toddler’s temper tantrums, you will receive as your reward even…

The China threat and the art of war

15 January 2021 5:00 am

The war being conducted by the Chinese Communist Party against the democratic, free world, particularly Australia has predictable and understandable strategies. Under the Xi Jinping dictatorship, clear principles of…

Canberra’s modern monetary theory dreamers are lost wandering their wonderland

14 January 2021 7:05 pm

There are certain human inventions that the world would probably be much better without. Things like nuclear and biological weapons…

There’s no scientific need to expose Australians to suffering. We need vaccine reciprocity now

14 January 2021 5:25 pm

As the city of Brisbane once again goes into full lockdown, borders remain closed, and businesses nation-wide are being decimated, the Australian…

Everything you always wanted to know about the public sector* (*but were afraid to ask)

14 January 2021 4:36 pm

Out of the mouths of babes and … Daniel Andrews? Amazing, but true. The Oz reports: Victorian private sector workplaces…