Flat White

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

Why this Conservative believes Fraser Anning couldn’t be more wrong

20 March 2019 11:51 am

I was working out of a coffee shop in Cairns overlooking Trinity Inlet when my Twitter feed went nuts with…

Is virtue signalling our new social currency?

20 March 2019 7:36 am

The internet was imagined by its pioneers to be the arbiter of a new information renaissance, believing that it would…

Ten reasons why Donald Trump will win a second term

19 March 2019 4:37 pm

In one of those classic, “the truth is stranger than fiction” scenarios, it’s been revealed that former First Lady Hillary…

The scare is settled? Have the climate catastrophists won?

19 March 2019 12:17 pm

Evidence does not seem to matter in the debate on human-induced climate change. Hardly anyone is listening to reason. Minds…

Memo, Josh: only fiscal discipline works long term

19 March 2019 7:22 am

Former Treasurer Wayne Swan’s valedictory speech hailed the legacy of his stimulus package (but not the subsequent — and growing…

Christchurch: a time for tears

18 March 2019 6:09 pm

I attended the funeral service of a Christian minister last year. In the eulogy, his son told us how gentle…

Why Labor’s changes to capital gains fail the fairness test

18 March 2019 1:38 pm

In the run-up to the next election, the Labor party continues to press the narrative that its proposed policies are…

Backwards & Forwards: the week in politics gone, the week to come

18 March 2019 10:07 am

Looking back Last Thursday, with millennials convulsed by the unprecedented crash of Facebook and Instagram, New Zealand’s Canterbury Police tweeted…

The identity politics of the lunar right

18 March 2019 7:32 am

On Friday 50 people were massacred in New Zealand; murdered by a terrorist who looked at women and children and…

It’s all wishful thinking, but boy does it drive clicks

17 March 2019 6:33 pm

Independent. Always. Ah, yes. That pledge below the mastheads of Nine Entertainment’s left-wing tabloids to give you the sort of…

The Christchurch killer behind the headlines

16 March 2019 8:18 pm

What makes a man apparently plan in cold blood for two years the mass murder of his fellow human beings,…

Is Jordan Peterson a ‘gateway’ drug to Nazism?

16 March 2019 4:15 pm

At the recent Lesbians Who Tech summit in San Francisco—no, seriously, it’s a thing— Susan Wojicicki, the CEO of YouTube,…

Climate strike? In my day it was nuclear first strike

15 March 2019 5:56 pm

Another day, another mass walk-out from schools around the world, including throughout Australia, by children protesting about their elders’ inaction…

Venezuela’s not alone at the end of the road to serfdom

15 March 2019 2:25 pm

Venezuela in social and economic collapse provides a contemporary case study of where socialism takes a country, but one too…

Scott Morrison has just weeks to prove: is he a conservative or a con

15 March 2019 7:10 am

I don’t want to spend too much time on all these Newspolls that show that Shorten’s ALP is going to…

No, no, no Alyssa Milano

14 March 2019 4:38 pm

I know it’s only March, but I think I may well have founder the winner of the “Dumbest Tweet of 2019”. In…

Freedom’s just another word, so don’t take it for granted

14 March 2019 11:28 am

“Freedom’s just another word for nothin’ left to lose.” So sang Janis Joplin in her 1971 hit Me and Bobby…

How the school student strike reduces kids to puppets

14 March 2019 7:25 am

School students are being recruited and organised to strike from school this Friday, 15 March. The website, schoolstrike4climate.com claims the…

Menzies, Malcolm, misogyny and merit

13 March 2019 3:57 pm

Malcolm Turnbull—our now disgruntled former prime minister—believes that that the Liberal Party “absolutely” has a woman problem. And, somewhat unsurprisingly,…

What’s woke this week?

13 March 2019 12:36 pm

Wokeworld’s Ministry of Inculcation has been out and about at schools, universities and colleges around the world recently and we’d…

If you want bold ideas for a fair go for Australia, Bill, try these

13 March 2019 7:32 am

Despite government being the only thief of wages in this country, Bill Shorten has announced an ironic policy to combat…

Why myopic Millennials have red stars in their eyes

12 March 2019 8:05 pm

Irony is still not dead, despite never-ending attempts on its life – Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez continues to slag off capitalism at…

The West’s war on white men

12 March 2019 3:40 pm

To read about sexual oppression in the Western media storybook is to enter a surreal world. In its distorting mirror,…

Check your blowhardism

12 March 2019 12:08 pm

Being a blowhard means never having to say you’re sorry. When you’re not telling everyone what to think about climate…

‘Learnings’ for the lead up to Friday’s student strike for climate change

12 March 2019 7:48 am

Here’s an idea for English and Philosophy teachers for this coming Friday, March 15. Why don’t you do some Socratic…