In-depth analysis of the day’s news, plus stories and gossip from Australian politics.
The critics trumped
Five weeks after Donald Trump’s election it’s time to stop the endless finger-pointing and hand-wringing about missing the biggest story…
Censorship, trigger warnings and “free speech”: the National Union of Students meets
This week the rabble that is the National Union of Students will hold their annual National Conference in Geelong at Deakin…
Scandal and geopolitics Gangnam style: the impeachment of Park Geun-hye
The South Korean national assembly’s decision on Friday to impeach President Park Geun-hye came as no great surprise. Since October…
How green is the grass on the other side
The change of prime minister has put New Zealand in the news on this side of the ditch, and we…
The green autism
Dear Leader slayed it on The Bolt Report the other day: With the same force we said ‘Stop the Boats’,…
A pile of crap from the ABC. Literally…
It’s 19 years since South Park sparked a seasonal scatological scandal with the episode Mr Hankey, the Christmas Poo. Now…
A Sydney Grammar alumnus writes about Malcolm
From the Flat White mailbag: As you would know, my old school has produced three prime ministers: The First (Barton);…
Christmas in South Sudan
Ten days before Christmas 2013 a civil war started in the new nation of South Sudan. The events leading up…
Why the lights went out on SA Labor
This week the SA Labor Premier, Jay Weatherill, took the lead in the national energy debate, suggesting the creation of an inter-state emissions…
The Age’s morning glory
We knew its recently departed editor-in-chief Mark Forbes was a sleazebag, but even then it was still generally believed The…
When did aristocracy come back into vogue?
Listen these days to some of the world’s elite politicians, commentators and officials pontificate and you’d think you were living…
Trevor Goddard: the end of a grand innings
When stumps were drawn at the Wanderers on January 26th, 1965 the Springbok captain, Trevor Goddard, was 11 runs shy…
Green-left legerdemain doesn’t make religion relevant
It has long been obvious that the political agenda of some Catholic organisations and schools rest solidly within the Green-left…
The High Court should affirm the people, not the government, are truly sovereign
Why has there been such a long-term decline in maths and science learning in our schools, and in the qualifications…
Presenting… The 2016 Nannies
Animal rights group People for Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) was the winner of the 2016 Nanny State Awards, for…
Jessie
Jessie Margaret Noble, formerly Dingle, died in Bundaberg last week, November 29, 2016 to be exact. She was 97. Who,…
Silent night, godless night
Almost 30 years ago, fresh from Hawaii, I visited my daughter’s grade one class in Brisbane to show off my…
Freedom of association: sanity succeeds on Spring Street
On Tuesday afternoon, Victoria’s upper house of Parliament voted down the Labor Government’s Equal Opportunity Amendment Bill. The Bill was…
Voltaire, Waleed Aly and the 18d trope
It has been a dismal year for the commanders and foot soldiers in Australia’s war against so-called hate speech. In several recent ground operations, the massed forces of contemporary…
John Key’s class act
There’s a photo taken in South Africa after Nelson Mandela’s funeral. Three Anglosphere PMs, Tony Abbott, Canada’s Stephen Harper and…
Daniel Andrews digs in against freedom of association
The restricting of freedom of association and freedom of religion is back on the agenda in Victorian Parliament this week.…
What’s gone wrong in South Australia?
What’s gone wrong in South Australia? For much of the population, not very much, really. Most services are quite good, infrastructure development has…
A human rights charter: monster or liberator?
At the recent Queensland state Labor conference Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk announced the government’s commitment to a human rights act, modelled…
Everything you always wanted to know about the Alt-Right* (*but were afraid to ask)
BOSTON, UNITED STATES — The Alt-Right hysteria sweeping the Western world is as overwrought as it is alarming. On the…
The harpies take the weekend off
There’s no business like show business, as the old song goes – and no feminism as purely exhibitionistic as the…