Stand and be counted
Labor’s communism must be destroyed
There was a plea from James Allan in the magazine for figures such as Tony Abbott to speak out and…
Crisis of faith for the Libertarians?
It was a difficult election for the Liberals, but even more so for the Libertarians. Previously the Liberal Democrats, there…
Liberals back down on critical foreign student cuts
While the majority of this publication’s readers wish to see the restoration of the Liberal Party (or at the very…
Have the Liberals gone soft on nuclear?
The wets in the Liberal Party are watering everything down so the whole project looks wet. Some say they are…
Greta Thunberg’s irresponsible ‘Selfie Yacht’
Greta Thunberg, the Swedish climate activist turned self-appointed geopolitical saviour, has once again commandeered the global stage with her latest…
Tasmania quietly points to our socialist future
The election of Michelle O’Byrne as Speaker of the Tasmanian House of Assembly on May 14, 2024 marked a significant…
Stand and be counted
Across the country there is a growing chorus of disillusioned conservative voters. I hear it everywhere I go. Some have…
Long time passing
As with Peter, Paul, and Mary’s signature 60’s peace anthem, Where have all the Flowers Gone, the wars and unravelling…
Welcome to the land of the authoritarian
The right to proselytise, to preach, to seek to convert people to your religion or point of view, to stand…
The Pandemic Accords: a solution in search of a problem
The World Health Organisation (WHO) has accomplished important work in its relatively long lifespan for an international organisation, including the…
The Mississippi used to flow into the Gulf of Mexico … until Trump
The latest of many changes in its history is the only one that hasn’t altered the course of the Mississippi.…
Australia’s identity crisis
Once upon a time, Australia knew who it was. A plucky, sunburnt frontier of sheep, surfboards, and mild xenophobia –…
Is Israel a sacrificial lamb in negotiations for Middle Eastern investment?
On October 6, 1973, Egypt and Syria launched a surprise attack on Israel, marking the beginning of the Yom Kippur…
Jacinda Ardern’s triumph of style over substance
Jacinda Ardern’s tenure as New Zealand’s Prime Minister (2017–23) was lauded globally as a masterclass in empathetic leadership, her image…
Sacked by the staffers
There’s a reason the private sector doesn’t hire ‘career politicians’ – they’ve never shipped products, met payrolls, or prioritised outcomes…
Libertarians ask, should we have the right to bear arms?
Today I rise to introduce the Constitution Amendment (Right to Possess and Carry Firearms) Bill 2025. This bill seeks to…
Time to speak up, John and Tony
What qualities make someone a good team player? In sports we all have a pretty good idea: in public, a…
Deficits and debt
Last week I wrote about the freebie phenomenon, the handing out of free or highly subsidised stuff to eager voters.…
Our managed decline
Australia’s economic stagnation has become so widespread and persistent that it must be asked whether it is simply the product…
AEMO’s ‘step change’ is stumbling
For years now, the Australian Energy Market Operator’s ‘Step Change’ scenario has served as the official lodestar of the energy…
Palestinian propaganda fools the world
The philosopher Karl Popper stated that for liberal democracies to survive, they must not tolerate the intolerant. Boundaries, therefore, are…
China is better at geoeconomics
In China in 2020, an ambiguous economic plan emerged from a Politburo meeting. The ‘dual circulation’ strategy was confusing because…
Die laughing
Like a bunny boiler who refuses to die in a horror movie, the Covid jabs are back. Headlines trumpet the…
Kill off net zero – or drop dead
What really is ‘net zero’? I had to look it up because it makes no sense. It appears to be…
Kemi is walking into an ECHR trap of her own making
If you think Keir Starmer is rattled by Reform’s awkward-squad views on human rights, spare a thought for Kemi Badenoch.…
Why don’t all farmers love Clarkson’s Farm?
Clarkson’s Farm is back – with the finale of season four out on Prime Video today – but not everyone…
Elon Musk was doomed to fail with DoGE
Only a few months ago, Elon Musk took to his social media platform X to share a confession with his…
Zia Yusuf’s resignation won’t harm Reform
The sudden resignation of Reform UK’s chairman Zia Yusuf came as a shock in Westminster yesterday – but is unlikely…
Jacinda Ardern’s triumph of style over substance
Jacinda Ardern’s tenure as New Zealand’s Prime Minister (2017–23) was lauded globally as a masterclass in empathetic leadership, her image…
Jacinda Ardern and the empty politics of ‘kindness’
Just over two years on from stepping down as Prime Minister of New Zealand, Jacinda Ardern is awaiting the imminent…
307,000 Voices
Growing concerns at the impact of unregulated free speech around the world, and especially in the English-speaking West, are understandable.…
New Zealand’s cringeworthy new tourism slogan
‘Everyone must go!’ New Zealand’s new tourism declares, but so far almost everyone seems to be cringing. The prime minister…
Charles Darwin’s contribution to Patagonia’s grim history
A deadly sweetness
One of the greatest documentary filmmakers who ever lived died last week at the age of 97. He is the…
Craggy man of integrity
Sometimes you’re just too clapped out to attend the most sparkling bit of theatre and so it was for your…
In ambiguity, Tancredi Di Carcaci finds inspiration
The narratives we tell ourselves about the past are hardly set in stone. It’s in this ambiguity where Tancredi Di…
Beautifully played
Who would have thought? The arena concert version of Les Miserables, Claude Michel Schönberg and Alain Boublil’s sung-through extravaganza is…
Edge of your seat
Great news for admirers of entertaining and refreshingly honest thinking and writing about our world: a bonus volume by the…
A searching question: Heartwood, by Amity Gaige, reviewed
The Appalachian Trail is America’s secular version of the Camino de Santiago but more than twice as long. In Amity…
Church teaching on homosexuality can be revised
Studies of Christianity’s problems and prospects often entail a distinction between the singer and the song. At an institutional level,…
Nunc est bibendum – to Horace, the lusty rebel
Horace suffers from a reputation as an old man’s poet. Classicists often joke that Catullus and Martial are for the…
An ill wind: Poppyland, by D.J. Taylor, reviewed
As the term refers to the stretch of the north Norfolk coastline between Sheringham and Mundesley, only one of the…
With many despairing academics packing it in, who will solve the problem of the universities?
Whatever happened to universities, beacons of the liberal enlightenment? Well, according to both these authors, they are in deep trouble.…
No place is safe: The Brittle Age, by Donatella di Pietrantonio, reviewed
This slim, unsettling novel opens with Lucia trying to navigate the ‘mess’ of her daughter Amanda’s return home to their…
Remembering Hiroshima 80 years on
In October 1945, towns and cities across the United States celebrated ‘A Tribute to Victory Day’ in celebration of the…