It's switch-on time to cut the demand for power
PETER MARTIN The demand for airconditioning at peak times is pushing up the price of electricity.
Bushfire plan must reflect reality
Craig Lapsley Bushfire safety is not just about slogans: it is about understanding risk and acting on it.
Saving Australia's cultural pride
Emily Frawley The Mary Poppins story offers an insight into our literary history.
An age-old problem in our digital new-world
Paul Mitchell When employers require a ''digital native'', they really mean ''under 30''.
Schools must educate young on sustainability
Bob Douglas It is vital to teach the next generation about caring for the planet.
Abbott's political agenda backfires on Nauru
Susan Metcalfe The island's instability has left asylum seekers exposed. It's time to bring them home.
NGV makes an art of appealing to kids
Gina McColl Melbourne Now has scored a win with the next generation of gallery goers.
Tony Abbott must grasp jobs nettle now
Peter Reith The government needs to act without delay to address Australia's weak labour market. However, Prime Minister Tony Abbott has tied one hand behind his back.
Attention seeker has had his last chance
AMANDA VANSTONE The controversy involving Cory Bernardi is a further illustration of his inability to be a team player.
Bonchek Adams controversy a shame
Leslie Cannold Now is the time for informed debate on patient choices.
Why we desperately need curriculum review
Christopher Pyne Educational reform must be put ahead of partisan politics.
Coalition hands reins of power to big business
Gerardine Kearney Who will really be running Australia in 2014? No, there's no surprise election; as far as I know the Abbott government will continue to hold office.
Love report examines why some succeed
Angela Neustatter Britain's Economic and Social Research Council released the findings of the Enduring Love project, its large-scale survey to help us understand how relationships can sustain and reward couples.
No room for young at festivals
Ian Rose The proliferation of senior acts could be one more sign of the increasing cultural redundancy of larger music festivals, or a smart move on the part of the organisers.
Refugees collateral damage in secret war
MICHAEL GORDON My first attempt to visit the tiny island of Nauru was an unmitigated disaster.
Bishop's troubling stance on settlements
George Browning 'I would like to see which international law has declared [Israeli settlements] illegal,' Foreign Minister Julie Bishop said last Tuesday.
Brushing off fears would be a foolish move
DANIEL FLITTON Tony Abbott should now be on to his second toothbrush since the election.
Spies behind trees is a national farce
Max Ogden The four-part series Persons of Interest on SBS has taken me back to the days when I was put under surveillance by ASIO agents.
A mystical connection on the water
DANNY KATZ We walk down the beach together, heading towards the water, our surfboards tucked under our arms.
Come of age with a wave and a tune
Warwick McFadyen The summer of '74. I bought my first surfboard. It was made in the backyard of ''Taxi'' O'Hara's house, just a few blocks from home.
Legalising marijuana creates big problems
JEN VUK Chief CNN medical correspondent Sanjay Gupta urges government to change its hard-line position.
Hot enough for you?
Ariel Liebman Victorian electricity consumers have been affected by power outages this week - but why?
Curriculum should be decided by schools and parents, not governments
Stephanie Forrest Deciding our education focus is a job fit for schools and parents - not governments.
Melbourne: open for tennis or closed by climate
Corey Watts Searing temperatures on court could affect the future of the Australian Open.
Where Pyne and the neocons went wrong
Tony Taylor The political right sees a hidden leftist influence at every turn in the government school curriculum.
Critics of review too quick to perceive a threat
Kenneth Wiltshire The appointed reviewers have come under heavy criticism even before getting down to their task, writes Kenneth Wiltshire.
Winton's dig a bit rich, miners help fund arts
Nicolle Flint The author's latest novel bashes industrial giants - who support our cultural wealth.
VECCI is deluded, deceitful in its charity claim
Judith Bessant VECCI thinks promoting the interests of the richest is a general public good.
Curriculum review based on sound reasons
Kevin Donnelly The Commonwealth government, while being a key stakeholder in school education in terms of money, resources and programs, does not employ any classroom teachers or manage any schools.
Markets should not be left to run themselves
Geoff Davies We should manage the economy the way we manage life, and always be aware that the best-laid plans might go awry.
Internet abuse: men must step up when women are shouted down
Ross Douthat Everyone who writes online comes in for abuse, but there is a deeper problem.
Stop the sledging,let cricket do the talking
Christopher Cordner Australian cricketers can win matches without resorting to ugly and boorish behaviour.
Australia Post set to be emailed into history
PETER MARTIN Propping up a postal service few Australians need or use is a waste of taxpayers' money.
The wrong men behind curriculum review
Sharon Beder The right has a problem with co-opting the school curriculum. But not if it is doing the co-opting.
No sense behind Pyne's curriculum rush job
Graeme Smithies The education minister's plans are not only political, they are unrealistic at a practical level.
Winning the border war by keeping secrets
Travers McLeod Operation Sovereign Borders is a military campaign, so we should assess it as such.
Debate on Medicare a healthy thing
Terry Barnes We must be prepared to think the unthinkable to ensure Medicare survives.
Game finally up for carboncrats
Tom Switzer It was promoted as the voyage to study the melting of ice sheets in the South Pole as well as to retrace Douglas Mawson's perilous expedition a century ago.
The homeless feel unwelcome in their own city
Chris Middendorp Those sleeping rough need more than shelter - they need places where they feel safe and respected and can escape the ravages of isolation.
Libs stifle debate while touting 'battle of ideas'
AMY GRAY The diatribes of Cory Bernardi and Tony Abbott are a song from a hymn book of thought suppression.
Give plan for mandatory tests wide berth
Sarah Russell Any move to get the elderly off the roads is ageism.
Slogans fall short for bushfire safety
Kevin Tolhurst A personal fire plan requires so much more information.
Time to expunge criminal records of gay men
Clem Newton-Brown A generation of men should not be left to grow old and die with criminal records unjustly attached to their names.
A jack of all tasks is a master of none
Petula Dvorak I'm working from home and am in multitasking nirvana with my treadmill desk.
Abbott finds a new way to fly
BIANCA HALL Tony Abbott shows the way by flying cheaply on his holiday and paying for it himself.
Congestion to rise
John Wilson The importance of good infrastructure in underpinning a productive economy that contributes to a liveable and sustainable society is now accepted.
How shareholder democracy was squashed
Peter Carey Winning a seat on Select Harvests' board was never likely to happen.
Single mothers are the heroines, not villains
Melinda Tankard Reist We should be supporting single mums, not judging them.
Time for a railyard cover-up?
SHANE GREEN The first talk of roofing the railyards east of Federation Square goes back to the 1920s.
Toss the TV and watch time warp
LAWRENCE MONEY I've had enough. This is the year to Father Time off the speed skates.
Food is not your foe in battle of the bulge
Wendy Squires There is a reason I have never been on a diet other than a lack of will power and a passionate, devoted and unerring love of food.
Power of shame rules our actions
LESLIE CANNOLD The main motivation behind social behavoiur is the yearning to belong.
Taking a back-seat in the circle of car-life
DANNY KATZ I resented my privileged front-seat parents enjoying their luxurious leg room.
Take a break and wait for that breakthrough
Susan Biggar Giving your brain a break allows it to stock up on creativity and boosts our moderation.
Divided Lebanon has an identity crisis
WALEED ALY Lost culture, years of civil unrest and the fight for power in the Middle East has left a once-great nation with a serious identity crisis.
False conservatives mask right-wing misfits
Nick Dyrenfurth Cory Bernardi is inspired more by America's Tea Party than Britain's Tories.
Today's Editorials and Letters
The Age
Sell the ports, but make sure we all benefit
A plan to privatise the Port of Melbourne is worth considering.
JANUARY 22
Parents, have courage and instil it in your kids
Don't get me wrong, if I had the money I would send my kids to private school.
Editors' picks
British tabloid brings trash talk Down Under
Britain's racy Mail Online will soon give Australia's mild tabloids a run for their money.
Abortion reform: a bargaining chip - again?
The Napthine government's need to appease MP Geoff Shaw could threaten women's rights to reproductive choice.
Abbott must explain backflip on education
The Gonski panel gave 18 months of serious consideration to a funding model that has been widely accepted. So why tear it up now?
LinkedIn just a little too keen to make connections
The professional networking site amasses your data and uses it in an insidious way.
Off we go again on the Indonesia rollercoaster
Cultural dynamics are at play and diplomatic normality is further than you think.
How will history judge Kevin Rudd?
The former prime minister was at his best on those occasions when decisiveness mattered more than argument or process, writes FRANK BONGIORNO.
Workers' auto-da-fe
Economists and politicians treat the car industry as not worth saving, but what about the social implications?
Paul Keating's Remembrance Day address
Nine months from now, 100 years ago, the horror of all ages came together to open the curtain on mankind's greatest century of violence, the 20th century.
