Stop the votes
Michael Short A plebiscite on same-sex marriage risks being a national catastrophe.
The lie that diminishes us all
![Peter Martin dinkus](/web/20160619153033im_/http://www.theage.com.au/content/dam/images/z/q/y/b/x/image.related.thumbnail.90x60.gpl9gf.11nabt.png/1466231084068.jpg)
Peter Martin We tell ourselves we are compassionate to the people and creatures in our care. But that's not true.
Liberals are already dividing the spoils
![Mark kenny dinkus](/web/20160619153033im_/http://www.theage.com.au/content/dam/images/g/g/y/f/y/k/image.related.thumbnail.90x60.gpljgy.11nabt.png/1466329493116.jpg)
Mark Kenny The polls point to a narrow Coalition victory but either side could yet crash and burn.
Politics in a social media world
![Annabel Crabb.](/web/20160619153033im_/http://www.theage.com.au/content/dam/images/1/3/l/0/c/w/image.related.thumbnail.90x60.gpller.11nabt.png/1466233773365.jpg)
Annabel Crabb The thumbs-up, thumbs-down voting system doesn't work in politics, because politics is never that simple.
Malcolm in the dock
![Michael Gordon](/web/20160619153033im_/http://www.theage.com.au/content/dam/images/g/g/z/a/8/r/image.related.thumbnail.90x60.gplkwy.11nabt.png/1466321647208.jpg)
Michael Gordon Turnbull's return to Q&A; might be his most daring move in this risk-averse campaign to retain government.
COMMENT
Exposing the ridiculous slur of 'radical Islam'
![Turkey](/web/20160619153033im_/http://www.theage.com.au/content/dam/images/g/m/4/h/p/s/image.related.thumbnail.90x60.gpjno8.11nabt.png/1466231084068.jpg)
Daniel Flitton The trap is choice of language. How to best describe the terrorist threat, and by extension, how to craft a policy to extinguish it.
Mystery man's song defined 1970s Australia
![Square, dink, dinks, dinkus, head shot, Martin Flanagan,](/web/20160619153033im_/http://www.theage.com.au/content/dam/images/g/j/z/n/4/0/image.related.thumbnail.90x60.gplctb.11nabt.png/1466231084068.jpg)
Martin Flanagan Gypsy Queen is a song of the road no less than the poem Walt Whitman wrote a century earlier.
Finally, women's football comes of age
![Hurray for these times where I haven’t heard the term ‘‘ladylike’’ for several decades.](/web/20160619153033im_/http://www.theage.com.au/content/dam/images/g/o/q/7/y/8/image.related.thumbnail.90x60.gplftd.11nabt.png/1466231084068.jpg)
Jude Davies Hurray for all those who let girls be just as spirited, passionate and robust as their brothers.
I'm a Scorsese nut, geddit?
![Martin Scorsese.](/web/20160619153033im_/http://www.theage.com.au/content/dam/images/g/p/1/q/o/9/image.related.thumbnail.90x60.gpke9v.11nabt.png/1466231084068.jpg)
Danny Katz Scorsese is such a sweet, gentle man, dedicated to treasuring and preserving world cinema, and yet he's made so many disturbingly violent films...
Gay rights could defeat Islamic State
![Jacqueline Maley](/web/20160619153033im_/http://www.theage.com.au/content/dam/images/1/3/e/i/c/u/image.related.thumbnail.90x60.gpkn7t.11nabt.png/1466231084068.jpg)
Jacqueline Maley It's only a hunch. But I am pretty sure that if you did up a Venn diagram of those who hate gay people and those who hate Muslims, there would be such significant cross-over it would resemble a near-eclipse.
Threats will not deter us from reporting
![The Ahsani family: Saman, Cyrus and Ata.](/web/20160619153033im_/http://www.theage.com.au/content/dam/images/g/n/v/w/c/t/image.related.thumbnail.90x60.gpiztf.11nabt.png/1466231084068.jpg)
Nick McKenzie, Richard Baker, Michael Bachelard The US FBI and Department of Justice, the UK Serious Fraud Office and the AFP have been running a major corruption probe into Monaco company, Unaoil.
End of life choices vital, but not cut and dried
![As a community we need to be prolonging life, not death.](/web/20160619153033im_/http://www.theage.com.au/content/dam/images/g/n/0/u/q/5/image.related.thumbnail.90x60.gpjtpb.11nabt.png/1466231084068.jpg)
Fiona Patten As a community we need to be prolonging life ... not death.
Thank you, Australia, for making people safe
![Aubrey Perry dinkus](/web/20160619153033im_/http://www.theage.com.au/content/dam/images/g/p/l/1/2/h/image.related.thumbnail.90x60.gpjn0r.11nabt.png/1466231084068.jpg)
Aubrey Perry Thank you, Australia, for doing the job the United States can't: making its people safe.
Public hearings in the fight against corruption
![IBAC's ability to conduct public inquiries is seriously restricted.](/web/20160619153033im_/http://www.theage.com.au/content/dam/images/g/p/k/o/t/r/image.related.thumbnail.90x60.gpiwga.11nabt.png/1466231084068.jpg)
Stephen Charles Removing powers would be a backward step.
A gluten-free diet? It's nonsense
![Most people who think they are wheat intolerant, aren't.](/web/20160619153033im_/http://www.theage.com.au/content/dam/images/1/3/h/d/y/f/image.related.thumbnail.90x60.gpih0s.11nabt.png/1466231084068.jpg)
Peter H.R. Green and Rory Jones Most people who believe that they are wheat-sensitive, without medical confirmation, are probably not.
The surprising agreement on climate change
![Peter Martin dinkus](/web/20160619153033im_/http://www.theage.com.au/content/dam/images/z/q/y/b/x/image.related.thumbnail.90x60.gpj45c.11nabt.png/1466231084068.jpg)
Peter Martin Every so often elections matter. The last one mattered big-time for carbon emissions.