Australia can't afford to be smug about America's powder keg of problems
Peter Hartcher 12:00 AM Last week, we saw the convergence of three of America's great unsolved problems. But Australia isn't immune.
Latest Comment
Beating AIDS in Australia is just the first step
David Cooper 12:00 AM While we may have tamed AIDS at home, millions more remain at risk.
Shorten isn't any closer to winning an election
Peter Reith 12:00 AM Shorten certainly did better than expected, but my guess is that he never thought he'd beat a first-term government. In that regard he was right.
What elite sports stars can learn from junior sport
Amanda Sheehan 2:25 PM We have created a sporting culture where behavioural standards on and off the field are clearly diminishing.
A Clinton presidency would poison US politics
Nicole Hemmer 11:45 PM While the email investigation has not blocked Clinton's road to the White House, it does threaten to cripple her ability to govern if elected.
The trick to becoming a successful entrepreneur
Andrew P Street 2:05 PM It's almost as though entrepreneurs are born, not made, new research has found.
Anger isn't a bad thing
Karen Skinner 8:55 PM Anger is one of the most important emotions you can feel. You can embrace and make excellent use of it.
Face it, Facebook: You're in the news business
Margaret Sullivan 1:53 PM You've heard of the accidental tourist. And now we have the reluctant news media. I'm talking about Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, among others
No plan on earth could have saved Iraq after the war
David Blair 11:45 PM Even if America and Britain had drawn up the most elaborate, skilful and lavishly funded plan in history, Iraq today would probably look much the same as it does now.
Greed is not good: the importance of jailing Oliver Curtis
12:00 AM A prison sentence has "real bite" as a deterrent in white collar crime cases.
JULY 12
Last-chance Turnbull skating on thin ice
12:00 AM If that was a victory for Turnbull, he can't afford another one ("Now for the real test", July 11).
Next, we must end the live export industry
Tim Dick Animal cruelty isn't just a problem for the greyhound industry.
Coalition of the Willing - still willing to deceive
Sarah Gill The depiction Howard offered to the Australian people was so odious that some former public servants are still contesting it a decade later.
We need to shape up on healthy body images
Marilyn Bromberg-Krawitz How many times have you heard a woman who has a perfectly healthy body weight complain that she needs to lose weight?
JULY 11
If Turnbull is our best bet, we are in crisis
If Malcolm Turnbull is "Australia's best shot" then we are indeed a nation in crisis.
Do we need a national summit?
The sooner the nation knows what government policies are achievable, the sooner economic confidence rises and budget repair begins.
The stupid appliances we waste money on
Kitty Flanagan
This is how I know I'm an idiot. This week I bought a Popcorn Maker. You can also find them in the "Pointless Appliances You Don't Need" section of any department store.
Turnbull must learn his lesson this time
Mark Kenny When the other side is using a sledgehammer on you, you have to pull one out and start swinging yourself, Malcolm Turnbull was told.
The trust gap that is feeding political instability
Matt Wade There's one group of Australians who show far more trust in public institutions than everyone else. Here's why.
Why Cory Bernardi's backward plan is doomed to fail
Peter FitzSimons What a week! It started with an election night without end, and finishes with the Coalition, seemingly, limping over the line, missing a lot of skin and no few of its members
My son, his phone and the Apple of my eye
Josephine Cafagna Josephine Cafagna, mugged by modernity, does some shocking shopping.
July 10
Pushy parents damage children, teachers alike
The research indicates that pushy parents do damage to their children by causing them to feel depressed and anxious.
Why there's hope in the ambiguous election result
Elizabeth Farrelly Right now, for Australia, I reckon a Parliament hovering between the hung and the hapless is the best possible kind.
Contradictory attacks on Turnbull don't add up
Jacqueline Maley Has Malcolm Turnbull leaned too far to the left or the right? Can it even be both?
Last frontier for women in power is in sight
Anne Summers There are plenty examples of women in power, but there's a far newer phenomenon that's starting to change how decisions are made.
Sydney's culture shouldn't dry up just because it's cold
Dom Knight May and June packed full of culture, but there's nothing to do in July and August except hibernate under a doona.
Life in Australia, right now, right here, is not so bad
Richard Glover We're living, arguably, in the best place in the world, at the best point in its history. But no one wants to say so.
Why I refuse to share video of Alton Sterling's death
April Reign These recordings, which are tantamount to snuff films, are shared thousands of times, to the point that they're hard to avoid – senseless violence played over and over again.
The two national security threats that should be at the top of the to-do list
Anthony Bergin Two areas will require immediate attention from a new government: countering home grown violent extremism and airport security.
Now the hard part for Baird's brave dog racing ban
A culture of denial and expectation of hands-off treatment has allowed the unethical core of the greyhound racing business model – inhumane treatment of animals – to prosper away from the public eye. And the industry probably would have collapsed soon anyway.
JULY 9
Don't punish the many for the deeds of a few
It is unjust to punish the majority of trainers for the cruelty of a minority. Instead, we should have frequent inspections of training tracks to stop cruel practices.
JULY 9
Postscript: Turnbull's turncoats foretold election woe
If you were looking for a sign that last weekend's election was going to be tighter and messier than many pundits expected, you could have found it on the Herald Letters page.
Column 8
"Shutting your eyes while sneezing (C8) is a natural protective reflex mechanism of the body to protect the eyes from the pressure."
Cruelty is not part of the greyhound racing I know and love
Richard Sleeman Best Pal lived to race. I bought him as a puppy and shared a house with him. Not to have raced would have been the cruellest thing you could do to Best Pal.
We've hit peak panic - but the economy is still ticking over
Jessica Irvine Feeling numb about the election outcome? You're not alone
The key to Labor's success will have Baird worried
James Robertson An understated factor behind voters' switch to Labor heralds bad news for the Baird Liberal government.
Liberals have heard voters' message
Paul Fletcher This week has seen plenty of interpretations of the election outcome.
The moral issues of the Iraq war remain
Andrew MacLeod A policy of universal non-intervention won't solve the ethical dilemma when countries butcher their own people.
Are driverless cars the end of the driver's licence?
Ken Herman Today, a simple question: Should the state require you to have a licence for something you don't do? Of course not. Maybe.
Previously in Comment
Highlights
Turnbull's potentially deadly moment
To say the knives have come out for him would be wrong. Some never put them away in the first place
How Turnbull was set up for his downfall
All the pictures of Malcolm Turnbull looking glum since Saturday night tell us a story we already instinctively knew: he fears he has miscalculated again.
Does Australia even need a government?
Look around in Australia on the first business day after the country was supposedly rendered "ungovernable" by Saturday's election. On Monday the share market was up and so was the Australian dollar.
Why we won't see marriage equality for ages
The election's big winners are those few who can't abide the gays being wed.
Two messages drew blood in the campaign
The underlying struggle was for the Liberals to build public trust in Turnbull, and for Labor to damage it.
Plebiscite could be Turnbull's Brexit
Two international events of the last week highlight just how disappointing Australia's approach to same-sex marriage has been.
We must follow Britain to the exit
Who saw Bill Shorten being interviewed by Leigh Sales on 7.30 on Thursday evening?
'Marriage reform' disaster waiting to happen
On same-sex marriage, a potentially weakened Malcolm Turnbull is sitting on a powder keg.
How your father is controlling your salary
The answer to the question "Who's your daddy?" has never been more important.
For Republicans, it's easier to ban Muslims than guns
Over 40,000 Americans are dying each year partly because they live in a society in which it is more politically viable to propose banning Muslims than regulate gun sales.
Two images haunt me from the storm
They tell me I don't get Australia. I love it, but do not understand it. Do you, honestly?
Don't turn Muhammad Ali into a sanitised caricature
We're left with a man of inordinate courage who made some awful mistakes, was sincere enough to admit them, but at every moment was prepared to pay the price of his convictions.
Don't take this personally
Cartoonist Cathy Wilcox shows you how to get more out of your seething outrage online.
Sydney will be unrecognisable
Everything that you (or at least I) love about this town under threat, the city's planner are conspicuous by their silence.
What young voters want (and it isn't selfies)
Our politicians can learn a lot from Bernie Sanders, who can't tell a joke and I doubt he could DJ to save his life.
Baird's light rail is bastardry of the first order
Tree-felling, park-gouging, history-trashing, bus-killing and street-closing. For what? You can have light rail and trees, high density and parks. It's a false dichotomy.
Turnbull will lose unless he wins back Liberals
The Prime Minister has not actually done anything to explain his rapid downhill trajectory. But contradicting himself almost every week, Turnbull has stood fast in indecision.
The story that sums up a mad world
If Donald Trump is elected president of the United States, London's new mayor would be barred from entering the country because he's a Muslim.
Turnbull's 30-minute city is a silly idea
Should the development of new rail lines be based on their potential value to property developers? The government thinks so.
Labor can't deny its role in Manus Island tragedy
'Stopping the boats' was a bipartisan policy and both sides of politics are responsible for its monstrous outcomes.
The fight China will take to the brink of war
Peter Hartcher: The world's two greatest powers are competing for military dominance of the western Pacific Ocean and the contest is about to intensify.
