![U.S. First Lady Michelle Obama speaks during the Democratic National Convention (DNC) in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, ...](/web/20160730003614im_/http://www.theage.com.au/content/dam/images/g/q/f/u/2/a/image.related.landscape.620x413.gqg2h6.11nnj4.png/1469810708670.jpg)
LATEST COMMENT
This week Australia is a boy in a hood strapped to a chair
![Stan Grant.](/web/20160730003614im_/http://www.theage.com.au/content/dam/images/g/q/g/1/h/b/image.related.landscape.120x80.gqgzo5.png/1469796226779.jpg)
How can I stand here and speak to the idea of our place in an indissoluble commonwealth when this week my people have been reminded that our place is so often behind this nation's bars.
Malcolm Turnbull is in fear of his own party
![Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull on Friday.](/web/20160730003614im_/http://www.theage.com.au/content/dam/images/g/q/g/k/b/o/image.related.landscape.120x80.gqh2b0.png/1469794057055.jpg)
The only winners from Malcolm Turnbull's Rudd decision are the bitter haters in the Liberal Party.
How Pokemon Go has let me enter my son's world
![The Pokemon Go game launched on July 6 has gripped the world.](/web/20160730003614im_/http://www.theage.com.au/content/dam/images/g/q/a/m/z/k/image.related.landscape.120x80.gqg4hn.png/1469833732843.jpg)
What I was not expecting was that it would add a sweet new dimension to my relationship with my kids, especially my seven-year-old boy.
Clinton's campaign has decided to be proud of the candidate it has
![Hillary Clinton, 2016 Democratic presidential nominee, waves while arriving on stage.](/web/20160730003614im_/http://www.theage.com.au/content/dam/images/g/q/g/i/y/t/image.related.landscape.120x80.gqgz71.png/1469781245361.jpg)
Rather than pine for someone warmer or more charismatic, the Clinton campaign has decided to be proud of the candidate it has.
Bush capital no more?
![The Molonglo suburbs of Coombs and Wright.](/web/20160730003614im_/http://www.theage.com.au/content/dam/images/g/q/g/d/s/m/image.related.landscape.120x80.gqgdnv.png/1469777491385.jpg)
One of the great joys of living in Canberra is its setting.
Disruptive power
![Rod Sims, head of the ACCC, has criticised privatisation.](/web/20160730003614im_/http://www.theage.com.au/content/dam/images/g/q/g/j/d/r/image.related.landscape.120x80.gqgazk.png/1469776887411.jpg)
The Productivity Commission is criticising the Trans Pacific Partnership, the head of the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission is criticising privatisation, and the electricity industry is worried that competition from renewables might deliver lower prices to consumers. What on earth is happening to the Neo-liberal 'agenda'?
Flawed justice in Indonesia
![Activists hold posters which read "Jokowi, stop the executions!" during a candlelit vigil outside the presidential ...](/web/20160730003614im_/http://www.theage.com.au/content/dam/images/g/q/g/8/d/1/image.related.landscape.120x80.gqgstw.png/1469772428377.jpg)
Yet again Indonesia showed its most brutal and ugly face to the world.
Do we have to destroy liberty and the rule of law in order to preserve it?
![Prime Minister Malcom Turnbull outlining new measures the government will take against terrorism in Australia.](/web/20160730003614im_/http://www.theage.com.au/content/dam/images/g/q/c/z/e/m/image.related.landscape.120x80.gqdb2b.png/1469769698909.jpg)
Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull's new proposals to deal with people convicted of terrorism offences undermine our criminal justice system.
Turnbull's youth abuse royal commission is doomed to fail
![Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull has announced Brian Ross Martin, left, as head of the royal commission into child ...](/web/20160730003614im_/http://www.theage.com.au/content/dam/images/g/q/g/2/c/t/image.related.landscape.120x80.gqdb1u.png/1469769606597.jpg)
The commission, however searching, is destined to be an expensive distraction and waste of time.
Be in no doubt, this is a holy war
!["Minister of war" Omar al-Shishani stands next to an IS spokesman among a group of fighters. The US said he was killed ...](/web/20160730003614im_/http://www.theage.com.au/content/dam/images/g/p/c/l/2/a/image.related.landscape.120x80.gqfudf.png/1469769515532.jpg)
Isil's war in Europe will evolve in unpredictable and erratic ways, because the generals do not command the troops.
And here's the dope
![Russian President Vladimir Putin addresses Russian athletes at the Kremlin.](/web/20160730003614im_/http://www.theage.com.au/content/dam/images/g/q/f/d/5/y/image.related.landscape.120x80.gqdbm1.png/1469766848457.jpg)
We will watch the Games in Rio, we will cheer the athletes, we may even buy the t-shirts. But the dismal truth is that we now put question marks over exceptional achievements, where once we only felt joy.
How the cabinet meeting about Rudd really played out
!["Hello, I'm the Beatles!"](/web/20160730003614im_/http://www.theage.com.au/content/dam/images/g/q/d/d/m/0/image.related.landscape.120x80.gqghvc.png/1469806076052.jpg)
Here's the official transcript of Thursday's cabinet meeting that was meant to decide if Australia would support Kevin Rudd's bid for the top UN job. Please burn after reading.
Why are we further traumatising our abused youth?
![Dylan Voller being manhandled by staff at the Darwin facility.](/web/20160730003614im_/http://www.theage.com.au/content/dam/images/g/q/d/z/s/6/image.related.landscape.120x80.gqgece.png/1469760627536.jpg)
The shocking brutalisation of youth in the NT's Don Dale Detention Centre proves that a whole new system of cultural and philosophical change is required in dealing with the disaffected youth.
Hope trumped by reality
![Michelle Obama delivered a tremendous speech during the Democratic National Convention in Philadelphia.](/web/20160730003614im_/http://www.theage.com.au/content/dam/images/g/q/f/u/2/a/image.related.landscape.120x80.gqg2h6.png/1469801969067.jpg)
The wife of a former president should definitely be the next leader of the United States. It's just a pity the wrong woman is running for election.
What these two portraits reveal about our world view
![Archibald Prize finalist Troy, by Mark Horton, which features NSW Deputy Premier Troy Grant.](/web/20160730003614im_/http://www.theage.com.au/content/dam/images/g/q/g/f/a/8/image.related.landscape.120x80.gqflzy.png/1469802378810.jpg)
Among the 50-odd portraits in this year's Archibald, two are stand-out, although not in a good way. Both depict sitting politicians but together they reveal us, or what is embarrassingly close to becoming an Australian world-attitude: dominate, exploit, go. Eat, shoot, leave (the rubbish).
Loneliness is a modern curse - and it needs our children to lift it
![To be lonely is to suffer, and the grim fact is that more than a quarter of people over 65 who live alone are lonely.](/web/20160730003614im_/http://www.theage.com.au/content/dam/images/g/p/v/9/t/0/image.related.landscape.120x80.gqga87.png/1469759041965.jpg)
EMBARGOED:
How to protect yourself during redundancy
![Department of Human Services officials have confirmed that 916 workers will be shed in 2016-2017 and not 810.](/web/20160730003614im_/http://www.theage.com.au/content/dam/images/1/m/q/o/0/4/image.related.landscape.120x80.gqgg6z.png/1469757691688.jpg)
Job security is becoming a major issue in Australia.
Getting voters to fall in love with Hillary is not an easy task
![Former US president Bill Clinton met a girl in the spring of 1971 and never looked back.](/web/20160730003614im_/http://www.theage.com.au/content/dam/images/g/q/e/q/1/y/image.related.landscape.120x80.gqfkdv.png/1469814011617.jpg)
For 227 years, the presidency has been associated with stereotypically male qualities – strength, resolve, fearlessness – and the embodiment of power in a deeply patriarchal political system.
What we should learn from the case of Harriet Wran
![Harriet Wran arrives at court on Thursday for her sentencing hearing.](/web/20160730003614im_/http://www.theage.com.au/content/dam/images/g/q/5/e/o/f/image.related.landscape.120x80.gqfs8e.png/1469754315932.jpg)
Is there anything better than a good downfall story? Harriet Wran's tale has it all – drugs, murder, mental illness and the essential binding ingredient of sex.
Bank's reaction typical of our attitude to homeless
![The sign posted on the window of the Footscray Bank of Melbourne branch.](/web/20160730003614im_/http://www.theage.com.au/content/dam/images/g/q/c/t/u/t/image.related.landscape.120x80.gqgaco.png/1469753000151.jpg)
The bank has failed to see the humanity of the person, and has failed to treat them with dignity.
The plebiscite question we should have
![Repeated polls show a significant majority want the right to die a pain-free death. So why not have a plebiscite on the ...](/web/20160730003614im_/http://www.theage.com.au/content/dam/images/g/k/j/0/y/w/image.related.landscape.120x80.gqg1i3.png/1469802430367.jpg)
Surely assisted suicide heads the topics we should be debating given our ageing population and the increasing number of slow and lingering deaths that will result.
The bold plan for super companies to become landlords
![There is a new plan brewing to attract superannuation funds to invest in affordable rental housing.](/web/20160730003614im_/http://www.theage.com.au/content/dam/images/g/p/7/s/d/y/image.related.landscape.120x80.gqfev7.png/1469695064828.jpg)
Australia's $2 trillion pool of superannuation money is looking for a home. So are renters.
Our leaders don't reflect who we are
![Where are our culturally diverse leaders?](/web/20160730003614im_/http://www.theage.com.au/content/dam/images/1/3/q/p/i/a/image.related.landscape.120x80.gqfh0o.png/1469693932826.jpg)
Australia is often described as a multicultural success story. Yet our cultural diversity isn't yet reflected in the ranks of leadership within society. The ethnic and cultural default of leadership in Australia remains Anglo-Celtic. Unfortunately, we mightn't be making the most of our talents.
Winter sunlight, Birregurra, Saturday 3pm
![The author's "attempt at an impressionist painting".](/web/20160730003614im_/http://www.theage.com.au/content/dam/images/g/q/g/0/k/x/image.related.landscape.120x80.gqg0mp.png/1469693606759.jpg)
The wind from the west was cold and cutting. Rain fell in big slow drops, each a mini-ice bucket. What was I doing, I asked myself, going to a football match on such an unfriendly day. And then I beheld the Birregurra oval!
The personal cost of a ferocious lockout law debate
![Stuart Kelly, 18, was found dead on Sydney's northern beaches.](/web/20160730003614im_/http://www.theage.com.au/content/dam/images/g/q/d/t/6/k/image.related.landscape.120x80.gqfgak.png/1469692289490.jpg)
Among the best honoured rules of political combat is that while elected representatives are fair game, their families are not, without very, very good reason.