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John Birmingham

John Birmingham writes regular columns for Fairfax Media.

Chris Gayle apologised, but did not seem to really understand his offence. Photo: ABC

The dark art of the non-apology

Nobody enjoys making an apology. It's an acknowledgment that you screwed up, that you have done harm to someone. That's why some of us find them so difficult and messy, as though saying sorry were akin to birthing one of those Alienchest-bursters the hard way.

Thousands attended the rally for Allison Baden-Clay in King George Square on Friday.

Mob rule shall not overrule justice

COMMENT The crowd gathered at King George Square thought they were decent people coming together to right an injustice of the Court of Appeal. But they were a mob.

Parisian portraits of grief. Crowds gathered to place flowers and light candels at the terror attacks sites across Paris ...

Beating ISIL takes hard work and thought, not mindless revenge

Horror and hysteria is understandable. Western countries are generations removed from the violence which is a banal reality throughout most of the world (and which we have been visiting upon the rest of the world for more than five hundred years now).