![Illustration: Simon Letch](http://web.archive.org./web/20170607041110im_/https://www.fairfaxstatic.com.au/content/dam/images/g/w/l/x/7/r/image.related.wideLandscape.460x259.gwlwdc.png/1496763941473.jpg)
A new phase of desperation for extremists
Everything about terrorism is desperate, and the latest wave of attacks represents a new phase of great desperation.
Everything about terrorism is desperate, and the latest wave of attacks represents a new phase of great desperation.
Gone was talk of the "most harmonious multicultural nation in the world". Gone too, the front-footed defence of Islam.
Within hours of the latest terrorist attack in London, the reliably tasteless Donald Trump was taking political potshots, revealing a procedurally adolescent mind. For most of us, our earliest political statements - the usual blend of fact, idealism, ignorance, and too much passion - were not recorded. Thanks to our juniority, we were in no position to influence anything anyway. But in the digital age? Forget about it. Or rather, don't.
Politicians no longer question the wisdom of the 2 per cent of GDP spending target.
The Uluru statement can take Indigenous people beyond being subjects to their rightful place.
Beware out there this week, folks. There's a storm a'comin'. An economic data storm, that is. Economists are tipping the good ship 'Oz economy' has hit shallow waters in the first half of 2017.
No-one ever got rewarded for putting the economy into recession.
The big banks won the last great war against government interference, 70 years ago.
Until we stop building new coal mines, we should stop pretending we care about emissions.
Spare a thought for the republicans.
Real change, even symbolic, is never achieved by clever strategies, discussion papers or facilitators.
There has to be more to our 26-year record than just our deft response to the global financial crisis.
Australia's long run of economic success bred a complacency that persists to this day.
Europe doesn't need another arms race despite what Trump says.
Australia keeps baulking at a simple task that other nations managed with ease.
Cory Bernardi is keeping some very interesting company and it should worry the Liberal Party.
The new watchdog knows where many of the bureaucracy's bodies are buried. Will he disinter a few?
Face reddens until it is deep puce, veins on his neck and forehead bulge and he begins jabbering.
Both sides of politics now agree about giving a Gonski. But we need to give a Gonskini, too.
Anyone who takes a public personal stand on this issue, regardless of which side, is brave.
If Australian media flounders, we'll lose local news, analysis and drama production.
Technology is radically transforming our society. Prepare for the fallout.
The shameful tax dodge by multinationals is undermining the project tendering process.
So much government aid goes to people who don't need it, and politicians seem helpless to stop it.
Australian schools are falling behind world standards because we waste money where it's not needed.
For Pauline Hanson, being outed as bigotry's uncritical conduit was like hitting a brick wall.
The leaders of America and Saudi Arabia have more in common than you might think.
Throughout the Sydney siege, the NSW Police never relied on the expert outsiders who were at hand.
The community must confront one issue, lest police once again allow inaction to play the predominant role in the outcome.
Australia isn't 'sleepwalking' into war; we already did that.
The hurly-burly of the 2016 election campaign, as seen through the eyes of Fairfax reporters and photographers.
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