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Opinion

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Joe Biden.
Opinion
Investing

Biden strikes back as the war against ‘woke capitalism’ rages

There’s something peculiar in a Democrat president acting to preserve investors’ right to choose while supposedly free-market Republicans want to take those choices away.

  • by Stephen Bartholomeusz

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Opinion
Literature

Why it’s not OK you forgot the calendar’s best day

I had hoped you’d notice. The stage was set. But you missed it.

  • by Chris Harrison
The Oppo Find N2 Flip has a larger cover display than other flip-style foldables.
Analysis
Phones

Oppo flips the script on Samsung with latest foldable phone

The Chinese brand has launched a foldable smartphone in Australia and it could be the strongest new-school flip phone in the market yet.

  • by Tim Biggs
While the common advice is to save money at all costs, there is such a thing as ‘underspending’ and it’s not healthy.

The invisible problem affecting our saving habits

While the common advice is to save money at all costs, there is such a thing as underspending, and it’s not healthy.

  • by Paridhi Jain
You will meet your constituents in lifts and carparks, and they will want to know what you’re doing to solve a problem about which they are highly agitated but you might not even be aware.
Analysis
Renting

Free furniture, canned tuna: How to afford moving out of home

For young Australians today, moving out of home can feel like a bigger leap of faith than ever before. Here’s how to make it work.

  • by Hannah Farrow
Paying too much? You can switch health funds are any time

Easy ways to lower your health insurance costs

Shopping around for health insurance and taking advantage of a better deal can shave hundreds of dollars a year off premiums.

  • by John Collett
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Those in their 50s and beyond need to think about their legacy and how to transfer wealth effectively.
Analysis
Inheritance

Approaching 50? It’s time to think about your inheritance

With $3.5 trillion on the line, those in their 50s and beyond need to think about their legacy and how to transfer wealth effectively.

  • by Grace Bacon
AMP chief executive Alexis George

After years of struggle, can a beleaguered AMP reinvent itself?

AMP, one of the oldest financial institutions in Australia, has been trying to engineer a turnaround after a major fall from grace.

  • by Clancy Yeates
Coach Anthony Griffin is in the spotlight at the Dragons.
Analysis
NRL 2023

Why the Dragons have made the right call making Griffin reapply for his job

Anyone who has watched the team under Griffin’s stewardship knows why the club needs a back-up plan. If he wins games, the job is his. But relying on that could be dangerous.

  • by Michael Chammas
Illustration by Simon Letch.

Most of us don’t really want to be rich, for better or worse

If we simply prioritised getting wealthier, there is a considerable risk other dimensions of our lives would suffer.

  • by Ross Gittins
Melbourne’s Kysaiah Pickett ploughs into Bailey Smith on Saturday night at the MCG.

AFL must consider rule changes to discourage ‘bumps’

Incidents at the weekend provided a dramatic reminder that current sanctions do not appear to be doing enough to deter risky on-field behaviour.

  • The Age's View
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LETTERS
Letters

Heart-stopping stories still leave us with hope

Readers respond to the UN’s urgent call for action on climate change.

A young Hawthorn fan watches a match in Hobart last year.
Opinion
Parenting

My eight-year-old has never seen his footy team win. I don’t want to lie to him

Before my son was born I’d never considered myself one of those men who’d make their child go for the same team, but when he came into this world there was no question about it.

  • by Patrick O'Neil
Neo-Nazis marched on Spring Street on Saturday.
Opinion
Racism

How we can fight violent extremism after far-right rally

In our response to Saturday’s offensive and hateful neo-Nazi demonstration, we must do more than simply chase symbols and gestures.

  • by Daniel Aghion
Jeremy Howe.
Analysis
AFL 2023

Rehab room: The likely time frame for Jeremy Howe’s return

Libby Birch, a dual premiership player and sports physiotherapist, is uniquely positioned to assess the injuries and timeframes for return for some of the key players who went down in round one.

  • by Libby Birch
Rupert Murdoch with wife-to-be  Ann-Lesley Smith.

Murdoch: Another wife, another twist in the succession plan

The billionaire media mogul and his 66-year-old bride-to-be are “looking forward to the second half of our lives together”, but will this alter anything in love-struck Murdoch’s empire?

  • by Elizabeth Knight
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Prime Minister Anthony Albanese, US President Joe Biden and British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak unveil details of the AUKUS agreement in San Diego.
Opinion
AUKUS

AUKUS is a dud deal. We’re safer on our own

There’s never been a worse time for Australia to further entangle its defence policy with that of the United States.

  • by Geraldine Brooks
The ACCC found comments about packaging containing recycled plastic were also confusing.
Opinion
Recycling

Let’s stop pretending we are going to recycle all this plastic

We like the idea of recycled single-use plastics because it takes away the guilt around how cheap and easy it is. But most cannot be converted into a useful product at a reasonable cost.

  • by Nick O'Malley
Nick Frost celebrates the Brumbies’ opening victory over the Waratahs.
Opinion
Wallabies

Brumbies in gold: How can the Wallabies be anything else while Reds, Tahs are struggling?

Reds coach Brad Thorn is in his sixth year of Super Rugby coaching, Darren Coleman in his second, but each man wore the same look of bewilderment after their weekend games.

  • by Wayne Smith
NAB’s Rewards Signature credit card has a Flybuys points sign-up incentive, but is it any good?
Analysis
Credit cards

How NAB’s card with Flybuys bonus stacks up

NAB is offering bonus points for new customers of its Rewards Signature credit card, but how good a deal is it?

  • by John Collett
Credit Suisse sent messages to customers on Monday saying the UBS “merger” would happen at the end of the year.
Opinion
Bonds

Credit Suisse fallout: CoCo bondholders go loco

A key element of Credit Suisse’s ‘rescue’ was a Swiss regulator’s decision to declare $26 billion of the bank’s bonds worthless. Other central banks are scrambling to distance themselves.

  • by Stephen Bartholomeusz
Chinese President Xi Jinping gestures while speaking to Russian President Vladimir Putin during their meeting at the Kremlin on Monday.

What does Xi want from Putin?

The Chinese leader is in Moscow for a three-day visit. Apart from an emphatic display of solidarity with his “dear friend”, there’s a lot Russia can help with.

Group 10 rugby league player and concussion patient David Sellers.

‘When the police came, I had no idea I hadn’t paid for my fuel – and no memory of being there’

I’ve suffered between 40 and 50 concussions in my semi-professional rugby league career. Players from grassroots to elite level need saving from themselves – that’s why the NRL’s protocols are needed.

  • by David Sellers
Global markets will be watching to see whether US Fed chief Jerome Powell and his colleagues lift rates or pauses this week, as instability grips the global banking sector.

With bank chaos and inflation, Fed faces its most uncertain meeting in years

The Federal Reserve entered 2023 focused on a central goal: wrestling down the rapid inflation rate. But over the past two weeks, that job has become a lot more complicated.

  • by Jeanna Smialek
An American soldier in Baghdad in 2003.
Opinion
War

How the US broke Iraq: A generational mistake that killed 306,000 civilians

The consensus now, even among formerly hawkish Republicans, is that the United States should never have invaded Iraq 20 years ago.

  • by Ishaan Tharoor
Putting up a fight: Former US president Donald Trump at the NCAA Wrestling Championships,  in Tulsa, Oklahoma on the weekend.
Analysis
US politics

Bracing for impact, US political world waits for Donald Trump indictment

Facing possible charges over alleged hush money paid to an adult film star, Donald Trump has launched a pre-emptive strike to control the narrative, rally supporters, and play the victim.

  • by Farrah Tomazin
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At odds: Rupert Murdoch and Donald Trump.

Murdoch succeeded where Putin failed. Time for a Fox hunt

We believe a royal commission into media concentration is now needed to defend our democracy. For the Coalition parties, this is a crucial moment.

  • by Malcolm Turnbull and Sharan Burrow

TikTok ban is only a matter of time

Tech decoupling from China seems to have an unstoppable momentum. The only question now is which companies and technologies will be next.

  • by Peter Hartcher
Elon Musk, the world’s richest man, doesn’t own a house.

I’m a Musk fanboy – don’t hate me

Despite his more questionable behaviour on Twitter, I don’t believe any private individual is having a greater impact on transitioning to a low emissions future than Elon Musk.

  • by Michael Schlechta
A hazard reduction burn last month grew out of control and threatened the town of Currarong on the NSW South Coast.

Our last climate chance: Act now on ‘everything, everywhere, all at once’

There is grim reading in the UN’s final warning to world leaders in the last decade we have to act, but there is also a clear set of directions. And hope.

  • by Nick O'Malley
Moira Deeming faces being booted from the Liberal party room after a move by leader John Pesutto.
Editorial
Liberal Party

Once again, Victorian Liberals caught in trap of own making

Opposition Leader John Pesutto is faced with a lose-lose situation in dealing with Moira Deeming and his party’s latest calamity.

  • The Age's View
Langi Gleeson continues to shine for the Waratahs.

Missing in action: Why are our two biggest Super clubs struggling?

With no Eddie Jones drum-beating to distract us, the form of Australia’s most important Super Rugby sides has been sobering viewing.

  • by Georgina Robinson

Buffett reaches out to help in US banks crisis

A handful of regional lenders are at the heart of a crisis that’s shaken the US and engaged the likes of billionaire investor Warren Buffett.

  • by Sally Bakewell
Melbourne’s Kysaiah Pickett ploughs into Bailey Smith on Saturday night at the MCG.
Opinion
AFL 2023

Can a bump ever be foolproof - and safe?

Three head-high bumps leading to three suspensions from last weekend’s opening AFL round have prompted calls for drastic action. But what and how is not clear.

  • by Greg Baum
Jordan De Goey.

The most surprising, imposing and exciting wins from a bump(er) round of footy

Michael Gleeson, Jake Niall and Caroline Wilson discuss the most surprising, imposing and exciting wins from round one, whether the match review framework for penalties over bumping need to be changed, off-field politics at Essendon and much more.

After massive cuts two years ago, even travel agencies are scrambling for staff.
Opinion
Aviation

Why the promised airfare price relief looks like a mirage

Airlines and travel agents have been promising that airline capacity will continue to recover and fares will come down – what’s happened?

  • by Elizabeth Knight
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Fears over the plight of Credit Suisse will weigh on the Reserve Bank’s next move on interest rates.

RBA faces rate clash: Should they stay or should they go up?

The Reserve Bank faces a clash of priorities over coming weeks: deal with banking turmoil in Europe and America, or drive down inflation?

  • by Shane Wright
It’s been a tough start for Tim Sheens.
Opinion
NRL 2023

Tetchy Tim Sheens is not the problem in Tiger Town

The revolution at the Wests Tigers will take time. Can those who run the club hold their nerve and shut their mouths?

  • by Andrew Webster
Former prime minister Scott Morrison.

How did COVID change the face of Australia? The answer matters

It seems there is little appetite to revisit the dark days of the pandemic, but we must interrogate how the nation handled the crisis.

  • by Nick Bryant
Ollie Henry, Luke Jackson, Jason Horne-Francis, Tom Mitchell and Brodie Grundy were among the recruits to make their first appearances for news clubs in round one of the 2023 AFL season.
Analysis
AFL 2023

First impressions: How your team’s recruits fared in round one

Tom Mitchell was very good. Luke Jackson not so good. We run the ruler over all the traded players in their first games in new colours.

  • by Jon Pierik, Michael Gleeson and Marc McGowan
UBS has, reluctantly and with a lot of help from the Swiss government, come to Credit Suisse’s rescue.
Opinion
Investing

A crisis is (hopefully) averted as UBS bails out Credit Suisse

UBS has, reluctantly and with a lot of help from the Swiss government, come to Credit Suisse’s rescue.

  • by Stephen Bartholomeusz
Bitcoin is benefiting from the banking chaos.

Why is bitcoin on the rise when US banks are collapsing?

Are investors using cryptocurrencies as a safe harbour in the banking storm?

  • by Nicole Buckler and Samantha Howard
Narendra Modi, India’s prime minister.

Narendra Modi is the world’s most popular leader. Beware.

While Modi polls extremely well, many worldly Indians are aghast that he has made India less secular and tolerant, creating a Hindu nationalism that marginalises religious minorities.

  • by Nicholas Kristof
Referee Gerard Sutton sends Roosters centre Joey Manu to the sin-bin in round three.
Analysis
NRL 2023

Why NRL’s concussion edict will force some players to clean up their act

An unintended but welcome consequence of the NRL’s mandatory 11-day stand down policy will be to reduce the number of players feigning injury, Graham Annesley admits.

  • by Roy Masters
Young fathers say they want to be involved in shared child care.
Opinion
Workplace

Fathers are now copping the ‘motherhood penalty’. I, for one, am not gloating

For the health of men, women, kids and the economy, ideas of Australian workplace masculinity must at least try to keep up.

  • by Wendy Tuohy
Anthony Albanese: Key disclosures.

The end of Albanese’s (other) honeymoon

Inconvenient facts exist in a universe parallel to the one in which Australian politics is actually conducted. But there are signs that the time for deluded consensus is running out.

  • by Sean Kelly
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Walking is great for us, but it’s also commonsense.
Opinion
Diet

Walk more, eat well: As a health writer, these studies make me sad

Studies that tell us to move our bodies and eat more fruits and vegetables are stating the bleeding obvious. But there’s a reason we keep needing a reminder.

  • by Sarah Berry
The 25th Amendment was passUS President John F Kennedy in 1961: "I believe this nation should commit itself to achieving the goal, before the decade is out, of landing a man on the moon and returning him safely to Earth."
Opinion
Poetry

Power of poetry not lost on the powerful, except in Australia

On World Poetry Day, we should reflect on the role great verse plays in our national conversation.

  • by George Brandis
Donna Mulhearn in Iraq in 2003.
Opinion
War

One person can decide if Australia goes to war. Here’s why that needs to change

Twenty years after thousands of Australians took to the streets to rally against the invasion of Iraq, it is time to protest anew and insist on change to the way our nation decides to go to war.

  • by Donna Mulhearn
David Fleming holds a picture of his abducted children at his rural property outside of Brisbane.

Japan must bend on abducted children of foreign nationals

While the international community overwhelmingly recognises the right of a child to maintain a relationship with both parents, this is not the case in Japan.

  • The Age's View