The curse of conservatism
NSW: holding Farage to ransom
There’s something pitiful about the ‘great state of NSW’ knotting its knickers over a political figure that passes as a…
Paying the rent with our national parks
‘The NSW Government recognises that land title is central to the development of a new model for Aboriginal joint management. Accordingly,…
Why I voted for Giorgia Meloni
As an Italian citizen resident abroad, I have the right to vote in Italian elections and referenda. While in past…
Social licences for law firms
There is something very frightening about the future of society if law firms are expected to maintain their ‘social licences…
Climate anxiety is free to disrupt
By backing in the worst extremes of climate hysteria, Australian courts – and our justice system in general – are…
Meloni’s Italy scares the Woke
There are going to be a lot of ridiculous headlines as hysterical left-wing publications come to terms with the (presumed)…
Red tape locks pensioners out of work
On the campaign trail, now Prime Minister Anthony Albanese stressed repeatedly that his government would ‘change the way that politics…
Biology will decide this
Unhappy, screechy, metal-laden, neon-coloured, masculine, overweight women are leading the ‘feminist’ charge. At least, they think they are. But is…
Ten handy phrases for bluffing your way through the new financial crisis
Aggggghhh! Woooaaaah! Urrrggghhhh! Those screams you hear are ten thousand self-appointed financial experts howling into the existential abyss. The Bank…
The Nord Stream blasts are Putin's warning shot to the West
While the Ukrainians are fighting a conventional war on their own territory, Russia and the West are engaged in an…
Why is the Bank of England buying gilts?
In a dramatic about-turn, the Bank of England is now intervening in the gilts market to try and calm the…
France's centrists look petty after their charity football boycott
There should be a charity football match this evening in Paris between a team of MPs and an XI made…
Shadows over New Zealand
Not only have we seen the passing of a universally admired and much-loved woman who, as Queen Elizabeth, dedicated her…
Ardern ‘an extremely poor substitute’ for the Prince
New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern has stood in for Prince William at a UN conference, describing herself as ‘an…
Why does this university want to bin Queen Victoria?
Spare a thought for New Zealand’s Victoria university. For years now, this Kiwi institution of higher learning has been pulling…
Godzone is coming to Oz
Back in the 70s, I lived in New Zealand, (known locally as God’s own country, or ‘Godzone’ for short). A…
The man from Wagga Wagga
It’s a great backstory. He’s the boy from Wagga Wagga, first son of a family of five kids. Educated in…
Population interruptus
Facing a seriously declining birth rate, the Chinese Communist Party has released guidelines to encourage fertility and reduce the nation’s…
Business/Robbery, etc.
Pragmatism is belatedly beating carbon purity as the West seeks to survive the economic consequences of Russia’s monstrous Ukraine war.…
Tough times for fake meat
The news that an executive in a fake meat company allegedly bit off the tip of the nose of a…
Vote out the lockdown thugs
There are some nights you won’t forget for the rest of your life. And yes, I realise that first sentence…
Meat versus Greens
A sign of the times emerged from a most unexpected place recently – my local butcher. The oxtail I was…
Shadows over New Zealand
Not only have we seen the passing of a universally admired and much-loved woman who, as Queen Elizabeth, dedicated her…
Republicans’ silver bullet boomerangs back
Polling, it has been said, is funded not to measure, but to shape public opinion. Obvious in the 2020 US…
Footy versus ballet?
All the different aspects of a culture collide and interconnect. Melbourne is the undisputed capital of Australian rules football (which…
Eye of a genius
In a week dominated by the death of the Queen it’s a strange thing that Jean-Luc Godard, the man who…
A god of fury and destruction
David Hare is the most eminent British dramatist of the generation that includes the man we have to learn to…
Just yesterday
The death of Mikhail Gorbachev last week transcended politics because it was a reminder of how the culture of the…
If buttons, balloons or premature burial terrify you, rest assured you’re not alone
Every summer, during our holiday in Orkney, there is a moment of panic. We’re standing on a dizzying cliff –…
The unpleasant truth about Joseph Roth
Endless Flight is the first biography in English of the novelist Joseph Roth. This is very surprising, since Roth’s short,…
The agony and frustration of reporting from the Middle East
For 25 years, Abed Takkoush assisted foreign reporters like Jeremy Bowen when they arrived to cover the chaos and conflicts…
Richard E. Grant’s tribute to his wife leaves us shattered for his loss
Richard E. Grant pulls off a feat here. The title is twee but the content isn’t. With unselfpitying dash the…
The roots of 20th-century German aggression
It is the contention of Peter Wilson, professor of the history of war at Oxford University and the author of…
Explorer, author, soldier, lover: The Romantic, by William Boyd, reviewed
William Boyd taps into the classical novel tradition with this sweeping tale of one man’s century-spanning life, even to the…
A complicated bond: The Best of Friends, by Kamila Shamsie, reviewed
When I think of Kamila Shamsie’s Home Fire, I picture a pot boiling on a hob, the water level rising…
Was Nato expansion worth the risk?
This is an important and topical book. Mary Sarotte traces the difficult course of Russia’s relations with Europe and the…