Not our government
It’s pretty much a hard political law that when the right loses an election they tend to blame themselves (“it was the infighting – the bloody moderates/conservatives [delete as appropriate] …
Read MoreTag: australia
The autumn of our minor discontent: or 24 thoughts about the election
(Cover pic idea shamelessly stolen from Iowahawk, who captions it “Australian election summary”) 1. I was wrong about this election. I’m somewhat comforted by knowing that so was everyone else. …
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Bob was all our uncle
It is rather melancholy that Bob Hawke died only two days before most likely seeing his beloved Labor Party returning to power after six years in opposition. The consolation is …
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Just like Lent, only compulsory
It’s good to live in societies where religion is a private matter, isn’t? Though as a substitute, a whole range of secular ideas about everything from gender to the environment …
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Depressing them softly
Over a space of a century or less, the developed world has gone from the one extreme where the education systems used to instill triumphalist values without much reflection to …
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My economic revelation
Unlike some people, I’ve never had a religious experience, that moment of staggering clarity when one seems to connect with a higher power or become as one with the universe. …
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In defense – and offense – of Jacinda Ardern
In the aftermath of the multiple terrorist bombings in Sri Lanka by Islamists targeting Christians and tourists, many a meme on social media attacked the New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda …
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Everything I don’t like is far-right
It was not Orwell’s original idea that those who control the language control the society and determine its nature. In any case, the left hardly ever needed inspiration from critics …
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The Twice Lucky Country
The other day I was having a coffee with an old friend, and we pondered, among many other, usually more cheerful topics, about the state of politics today. “Isn’t it …
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Tolerating your freedoms
One perhaps should not make too much out of remarks of one public official, no matter how senior – and yet, I have this nagging feeling that what he is …
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Gals Against Humanity
As part of the usual spray directed at the conservative half of Australia, “refugee, racial justice, Palestine campaigner” Sarah Saleh observes about Tony Abbott His existence altogether is offensive. “There is a …
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The Unbearable Whiteness of Being
(The title with apologies to Milan Kundera who is probably spinning in his grave, seeing how the Western left has been culturally appropriating the (former) Eastern left’s strategies and tactics.) …
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Never let a crisis go to waste
One of the consequences of the terrorist attack on Christchurch mosques will be an reinvigorated effort by the left to silence and censor speech and debate on topics they consider …
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The evil that men do
Terrible news from Christchurch in New Zealand, with (at this moment) 49 Muslim worshipers at Friday prayers in two mosques gunned down in a well organised terrorist attack that was …
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Climate strike? How about nuclear first strike?
Another day, another mass walk-out from schools around the world, including throughout Australia, by children protesting about their elders’ inaction in the face of a climatic calamity that’s set to …
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Australia’s Hindenburg
The ex-PM Malcolm Turnbull is Australia’s Hindenburg. No, not the Zeppelin air ship whose fiery destruction provided one of the most iconic images of the intrawar years – though some …
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ABC Barbie
Congratulations to Australian living legend Ita Buttrose (I only just realised what an otherwise unfortunate surname that is – I can only hope that it’s not, and will never be, …
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Always a Bishop, never the Pope
With Julie Bishop retiring from politics at the next election (another senior departure) there is no immediate retiring of recriminations and regrets: Ms Bishop now says her colleagues were asking …
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Cardinal Sin and twelve angry men*
A few thoughts about the Cardinal George Pell verdict a few days back: 1. Child sexual abuse is a heinous crime, no ifs and no buts. So is mental and …
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You win some, you lose some
The pre-election exodus continues, mostly from the Liberal side of politics, as senior and not so senior MPs decide that spending three, six or nine years on opposition benches just …
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