The assault on the Mexican embassy in Quito, Ecuador
There is no doubt that the Ecuadorian assault on the Mexican Embassy in the capital Quito appears to be an…
I’m all in for Fallout
It was only a matter of time until Amazon decided to throw its hat in the ring and join the…
Forced divestiture is better than expanding regulation
‘Muddying the waters’ is one of the cleverer and more effective tools deployed by public relations advisers. The method involves…
The far-left takeover: working in childcare is a political act
Concerns are being raised about Australia’s new Early Years Learning Framework (EYLF 2.0). The Frankfurt school cultural Marxism – aka Critical Theory…
The land that time (but not the government) forgot
Australia’s vaccine regulator, the Australian Technical Advisory Group on Immunisation (ATAGI), is still determinedly operating a virus theme park which…
Victorians have no idea
When it comes to Indigenous matters, it seems Victorians and their Members of Parliament, have no idea what is happening…
Vale David Martin Jones
It is with the deepest sadness that I advise readers of The Spectator Australia of the tragic passing of David Martin…
A fight for the future of women’s rights
I landed at Sydney airport last week at the exact time that Sall Grover was being cross examined in the…
Women need protection
In light of the violent tragedy that unfolded in Bondi, it is imperative that we look seriously at crime, opportunity,…
The Albanese government is our biggest national security threat
The bold display of Iranian military drones over the holy city of Jerusalem symbolises the weakness of the Albanese government.…
Over the cliff we go
George Orwell wrote 1984 and Animal Farm in 1949 and 1945 respectively, a time when the future – our present – seemed such…
A government of the bureaucrats, by the bureaucrats, and for the bureaucrats
When describing democracy, former American President Abraham Lincoln in his famous Gettysburg Address in 1863, said it was a ‘government…
Brown study
Like many conservatives, I am profoundly unhappy about the appointment of Ms Sam Mostyn as Governor-General of Australia. In fact,…
Our greatest philosopher
Yes, I know, starting a column by talking briefly about one of the world’s great philosophers is a bit odd.…
Time to give ‘hate speech’ the flick
Can we delete the term ‘hate speech’ from the debate over the role of the law in what people can…
Into the lion’s den
I’ve never thought of myself as a rapist. I’m certainly no Lothario – at least I wasn’t back in my…
Alas for free trade
An Israeli-owned ship crammed with 17,000 cattle and sheep from Australia upset animal-rights campaigners when in January it refused to…
Is cash still king?
I always carry a bit of cash; probably not as much as I did in the past. I’m not ‘doing…
Big bang fallout
Hands up those who think the reputation of commercial television Network Ten has been enhanced by the judgment in the…
Mullahs on missiles
As Israelis bunkered down in their bomb shelters last Saturday, even the grim prospect of approaching Iranian cruise missiles couldn’t…
Will Sunak’s welfare reforms get more people back into work?
Chancellor Rishi Sunak had days to design the furlough scheme. Once lockdown became mandatory in spring 2020, it was a…
Iran should be banned from the Paris Olympics
Few would disagree with Ben Wallace’s description of Iran as a ‘bully’. The former defence secretary made his comments earlier…
Israel launches retaliatory strike against Iran
Israel conducted missile strikes against Iran on Thursday night, as confirmed by a senior American military official to NPR. Explosions in…
Why did the Sandyford clinic delay pausing puberty blockers?
The decision by Glasgow’s Sandyford gender clinic to pause the prescription of puberty blockers to children is good news for…
Why New Zealand is cracking down on immigration
The government of New Zealand this week tightened the country’s working visa rules in order to stem historically high numbers…
Why is New Zealand’s deputy PM rowing with Chumbawamba?
In their musical heyday, the English anarchist punk band Chumbawamba enjoyed a reputation for having an irreverent attitude towards those…
New Zealand’s imperial judiciary
If you cast your eyes across the Tasman right now, you can see the beginnings of an imperial judiciary, the…
Subversion within New Zealand
Recently querying why New Zealand governments make annual January pilgrimages to the Maori Pa at Ratana, to celebrate the birth…
The music of their eloquence
It was a tweet by the novelist Joyce Carol Oates that warned us PBS, the American public broadcaster, had done…
Why one-man plays are all the rage
Well, it’s nice to feel on trend. The Today programme this morning carried an item on the popularity of one-man…
Somersaulting beauty of the songmaker
It’s uncanny sometimes how it works. There we were last Saturday in Hamer Hall to hear what Stephen Layton from…
A lithe brilliance
It figures that Australians should write great plays about sport because we are exceptionally – some people would say excessively…
To Salman Rushdie, a dream before his attempted murder ‘felt like a premonition’
Salman Rushdie has long hated and struggled against the idea that the 1989 fatwa pronounced on him after the publication…
Murder in the dark: The Eighth House, by Linda Segtnan, reviewed
It takes a Scandinavian mother to write like this: ‘Why murder a nine-year-old girl? She wasn’t raped. Rape is the…
Are we all becoming hermits now?
Long before Covid, wi-fi and Deliveroo, Badger in The Wind in the Willows showed us how to live beyond the…
John Deakin: the perfect anti-hero of the tawdry Soho scene
During the various lockdowns I found myself wondering how Iain Sinclair was coping with the restrictions. It seemed unthinkable that…
A magnificent set of dentures still leaves little to smile about
John Patrick Higgins is unhappy about the state of his mouth. His teeth resemble ‘broken biscuits’, a ‘pub piano’, ‘an…
The Dreyfus Affair continues to haunt France to this day
A short new book on Captain Alfred Dreyfus, the proudly patriotic French army officer who was falsely accused in 1894…
They felt they could achieve anything together: two brave women in war-torn Serbia
Lesbian military fiction is a popular genre, featuring titles such as Silver Wings and An Army of One, but Jack…
Being a printer was what Benjamin Franklin prided himself on most
For some readers this book will have the charm of the Antiques Roadshow. Adam Smyth, professor of English Literature and…