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Let us forget Welcome to Country on Anzac Day

Let us forget Welcome to Country on Anzac Day

I had a great-uncle, the brother of my maternal grandfather, who died at Gallipoli. My father was in the RAAF during the second world war, and as such I have had a great reverence for Anzac Day for most of my life. I usually march in my local Anzac Day march wearing my father’s medals on the right side and carrying my great uncle’s pipe and wax ...
We all know how Cole Tomas Allen was radicalized

We all know how Cole Tomas Allen was radicalized

This column is about the relation between rhetoric and reality, with special reference to political violence and security. Everyone reading this knows that the White House Correspondents’ Dinner was rudely interrupted by a crazed shooter. The marksman in question was Cole Tomas Allen, a 31-year-old Cal Tech grad from Torrance, California. I say that he ...
This is no way to stop the scourge of shoplifting

This is no way to stop the scourge of shoplifting

The ‘tide may be turning’ on shoplifting according to our ever-hopeful Prime Minister – despite the fact shoplifting offences have soared by 133 per cent over the past five years. It is hard to know whether we are being gaslit or trolled. Perhaps both. In a speech to the union of shopworkers yesterday, Starmer said it is ‘disgraceful’ that shop workers ...
Hereditaries gear up for last hurrah

Hereditaries gear up for last hurrah

So. Farewell then to the last hereditary peers. Today marks the last day in parliament for most of the small rump who avoided Tony Blair’s purge in 1999. Ahead of the new King’s Speech next month, the end of this legislative session marks the end of hereditaries in the House of Lords: one of the few manifesto promises on which Keir Starmer has actually ...
The insufferable saintliness of Labour MPs

The insufferable saintliness of Labour MPs

It is a part of the human lot that we lug about feelings of doubt, regret and guilt. We carry our sins about like suitcases. Well, okay, maybe not quite all of us. Contrary to both scripture and psychology, there are people who struggle under a quite different burden – the sheer moral goodness of their spotless souls. I’m talking, of course, about ...
London should ban the naked bike ride

London should ban the naked bike ride

If I walked over Westminster Bridge in my birthday suit, I would almost certainly be arrested. And yet, for some inexplicable reason, thousands of stark naked cyclists are permitted once a year to bare all along the very same route. In June, London’s naked bid ride returns to the capital. Last year, more than 1,200 people took part in what organisers ...
The Offence of Public Nuisance at a War Memorial or Internment Site in NSW

The Offence of Public Nuisance at a War Memorial or Internment Site in NSW

During the Acknowledgement of Country speech that former Australian Army officer and Kabi Kabi, Goreng Goreng and Ambrym Island elder Uncle Ray Minniecon delivered to the 11,000 strong crowd at the Anzac Day dawn service held on Gadigal land in Sydney’s Martin Place on Saturday morning, 24 April 2026, a small group of people in the crowd started booing ...

Let us forget Welcome to Country on Anzac Day

Let us forget Welcome to Country on Anzac Day
I had a great-uncle, the brother of my maternal grandfather, who died at Gallipoli. My father was in the RAAF during the second world war, and as such I have had a great reverence for Anzac Day for most of my life. I usually march in my local Anzac Day march wearing my father’s medals on the right side and carrying my great uncle’s pipe and wax ...

We all know how Cole Tomas Allen was radicalized

We all know how Cole Tomas Allen was radicalized
This column is about the relation between rhetoric and reality, with special reference to political violence and security. Everyone reading this knows that the White House Correspondents’ Dinner was rudely interrupted by a crazed shooter. The marksman in question was Cole Tomas Allen, a 31-year-old Cal Tech grad from Torrance, California. I say that he ...

This is no way to stop the scourge of shoplifting

This is no way to stop the scourge of shoplifting
The ‘tide may be turning’ on shoplifting according to our ever-hopeful Prime Minister – despite the fact shoplifting offences have soared by 133 per cent over the past five years. It is hard to know whether we are being gaslit or trolled. Perhaps both. In a speech to the union of shopworkers yesterday, Starmer said it is ‘disgraceful’ that shop workers ...

Hereditaries gear up for last hurrah

Hereditaries gear up for last hurrah
So. Farewell then to the last hereditary peers. Today marks the last day in parliament for most of the small rump who avoided Tony Blair’s purge in 1999. Ahead of the new King’s Speech next month, the end of this legislative session marks the end of hereditaries in the House of Lords: one of the few manifesto promises on which Keir Starmer has actually ...

The insufferable saintliness of Labour MPs

The insufferable saintliness of Labour MPs
It is a part of the human lot that we lug about feelings of doubt, regret and guilt. We carry our sins about like suitcases. Well, okay, maybe not quite all of us. Contrary to both scripture and psychology, there are people who struggle under a quite different burden – the sheer moral goodness of their spotless souls. I’m talking, of course, about ...

London should ban the naked bike ride

London should ban the naked bike ride
If I walked over Westminster Bridge in my birthday suit, I would almost certainly be arrested. And yet, for some inexplicable reason, thousands of stark naked cyclists are permitted once a year to bare all along the very same route. In June, London’s naked bid ride returns to the capital. Last year, more than 1,200 people took part in what organisers ...

The Offence of Public Nuisance at a War Memorial or Internment Site in NSW

The Offence of Public Nuisance at a War Memorial or Internment Site in NSW
During the Acknowledgement of Country speech that former Australian Army officer and Kabi Kabi, Goreng Goreng and Ambrym Island elder Uncle Ray Minniecon delivered to the 11,000 strong crowd at the Anzac Day dawn service held on Gadigal land in Sydney’s Martin Place on Saturday morning, 24 April 2026, a small group of people in the crowd started booing ...