There is something uniquely insane about the Labor Party spending the best part of 2025 demonising social media, the internet, and mobile phones as a mental health catastrophe for young people – only to turn around in 2026 and launch their ‘free therapy’ on smart devices. In one of the smarmiest videos possible – published on social media, of course – ...

In news that will alarm Australia’s ‘dignified’ major parties, Pauline Hanson’s One Nation has skipped straight over Labor to take the top position in Queensland. Newspoll reports One Nation on 30 per cent, leading Labor (27 per cent), the Coalition (23 per cent), and the Greens (11 per cent). There was even a suggestion that 35 per cent of former ...

Is Australia a ‘decadent’ society? The term ‘decadence’ implies promiscuity. But, as American writer Ross Douthat explains, it’s a term rarely used precisely. In The Decadent Society, Douthat channels Frenchman Jacques Barzun in that it ‘refers to economic stagnation, institutional decay, and cultural and intellectual exhaustion at a high level of ...

Reform leader Nigel Farage likes to claim that his latest political vehicle is on course to replace the ‘old fuddy duddy’ Conservative party as the dominant force on the centre-right. While the parallel is not exact, comparing today’s battle for the centre-right with the last major party realignment – when Labour replaced the Liberals as the dominant ...

In a few communities in Victorian England, there was a custom of men tying women to chairs with ribbons on Easter Monday and lifting them up, all the while singing the hymn ‘Jesus Christ is risen today’. On Easter Tuesday the custom was repeated, only this time it was the women who ‘lifted’ the men. The Victorian practice of ‘lifting’ can be traced ...

For hundreds of years in Britain, juries have been the cornerstone of the justice system. The right to trial by one’s peers ensures not only that justice is done, but that it is seen to be done. Yet the Labour government is seeking to water down this ancient, and vital, feature of criminal court cases. Juries help ensure that sentences are ...

It is widely claimed, correctly in my opinion, that any government’s first responsibility is to secure the ongoing safety of its citizens. Safety from invasion or takeover by another force. Safety from disease or famine. Safety from extreme weather events. If we think of this doctrine in relation to Australia, we must first realise that being an ...

There is something exquisitely self-referential about the ABC reporting on its own strike. It is the media equivalent of a surgeon live-tweeting his own appendectomy – technically impressive, editorially questionable, and deeply revealing of an institution that has lost the capacity for embarrassment. Last week, ABC staff walked off the job for 24 ...

As Everett Dirksen once memorably said, there is an evil party and a stupid party. Sometimes, both parties come together to do something that is both evil and stupid, and this is called ‘bipartisanship’. Dirksen’s quote, intended to describe US politics, is accurate for Australian politics as well. Among Anthony Albanese’s more contentious policies is ...

By pushing religion almost as much as US military might in his war briefings, Pete Hegseth has raised questions about whether he is a Christian Zionist and if he views current events in the Middle East as prophetic of the end times. His Pentagon updates often include prayers, Bible readings and religiously-inflected statements about pursuing ...