QED

Chaucer and the modern pardoners

January 31, 2013

Forgiveness, understanding and approval drip from the pens of punditry's elite, a most forgiving lot where Julia Gillard is concerned

Multiculturalism's intolerant creed

by Merv Bendle

January 30, 2013

A society fragmenting into ethnic enclaves and proudly unassimilated cultures, that is one downside of existing policies. Another is that, very soon, it may not be possible to lament those divisions without risk of prosecution

Australia Day's gone. So is my kayak

by Ted Hopkins

January 30, 2013

A pleasant weekend by the water, a fish in the creel -- and, unfortunately, the company of a light-fingered yobbo horde. It was my Australia Day reminder that our first settlers were criminals

Addicted to spending

by Peter Smith

January 29, 2013

Keynesians are slow learners, but surely even they realise there will be no wealth to confiscate unless their profligate turns on the government benches are punctuated by periods of deficit-averse conservative stewardship

Australia's jihadis win at a canter

by Christopher Carr

January 29, 2013

It is has come to this: even though they had received no threats, a cowards' roster of public venues declined to host Geert Wilders, Dutch MP asnd critic of Islam. Free speech, it seems, is just too dangerous

Fauxfacts Media

by Roger Franklin

January 29, 2013

The Heartland Institute has responded to allegations that Senator Cory Bernardi breached disclosure rules. The ball is now in the Sydney Morning Herald's court

Ashamed Enough Yet?

January 27, 2013

Where would Australia Day be without the annual parade of grief and shame? This year's mustering of tear-drenched cliches has produced a bumper haul. Here are some of the weepier ones

A guilt-edged ticket on the 'invasion day' express

by Christopher Akehurst

January 26, 2013

With all this hand-wringing doing the rounds, those bleating loudest about "invasion day" could lead by example, pack their bags and go. There would be no shortage of volunteers offering a lift to the airport

Even more ashamed to be Australian

by Dr Onan McBroadsheet

January 25, 2013

How dare you think kindly of this wide, brown land of racism, ecological indifference, homophobia and disrect for a female PM! This Australia Day, heed your betters, get out those hankies and weep

Multiculturalism means 'join us', not 'change us'

by Scott Morrison

January 25, 2013

Australia has absorbed more migrants, and with less trouble, than any other nation, which must surely be the definition of "multiculturalism". Sadly, that shining example of tolerance is being re-defined as a rationale for division and separatism

Beeb Boobs Bowdlerise Basil

by Philippa Martyr

January 25, 2013

The campaign to regulate speech and save the preciously sensitive from offence has added the name of Basil fawlty to its long and growing list of unlikely martyrs. What's next, neutering Mrs Slocombe's animal companion?

The dubious 'freedom' to express?

by Terry Barnes

January 24, 2013

Nominally, the latest flap about public breastfeeding centres on infants' needs and mothers' "rights".  What of others' rights not to be offended?

No cold comfort in this chilled economy

by Peter Smith

January 23, 2013

A favourite indicator of economic health -- hours worked -- is colder than this disenchanted moviegoer's Choc Top. When the coming election restores adults to the government benches, let us hope they turn up the heat

The New Establishment

by James Falk

January 22, 2013

They hail each other's virtue and talk of "reform" while sliding from job to job in taxpayer-funded NGOs, universities, newsrooms and a politicised bureaucracy, but don't be fooled. What they crave most of all is power

Gillard white-outs the rules

by Philippa Martyr

January 22, 2013

A perfectly presentable Labor senator from the Northern Territory has been bumped by prime ministerial edict, to be replaced by an Indigenous woman who is not even a member of the ALP. Tokenism, anyone?

Tennis as it was

by Roger Underwood

January 21, 2013

None can doubt the skill and determination of the stars now vying for the Australian Open in Melbourne. But the 1969 Wimbledon final between Rod Laver and John Newcombe, that was a contest for the ages

All the news that's fit to ignore

by Roger Franklin

January 19, 2013

Fairfax columnist Richard Ackland has discovered a "smoking gun" linking Tony Abbott to James Ashby and what Labor sorts see as the dark campaign to ruin Peter Slipper. What a pity for his tale conspiracy that the weapon was dis-armed more than a month

The ABC and SBS: A marriage that won't happen

by Malcolm Colless

January 16, 2013

Merging SBS and the ABC is not a new idea, and the potential savings are immense. But don't expect Gillard & Co to grasp the nettle anytime soon, not with an election in the offing

Roll out the (Pork) Barrel

by Philippa Martyr

January 14, 2013

Journalism is history's first draft, but sometimes a re-write gets much closer to the truth

What happened to inflation?

by Peter Smith

January 13, 2013

All this stimulatory government spending should be eroding currency's value, at least according to the economics 101. Truth is, that all depends on what banks do with the money their anxious customers are socking away