Self-sacrifice in the desperate fight for Tibet
The growing anger and despair of Tibetans will only end when they are offered the reasonable hope that their freedoms will one day be restored.More
More Latest Stories
Latest Stories
Policy priorities for 2012: jobs and services
As Gillard and Abbott argue over whose solutions are best to lift the nation's economic fortunes, the gaps in job opportunities and access to basic community services continue to grow.More
Fool's gold: the whims and prejudices of the Reserve Bank
The Treasury of Australia should not be a hostage to the whims and political prejudices of foolish public servants in the Reserve Bank.More
Setting the record straight: Climate change experts respond
On January 27, the Wall Street Journal published an op-ed on climate change by the climate science equivalent of dentists practicing cardiology. More
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Hot Topics
Judging Australia's worst prime minister
Donald Horne argued half a century ago that Australia was "a lucky country run by second-rate people who share its luck". It is hard to disagree.More
The Assange case means we are all suspects now
This week's Supreme Court hearing in the Julian Assange case has profound meaning for the preservation of basic freedoms in western democracies.More
Monckton's push for an Australia Fox News
Back in July last year Lord Christopher Monckton was discussing how to better capture the Australian media to help push a right-wing, free-market and climate sceptic agenda.More
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Recent Stories
Keep festivals free of sniffer dog troubles
A sniffer dog's capacity to detect drugs is poor and their presence at music festivals has little or no deterrent effect.More
Magic and miracles: Labor's 2012 hope
The Labor leadership remains a two-person contest, in which each of the rivals suffer from an almost terminal disadvantage: neither can unite the party.More
Syria intervention a greater challenge than Libya
With the recent Western military successes in the Libyan revolution, voices from the left, right and centre are increasingly hanging a question mark over the prospect of some form of military intervention into Syria from the Arab League/GCC, NATO or a combination of the two.
What this bipartisan push seems to omit, is that the strength of the Syrian military far exceeds that of its former Libyan counterpart. More
After the fact: adventures in new journalism
A made-up story has passed for news in much of the nation's supposedly "quality" media for days now: the looming leadership challenge against Julia Gillard by Kevin Rudd.
In case you hadn't noticed, there hasn't been a spill.
There wasn't one yesterday, there hasn't been one so far today, and there almost certainly won't be one tomorrow.More
Tankard Reist's political concealment
Progressive and radical feminists shouldn't be concerned by Melinda Tankard Reist identifying as a feminist, as long as she also declares that she's a conservative.More
Greens at the crossroads: 'Left' and 'Right' matter
In the last decade there has been a dramatic reconfiguration on the Left of Australian politics.
The Australian Greens have grown from strength to strength, culminating in winning the balance of power in a hung Parliament in 2010.
In a lengthy feature for The Monthly, Sally Neighbour simply takes this success for granted. This allows her to treat the party's internal debates in a decontextualised void where electoral saleability and parliamentary manoeuvres are all that matter.More
Genocide denial: silencing debate does more harm than good
Last week, the French Senate passed legislation banning any public denial of the Armenian genocide. This law is a bad one, especially for the people it seeks to 'protect'.More
When Blacks Attack 2: Truth Happens
In a world dictated by the notoriously unreliable medium of news that 'unfolds' in real time, there are always at least two versions happening simultaneously.More
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Your Soapbox
Bernie - They will - when he becomes PM. Then it will just as bad as when JWH was PM!
Gary Evans
Comment on Re: How would Mr Abbott fare if
In answer to your question - No. The Liberal National coalition is not contributing to the rise of the Greens as much as ALP policy ...
Bren
Comment on Re: i agree that the green are
Copying the Syrian opposition in the Occupy movements?
Politically Incorrect
Comment on Re: Where are the bleeding hearts
Surely it's time they (the ABC opinion gang) dragged Glenn Milne out of a drunken stupor to start a ten part advertorial series for Abbott, ...
Prime Minister Abbott
Comment on Surely it's time they (the
Best of the Rest
Woman in the wooden mask
She once promised to unleash the 'real Julia'. This week, Paul Sheehan gave up waiting. [National Times]
"Gillard cannot deliver spin with conviction. This would account for the mystery of the missing spark, the woman in the wooden mask."
A wealthy amateur
Gina Rinehart has the money but she's struggled to wield national influence. That may change now, writes Ben Eltham. [New Matilda]
"...from most business and political angles, Rinehart’s ploy doesn’t make sense. No, a move like this one can only really be seen as the ego-driven manoeuvre of a wealthy amateur."
Tricky Mitt
John Cassidy on the new Mitt: tougher, shinier and with a hint of Nixon. [The New Yorker]
"Romney is taking the Nixon strategy a step further. In his telling, the enemy of the real (read white, suburban, Christian) America isn’t the latter-day descendants of Abbie Hoffman, or Jerry Rubin, or Huey Newton, but Barack Obama himself..."
Ditch the dumbing down
Once you could say it was better to overestimate the public's mentality than underestimate it, writes Christina Patterson.
"There was a time when you could say, for example, that it was "better to overestimate the mentality of the public than to underestimate it"... and know that people wouldn't frown, but would nod their heads."
