Category: Quadrant

The promoters of the Voluntary Assisted Dying Bill (VAD) currently before the NSW Parliament have no idea what they are dealing with. They may feel they are addressing a human rights issue or that they are seeking to ease the terrible pain suffered by the terminally ill. However, they

King Canute (1016-1035) might get my vote as the greatest ever English monarch. He’s got tough competition, I admit; and from the ladies, including the current one, as well as the odd man. But he takes the cake for me with his seaside demonstration. Realism and modesty befit a

The French novelist and philosopher Jean-Paul Sartre turned down the Nobel Prize in Literature. John Le Carré asked that his name be removed from the Booker Prize shortlist. Both writers were correct in recognising awards are nothing more than the Establishment shaping the Zeitgeist. The same but opposite criteria

I have seen a husband caring for his wife—and their four young children—in the last months of her life as she suffered from breast cancer. I have witnessed an elderly woman look after her husband of more than 50 years but who no longer recognised her. And I sat

Hydrogen power is now all the rage it seems.  And with Andrew Forrest pushing it, it may eventually find a place among all the other peripheral energy sources with which we’re currently encumbering ourselves.   I have not yet had a chance to delve into the pros and cons of

Prime Minister Scott Morrison once said he did not care about attacks on free speech, because free speech “does not create a single job”.  Well, Prime Minister, it is now clear that one can actually lose one’s job for daring to express an opinion that challenges the dogmatic beliefs

The Black Book of Communism claims approximately 94 million people have been killed as a result of Marxist inspired communism, a figure that does not include the additional millions imprisoned, tortured, left destitute and intimidated into obedience and silence. While not as deadly, equally as insidious and destructive is

The words “accurate”, “contravene”, “duty”, “ensure”, “impartial”, “independence”, “integrity” and “maintain” are ordinary English words with clear meanings. They are used in sections 6 and 8 of the Australian Broadcasting Corporation Act 1983 (the ABC Act) to make clear the unique legal status of Australia’s national broadcaster. Section 6

It is this simple: skyrocketing world electricity prices stem from renewables policies. Notwithstanding the avalanche of propaganda we are seeing throughout the country, no wind or solar gets built anywhere in the world without subsidies paid by taxpayers and customers.  In Australia’s case these costs are $10 billion a

“It’s time”, as some readers will remember, was the Labor election slogan that ushered in the late Gough Whitlam’s disastrous time in office. Well now it’s time to dust off that slogan for another Labor disaster. It’s time for Victorian Premier Dan Andrews, now easily the world’s champion lockdowner,

A bit of judicial biffo goes on all the time as appeal courts rule on whether a trial judge got it right or wrong. A case in point is the High Court’s unanimous critique last year of two Victorian appeal judges who sent the innocent Cardinal Pell to prison.

Disappointments are part of life. One particular class of disappointments concerns conservative politicians who after attaining power go to water. Or, in the case of Boris Johnson, turn out to be a one-trick wonder. Brexit done, nothing much left that isn’t of the Left. Donald Trump disappointed least among