It is just over a generation since George HW Bush told the Republican national convention he wanted the US to be a “kinder, gentler, nation”. Soon after, Bush became his nation’s 41st president. However, during his four-year term the US became neither kinder nor gentler – but nor did it deteriorate with respect to such [...]
For followers of national politics who have become somewhat bored with the familiarity of policy disputes inside the Liberal Party, August in Queensland might provide some light relief. This is the timing and location for the Australian Labor Party’s 49th national conference – the first to be held in person since the onset of Covid-19. [...]
The clever saying that a week is a long time in politics, attributed to British Labour prime minister Harold Wilson circa 1964, has become somewhat of a cliche due to overuse. Such a fate is yet to befall the saying that it’s unwise to make political predictions – especially about the future. This week’s political [...]
There’s nothing quite like the media moments when ABC journalists interview ABC managers or other ABC journalists about the ABC on the ABC. It so happens that there have been quite a few such instances on the taxpayer-funded public broadcaster over the past week or so. The most recent example of ABC introspection fired up [...]
These days it is not uncommon to hear that the concept of democracy – meaning essentially that governments are chosen by the citizens of a nation – is under challenge. In the US, those who warn about the threat to democracy focus on the Capitol riots of January 6, 2021, when a group of president [...]
On Monday, May 9, in Moscow’s Red Square, Russian President Vladimir Putin delivered the annual Victory Day speech. It commemorates the defeat and subsequent surrender of Nazi Germany to the Allies – including the Soviet Union (now the Russian Federation) – in 1945. Putin longs for the re-creation of the old Soviet Union, created by [...]
I remember well the coronation of Queen Elizabeth II in June 1953. In those days of pre-television Australia, the pictures we saw of this glittering occasion came in newspapers and magazines, or on black-and-white Cinesound newsreels that ran at hourly shows in designated cinemas. Needless to say, the coronation of the glamorous young Elizabeth created [...]
Pray tell me, will there ever be a time in the immediate future when Australia reaches Peak Hugh White? It would seem that the likes of the ABC, The Monthly and The Saturday Paper would hope that the answer is in the negative – since the emeritus professor of strategic studies at the Australian National [...]
The taxpayer-funded public broadcaster spends a lot of time talking about itself. So it came as no surprise on Monday when ABC News reported that it had received a new label on Twitter branding the broadcaster as “government-funded media”. According to the ABC, the Twitter label is meant to provide additional context for accounts heavily [...]
Quelle surprise – as a French person might say, with a tinge of irony. French President Emmanuel Macron, during his trip to China last week, consciously distanced France from the US and much of Europe over China with respect to Taiwan. On a flight between Beijing and Guangzhou, Macron spoke to reporters from the US-based [...]