Osama bin Laden, the leader of global militant network al-Qaeda, has been killed in Pakistan by a small team of U.S. operatives, U.S. President Barack Obama said on Monday. Experts comment on the significance…
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The dancing and jubilation in the streets of Washington and New York over the death of Osama bin Laden conveys two important realities about the hunt for this terrorist figurehead: firstly that his demise…
The lives of millions of people in the Arab-speaking world are changing. Often for the first time, women and men have jumped, danced, kissed strangers and sung in the streets. There is talk of dignity…
Lindsay Tanner, a former minister for finance in the Labor Government, today (Monday 2 May) publishes “Sideshow” in which he attacks the media for dumbing down political discussion of democracy. I spoke…
The Royal Wedding has failed to capture the imagination of the commoners. Prince William and his bride can only dream of exciting people the way Oprah Winfrey did on her state visit here last year. It…
US President Barack Obama has released the long form of his birth certificate in order to quash questions of his legitimacy as President. Business and media identity Donald Trump had been key in questioning…
As a Dean at Monash University, I love the Melbourne model of undergraduate education. It is one of the best things to ever happen to Monash University! The University of Melbourne, Monash’s closest competitor…
It’s been a long time since a princess wore a heavenward reaching conical hat with a gauzy veil streaming from on high. Yet how we conceive of princesses today owes more to our collective cultural fantasies…
The idea of Hamas and Fatah burying the hatchet and uniting in their struggle for Palestinian self-determination will generate many reactions amongst their people, their neighbours and those concerned…
Can Prime Minister Julia Gillard lecture China on its human rights record given the many failings observers see in Australia’s own treatment of vulnerable groups? Australia generally has a good human rights…
Carbon tax or not, Australia’s emissions will keep rising, driven by rapid rates of population growth and increasing affluence. Most of the carbon is domestic but we also own the carbon that China and…
This morning Fairfax newspapers delivered a savage hit to the reputation of Paul Howes, National Secretary of the Australian Workers Union (AWU) and the country’s best-known union leader. The story carried…
Cities are shaped by flows of people, money and goods.Tourists flock to their most famous sights, but guiding them through the city to their less obvious attractions can be lucrative for the locals. The…
The Anzac Day clash between Essendon and Collingwood has come and gone yet again, as well as the inevitable publicity surrounding the most hyped home-and-away match of the season. You could be forgiven…
It seems a simple question: “Why don’t women just leave violent relationships?” But many victims can’t simply walk away. There are many barriers to ending an abusive relationship, and financial worries…
Recent polls have shown a rise in public support for former Prime Minister Kevin Rudd returning to The Lodge. After an appearance on the ABC’s Q&A television show widely seen as possibly preparing…
Every year since the early 1990s, thousands of visitors have invaded the Gallipoli battlefield. The rise of this sad, starkly beautiful and melancholy place as a tourist destination is of course related…
When Barack Obama received the Nobel Peace Prize in 2009 he offered some reflections on just war theory and sought to justify, partly in its light, the war he inherited in Afghanistan. He did not apply…
The man in charge of the My School website says schools may discriminate against students with special needs because they drag down results. The head of the Australian Curriculum, Assessment and Reporting…
Expected cuts in health and medical research in the May Federal budget have led to a predicable backlash from vested interests. We are informed that any cuts will detrimentally affect standards of healthcare…
Easter, ideally, is the time when we should turn our attention to the grandest themes of existence. The Easter sequence of Christianity interweaves four wonderful ideas. One: cultivation of the will through…
In a recent speech presented at the Sydney Institute, Julia Gillard reaffirmed her commitment to welfare reform aimed at full employment. This was justified not by the need for the government to cut its…
The patently obvious was stated by Allan Myers QC, when he called for abolition of time-billing by lawyers in the Weekend Australian on Saturday. Politicians and judges have been calling for such reform…
Towards the end of the ABC-TV historical drama Paper Giants: The Birth of Cleo,* a party is thrown to celebrate the magazine’s third anniversary. Cleo had launched in November 1972, the same month that…
Multiculturalism is back. At least it would seem that way. The Immigration Minister Chris Bowen is speaking about it, a parliamentary inquiry is looking into it, and the government is producing pamphlets…