In 1996, John Howard offered this aspiration for Australians: I would like to see them comfortable and relaxed about their history; I would like to see them comfortable and relaxed about the present and…
Let’s face it: once a term laden with hope for the Middle East, the idea of an “Arab Spring” has become merely depressing. Assorted humanitarian disasters have followed in its wake – think of the unspeakable…
What do you say Dave — five more years?
Stefan Rousseau/PA Wir
The UK is having what might be called a constitutional moment. In the wake of the Scottish referendum and after nearly five years of coalition government, the fundamental rules of the political game are…
Amid clouds of teargas, the Hong Kong ‘Umbrella Man’ defies police attempts to end the protest.
Wikimedia Commons/Pasu Au Yeung
The haunting image of a masked protester defiantly hoisting two black umbrellas amid a cloud of tear gas flickered across global social media platforms in the seconds and minutes after the Umbrella uprising…
Leading Australian media organisations launched a ‘Right to Know’ campaign in 2007, citing the erosion of free speech by more than 500 laws and regulations. It’s been downhill since then.
AAP/Tracey Nearmy
I am reluctant to give more ammunition to Pacific leaders who regard Australia as some kind of exemplar in media freedom – in this case a bad example. On the other hand, truths have to be told: in Australia…
Police move in on protesters who marched on the Hong Kong Chief Executive’s office in some of the worst clashes in the two-month pro-democracy demonstrations.
EPA/Jerome Favre
The umbrellas were out in full force on Monday night in the Admiralty district of Hong Kong – but mainly because it was actually raining. A few hundred people, myself included, had shown up to listen to…
Time is running out for Hong Kong’s protest movement. Beijing’s last shred of patience has worn thin; police have cleared one of the protest zones in the commercial neighbourhood of Mong Kok, arresting…
The wealthy can ensure their voices are heard via advertising, publicists or lobbyists, by owning media outlets or even by setting up their own political parties.
AAP/Julian Smith
To have a healthy democracy, it is not enough to hold regular elections, or for every person to get one – and only one – vote. At the heart of democracy is the idea that by voting for a particular party…
Antarctica is the coldest, driest and possibly the most inhospitable place on Earth. It is also the only continent designated entirely as a natural reserve, used purely for peaceful and scientific purposes…
Thai coup leader Prayuth Chan-ocha is consolidating power but playing his cards close to his chest, giving few if any signs of a return to democratic rule.
EPA/Azhar Rahim
Thailand is an increasingly edgy place six months after a coup removed its elected government. Protagonists on the side of the curtailment of democracy fear the elaborated military regime will stuff up…
It’s not often that parliamentary procedure hits the headlines so the debate (if you can call it that) in the House of Commons about whether the UK would opt in to various parts of European legislation…
Here we go again: protesters in Ouagadougou.
EPA/STR
Burkina Faso has suddenly grabbed the world’s attention with a remarkable popular uprising, in which hundreds of thousands of Burkinabé have forced the resignation of long-serving president Blaise Compaor…
Jane Goodall is one of many scientists who have revealed how much there is to learn from animals about social organisation and communication.
AAP/Julian Smith
To endow animals with human emotions has long been a scientific taboo. But if we do not, we risk missing something fundamental about both animals and us. – Frans De Waal Some time ago I began reading scientific…
Despite pressure from the pet community, few are turning up.
Rikki's Refuge
Even before the results come in, turn-out for electing South Yorkshire’s next Police and Crime Commissioner was shown to be extremely low. As the votes were being counted from the October 30 ballot, it…
You checked my Hirsch index rating lately?
Matt Crossick/PA
As we hurtle towards peak Russell Brand, I have a question. Treat it as rhetorical if you like but if anyone has an actual answer, they would be warmly welcomed. My question is: what has Brand actually…
Hope you didn’t skip a race …
Scott Miller/Reuters
Although the midterms are typically referred to as federal elections, there is no federal entity that governs the conduct of elections in the US. There are basic election laws governing the timing of federal…
Hong Kong’s digitally connected protesters are mounting a thoroughly modern campaign for democracy, but the state too has updated its mechanisms of control and surveillance.
EPA/Alex Hofford
In the closing decades of the last century, many political and business elites were swept up in a global wave of policies favouring free markets, deregulation of business and finance and privatisation…
Occupy Central Roadblock in Mong Kok.
Wing1990hk, via Wikimedia Commons
We often think of the distinction between legal and illegal as a matter of black and white – but with its universal suffrage movement still underway, Hong Kong is dealing with a much more complicated reality…
Thailand’s military coup in May is a sign of political malaise without an obvious cure in the absence of a new social contract.
EPA/Pongmanat Tasiri
Rather than a new dawn for democracy, political and social reform in the region has led to less representation and more contestation. This has potentially far-reaching consequences. What does the May coup…
Senator John Faulkner’s call for political parties to re-engage with Australians through social media is laudable, but his own efforts illustrate how much politicians have to learn.
Facebook/John Faulkner
After his speech about party renewal last week, I went to Labor Senator John Faulkner’s Facebook page. It has about 2700 likes. The page features links to speeches and pictures of events that Faulkner…