King John prevented his subjects using the rivers, forests and the fauna for their sustenance. That particular despot is long gone, replaced with green bureaucrats restricting access to the tools of production and commerce that are the very foundation of prosperity. It is past time they, too, were brought to heel
As the editor of an independent Chinese-language media company in Australia, I know firsthand the pressure Beijing brings to bear on outfits that do not parrot the official line. For us it has meant intimidated advertisers and lost revenue. For many it amounts to a systematic brainwashing
Just who asked top judges to inflate the role and authority of rights-related international law? Parliamentarians and those in favour of legislative last-word decision-making need to make clear their unease with this ever-broadening presumption to interpret, expand and impose
The pundit class seems to agree that Hillary Clinton, if she did not actually 'win' the first presidential debate, did better than Trump, while online polls suggest the wider public gave the nod to her rival. What's certain is that the Republican has plenty of ammunition at hand for their next two encounters
Pay no heed to teacher unions' pleas for more more taxpayer money, which they hope the voting public will regard as leading inevitably to higher scores and smarter kids. What they won't admit is that Australia's declining test results are born of the the very system and policies they champion
Malcolm Turnbull’s election campaign was the worst ever conducted by a sitting prime minister since Billy McMahon in 1972. His problem was clear: he has no deep belief in anything that differs from the views and positions of his opponents, meaning no abiding political vision
Abuse of power in the Church, whether expressed as sexual abuse, verbal, emotional or in other forms, is sin. Attempts to deal with abuse that fail to recognise this reality will inevitably be inadequate, will not lead to healing for victims, will not prevent abuse, will not restore the Church's credibility
Desecrate a Bible and it will be acclaimed as 'art'. Depict Islam's founder, even with deference and respect, and expect not merely a riot but expressions of sympathic regret from our cultural quislings. With Christianity under siege on so many fronts, a spirited defence is the only response
The president once noted that slavery's legacy was a part of America’s DNA. The genius of his grievance is that it’s inextinguishable, as in no possibility of reconciliation and definitive settlement. 'White privilege' is forever—or, at any rate, as long as a social-justice warrior finds it useful
US voters will cast their ballots with varying degrees of disdain for either of the rival contenders that a torturous primary-election system has thrown up. Sadly, that choice, between a congenital liar and an egomaniacal dilettante, is also a symptom of the malaise that has eroded the country's very spirit
A bomb detonates in New York and reporters fall over themselves to ignore the most likely culprits while suggesting ludicrously improbable alternatives. As here in Australia, the newsroom narrative insists on overlooking the Religion of Peace, but 49% of the population is nowhere near so stupid
According to a gaggle of activist philosophers, medical practitioners who decline to perform abortions or euthanasia are guilty of putting 'their own personal conscience' ahead of 'patient wellbeing'. Their solution, predictably, is tribunals, career sanctions and enforced conformity
One Nation’s policies, whatever one thinks of them, constitute a clear set of alternatives to the status quo, while Team Xenophon has emerged as an option for many whose choice might otherwise be expressed as 'none of the above'. Something very new appears to have begun
They Marched in March -- the usual suspects in all their serried shades of anger and incoherence -- because, well, it would have made even less sense to bemoan the fact that Tony Abbott and the Coalition won an election last September by April-ing in April. Zeg is fearful of such antics' impact on the easily impressed.
At the University of Wollongong there is so much diversity to honour, especially when Christians are demanding all the attention with their mangers and tinsel, that staff have been sent a chirpy reminder that Christmas is about much more than the Messiah
Climate change is torching Australia, according to the likes of Tim Flannery and his fellow warmists at the Bureau of Meteorology. If only the money now spent on computer projections and big-ticket fire fighting gear could go toward fuel reduction
A New Zealand court has rejected the argument that one can claim asylum from the alleged ravages of climate change. For the plaintiff, it is back to teeming Kiribati, where the real problem is a booming population
A cash-strapped America no longer has the resources to continue as the world’s policeman, as its craven capitulation to Tehran makes clear. For Australia the message is chilling
On Saturday the Western Bulldogs -- once and always known as Footscray -- beat the Giants and won the right to contest next weekend's AFL Grand Final, which they last won in 1954. How that first and only flag came to hang at Whitten Oval is a story of footy, Melba and, most of all, of Melbourne
If Aborigines are to be written into the Constitution, what is that must be added? More than that, will a few sentences of feel-good boilerplate make the slightest difference in remedying the dysfunction and abuse that marks so many Indigenous communities?
Should he claim the White House on November 8, the US will reject the obligations of the Paris climate accord. Like him or not in regard to other of his stated goals and policies, a ferocious disdain for the economy-hobbling rent-seekers of Big Wind and the like is a powerful recommendation
The notion that the arrival of the First Fleet constituted "an invasion", long popular in academic and activist circles, has now been dignified by the glib endorsement of our current Prime Minister. Evidently it is too much to hope that Mr Turnbull acquaint himself with the facts
The Australian Academy of Science has a new chief -- a woman with no PhD but, rather, the sort of credentials that so often these days seem prerequisites to head any body demanding taxpayer "investment" in its members' pet causes and passions: Labor staffer, warmist and beat-up artist
When Peter Minter banned Quadrant's poets from his magazine's pages on the grounds that they had published in what he likened to a Nazi journal, the curious might have wondered just what sort of verse he actually favours. Here's a hint
Readers can form their own judgement as to whether this first-person account would count in Andrew Bolt’s challenge to Robert Manne to “name ten” Aborigines stolen purely for racial reasons
PM Stephen Harper has three election victories under his belt and, from a conservative point of view, not much to show for them. Being nice to political enemies is all very well and good, but it leaves your supporters less than impressed
If "Indigenous culture" is to be recognised in Australia's Constitution it is vital to understand what the term means. Rap songs and break dancing, perhaps?
If a slick video and the IPCC's latest inaccurate and untruthful arguments are the best it can do to demonstrate a dangerous warming problem, its advice should be ignored and funding withdrawn
The antics of local councils often amuse even as they appall, but few municipalities anywhere in Australia can match Maribyrnong in suburban Melbourne for politically correct hijinks. As councils go, this one is very far gone indeed.
Some years ago the suburb's city fathers and (let us not be sexist!) mothers decided to do their bit for a greener world by promoting renewable energy. The result was a plan, since dropped, to erect a wind turbine where the eighth green now stands on Westgate Golf Course, which takes its name from the famous bridge beneath which it nestles. As a then-councillor admitted, the bridge would serve as a windbreak and limit the turbine's output, neither reliable nor significant to begin with. But spending ratepayers money was worth it, the same councillor insisted, because, yes, while the golf course would be ruined, motorists passing to the other side of the Yarra could not help but spot the tower and be assured that wind was the energy source of the future.
More recently the council took offence at a street muralist's depiction of a roly-poly Hillary Clinton in a Stars-and-Stripes swimsuit. Apparently the image offended all women, so the order was issued that it must be painted over. The artist did just that, replacing her bathing costume with a burka, as per the before and after shots below.
Apparently, while Maribyrnong Council might not know much about art, it knows what it doesn't like -- rather like the Australia Council's recent appraisal of Quadrant as being so far beyond the pale of luvvie groupthink that we simply had to be de-funded.
In regard to other artistic themes -- an enormous pile of animated poo, for instance -- the council is entirely onside with the creative urge. Atop this post you will see just such an exercise in artistic expression by the Snuff Puppets troupe, which has long enjoyed Maribyrnong ratepayers' financial and logistical support.
Not that Maribyrnong Council is alone in underwriting the cause of artistic expression. Follow the link below to see just how much the Australia Council has distributed to Snuff Puppets. Hint: it is many, many times larger than the pittance arts bureaucrats denied Quadrant, the figure running to somewhere north of $1.5 million.
-- roger franklin
Andrew Bolt is Australia’s most prominent and controversial commentator. In this second book of columns and reflections, Bolt is again in the front lines of our most urgent political and social debates, from Islam and immigration to the green movement and the rise of the slacktivist. But he also reveals his more personal side – the experiences that have shaped his values and love for this country. For some this book is ammunition. For others it’s fair warning. But for everyone it's a test of their own values – and the reasons they hold them.
You can order Worth Fighting For direct from the publisher by clicking here, or by following the link below.
Melania Trump (above), wife of the Republican Party's presidential aspirant, is being attacked for borrowing cliches from Michelle Obama, a fuss and bother about not very much at all. How different it is to be a Democrat, plagiarism being customarily ignored by the media if deemed in a good cause.
Real Science, available via the link below, offers some telling examples.
In this celebrated book a retired journalist turns himself into one of our great essayists.
The beautifully crafted essays in the book record Peter Coleman's career in journalism and politics and his counsel about what we should do with our lives.
