Like aphids and roses, it is a rare AGM that doesn't attract its plague of nasty enviro-activists determined to hog the microphone, display their virtue and lecture sane shareholders about the wickedness of coal or, well, whatever. There is a way to silence them however...

While our leaders have been eager to impress the world with Australia's resolve to hobble its economy before the altar of the climate gods, another international accord is observed only in the breach. That's the one insisting we maintain 90-day fuel supplies

Nuclear submarines re-engineered as diesel-electrics, plus fighter planes that are a credible threat only in Lockheed salesmen's brochures -- this is the alleged backbone of our future defence. If being a spendthrift slow learner were an advantage, Australia's security would be guaranteed

There is nothing of the Harbourside Mansion about the Monash Forum leader, and if principle, nous and courage are recommendations, he has those too. Given the deficiencies of The Lodge's current resident and talk of recycling the leader he knifed, we could do much worse

This time it is bushfires, the next it will be floods, or drought, or gender-fluid frogs or somesuch. No matter what Gaia comes up with, some or other spigot of snappy sound bytes will point at climate change with one hand while reaching for fresh grants with the other.  Well, they need fret no more

President Trump had best be careful what he wishes for. Some of those Nordic types he reportedly opined would make better immigrants to the US are quite likely to bring with them a leftist culture every bit as problematic as the mores of the lavatorial hell holes he derided

The notion of nationalising the means of production doesn't sit well with the conservative mind, but sometimes -- maybe, just maybe -- a case might be advanced. Such an argument can be put for removing the Liddell power station from AGL's disinterested stewardship

The next election, which may well come sooner rather than later, will see much posturing and many pledges of fiscal rectitude from both parties, who will have the gall to insist they can spend big and still balance the books. Here's a Yuletide hit list of waste and agencies just crying for the chop

From an evolutionary point of view, what's the point of a variant that makes reproduction less likely? The answer would seem to be that a loss of fitness is acceptable if it brings a greater and offsetting benefit -- a theory recently blessed with greater credence by, of all things, facial-recognition technology