The lust for power can be as great or greater driver of human effort as the good and humane

I'm glad we no longer have laws against blasphemy, because the law is such a blunt instrument that it cannot readily discern the secrets of the heart. I think it's true that if any aspect of Islam had been parodied in the Olympics opener, even accidentally, a fatwa could follow and those responsible might have paid dearly. Christians should be glad that, by and large, we can take such things on the chin

Any society, including ours, is diminished by its disregard for those elements of our existence that are not immediately tactile or at least visible. Today, Easter Sunday, is an opportune moment to reflect that the rejection of the religious dimension leaves a void to be filled by every kind of crazy self-deception and tyranny 

It beggars belief that the loudest demands for the suppression of so-called dis- and misinformation come from the biggest offenders against truth and integrity -- the people, to put it bluntly, who ran with the official Covid line and worked hard to silence all who questioned it. How could we have so far departed from our traditional larrikinism as to submit meekly to such nonsense?

It is perfectly understandable that LGBT people should celebrate their hard-won emergence from denial, shame and fear of exposure, for people always take pride in their champions.  But is pride as such an appropriate response to any form of sexuality, whether 'gay' or 'straight'?  The problem with pride is that it can too easily morph into arrogance and bullying 

More than half a century after 1967's referendum, few these days can imagine that their grandparents actually felt strongly about the Aboriginal cause. Why, Gough Whitlam didn't even become Prime Minister until 1972! How could we have done anything half-decent before his visionary leadership woke us all up?

In the First Book of Samuel, Saul consults a witch at Endor, having previously forbidden his subjects to engage in any form of necromancy. This hypocrisy leads to his downfall -- a lesson that appears not to have been absorbed by the Catholic bishops at the recent Plenary Council, which followed its smoking ceremony with a summoning of ancestral spirits. Yes, really

The Left no longer demands that industries be nationalised -- indeed, they're as likely as anybody to be building their portfolios. Meanwhile, many on the Right seek to distance themselves from any whiff of old-fashioned social conservatism. All this is bad news for traditional conservatives, alone with their values in modern culture's war zone

The view that animals, all animals, have as much right to life as humans not only lacks discernment and common sense but is actually pernicious, for it blunts our perception of the seriousness of some terrible abuses visited upon humans. The Greens will never agree on that point, though there is common ground in a shared belief that mankind has responsibilities towards the natural world