Perish the thought of how those who delight in being annually miffed about Australia Day might have fared under the French, Dutch or the conquistadors' whips. Instead, and for the better, we were graced with British justice and institutions, from suffrage to cricket

Its urban plain dotted with what might be termed mono-multicultural enclaves, its roads choked, trains stalled and skyline scored by high-rises of increasingly dubious worth, the metropolis blessed by the world's most picturesque harbour suffers the ongoing vandalism of planners and politicians unworthy of its vistas

The woke and the dumb, the self-interested and the careerists, those who know better but go along -- taken together they form a loose but the powerful alliance that stands athwart attempts to begin the long, slow reversal of climate insanity's grip on public policy

The Left lives and rules by what might be termed the 'dictatorship of relativism': there is no truth as such, only what the arbiters of acceptable thought decree as virtuous or otherwise.  Its operatives grasp that one 'wins' only by the application of raw power.  There is no other way to resolve things

As a case for the post-Turnbull Coalition, the notion that a Shorten government would be worse than one led by, as Tony Abbott puts it, "tribal Liberal" Scott Morrison is indisputable. Alas, encumbered by the wreckage of abandoned principles, the distinction is negligible

It behooves us to honour the codifiers of conservative core values. Among that pantheon of great thinkers, Kirk's prodigious output warrants both reflection and genuflection -- not least right now in Australia, where what passes for conservativism could use a refresher course in fundamental principles

Tell me I'm never happy, accuse me of delight at hearing the door slam behind Malcolm Turnbull only to whine about what, in my estimation, is the lacklustre Cabinet assembled by his successor. And call me a dreamer as well, because this is the all-star front bench that occupies my reveries

The ABC has proven immune to criticism and, no matter what the latest entreaty, impervious to reform. Appointing conservatives to the board hasn't worked, as the staff collective ignores any and all pleas for at least a semblance of balance. There just might be another way however

Western societies no longer exhibit true virtue, having traded the genuine article for the posturing which draws applause on Twitter.  They no longer yearn for excellence.  They do not seek truth. What we have witnessed is a wholesale collapse in the decency of our institutions