Theodore Dalrymple remains in fine acidulous form with Spoilt Rotten, his anatomy of the madness of much modern social “science” and the social services and doctrines which spring from them.

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 Breakfast time on Monday September 27 last; that day’s Australian […]

 To Salamaua, by Phillip Bradley; Cambridge University Press, 2010, 390 pages, $59.95.

Phillip Bradley established a high reputation with his two earlier studies of important operations in the New Guinea fighting in the Second World War; they were On Shaggy Ridge and The Battle for Wau. His new book, To Salamaua, adds to his already substantial laurels.

It cannot, for the author, have been an “easy write”, for the events spread themselves over a long slice of time and a broad swathe of country. They open in March 1942, when the Japanese invaders established for themselves powerful bases and airfields at Lae and Salamaua. These seaports on New Guinea’s north-east coast placed Port Moresby within range of Japanese bomber and fighter aircraft, and heavy raids were frequent. The enemy remained in occupation for over a year and a half, until Australian forces re-entered Lae on September 4, 1943, and Salamaua a few days later.

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The heading on this column in June 2007 was “Rudd […]

It is many years since I was promoted to short […]