The score after this morning's Liberal party room meeting in Canberra: Malcolm Turnbull 1, Good Sense 0. How does 'Bill Shorten, PM' roll off the tongue? Borders opened to herds of prospective Labor voters. Electricity prices even more ruinous than now. Every fashionable theory about gender fluidity enshrined as law....

Can you believe this for-the-moment Prime Minister shared the NEG legislation with Labor while giving his own government the mushroom treatment? Not so long, and even allowing for Malcolm Turnbull's arrogant incompetence, I wouldn't have found it credible. But that's exactly how a leader without nous treated a party without pride

The PM has won a party room victory and must now run his NEG through the grinding mill of Bill Shorten's opposition and the premiers, most of them fearful of offending greenists and apt to act accordingly. Liberals who backed him won't find too many volunteers to hand out their how-to-votes

International trade isn't bad, having contributed mightily and indisputably to the prosperity of most nations. But free trade is not good , often leading to what might be called ‘overspecialisation' that undermines the integrity of the nation state on which our culture and security rest

I was praying at the Western wall of Solomon’s Temple, the holiest place of Judaism, the place which witnessed the beginning of the transformation of pagan humanity into Western civilisation. The experience of touching the hewn stone blocks, polished by a myriad kisses and caresses, was profound

Bill Shorten and his economy-sapping policies are in the wings. The Coalition's leftist-inclined leader is a dud surrounded by wets. The corporate world's chieftains think their job is to promote fashionable social causes rather than profits. Yes, we've got troubles with worse ahead

When the purported comedian Trevor Noah made a vulgar and stupid joke about the sex appeal Aboriginal women, the grievance mongers went ballistic and their disciples bleated on cue. What a pity the energy of that outrage wasn't poured into protesting the rape of Tennant Creek toddlers

Uluru's custodians swear that climbing the monolith defiles it, yet they don't accord a documented truth any respect at all. The proof is a long forgotten ABC interview with Toby Naninga, who confirmed there is nothing sacred about the summit and urged tourists to avoid only a few small, fenced-off areas

The Left conquered and colonised our universities long ago, but the long march didn't stop there. In kindergartens across the country, while taxpayers and parents pay through the nose, kids not much more than tots are getting a full grounding in the politically correct gospel

While the Liberal party room was discussing the so-called National Energy Guarantee, Malcolm Turnbull's operatives were briefing reporters against the man he knifed. Conservatives will take today's events as confirmation that a party standing for nothing will fall for anything

As in Orwell’s fictional Oceania, our very own Ministry of Power has its own 'facts', all parroted by a political class that would never dream of milking consumers to line the pockets of mates. Banish that thought and all others, fellow citizens! Our betters are better because they know what's best

The same lack of nous that inspired the double dissolution and an avalanche of lost seats is now confronting those promised corporate tax cuts, which the polls tells us will do little to win the electorate's hearts, minds and votes. Count on this Prime Minister, as always, to get it hopelessly wrong

What's 'rabble' in a Kiwi accent? 'Rubble', which is what the usual suspects' bid to silence Lauren Southern and Stefan Molyneux became after the standard slur-spit-and-scream tactics. Yes, their Auckland gig had to be cancelled, but they reached a far wider audience as a consequence

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

You're a Green with all goofy self-importance that implies, but as a representative of the people -- all the people, that is -- could you quit slandering your adopted homeland? I mean, if Australia is a hotbed of injustice and oppression, how does that square with your defence of arranged marriages?

When leftists brand conservatives as 'Nazis' they strip away all meaning, just as they have succeeded in doing with 'marriage' and 'racist'. When words are twisted to mean anything, what they convey is nothing but the speaker's presumed right to silence and assault all who disagree

With climateers now saying the fabled two-degree warming limit won't be enough after all, a decent PM might react thus: 'As the science is settled, we're redirecting all those climate dollars to fixing the grid because, if it's going to get hot, we'll need cheap, reliable power and lots of air conditioning'

Australians who gaze across the Pacific at America and its First Amendment can only feel short-changed, thoughts of Bill Leak and police charging promoters to protect free speech from thugs coming readily to mind. Look at New Zealand, however, and know that things there are even worse

Long before VicPol couldn't decide if Sudanese gangs exist and, if they do, what level of threat they represent, Melbourne had its problems with thugs of other varieties. A visiting Sydneysider who found a knife at throat recalls that incident and his brusque treatment as a complainant

The call for easily available divorce to counter the ‘oppression of marriage’ spawned  social and economic effects that have fallen disproportionately on the poor and less educated. Fatherless households, to cite but one malady, are far more likely to produce rapists and murderers