Jacinda Ardern dons a hijab when cameras are at hand and expresses her shared grief with Christchurch's Muslims. But it seems there are Muslims and then there are other Muslims, like the legions of imprisoned Uighur whose oppression by Beijing draws not a word of protest. Perhaps Switzerland could teach us how to get better leaders

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Having seen the PR disaster of Julia Gillard’s open alliance with evidence-averse extremist Greens, Labor now hides its absolute dependence on that party of eco loons and arrogant, authoritarian arbiters of what can and cannot be said. Brace yourself, Australia. Should Shorten claim victory on Saturday night, what's coming won't be pretty

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While 'The Secret Barrister' details the shocking state of Britain's legal system, with particular attention to its gullible, incompetent, politically correct and politically motivated police force, I challenge any Australian reader to absorb its litany of outrages without a gross and recent injustice in a Victorian court coming immediately to mind

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At some point on Saturday evening -- early if the bookies' current 5-to-1 against a Coalition victory is any guide -- Australia will have a new government, a new leader and a newly acquired green tint to the rash of fresh policies and spending about to be implemented. Here's a guide to the near future, written with tongue jammed only minimally into cheek.

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The Tories have given their supporters, most particularly those who voted for Brexit and feel themselves betrayed, particular reason to back to Nigel Farage in the looming European Parliament elections. Many will now do so, as the astounding polls all but confirm, and may well never return to the fold. Like adultery, straying is much easier the second time

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Maybe it’s time we treated LGBTIQ youth with more dignity and respect by not framing them as so sensitive and delicate that being gay in a straight world automatically raises the likelihood of self-harm and suicide. If derision and abuse, especially in the media, were key, Christian kids would be taking their own lives left and right

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When Archie Harrison Mountbatten-Windsor arrived on May 6, there was a certain resonance to the date. Possible godfather George Clooney entered the world on that day of the year, as did Sigmund Freud, Rudolph Valentino and Orson Welles. One hopes the latest little royal selects his life's inspiration with some discretion

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How to explain the 10-2 vote for acquittal at George Pell's first trial and the 12-0 verdict to convict at the second? Look to the nation's front pages sixteen days before that second proceeding began. 'We believe you' was the meme as Morrison and Shorten apologised to the claimants. Could there have been a more effective way to taint the second jury's perceptions?

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We hear much of the obstacles confronting those seeking to buy their first homes. Back at the height of the Great Depression the same problem prompted an innovative solution, courtesy of Brisbane architect Arthur Bligh. Times have changed but the essence of his ideas might still be adapted and applied today

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A display of emotion does not, of itself, confer any particular virtue, although some displays are more convincing than others. Compare Bob Hawke's manifestly genuine distress at his daughter's drug addiction with Bill Shorten's recent sobs. Sincere? With such a chameleon it is impossible to be certain

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