A chat with opinion editor and gastrophile James Morrow prompted us first to seek a particular recipe, then a tastier alternative, and then -- by Lord knows how many inexplicable online deviations -- to seek recipes favoured by horror-movie actors. That's how Boris Karloff's remarkable guacamole came to light and, I hope, to the tables of Quadrant readers

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Is it any wonder Rudd & Co's plan to insulate homes against climate change went so wildly and tragically astray? Predictably, the number of insulation installers soared twenty-eight fold, cowboys dominated, reputable operators forced out and people died. This is what happens, folks, whenever the dead hand of government gets involved

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Summer’s sounds are now long faded, replaced by the less enchanting sounds of autumn. Soon follows winter’s barely-listenable soundtrack, which is so dull I usually flee the country. In fact, even the summer past wasn’t a sonic delight. I’d rate the various storms at around 6.5 out of ten. There were some isolated highlights, but […]

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I’m not a spiritual person, but surely the persecuted cartoonist has cursed the lot of Tim Soutphommasane from his cloud in the Great Hereafter. Not only did all those sweet gigs for Labor mates vanish on Saturday night, the former AHRC offence-hunter's side-splittingly ill-advised remarks demonstrate why that is a wonderful thing

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Conservatives are now being locked up on the strength of evidence that isn’t, so it’s probably time for all of us on the Right to consider our own situations and make the necessary plans. Personally, I’m hopeful of only being stitched up for some kind of low-level white-collar offences, since I’m only a journalist and […]

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FAST food is a delightful convenience, but to those of the tablecloth-and-cutlery generation it does somewhat cheapen the overall dining experience. Likewise, while the internet may allow access to all manner of information at an instant, this also involves a certain decline in dignity. Majestic libraries of the previous century contained their wisdom within solemn, […]

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How to get an engineless vehicle up a hill was a question salesman Dan had heard before, so he was disappointed but not surprised when customers Bob and Annette decided to keep their aging Coalition Conservative. Good for a few months yet, their big problem was how to get it repaired

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By their own estimation, so-called progressives are kind, caring and awash with empathy for all mankind. Meanjin scribbler Patrick Marlborough must have missed that memo, given his aren't-I-smart slagging of the late Bill Leak

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Donald Trump shrewdly realised the positive power of negative protests and encouraged every Democrat crank and crackpot in the land to rally outside his campaign stops. It is wrong to say leftist protests never deliver results. They do. But rarely for leftists

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My optometrist then told me I had the same problem as Hillary Clinton, whose corrective prism was so clumsily installed it was nothing less than a scandal. I was now seeing the world as did modern America’s worst presidential candidate. Great. Just great.

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