Australasia
Viva Riva
A good meal is hard to find in celebrity-obsessed London
Underrated: Tony Abbott
Australia’s no-nonsense leader is a lightning rod for progressive hatred
Underrated: John Howard
The former Australian leader’s continuing popularity has befuddled the news media and the political class
Easy Lies the Head that Wears the Crown
Australian liberals missed their opportunity to vote for a monarchy-free state; it may be a while before the chance for a republic comes around again
Exposed: Carnita’s Cover Story
A ticket for a burqa-clad driver in Sydney became a national controversy and reopened the debate about multiculturalism
The Drumming of an Army
The Australian floods were encapsulated by underrated national poet, Dorothea Mackellar, whose poem “My Country” best captured the post-diluvian mood
Old-order Collapse
Australia’s performance in the Ashes is symptomatic of the newly-prosperous nation’s fixation with consumerism
The Lesson of Oz
“Australian politics is in turmoil of a type and intensity not seen for 70 years”
Gone are our Frontier Values
‘The objection to pooftahs was indeed characteristic of Australians, even clever ones’
A Modest Proposal for Rugby
No doubt the haka is all very well in its time and place – but that place was long ago and far away. It’s essentially a cannibal war dance designed to scare the living daylights out of those you hope to kill and eat
Will the green agenda be killed off by the pandemic?
‘Will the green agenda be killed off by the longer-term coronavirus recovery? Or might the closure of so much business, and the cleaner air that results from planes not flying and factories not working, give us extra years to gain control of our environment?’
Why T.S. Eliot still matters
His contemporaries’ reputations have diminished. But Eliot’s has grown: he is the poet who shows us what can be saved from the ruins
Music’s in the house
Rappers have found a role in lockdown: chronicling coronavirus with topical tunes. Most people, though, are rushing to the safety of the past