My old mother always used to say, “A guilty conscience needs no accusing”. The wise saying, which possibly goes back all the way to Socrates, means that the guilty know they are guilty and a nagging conscience eventually shows itself. Moving on to another topic entirely, ever since the ASIO
No doubt all our mothers have asked us, at some stage: If your friends all jumped off a cliff, would you do it, too? The honest answer, of course, would be: Absolutely. That’s because children, teenagers especially, are tiny-brained followers with no concept of “consequences”. Just take a look
In Douglas Adams’ The Restaurant at the End of the Universe, Milliways restaurant genetically engineers a bovine creature that not only wants to be killed and eaten, it’s sentient enough to tell you so. At least such a creature is under no delusions about its fate. That’s because
Well, it’s only taken them six months, but the corrupt, anti-Semitic UN has almost told the truth they desperately wanted to avoid: their beloved “Palestinians” are rapist savages. Of course, the UN is so corrupted that they can’t come right out and admit it. Instead, they copy the
Whenever you read breathless media headlines shrieking, “record temperatures!”, you should be deeply sceptical. Firstly, because “on record” almost always means “within the last century”; often as recently as the last fifty years. Secondly, because temperature records are invariably apples’n’oranges comparisons: from old-fashioned mercury thermometers to satellite laser-based
One of the most interesting outcomes from this weekend’s by-election in Victoria is just how each side is spinning it. The left-wing ABC is talking gloom for Labor, while the right-wing Australian is moping over the Liberals’ fortunes. So, what actually happened? As expected, Labor held on to the
Well, the spy boss still won’t tell Australians who the “traitor” who sat in Parliament is, but he’s at least graciously condescended to admit who he was spying for. Hold your breath, readers, it’s going to come as a shock. China’s leading spy agency has been
Much to the disgust of one of my colleagues, I was recently listening to The Pirates of Penzance (“I understand equations, both the simple and quadratical!”). A key plot point of Gilbert & Sullivan’s opera is that the hero, Frederic, indentured to the pirate king until his 21st birthday,
As I wrote recently, more and more grim evidence is emerging that child sexual abuse in public schools likely dwarfs even what went on in the churches. Worse, the cover ups and enabling by those in charge were every bit as bad. And still are: a recent Victorian government inquiry
Despite being a child in the ’70s, I somehow managed only a few days ago to hear Gordon Lightfoot’s 1976 classic, “The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald” for the first time. That song, as most of you are probably aware, is about the 1975 sinking of the giant freighter
I have a writer friend who writes erotica of a, shall we say, ‘niche’ variety. Now, just as Agatha Christie didn’t go around murdering people, this writer has no real-life interest in or experience of the things she writes about. Some of her fans, however, seem to assume otherwise.
Despite the flurry of silly commentary this statement will inevitably provoke, the fact of evolution is beyond reasonable dispute. That organisms have evolved over time, and continue to do so today, is one of the most well-attested facts in science. How they evolve remains the subject of lively scientific debate.
If you’ve never seen the 2011 series The Borgias, you’re missing out. Like Game of Thrones, with less exploitation hackery and more historical accuracy, the show doesn’t shy away from the sordid realities of mediaeval Italy (so, all the nudity and violence you could want), while packing
Two obviously completely unrelated things happened yesterday. First, the head of Australia’s spy agency, ASIO, dropped a bombshell: that ASIO had busted a spy-ring in Australia, including an ex-MP-turned-spy who had tried to recruit others, including a prime minister’s family member. ASIO boss Mike Burgess, though, declined to
Oh no! Another wet LINO has been shot down, and the establishment shills aren’t happy. A LINO is the Australian equivalent of the American RINO. New Zealanders might call them NINOs. They’re the dripping-wet, wannabe Greens who’ve infested supposedly conservative parties in the West, posing as “moderates”
