Australian republicans have misread Brexit

A recent opinion piece by Glen Norris (‘Brexit likely to revive republican movement’) underlines how elastic republican claims are becoming. According to Norris, Brexit will now trigger Scottish independence and the unification between Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland.  But closer to home Brexit has supposedly re-animated the republican cause – Britain is “a shadow of its former self”, he notes, while Australia’s future is exclusively in Asia and we are not truly independent until we un-tether ourselves from a shaky and unstable Crown. “Britain’s Brexit debacle has put an end to the only good argument Australian monarchists used […]

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Why all the populism? A fair take on the political currents of 2019

I was slightly stumped when recently asked by a close friend, who’s definitely not a conservative, why so many centre-right governments were winning elections across the Western world. Trump, Boris, ScoMo and even Trudeau’s razor-thin Canadian victory reveal that centre-left politics is, to say the least, failing to connect at the ballot box. But surely, I thought, the reasons for this are obvious? Progressive politics, once the domain of the working class, is losing badly because of a commitment to identity politics, stifling correctness and a detachment from bread and butter issues like jobs, sound borders and economic growth. ‘Get […]

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Episode 38 – Year in review and thoughts for 2020

Wrapping up 2019 and looking ahead to next year, I recorded this episode from Brisbane’s Happy Boy Restaurant. Amid ambient café noise, we touch on what it takes to be a genius, socialism versus capitalism, the ascendance of China, man’s search for meaning, LBJ and, of course, our big reads in 2019 and thoughts for 2020. Show highlights Building specialisation – the Federer approach (try lots of things first) versus the Woods approach (specialise early) Temperament and grit are more important than IQ – Buffett has outperformed Singleton, despite not being as ‘smart’ Our summer reading lists Michael Crichton’s journey […]

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