Greg Sheridan thinks that George Pell won Monday night’s debate about religion and atheism. I disagree. A man in Pell’s position ought to know much more about fundamental issues than Pell seemed to.

That doesn’t mean that I think Dawkins won. His performance too was second rate, justifying in this […] Continue Reading…

The Greeks and Romans envisaged most of their gods as young fit athletes. Even Apollo, the god of the arts, had a six-pack to die for, as well as a lyre and bow and arrows.

We don’t imagine our gods as physical beings anymore, if we imagine there are any […] Continue Reading…

Anna Bligh has announced that she is resigning from Parliament, effective March 30. That means that after running a campaign where she assured us all that she was in it for the long haul, she gives her electorate less than one week’s notice when she loses.

My bet is that […] Continue Reading…

As far as I can recall Anna Bligh started running the “white lady” theme last election and I thought it was too obvious to be effective. Just stating that your candidate is virginal or pure doesn’t make people accept that she is. But in Queensland there are other overtones […] Continue Reading…

Apparently Channel Nine’s worm gave the Great Debate between Anna Bligh and Campbell Newman to Bligh. I was there, and I’m not sure what the worm had for lunch, but it must have affected its judgement. Bligh was lifeless, listless and defeated, particularly when her opponent was answering the […] Continue Reading…

When you are heading for oblivion in the way that the Bligh government is, and when you have tried everything to claw back, as the Bligh government has, there is basically only one technique left to limit electoral damage.

That technique is to point to the likely size of your […] Continue Reading…

I was shocked this morning when my co-panellists on Steve Austin’s 612 ABC morning program, Janine Walker and Tony Koch, both said what a great person Anna Bligh is and what a great campaign she has run.

As I said on the program, I’ve never met Bligh but I’d formed […] Continue Reading…

Number 10 Downing Street is the seat of power in the UK, but it is the epicentre of loss of power for Labor in Brisbane.

10 Downing Street, Spring Hill, was the address from which Campbell Newman launched his first successful assault on Brisbane’s City Hall in 2004. His in-laws […] Continue Reading…

There is a rule that journalists can’t reveal their sources, but there is no rule that says that journalists making enquiries can’t be named and shamed. So when Jennifer Marohasy asked my advice as to what she should do when she appeared to be targeted by the ABC’s Media […] Continue Reading…