Contributors
Future of conservatism can be found in its past
WALEED ALY Since 2007, the fall of conservative parties in the Anglosphere has been as steep as the rise. By embracing neo-liberalism, conservatives backed themselves into an ideological corner that forced them to violate the philosophical tenets of liberalism and conservatism and adopt reactionary politics.
Abbott gives business mates a bout of postnatal depression
MIKE CARLTON So there I was, lunching at the Union Club on Monday, when who should walk in but good old Todger Fingleton. Lovely chap, Todger. We've known each other since we rowed in the Eight at King's; these days we share a ski lodge at Aspen, the yacht at Antibes, and we sit on half a dozen corporate boards together.
Ideas out of the Ark: what in creation is Fielding doing?
RICK FENELEY Noah steers the Ark through perilous flood and finds a perch in the mountains of Ararat. Animals begin to disembark, two by two. Steve Fielding watches from a vantage point. He smiles as two of Noah's sons play a familiar tune on their eight-stringed lyres. Duelling Banjos, isn't it?
Season's bleatings before the poll
LENORE TAYLOR Most journalists call summer the ''silly season'' because there's not much news. But in political journalism the season before a federal election can get even sillier. There's plenty of news but the debate is scatty, as politicians test their sound grabs but aren't ready to show us their fine print.
Welcome to Hillaryland, feel free to complain
LOIS ROMANO Hillary Clinton's hands-on approach at the State Department has seen her debate everything from Pakistan policy to food in the canteen - and it's won her many fans, writes Lois Romano.
Power but little glory in polluted politics
TONY FITZGERALD We look to our MPs for leadership. Instead we get political game-playing.
My attempt to engage President on Balibo
SHIRLEY SHACKLETON This week during the first Australian visit of Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, I was confident for the first time in my activist life.
Nimby-led squeeze on social housing
MICHAEL LENNON The housing market is booming. People with money, or the ability to borrow money, have pushed prices up in a dramatic turnaround from the slump during the global financial crisis.
To stop this hogwash, pull trigger
JESSICA IRVINE In Groundhog Day, Bill Murray is a TV weatherman forced to cover the same story about a groundhog emerging from hibernation four years in a row, forced to relive the same unbearable day over and over again. For what seems an eternity, every morning is reset by a bedside clock ticking over from 5.59 to 6, triggering Sonny and Cher's I Got You Babe until an announcer chimes in with: ''That's right woodchuck chuckers, it's Groundhog Day!''
A loving admirer visits, but Israel keeps stretching the friendship
PAUL MCGEOUGH Ordinarily, it pays for politicians to put a break on effusiveness, but not Joe Biden. When the US Vice-President touched down in Jerusalem this week he professed his ''love'' for Israel, declaring theatrically: "It's great to be home."
Political spin undermines democracy
SUSHI DAS Taxpayers are being led up the garden path - and paying for it.
Cricket world takes gender equity back a century or two
KATE SEEAR The nostalgia for a time when women ''knew their place'' is truly frightening.
Senate in alignment with the planet Ron
DAMIEN MURPHY Up there on a planet in a galaxy far away, Lafayette Ron gazed down on the Senate yesterday and must now be considering honorary membership of his inner sanctum, the Sea.Org, for Labor and Coalition senators and Steve Fielding.
Bella Counihan
Abbott's Parental Leave Recipe: How to make a policy without a policy
THE GOANNA Tony Abbott sat down one morning at the kit-chen bench and thought "I need to cook up a new idea to bug the hell out of the Rudd govern-ment... but I'll need to write a recipe first." He took a pen and began to write...
Government launches First Tent Owners Scheme due to crippling house prices
CHARLES PURCELL Every day we read headlines like "The transport system is stuffed", "Sydney hospitals filled with wombat poo", "Police give biker gangs free hugs and lollipops". At times like these it's clear that there is only one way to fix Sydney — to appoint a benign dictator. Apppointed for the standard Roman period of six months – mercifully shorter than the four years it takes to get rid of an unpopular political party – he would have the power to finally address the state's many problems with an iron fist.
Helping the homeless a goal worth striving for
LINDSAY TANNER A couple of weeks ago I played in a football tournament. I've been a passionate Arsenal supporter for nearly 40 years, and I follow Melbourne Victory in the A-League, but I am not exactly an Australian Cesc Fabregas. I've only played it a few times.
The dark side of football
KIM TOFFOLETTI Elite sportsmen have proven to be bad role models when it comes to respect for women.
Stereotypes do our peoples an injustice
SUSILO BAMBANG YUDHOYONO Overcoming simplistic national mindsets is essential to progress.
Senate obstruction on baby leave? Hype and poppycock
MISHA SCHUBERT Labor could pass a paid parental leave scheme tomorrow if it wanted.
Obsession with cricket can obscure common sense
BELLA COUNIHAN I just need to state the facts before I proceed. I don't watch cricket. I don't even really like the sport. But that doesn't mean you can't spot a load of crap when you see it. Unless you've been under a rock, you would know Australia's vice captain Michael Clarke has recently left a game in New Zealand to be with his partner Lara Bingle after a nude photo of her was spread around by some other sporty thick head. Peter Roebuck, a Fairfax sports writer, contends this is tantamount to treason and that Clarke should choose between his career and his woman before the very fabric of cricket itself disintegrates.
Bingle is not to blame
TESS LAWRENCE Hot on the heels of International Women's Day comes yet more vituperative bile about Lara Bingle. Now, we've got a phalanx of sportswriters putting the boot in.
Baby leave is not a women's issue
LESLIE CANNOLD Childcare should be shared, but we focus on mothers while men remain absent.
Indonesian ties strong enough to stand straight talk on Papua
MARC PURCELL Our diplomatic silence does nothing to stop protests and violence from spreading.
Modern Hollywood has forgotten that masterpieces can also be popular
PETER CRAVEN The Oscars battle was between an art film and million-dollar bubblegum.
The government throws prudence - and billions - to the wind
MALCOLM TURNBULL Kevin Rudd's earnest, bespectacled appearance gives the impression of a cautious, bureaucratic type. You could imagine him working away in the library when the other kids were playing football and, as a perfectionist Prime Minister, burying himself in minute detail, trusting nobody but himself to make the final decision.
We must all pay for parental leave
JULIA PERRY Tony Abbott's policy to provide six months' parental leave on full pay, funded by a levy on employers and the baby bonus, has thrown both the left and right of politics into confusion about how to respond.
The MTC's reliance on perennial favourites is starting to look tired
ROBIN USHER Melbourne's theatrical year started with a rush. Two shows were extended at the long-time home of fresh talent, La Mama, while at the Melbourne Theatre Company the commercial appeal of Geoffrey Rush and a cohort of stars saw an extended season of The Drowsy Chaperone sell out. But the good times have not lasted long.
Reversing the global retreat
BRUCE GRANT Recent crises have dented moves to internationalism, but it would be foolhardy not to act on the world stage.
Shared destinies for our nations
SUSILO BAMBANG YUDHOYONO AND KEVIN RUDD Close Australia-Indonesia ties contribute to security and prosperity for both.
Kick back and endure being bored and uncomfortable
CLIVE HAMILTON Idleness is celebrated in an exhibition at the National Portrait Gallery. In Canberra — where long working hours are obligatory, where dutiful public servants are dragged from their beds by self-important ministers, where the Prime Minister's office has more burnouts than Summer Nats — extolling the virtues of idleness is surely subversive.
