Back in the day I used to think environmentalists played a useful role in society. True they went too far but that, I thought, was a beneficial counterbalance to the disregard capitalists sometimes have for generating negative externalities. Think of despoiling river systems. Alas, in my naivety, I didn’t think we would end up where…

Wandered into a Coles supermarket on Friday. Asked three assistants whether they had Australian flags for sale. They were all, shall we say, recent immigrants. Only one, the last, knew. And she kindly directed me to an obscure section of shelf space measuring no more than nine inches across (look it up if you want…