Barry Humphries leaving us is a sad event. In my view he was he was the best comedian ever. I’m not talking about duos (e.g., Laurel and Hardy, Amos and Andy) or sit comms (e.g., Fawlty Towers, Seinfeld, Curb Your Enthusiasm) or sketch shows (Monty Python’s Flying Circus, Little Britain, The fast Show) or Joke…

The Jizya is an Islamic poll tax that was levied on those who would not convert. The Jizya was designed to both penalise and humiliate the non-believer. For their tribute the non-believer both buys protection from the overlord and submits themselves publicly before the Collector of the Jizya. In this way, the unbeliever – and…

Penton (1904-1951) is forgotten because he died in mid-career. He almost certainly would have been the standout editor and commentator through the 1950s and the 1960s., flying the flag for classical liberalism and especially free speech. Fortunately there is an excellent biography by Patrick Buckridge and a short version on line. He was born in…

Britain and Germany are in deep trouble with their power supplies and wind droughts are the root of the problem. You can imagine a book to be written one day called How Wind Droughts Destroyed Western Civilization. Texas in 2021 gave us a glimpse of the future when the wind died and the temperature fell…

Andrew Bolt interviewed Lidia Thorpe’s (white) father on Thursday evening. How that happened who knows. Did Roy Illingworth knock on Bolt’s door? Did Bolt approach Mr Illingworth? Were commercial terms involved?  What is clear is that Illingworth would have done better not to do the interview. Bolt asked him some personal questions about his daughter…

Of the many things that are apparent in the present debate over transgenderism and its implications, I find two things recurring here that occurred previously in the marriage debate. Firstly, the proponents of marriage redefinition invoked a rhetoric of ‘exclusion’ by default; and thus the issue from the outset was one couched in terms of…