Internet Dating: Looking for Love in All the Wrong Places? - posted by

Apparently, meeting a potential partner in between Wham and Duran Duran's latest hits is becoming a thing of the past since singles started trading their dancing shoes for a computer, modem, internet connection with a reasonable download limit and unlikely... More

Why Professor Flint must go - posted by Jeff Wall

THE cat fight between John Laws and Alan Jones must not be allowed to obscure the serious questions that have arisen concerning the Chairman of the Australian Broadcasting Authority (ABA), “Professor” David Flint. As a believer in the Constitutional Monarchy... More

A scandal with wide ramifications - posted by Jeff Wall

ANYONE who watched the “A Current Affair” expose on Brisbane “entrepreneur” Keith Lloyd and his association with the Shafston International College could not help but be appalled at the revelations, and alarmed at the possible wider implications. I did not... More

Celebrating ANZAC Day - posted by Graham

John Howard credits the rise in enrolments at private schools to a desire by parents to have their children taught values in education. I think he is only partly right. It is a desire to have children taught the “right”... More

My Last Blog Entry - posted by peter

This is my last ‘Ambit Gambit’ blog entry. In it I’ll make a few comments on how I think the whole Internet thing is going. The Internet is undoubtedly an amazing invention, perhaps as important in its long–term impact as... More

Hits and Mrs - posted by

Politicians’ wives, or ex-wives, have been in the news a bit of late. In Australia, we seem to hear from the missus when she can confirm her husband was the drongo we always suspected him to be. America, meanwhile, prefers... More

Ingrid Tall – guest blogger, almost - posted by Graham

Every now and then you get what is called in the parlance a “get out of jail free card”. I think I got one of those last night when the Liberal Party preselected Dr Ingrid Tall to be the candidate... More

Kathy and Frank, Alex and Alistair - posted by

Discussion surrounding sexual assault allegations levelled at some sportsmen has challenged the idea that maleness is naturally expressed by certain behaviours. The Family Court’s decision last week to approve a 13-year-old's eventual transition from woman to man appears, at a... More

The case for a Bill of Rights - thanks to the AFL and NFL - posted by Jeff Wall

UNTIL recently I was never attracted to the idea of a Bill of Rights to “guarantee” our basic freedoms, including the freedom of speech. The antics of the Queensland Division of the Liberal Party in threatening to expel any member... More

Burning Fuse - posted by peter

The fuse President Bush stuck into the Middle East powder keg and lit with the invasion of Iraq has suddenly started burning a lot faster. Along with the start of the second phase of the Iraq war, Ariel Sharon’s latest... More

The Subtle Power of Privilege - posted by peter

I recently wrote a piece for ‘OnLine Opinion’ criticising various aspects of our parliamentary practice, among other things. One of the points I made is that there are too many lawyers in parliament and parliament operates too much like a... More

The Bush Presidency is in desperate trouble - posted by Jeff Wall

Even the pro-Bush US media, such as Fox News, is having difficulty disguising the reality that the Bush Presidency is in desperate political trouble. The recent signs of economic improvement, including the hitherto depressing jobs outlook, have not lifted President... More

Iraqi Debacle Continues - posted by peter

It was another bizarre performance by George W Bush when he gave one of his rare live speeches to explain what the hell was going on in Iraq and maybe even something about the 911 commission. Or that seemed to... More

About Time - posted by peter

I’ve been thinking about time for one of my coming books. Like so many genuinely important things, we pay very little attention to it in our modern society. There just isn’t enough time… Before we invented the idea of continuous,... More

Masculinity, equality and sexual politics - posted by Admin

In promoting an event that objectifies women and mixes football culture with young men and alcohol, the Broncos fumbled rather than scored. As some boys look up to rugby league players, it behooves teams like the Broncos to make a greater effort towards encouraging real equality than chucking a few prizes at one woman. More

Will this Easter be any different - posted by Jeff Wall

THE unprecedented publicity Passion of the Christ has given to the Easter story provides a unique opportunity for the Christian churches to use this Easter to begin the reversal of the worrying decline in attendances, and, with few exceptions, church... More

Gravity asserts itself - posted by Graham

It wasn’t good reportage but it was probably accurate commentary, when the AM reporter said this morning that the latest Newspoll (reported in The Australian) shows that the Mark Latham’s satisfaction rating as Opposition Leader has “peaked”. There’s been a... More

It’s official – the dotcom boom is really over - posted by Graham

The ABC carried a news report today that Bill Gates is no longer the richest man in the world. He has been overtaken by Ingvar Kamprad, the founder of Ikea. Kamprad is worth $70 Billion Australian and Gates only $62.... More

The "Will do" Council - posted by Graham

Direct elect republicans and others ought to be watching Lord Mayor Campbell Newman very closely. He is likely to provide a model for what a popularly elected President could do at his most powerful, and he's just met his worst... More

On Leadership - posted by peter

This week’s brawling in national politics over Iraq has firmly focussed attention on the leadership issue. Labor has placed all its eggs in the Latham basket; the Coalition is increasingly edgy over whether Howard still has the goods, or whether... More

It’s not whether they lie, but how they lie - posted by Graham

Australia seems to have its very own Kelly/Gilligan affair with some differences. The person playing the role of Andrew Gilligan is Opposition Leader, Mark Latham. Defence Department Deputy Secretary, Ron Bonighton is Kelly. While David Kelly was not in a... More

Life Outside Football - posted by peter

I’d just returned from dinner with a friend from when I worked in a university. We had enjoyed a wide-ranging conversation over some tasty Indonesian food – words like ontology and epistemology were used freely. So I decided to veg... More

The Premier tells the Governor the way it must be - posted by Jeff Wall

THE new Premier of Tasmania, Paul Lennon, has long been my kind of politician – no nonsense, tell it exactly how you see it, and reject political correctness with enthusiasm. Yesterday, in a statement running to just three sentences, Paul... More

Suddenly It's Latham’s and not Howard’s Way - posted by peter

There is something decidedly Oedipal about federal politics these days. Here is the overtly patriarchal John Howard (stern, authoritative, self–righteous) brawling with the brash, energetic and hungry Mark Latham over ownership of the motherland. Latham made the character of this... More