Month: March 2018

  • The law laid bare

    How the legal profession is being trashed Growing up in North Queensland, high on our list of Most Revered Citizens were solicitors. The legal practitioners were known far and wide as men (there were very few women in the profession in the 1950s and 60s) of conservative habits but irreproachable integrity, honesty and wisdom. Making…

  • Bill Shorten and the general election

    Why I can’t possibly vote for Bill Shorten As Australians draw nearer to a general election – it must held before May next year but can be called any time sooner – I am frequently asked whether I will be voting Labor. The answer is “No”. ALP leader Bill Shorten is congenitally weak-kneed; if ever…

  • Tea Party in the White House

    Tea Party embedded in Trump’s White House With the promotion of Mike Pompeo to the position of US Secretary of State, the lunatic fringe of the Republican Party, the Tea Party, is now embedded in the White House. If you thought US President Donald Trump was “off the wall”, then let me introduce you to…

  • “Self-help” for public servants

    “Self-help” books for public servants – gimme a break! Not a day seems to pass when my blood isn’t boiling and my heart rate isn’t soaring to stratospheric levels. This week I’m mad as hell, to coin a phrase from a popular TV show, about the NSW Government’s decision to spend about $600,000 to buy…

  • Why journalism has run off the rails

    Every single reporter should be an investigative journalist. No exceptions and no excuses. It’s the tool of the trade. When they sign up to become journalists, that is what ninety-nine per cent of them want to do. The other 1% are sons and daughters of the proprietor and people on the make who were too…