It’s Putin and the Russkies wot done it! Really? Those of us diligently following the poisoning of Colonel Sergei Skripal, the Russian double agent, are terribly confused: everything keeps changing in the British narrative except one thing – Russian President Vladimir Putin definitely did it. Promoting the Brit storyline has become the first priority of No…
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 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” 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…
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…
New US ambassador is Pacific fleet admiral Australian Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull was so excited by the appointment of an American Ambassador to Canberra following a frigid 16-month delay that he tweeted: “Great to see Admiral Harry Harris nominated by Donald Trump as US Ambassador to Australia. Look forward to seeing you in Canberra, Harry!” This…
Gutless ABC abandons the first duty of journalism The ABC began the week with a brilliant “scoop” of getting its hands on a truckload of secret documents chucked out by the Prime Minister’s and Cabinet Department in Canberra. The ABC gave its audience just ONE story – that the Abbott Government and former immigration minister…
A case history of recent crimes by America’s mainstream media Pulitzer Prize-winning New York Times reporter James Risen has written an insider’s account of the ugly side of the paper’s skewed editorial policy. It makes unpleasant reading for all those who are infatuated with the belief that the venerable NYT, aka the “grey ghost”, is a…
The Post: Hollywood’s massacre of the Pentagon Papers story Hollywood is America’s dream factory. It has been selling its version of American exceptionalism and superiority to the world for almost 100 years. Since my days in short trousers and bare feet I’ve been addicted to movies of all sorts, American, British and Australian. However, it has taken…
Aussie billionaires James Packer, Rupert Murdoch and Frank Lowy reorganise their family fortunes Australian politicians and regulators queue up to make life easier for billionaire casino owner James Packer. They can’t do enough for the louche playboy and son of the late Kerry Packer. Take the gambling report commissioned by the NSW Coalition Government into…
