Opinion: We used to trust each other. What happened?
A version of this article was originally published by The Canberra Times.You see a lot walking a dog at dawn - magnificent sunrises, stunning frosts, hot-air balloons and the occasional kangaroo…
Democracy Sausage Episode: Command, Control and Conformity
How did a Prime Minister sitting on one of Labor's largest-ever majorities turn his national conference into a masterclass in silence — and what does that say about who's allowed to argue…
Opinion: Where did it all go wrong for the Liberal Party?
A version of this article was originally published by The Canberra Times.Implicitly at least, a landmark new book, The Twilight of Exceptionalism: The Liberal and Conservative Era, might equally…
Democracy Sausage Episode: The Cohesion Question
Why has social cohesion — a concept researchers still can't agree how to measure — become one of the most contested ideas in Australian politics? What separates the…
Opinion: Truth used to be a matter of fact. Now it comes down to affiliation
A version of this article was originally published by The Canberra Times.There are two crises afflicting late-stage democracy - one, empirical, and the other, "umpirical" - a term I have taken…
Democracy Sausage Episode: Antidote to the far right
Is the collapse in trust of Australia's institutions, the retreat of unionism from everyday working life, and the alliances forged in Victoria's Covid lockdowns and reactivated by the 2023 Voice…
Opinion: Why the tide may be turning against global political intolerance
By Mark KennyA version of this article was originally published by The Canberra Times.Call me naive, but might there be a correction coming - a global renaissance of the human heart?It is…