They say never meet your heroes, and this advice can be easily extended to following your heroes on Twitter. There’s nothing worse than finding out your favourite comedian retweets Joe Hildebrand articles, or that the drummer of a band you like thinks Adam Goodes is a “whinger”. …

I usually try hard to avoid cliches, but avoiding cliches has its pitfalls. A Sydney Morning Herald article the other day tried so hard to avoid calling 2020 ”unprecedented” that it made an unprecedently mind-bending leap in logic. “This year wasn’t unprecedented. If anything, it set the precedent” Of course…

One Wednesday evening after a Uni tute, I swung by a meeting of the Melbourne University ‘Effective Altruism Club’. What better way to wind down after a long day of classes than by celebrating Peter Singer’s second most famous ethical theory? I can’t name one. For those unacquainted with the…

Voltaire famously said that “anyone who tries to use the Enlightenment in an argument most likely has no clue what the Enlightenment was.” He didn’t actually say that, but given a million other media commentators get to totally misappropriate this period of history to suit their argument, let’s pretend he…

For the last 72 hours of my exchange, walking any further than my kitchen was enough to exhaust me. Wiped out by a (thankfully non-COVID) virus, my final stretch in Edinburgh was punctuated by fits of coughing, and hours of bedrest. Those last few days are a bit blurry, but…

First they came for the socialists — and I didn’t speak out, because I wasn’t a socialist. Then they came for the trade unionists — and I didn’t speak out, because I wasn’t a trade unionist. Then they came for Andrew Bolt — and I didn’t speak out, because I…

Dan McStay marks at half forward and sends it long inside 50. With no big forwards at the contest, the Lions can’t get a grab, and the ball bounces back out. Jordan Lewis reckons he’s pinpointed the Lions problem. “Where’s Hipwood and McStay?” Lewis is on special comments for Fox…

A sensible centrist has many loves. Civility — wonderful! Reason — the best! The West Wing — what a show! Their list of peeves is equally extensive, but there’s one word that tops the list — one dirty word that sends a shiver down their spine.* Ideology. Ask a centrist…