This week the McKinnon Institute had planned to publish its second annual index tracking the health of Australian democracy. Last year’s inaugural index served as a depressing baseline for anyone ...

In Magnum Streetwise, Stephen McLaren distils and celebrates what many would regard as the most significant movement in postwar documentary photography. He brings together examples of the work of ...

With just four weeks to go until the US midterm elections a “blue wave” — or what Australians would call a Democratic landslide — seems likely. The Democrats are eight points ahead in national polls ...

Politicians are “born actors,” their performances “implicated in the projection of political power,” says the historian Graeme Davison. He’s quoted early in Performance Politics, Joshua Black’s ...

Benji Wilson’s Rate this Book is a lively read, and an important one, the punch coming in its subtitle: How star ratings took over the world. The stars are a language of evaluation we can all ...

On the fiftieth anniversary last year of the Whitlam government’s dismissal, neither of the main characters had much evolved in the popular consciousness. Gough Whitlam was revered, at least on the ...

In everyday life, “great” does not have to be all that great. A friend confirms a time and place for coffee. “Great!,” we reply. “See you there.” A motor vehicle has been serviced and is ready for ...

For the modern reader, the suggestion that a special sympathy exists between Catholic religious teaching and Labor’s values and outlook might seem implausible. Jeff Kildea’s impressive new book, Iron ...

Sidney Nolan’s first art works are lost forever: destroyed by the ocean’s waves. On his way to school each morning the young Nolan would make large abstract designs in the sand at St Kilda Beach. By ...

As it heads into the crucial midterm elections — effectively a referendum on the president and his party — the United States is facing a series of health crises. Healthcare costs are ballooning, ...

“The last best place on the internet.” I’ve lost count of how many times I’ve heard Wikipedia described that way at conferences, in workshops, in casual conversation. The phrase has its origins in an ...

Just under two weeks before a scheduled National Press Club address to unveil his immigration overhaul, home affairs minister Tony Burke gave his department written directions aimed at slowing down ...