Racism and sexism were central to Errol Flynn’s life and career, but despite this the new biography is compulsive reading, says Dennis Altman.
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Dennis Altman
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Charles is not my King
Our media has been full of praise for King Charles and his handling of President Trump on the recent state visit. His mention of AUKUS has been hailed as a great moment for Australia. (more…)
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UQP has cancelled a children’s book, citing antisemitism
Writers and artists are being cancelled for their political views, even when those views are not expressed in their work, narrowing the space for cultural debate and free expression.
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What Australia’s past might teach Israel about its future
President Herzog’s visit might be useful if he could be persuaded to ponder the lessons Australia might offer. (more…)
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Why the governor-general should not be the prime minister’s choice
Governor-General Sam Mostyn’s remarks reveal a deeper flaw in Australia’s constitutional arrangements – one that weakens the independence of the head of state and undermines democratic accountability.
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Best of 2025 – On Israel, Zionism and being Jewish
No political conflict contains as many journalistic minefields as that between Israel and Palestine. (more…)
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Best of 2025 – The Liberal Party and Israel
The Liberal Party is correct in claiming Australia’s relations with Israel are at their lowest point ever. The real questions to be asked are: who is responsible, and how much does it matter? (more…)
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What does Labor actually stand for in the Albanese era?
Sean Kelly’s Quarterly Essay The Good Fight asks a harder question than whether Labor is governing competently – it asks whether it still knows what it believes, and whether belief is translating into action.
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On Israel, Zionism and being Jewish
No political conflict contains as many journalistic minefields as that between Israel and Palestine. (more…)
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Our American obsession
I have spent seven years of my life in the United States and much of my writing has been influenced by the US. (more…)
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The Liberal Party and Israel
The Liberal Party is correct in claiming Australia’s relations with Israel are at their lowest point ever. The real questions to be asked are: who is responsible, and how much does it matter? (more…)
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Australia and the ICC arrest warrants
If Australia is to have any influence at all in resolving the horrendous carnage now taking place in the Middle East it needs to demonstrate that it acts independently of American pressure. The politicians who lament the fraying of our ties with Israel seem totally unconcerned about the impact of our position on countries far more significant to Australia, such as Indonesia and Malaysia, whose support for Palestine recognition goes far further than anything supported by the Albanese government. (more…)
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Crying antisemitism drowns out the real problem
Zionism has become for some people a sort of ethnic superiority which denies equal claims to recognition by Palestinians. If we are unable to talk about this within the Jewish community we are doing a great disservice to both Palestinians and Israelis, writes Dennis Altman.
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The American psychodrama
President Joe Biden says only God will prevent him running for re-election. Should Biden drop out of the race, and would Vice President Kamala Harris turn potential defeat into a viable contest between Democrats and Donald Trump? (more…)
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The saddest consequence of Donald Trump
The saddest consequence of Donald Trump’s conviction is that it changes little. It may seem inconceivable that a convicted felon can run for President of the United States with a good chance of winning, but he would not be the first person to be elected after spending time in prison. (more…)
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Gaza and the future of the Two-State Solution
There can be no meaningful peace without full recognition of Palestinian sovereignty. Only new leadership and new vision, on both sides, will help. (more…)
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A call for empathy
A friend of mine in Israel, sickened by the events of the past few weeks, when asked what we outside the country could do suggested we begin with empathy. (more…)
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Bitter polarisation of American society undermines case for US alliance
It is difficult to imagine a scenario for next year’s Presidential elections which does not increase the already bitter polarisation of American society. The level of irrationality and violence in the United States means that in the coming decades it may well veer between bellicosity and isolationism. In the face of an uncertain American polity, tying ourselves yet closer to the American alliance seems a foolhardy enterprise. (more…)
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AUKUS as cultural cringe
There are many cogent arguments against AUKUS, and Pearls and Irritations has featured most of them. For me the most galling is the re-emergence of the images of the Anglosphere, and the photos of Australian Prime Ministers beaming between the US President and the UK Prime Minister, as if nothing had changed since Sir Robert Menzies invoked our great and powerful friends. (more…)
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From marriage equality to the Voice
Discussion about the Voice often stresses the difficulty of passing Constitutional referenda, which require a majority of voters in a majority of states. The last successful change came in 1977 to ensure that a retiring Senator would be replaced by someone from the same party. (more…)
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Make Trump great again
Only once has a defeated President gone on to win re-election four years after his first term. Grover Cleveland, who won in 1884 and again in 1892 is generally ranked by historians in the middle rung of American Presidents. Beside Donald Trump he is a paragon of Presidential dignity. (more…)
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Do we need a Head of State?
In the Claytons monarchical system that governs Australia, the Governor General has two roles: to symbolise the nation and to ensure the Constitution is protected. The current occupant appears to do neither particularly successfully. (more…)
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These Untied States
In a recent New Yorker, Andrew Marantz paints a grim prospect of the United States becoming more like Viktor Orban’s Hungary, when a Republican President and Congress, a real possibility after the 2024 elections, use the full range of constitutional possibilities to maintain a government that does not represent a majority of the American population. (more…)
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An unreliable buddy: our US security blanket will fray if Trump returns
The US alliance is defended as maintaining a rules-based international order, to Australia’s benefit. Yet Trump’s return may see a rapid retreat.
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There are much greater threats to Australian security than the Chinese military
As a middle power, Australia should be strengthening international organisations and a global community, rather than treating our alliance with the US as the foundation of our foreign policy.
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Covid, demonstrations and the claim for rights
Like many others, I was angered by the anti-lockdown protests last weekend. I was surprised at the enthusiasm with which I cheered on the police and wanted people to dob in anyone they recognised in the mobs gathered in Sydney and Melbourne streets.
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Trump writes the rule book for future demagogues
What a cop out. The respectable Republican operatives who have used Trump’s populist appeal to maintain their position and privileges are more dangerous than the supporters of Trump who stormed the Capitol.
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Supporting a coup is not ‘free speech’
There is a lesson for Australia in the sad demise of the Trump Presidency, and that is the speed with which falsehoods can quickly escalate to undermine faith in the political process. The capture by Trump of much of the Republican Party is a warning for all liberal democratic societies about the fragility of our political systems. (more…)
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The US under Biden will be an awkward ally for Morrison on climate warming
Even if Joe Biden becomes President, which seems increasingly likely, this does not mean a return to the world we knew before Trump. (more…)
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How Trump could win
It is increasingly evident that Trump is determined to be re-elected, whatever the cost. At what point will referring to him as “leader of the free world” become an oxymoron? (more…)