Opinion
Opinion
MyCareer
Oversharing far too easy in the Zoom era
The daily commute to our workplace helped us set boundaries around our job and home life.
- by Jim Bright
Latest
Analysis
AFL 2021
Hawks make a mess of Clarkson’s departure
The unedifying and messy story of Alastair Clarkson’s last weeks at Hawthorn will become an almost forgotten footnote as the years unfold and just what this legendary coach achieved overcomes the turbulence of his departure. But the context the Clarkson story deserves is not for the now.
- by Caroline Wilson
Opinion
Privacy
Hiding in plain sight: Facebook a ‘honeypot’ for police to monitor protests
Facebook has been criticised for enabling the fomentation of dangerous activism and disinformation, but the platform also provides a ready-made digital breadcrumb trail for police to track law-breakers.
- by Jonathon Hutchinson
Analysis
Hawthorn
Pies, Blues far from Clarkson’s only coaching options
Alastair Clarkson can say he doesn’t think he’ll coach in 2022, but both Carlton and Collingwood have no choice but to pose two questions – one to Clarkson and, after some serious discussions, another to themselves.
- by Jake Niall
Opinion
Visual art
Were Fragonard’s paintings too erotic? A closer look at one of art’s enigmas
Jean-Honoré Fragonard was acclaimed for his erotic masterpieces before the French Revolution. A new book explores why his career come to an abrupt end.
- by John McDonald
Analysis
Please Explain podcast
Pressure, focus, culture: lessons to take away from Olympics week one
Today on Please Explain, chief sports writer Andrew Webster joins Tory Maguire to discuss some of the big moments from the first week of this year’s Olympics.
- by Tory Maguire
Analysis
Rugby League World Cup
Political football: Why Boris Johnson is hell-bent on RLWC going ahead
The Tories, who have never previously shown any interest in rugby league, are now backing it because their research reveals it is more important to northerners than darts, racing pigeons and even soccer.
- by Roy Masters
Opinion
Tokyo Olympics
Olympic Games have long been a disaster for some in host cities
Hundreds of people were relocated to make way for the Tokyo Games, including some who, in a hideous twist of fate, had also been displaced for the 1964 Tokyo Olympics.
- by Michael McDougall and MacIntosh Ross
Opinion
Anthony Albanese
Albanese’s tax cuts embrace is all about gathering votes in the centre
In limiting his range of election promises, opposition leader Anthony Albanese has made a sensible move.
- by Michelle Grattan
Opinion
Competition
Why politics has gone bad: bureaucrats down, party advisers up
Ministers are relying less on advice from public servants and relying more on the political advisers in their own offices.
- by Ross Gittins
Opinion
Coronavirus pandemic
Kathy Lette in hotel quarantine: ‘Of convict stock, I thought incarceration would come naturally’
Day 4 of my two-week stay in Oz-catraz and I’m already sculpting my bath towels into animal shapes.
- by Kathy Lette
Opinion
Wallabies
Pick and stick: My Wallabies team to face the All Blacks
There are close calls, particularly with younger players challenging the assumption that experience is a necessity on Test rugby’s most difficult stage.
- by Paul Cully
Opinion
Sharemarket
Big Tech has outgrown this planet
The already bonkers dollars of tech’s Titanic 5 have become even bonkerser. Maybe that’s why Amazon chief Jeff Bezos wanted to touch outer space.
- by Shira Ovide
Opinion
Tokyo Olympics
Faster, higher, stronger together: Why Tokyo Games were made for these times
The duality of isolation and connection is the paradox and miracle of these Games. While Tokyo has been all about insulating people from each other, they have also bound them together.
- by Malcolm Knox
Opinion
Comedy
Does this new Prince George spoof step over the line?
A new HBO cartoon portrays a Family Guy-style royal family starring a bitchy, sassy Prince George. Is that OK?
- by Nick Miller
Analysis
Coronavirus pandemic
How AstraZeneca’s dream of vaccinating the world fell apart
The damage caused by European leaders launching scathing attacks on AstraZeneca is now becoming clear and has the company weighing up whether it wants a future in vaccines at all.
- by Hannah Boland
Opinion
Coronavirus pandemic
Our anger is focused on vaccination, but is it fed by a dangerous mythology?
Public fury over the slow vaccine rollout presumes that fixing it will deliver us from our troubles, but what if it can’t?
- by Waleed Aly
Opinion
Aviation
Adapt or die: The pandemic has changed aviation forever
Few if any industries have been quite as badly hit by COVID-19 as aviation. Given what’s happened, it is astonishing there’s still an airline flying.
- by Jeremy Warner
Analysis
Tokyo Olympics
Matildas’ mantra is ‘one day better’. That one day is today
It’s been 1813 days since the Matildas lost their quarter-final in Rio in a heartbreaking penalty shootout with Brazil. Tonight they face Great Britain for a place in the medal rounds.
- by Dominic Bossi
Opinion
Tokyo Olympics
Russian revelation: Why there’s no easy solution to state-sponsored doping
Try justifying why every time a ROC athlete wins Olympic gold, it’s Piano Concerto No.1 – scored by Russia’s most famous composer, Tchaikovsky – that blares out over the PA system.
- by Darren Kane
Opinion
ALP
The ruthless decision Albanese had to make
Abandoning long-held Labor policies was calculated. Anthony Albanese needs the next election to be all about Scott Morrison, not a referendum on Labor’s tax agenda.
- by David Crowe
Opinion
Coronavirus pandemic
Every tool must be deployed to suppress outbreak
It is well past time for Australia to augment its outbreak response, using new rapid tests, vaccine and isolation incentives and improved cooperation across state borders.
- by Melinda Cilento
Opinion
Life in Lockdown
No browsing at the shops, Premier? I’m very happy to obey
Too much choice, nowhere to park, change-room mirrors that show your backside: who says retail therapy will dispel a bad mood?
- by Richard Glover
CBD
City life
MPs’ Zoom musings set to rile China
China won’t be very happy after a parliamentary committee decided to shoot the breeze just like the rest of us.
- by Stephen Brook and Nick Bonyhady
Opinion
Work therapy
After 25 years applying for jobs, the frustration is real
When you apply for a job your CV needs to be distinctive in showing an employer that you can offer a depth of knowledge and can help solve their problems.
- by Jonathan Rivett
Opinion
Vaccination
It’s a race to 80: The magic number that will let us live with COVID
If 80 per cent of the Australian population can get fully vaccinated, we can gradually return to what we once considered normal life.
- by Brendan Coates and Tom Crowley
Opinion
Vaccination
It’s a race to 80 per cent for our best shot at living with COVID
We should be planning now to accelerate the vaccine rollout once supply is no longer a constraint. That means putting state governments at the forefront of the rollout.
- by Brendan Coates and Tom Crowley
Opinion
England
Ashes threats by England are condescending and ungrateful
Michael Vaughan’s continuing tirade about cancelling the Ashes if families can’t tour shows the former England captain has a short memory.
- by Malcolm Conn
Analysis
Coronavirus pandemic
Breakthrough COVID infections a reality check on road to normality
Rare but rising cases of “breakthrough” COVID-19 infections are complicating America’s return to normality and offer a preview for Australia as it reopens.
- by Matthew Knott
Analysis
Tokyo Olympics
Tokyo’s resilient Games deliver hope
One of the challenges of covering this Olympics from Japan has been getting away from the dread. But the mood of the Japanese people is changing.
- by Eryk Bagshaw
Opinion
Regulation
China’s tech terror means the end of the economic miracle
Xi Jinping’s intimidation campaign is striking on multiple fronts at once as the Communist Party seeks to wipe out any potential threats to its power.
- by Ambrose Evans-Pritchard
Analysis
Please Explain podcast
Job losses and stagnant wage growth as cost of living rises during pandemic
Today on Please Explain, economics correspondent Jennifer Duke joins Nathanael Cooper to discuss what this grim outlook means for our lives.
- by Nathanael Cooper
Opinion
Global economy
The Fed looks as confused as the rest of us about what the future holds
Despite Jerome Powell’s apparent confidence that the Fed has things under control, it’s clear it isn’t quite sure what the eventual post-pandemic “new normal” will look like.
- by Stephen Bartholomeusz
Analysis
Tokyo Olympics
‘A blessing and a curse’: Ledecky, Biles highlight cost of being the boss
Born three days apart in 1997, Katie Ledecky and Simone Biles headed to Tokyo with nine Olympic gold medals between them and a standing as all-time greats.
- by Malcolm Knox
Analysis
AFL 2021
Which teams will make the AFL top eight? Scribes have their say
During the pre-season our pundits gazed into the crystal ball and came up with their top-eight predictions. With the benefit of hindsight (and 19 rounds of footy), they’ve had another go.
Analysis
AFL 2021
Run home to the AFL finals: The race for the eight heats up
With finals fast approaching, Sam McClure and Jon Pierik take a look at all the teams who can still make the eight and which ones have the best chance.
- by Sam McClure and Jon Pierik
Opinion
Child safety
The messy truth about kids’ screen time
The belief that screen time is rotting our kids’ brains and bodies is getting a do-over.
- by Shira Ovide
Opinion
NRL 2021
NRL has a big decision to make: Is there a place for giants in the game?
We’re heading down a path where almost every player on the field will be a bit over 180cm tall and about 100kg. But is it the right way forward?
- by Andrew Johns
Opinion
Coronavirus pandemic
New government support is JobKeeper in all but name
Instead of obsessing over what it’s called, let’s focus on what the latest offering from the federal government does.
- by Steven Hamilton
Opinion
Tokyo Olympics
Games’ magic moments show athletes rising above the controversy
On a bad day, the whole Olympics thing really can look like a soulless exercise. But so far in Tokyo, it has been all good days.
- by Peter FitzSimons
Opinion
Negative gearing
Young Australians should score Labor’s housing policy gymnastics harshly
The ALP’s backflips on property taxes are a betrayal of Australians squeezed out of the housing market, especially the young.
- by Jessica Irvine
From the futon
Tokyo Olympics
Stop calling BS whenever athletes like Simone Biles cite mental health
Gymnastics is a brutal sport that borders on inhumane. When the greatest of all time says it’s too much, we should listen.
- by Andrew Webster
Analysis
Coronavirus pandemic
Childcare at 2045 per cent not a worry as COVID upends inflation
Childcare prices have soared 20-fold in Sydney alone over the past year. But it’s just another sign the pandemic is still roiling the economy.
- by Shane Wright
Opinion
Tokyo Olympics
Even Olympians like Simone Biles have the right to say ‘I’m not OK’
Even for those that muddle in the shallow end of elite sport, like I did, the pressure to do justice to the time, money and effort your family invests in you, the pressure to prove your potential, is real.
- by Melanie Riding
Analysis
NRL 2021
Why NRL decided Roberts can stay in bubble after balcony breach
James Roberts fined $7500 and banned for one match after hanging his towel on a balcony after gym session.
- by Michael Chammas
Opinion
Coronavirus pandemic
Will the Delta variant wreck America’s economic recovery?
The coronavirus variant puts at risk the kind of rapid recovery that has been underway for months, and has already caused several wobbly days on Wall Street.
- by Neil Irwin
Analysis
Please Explain podcast
How the coronavirus pandemic has affected young people
Today on Please Explain, social affairs editor Jewel Topsfield joins Nathanael Cooper to discuss the impact of the pandemic on young people.
- by Nathanael Cooper
Opinion
Iron ore
Rio and BHP shareholders should enjoy the cash deluge while it lasts
Rio and BHP will shower their shareholders with cash, again, this year. But there are clouds appearing as a more threatening future moves rapidly towards the mining giants.
- by Stephen Bartholomeusz
Opinion
Coronavirus pandemic
Why the vaccinated should have more privileges
It might feel unfair, but vaccine passports are a good idea – even if you can’t get one.
- by Cressida Gaukroger
Opinion
Coronavirus pandemic
COVID authoritarianism sweeps across Europe – but the economy is saved
Europeans have watched Britain’s “pingdemic” and drawn their conclusions: they will not let those who refuse to get vaccinated prevent the full reopening of the economy.
- by Ambrose Evans-Pritchard