Clapping in Parliament: the dangers of a simple courtesy

The other day, Bill Shorten was on the television giving his budget reply speech in the Australian Parliament. It was on in the background, far too uninteresting to pay attention to, until something happened. I heard what sounded…

The Democrats’ long road to ruin (2016 US election breakdown, part 3)

Squabbling and secession: more signs of a broken federation

Since examining South Australia’s ‘bank tax’, there have been three more occasions where states have gone on the attack against the state of the federation, each more attention-grabbing than the next. The first salvo came from…

Who will win the 2017 Western Australian state election?

An old-fashioned election

A contender emerges for the WAELOAT

The final results are in for the Western Australian state election, an election in which conventional political wisdom was meant to return in full. Instead, it decided that it quite enjoyed being on holiday and just kind of phoned it in, delivering Labor not just a…

The biggest hurdle for Europe’s nationalist parties

In a few days from now, the Netherlands will be going to the polls, the first of three (possibly even four) national elections in major European nations this year. The Party for Freedom (PVV), led by the charismatic Geert Wilders, is…