2BOB

In life, I have been blessed with many dear old friends. We have known one another for most of our lives. I will endeavour to paint a picture of one such friendship here, without giving too much away. I do so to discuss an issue I take with the friend in question, without risk of defaming him. I will keep my description of him relatively general in order to protect his anonymity, but the issue is a rather pointless political view he has: Hong Kong has not changed since the national security law came into force in 2020. The view that the actions of the Chinese government are no different to the actions of liberal democratic governments is a common one. I hear it from both friends and foes in all walks of life. I set out my description of this particular friend here because his views are very much shaped by his background and experience in this world. I then argue against his view and explain what I think his problem is. My hope is that you can read about him below and identify other pe...

Today, I was in my office in the central business district of Melbourne. A colleague was sitting next to me, distracted from her work. She was surfing the Internet and researching the vote count of the American presidential election. Without breaking her attention from the screen, she tells me, 'They're saying there's a 95% likelihood of Trump winning'. I exclaimed, 'Good God, really?'. We hardly had a chance to discuss the ramifications his election would have for Ukraine, Israel and Taiwan when a storm broke out over Melbourne. A sharp clap of thunder cracked right over head, with flashes of lightning out the window. My colleagues and I all stood up from our desks and looked out onto our city. The rain poured down the glass and I joked, 'The gods are angry'.  A couple of weeks earlier, I was chatting with a different colleague. I was venting my anxiety about what I considered a near certain victory for Trump. In particular, I was concerned about his is...

This week, Charles III, King of Australia, visited the country for the first time as reigning monarch. He was greeted at a royal reception at Parliament House. He sat next to the Prime Minister, in front of an audience of other parliamentarians and dignitaries.  The King gave his speech in the style typical of a constitutional monarch. There was a timbre of genuine feeling in his voice, but its content was generally neutral and diplomatic. He acknowledged country and the experience of Australia's indigenous peoples. He ornamented his speech with references to various elements of Australiana - the laugh of the kookaburra and the warble of the magpie. He noted how much the nation had changed in his lifetime, whilst also promoting the need for constancy. It was inoffensive, relatively unremarkable and just what one would expect of a monarch in post-colonial Australia. At the end of his address, an indigenous senator, Lidia Thorpe, broke whatever spell the King had cast over his audie...