Recent publications in IPA Review article
The demise of British liberty
The last decade has seen British liberties savaged. The British state has accumulated unprecedented power and the instinct of politicians and bureaucrats is always to expand their power base even further into areas unknown in peacetime. Even in...
From the Nanny State to the Bully State
During the course of this decade we will witness a global battle over the fate of the nascent Bully State. The Bully State will be this decade's ‘bad cop' to the Nanny State's ‘good cop' of past decades. The past generation of welfare...
Hypocrisy greets (another) closure of the Collingwood Tote
It was hard to miss the recent closure of an inner urban Melbourne pub. For days the media at both state and national level covered the story, and even The 7.30 Report devoted several minutes to it. This particular pub had a long-held reputation...
Blainey outlasts the History Wars
In his desire to restore the balance between white man and black man and to make up for our scandalous neglect of the Aboriginal heritage, he has at times swung too far the other way.' That is the Sydney Morning Herald criticising Geoffrey Blainey...
Rendering unto God
The observation that Australia's political and cultural heritage is founded on Judeo-Christian values is always sure to make an audience of Australian academics or public servants shift uncomfortably in their seats. It is puzzling that such a...
Entrepeneur and the economy
Heroic Misadventures: Four Decades-Full Circle is a compelling autobiographical account of the life of a unique Australian, who rose up from the newspaper rounds as a child in Kalgoorlie, Western Australia, to make his mark in the lucrative gold...
A foodies' guide to the history of humanity
Editorial, March 2010
'People have been saying for a while now that what we need is a book industry plan', said the Minister for Innovation, Industry, Science and Research Kim Carr in a speech in mid-February. ‘No one is going to ghost it for...
The minister as room-meat
If you believe the recently released British comedy, In the Loop, modern government has nothing to do with governing. In the Loop is a feature length spinoff of the cult BBC TV series The Thick of It. The TV series follows the daily life of...
From the Rum Corps to the alcopop
In the special episode of ABC TV's Q&A in February this year, Kevin Rudd was asked whether he would like to raise the drinking age to 21: ‘of course'. Rudd quickly backed away from that definitive statement when the audience responded...