Binoy Kampmark

COMMENT | The nature of the US political system is to ensure a decent jigging of the vote

COMMENT | Its propaganda puts the security services of various countries in a bind.

For years, Apple has perfected the art of tax minimisation, hoovering up possibilities in creating an empire built on profit and return. It has cultivated a power that adapts the message of the bribing agent with that of the bully, tempting government hosts with promises of plenty, and withdrawing pledges on being pushed into moves it would rather not make for the sake of customers and shareholders. Permit tax breaks, and low tax bills, and your state prospers.

COMMENT | Women have never been allowed much truck when it comes to fashion.

“Never tell a soldier that he does not know the cost of war.” - Lt-Gen Frank Benson (Alan Rickman), ‘Eye in the Sky’ (2015)

All it takes is a boffin on the trigger, then goodnight all. That is the gist of Horace Rumpole’s words in John Mortimer’s legal creation by that name - the ever direct barrister who finds himself acting in a court martial in Germany on behalf of a British soldier, member of the famed Seraphs.

“And this is what disturbs me: the fact that people today, despite living with more safety and wealth and access to information than anyone in human history, feel as though the world is going crazy and something drastic must be changed.” - Mark Manson, July 28, 2016

COMMENT | It feeds other theories that the Zika virus is all a grand stage show.

“I blame Tony Abbott [and] John Howard for my imprisonment and no one will ever change my opinion about that.” - Pauline Hanson

A virus of populism, as it has come to be called, has rattled established classes across the countries of Europe, the United States, and, to a lesser extent, Australia. The latter case remains striking for the return of the reactionary Pauline Hanson to office last month in the July 2 elections. Much of this was the subject of the documentary ‘Pauline Hanson: Please Explain!’, which aired on the SBS network on July 31.

COMMENT | That he wasn’t suitable for a range of reasons is hard to contest.

The release of the Chilcot Iraq Inquiry, examining the feeble reasons for launching a war against a sovereign state in 2003, did not merely land former British prime minister Tony Blair in the soup. It suggested that other leaders should keep him in drowning company.

COMMENT | No government of the day will be entitled to treat debate as a cosmetic exercise.

COMMENT | This vote saw a return to the politics of anger and estrangement.