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Royal visit reminds us of the monarchy’s stability

The visit of the King and Queen reminds us of the enduring stability of our constitutional monarchy model of government

Latest

Closed: Medlow Dam
Editorial
Pollution

New limits on forever chemicals levels is overdue good news for water supplies

Australia is finally to adopt world’s best practice permitted levels for cancer-causing forever chemicals in drinking water.

  • The Herald's View
Richard White and Chris Ellison are under heavy fire.

WiseTech and MinRes join growing list of governance casualties

Both ASX-listed heavyweights are in the news for alleged lapses of judgment by their respective founders, which now put their boards under severe pressure.

  • by Elizabeth Knight
Myf Warhurst, Prime Minister Anthony Albanese and Ben Lee on Spicks and Specks.
Opinion
Opinion

Albo’s Spicks and Specks spot struck the right note, but won’t change the tune

You would have to have a heart of concrete to deny the PM his fun, but some voters are genuinely miffed at a time when Albanese is becoming increasingly unpopular.

  • by Stephen Brook
Rishabh Pant’s six off Tim Southee was measured at 107 metres long.
Analysis
Test cricket

Eighteen months ago Rishabh Pant nearly died in a car crash. Now he’s arguably the world’s most entertaining cricketer

Rishabh Pant’s recovery from a life-threatening accident to the summer’s most compelling tourist is just one of several fascinating storylines ahead of India’s arrival.

  • by Dan Walsh
ASML sells its large and ultra-expensive machines that print circuit patterns onto silicon wafers to companies like TSMC, Samsung and Intel.
Opinion
AI

Hot chips: The split that sparked a $97 billion meltdown

It is an industry crucial to the 21st century, but two of its biggest players are going in opposite directions.

  • by Stephen Bartholomeusz
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The dinner that showed why Trump and a cardinal should go to confession

Instead of telling Trump he was over the line, Cardinal Dolan enabled him to cast his campaign as a quasi-religious crusade.

  • by Maureen Dowd
Jockey Jamie Kah vented after a forgettable day in the saddle in Sydney on Saturday.
Blinkers On
Horse racing

‘After all I do to help promote this industry’: Heartbroken Kah vents after dirty day

Colourful owner Tony Ottobre questioned whether a rival jockey’s ride was designed to beat his wonder mare, while Jamie Kah was robbed of a chance to ride in The Everest at the starting gates.

  • by Danny Russell
Illustration: Joe Benke

Albanese wants to hit us where we live. It’s a do-or-die strategy

The prime minister is banking on his faith that voters will value Labor’s strategies to help them financially.

  • by Sean Kelly
The federal government says it’s prepared to ban debit card surcharges from 2026, subject to consultation being led by the RBA.
Opinion
Payments

Why those pesky card surcharges are no longer doing their job

Extra fees for paying on a card have annoyed consumers for years. Now there’s a compelling case for making significant changes to the surcharging regime.

  • by Clancy Yeates
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Opinion
Column 8

Bomb Squad take a bow

While Republicans bristle at getting the brush.

Bernard Foley says he still aspires to play for the Wallabies.
Analysis
Wallabies

Sherrin the love: How sessions at Swans HQ has a Wallabies veteran ready for duty

Japan-based playmaker Bernard Foley says he is still highly motivated to play for his country and to help Australia’s young no.10s.

  • by Iain Payten
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Republic debate arrives with King and Queen

The King’s visit has once again raised discussion about Australia becoming a republic.

Liberal candidate Georgia Ryburn ahead of Saturday’s byelection.

When it rains it pours, and right now it feels like the NSW Liberal Party is drowning

The most interesting part of this byelection is what it means for Mark Speakman, for whom 2024 has oscillated between horror and vaudeville.

  • by Michael McGowan
Australia’s birth rate has declined again, to 1.5 babies per woman.
Opinion
Parenting

Why ‘one-and-done’ families like mine are becoming the new normal

The news that our national birth rate is plummeting is concerning, but it’s no surprise to single-child families like mine.

  • by Caroline Zielinski
Soon-to-be independent MP Jacqui Scruby.

Heartland blues continue for the Liberals

Making political assumptions based on one byelection result is asking for trouble. But there are lessons for the Liberals in Pittwater.

  • by The Herald's View
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Aresna Villaneuva/AP

The King loves Australia but his next stop’s the big one (and China will be watching)

In Samoa, assembled nations will decide the Commonwealth’s next secretary-general. It will be one of three Africans whose countries are beneficiaries of China’s largesse

  • by George Brandis
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No need for nuclear power

Generations of engineers, scientists and economists have been technology neutral but most have found that nuclear power in Australia would be too expensive

Nathan Cleary
Analysis
Wallabies

Man who made Suaalii a multimillionaire urges rugby to throw chequebook at Cleary

Former Rugby Australia chairman Hamish McLennan wants to see the Penrith superstar wearing a Wallabies jersey at the 2027 World Cup in Australia.

  • by Danny Weidler
Pro-life supporters outside the US Supreme Court in Washington last week. The issue will play a role in the US election.
Opinion
Abortion

Abortion is decriminalised Australia-wide. Why the hell are we debating it again?

It is a flare sent up in the political atmosphere to communicate a set of right-wing values with the control of female bodies at their centre.

  • by Jacqueline Maley

Kamala is running as a ‘no-brainer’. What if voters object to the idea they have no brain?

The polls are so tight in the US that three weeks might be enough for Kamala Harris to work out what she stands for and deliver a Democrat victory.

  • by Parnell Palme McGuinness
Buying a house isn’t as simple as turning up to an auction with your deposit.
Opinion
Hip pocket

Less is more: How to downsize your life to free up cash

Downsizing is a potential salve for the country’s festering housing crisis, but not enough of us are doing it. This is what you need to know.

  • by Dominic Powell

The most moving story about the Queen you’ve never heard but must see

Not only did Marion Crawford devote 17 years to the two princesses, but she sacrificed the possibility of having children of her own.

  • by Peter FitzSimons
Dolphins frolic in Port Phillip Bay.
Opinion
Religion

Frolicking dolphins a reminder to make the most of life’s wondrous moments

Mother Teresa’s advice was to be happy in the moment. None of us are assured of tomorrow. All we have is now.

  • by Melissa Coburn
Sale Discount Promotion Deduction Man Planning Concept It isn't for everyone, but some make good money in the online real estate game

Dirty pricing tricks getting flamed is long overdue

It’s time to get back to a world where we don’t have to swear a blood oath to cancel a gym membership or name our firstborn after a Marvel character just to cancel a streaming subscription.

  • by Victoria Devine
X

Forget tradies. It’s the kids who’ll suffer if cash disappears

Digital payments make money scarily psychologically disposable, with cash still the best way to help young minds learn how to spend wisely.

  • by Nicole Pedersen-McKinnon
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Donald Trump at a campaign event in Detroit on Friday, watching a video of opponent Kamal Harris.

Why the heck isn’t Kamala Harris running away with this election?

In many ways, it’s because in the US political parties no longer serve the function they used to. Now, they are better seen as religious organisations.

  • by David Brooks

In the cutthroat suburban cafe scene, the opening of a new option presents a tricky choice for loyal locals.
Opinion
Cafe

Hot cup of guilt: I love my local cafe, but the new one two doors down is better

The best thing is the new place doesn’t give you the bathroom key attached to a giant spatula.

  • by Thomas Mitchell
Thousands of North Korean soldiers are reportedly joining the Russian invasion of Ukraine.

North Korean troops fighting for Russia is worldwide wake-up call

Vladimir Putin leaning on Kim Jong-un for troops would give Russia access to more than 1 million fighters. This war may very soon belong to everyone.

  • by Rob Harris
Tane Edmed is worthy of consideration for a Wallabies berth.

Suaalii, Edmed just the players to freshen up Wallabies’ tour squad

There has been progress in 2024, but the Wallabies remain a work in progress as a Lions tour nears.

  • by Paul Cully
A convict been whipped for stealling *****.
Old Sydney Town at Gosford. August 22, 1976. (Photo by Nigel Scot McNeil/Fairfax Media).
Opinion
Spectrum

They’d make a flogging: The case to re-open Old Sydney Town

It was 1976 when the theme park based on Australian colonial history came to life.

  • by Richard Glover
King Charles III might just visit the races on Saturday.

King Charles III at the races? It’s 2024, not 1964. We should be beyond caring

Debasing ourselves in front of visiting English people should have gone with the end of being a colony.

  • by Peter FitzSimons
Accused of murdering their parents, Lyle and Erik Menendez.
Opinion
Crime

Were the Menendez brothers monsters or monstered? Young boys need the answer

The justice system has a chance to examine whether bias against men who survive rape prevents them getting a fair hearing.

  • by Julia Baird
The changes will remove some valuable supports for children of donors.
Opinion
Fertility

I used a sperm donor for my son. Why is the government abandoning us?

Would a stranger care about my beloved child who had been created with our shared genes? My counsellor understood my anxieties: “Most women think they’re meeting George Clooney.”

  • by Alexandra Collier
History worth reviving: the tram on Parramatta Road, Leichhardt, in 1946 and Venice’s famed bell tower, the Campanile of St Mark, which collapsed in 1902 but was rebuilt by 1912.
Opinion
Trams

Sydney’s surprise resemblance to Venice has a lesson for us all

Venice’s brutal modernisers did not want to rebuild their collapsed bell tower. The city persevered, as should Sydney with its long-lost people movers, the trams.

  • by Antone Martinho-Truswell
Hunt for the Wilderpeople is New Zealand’s biggest-ever home-made box office earner.
Opinion
Wellbeing

We are the wilderpeople: The great kiwi tradition of ‘going bush’

Tom Phillips will not be remembered as a hero. However, spending time in the bush with children – when done safely and responsibly – will continue to be celebrated.

  • by Debbie Jamieson
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Noni B owner Mosaic Brands is in a trading halt.

The rich investors losing money on Katies, Noni B operator

Will the billionaires behind the Spotlight group be the White Knight that Mosaic Brands needs?

  • by Anne Hyland
Essendon list boss Matt Rosa.
Analysis
AFL 2024

A three-year plan: Why the Bombers didn’t hunt anyone this trade period

Essendon’s reticence to chase players this trade period wasn’t a sudden decision the club made in late September or October – it was the beginning of a three-year strategy.

  • by Jake Niall
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Hamas has been beheaded but will the fighting cease?

The killing of Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar opens a new door to peace talks.

  • The Herald's View
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Beware the rabbit holes of misinformation

Waleed Aly reminds us of a need to be sceptical of any story that confirms narratives we already believe.

Yahya Sinwar talks during a rally in Khan Younis, southern Gaza Strip in 2011.

Images shared online of Sinwar, dead in the rubble, may increase support for Hamas

For Hamas, his loss is a serious setback, analysts say, but the group has survived the assassinations of multiple leaders over the decades.

  • by Claire Parker and Hazem Balousha
Not as easy as you think  . . . Mal Meninga trains the Kangaroos.
Opinion
Australia

Give me a break ... Ponga was just saying what the rest of us were thinking

Whatever they say, the code’s bosses put international rugby league on a third tier beneath the NRL and Origin, leaving Kangaroos coach Mal Meninga to pick up the pieces.

  • by Malcolm Knox
The Southern Aurora in 1962, one of the world’s great sleeper trains at the time.
Tony Wright’s Column
Rail

What paralysis of intellect? Australia on the rails

Sleeper carriages can be the most romantic aspect of travel, not to mention being booked out months in advance. So why are they to be banished on the Melbourne-Sydney route? 

  • by Tony Wright
Governor-General Samantha Mostyn meets King Charles at Buckingham Palace in May.

Monarchists warn our G-G not to mention the R word to the King. What royal fools

They’ve got a “watching brief” on Samantha Mostyn, but I have news for the Australian Monarchist League: no one cares too much about you or the monarchy.

  • by Jenna Price
What Google Search looked like at launch, in 1998.

Are we ready for an internet with no Google search?

Twenty-five years ago, Google’s minimalist search engine was a revelation. What would happen if the US government moved to break up its dominance?

  • by David Swan
Where kilometres count: The Scruby campaign meets the Ryburn campaign in Pittwater.

‘Nastiest attack in 30 years’: On Sydney’s insular peninsula, every kilometre counts

Independent teal candidate Jacqui Scruby and Liberal opponent Georgia Ryburn are two successful women battling it out to represent Pittwater. It seems all anyone can talk about is where Ryburn lives.

  • by Max Maddison
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What advice would you have for your younger self?
Opinion
Real life

Buy shares, take a swim, and all the other things I’d tell my younger self

When I look back at photos of my sweet chubby teenage face it’s like I’m looking at an entirely different person. Imagine if you could turn back time and give that person some advice.

  • by Kate Halfpenny
The Cats unveil their recruit Bailey Smith.
Analysis
AFL 2024

What went wrong for high-profile Dog Bailey Smith to become a Cat?

Bailey Smith appeared the perfect player for the low-profile Bulldogs - he was talented, marketable, young and quick. But something went wrong. Why did this cool cat cool on the Dogs and become a Cat?

  • by Michael Gleeson

It is impossible to exaggerate the importance of the death of Hamas’ leader

Netanyahu has long wanted to show that he is a historic figure. Well, this is his moment.

  • by Thomas L. Friedman
Gmail

Australians send and receive 8.1 billion emails a day. Most of them are a waste of time

Australia ranks tenth in the world when it comes to how many emails we produce, with 8.1 billion circulated every day. And it’s a big blind spot for us.

  • by Tim Duggan

Original URL: https://www.smh.com.au/comment