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Never enough rules

No shame in compliance culture

The famous Australian mateship concept and the notion of a fair go are demonstrated and reciprocated by our compliance culture. If more countries embraced these quaint practices, I’m sure the world would be a better place.

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The outfield at Marvel Stadium on Monday night for the Big Bash match between the Renegades and Scorchers.

After Monday’s Marvel mess, call to AFL must be priority for cricket’s new boss

Players and coaches on both sides of the BBL fixture wondered whether a football game would have been permitted to be played on the patchy outfield, and it was hard to blame them.

  • by Daniel Brettig
Patrick Mahomesof the Kansas City Chiefs at Super Bowl LVIII against the San Francisco 49ers.
Analysis
Streaming

Christmas Day with NFL, Beyoncé is just the beginning for Netflix and sport

DAZN wants to become the “Netflix of sports”. There’s just one problem: Netflix wants that title for itself.

  • by Calum Jaspan
Travis Head walks off Adelaide Oval after his blistering ton against India.

How Travis Head decluttered and became the best batter in the world

The left-hander’s attacking style is a rejection of the survival-first mentality that hinders many batters.

  • by Greg Chappell
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Opinion
Column 8

Rotary engines? Don’t get me started

Just enjoy the Taylor-made Christmas praise.

Would it be the cricket without a beer snake?

School drop-off parking cops, cricket fun police: It’s Australia’s punishment culture

Australians like to think they have a larrikin, rebellious spirit, but they are remarkably tolerant of official intervention and petty-minded bureaucracy.

  • by Nick Bryant
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Zoya Patel went into labour on Christmas morning, six weeks early.
Opinion
Christmas

I was hot, bothered and pregnant. Then my waters broke on Christmas morning, six weeks early

A 3am trip to the hospital, riding in an ambulance and an unexpected arrival – it felt like the plot of a Christmas movie.

  • by Zoya Patel
From skincare to ageism, there’s no escaping our obsession with youth.

Ageing well is a state of mind – it doesn’t require cosmetics

Changing society’s attitudes to growing old remains an uphill battle.

The footage of Oscar Jenkins, with his wrists bound, was shared widely by pro-Russian social media accounts.

Australian captured by Russia risks becoming bargaining chip

An Australian taken prisoner in Ukraine has been classified as a mercenary by Russia and faces prison.

  • The Herald's View
Foxtel has found a new home.

Foxtel sale a Christmas miracle for the Murdochs

News Corp has finally found a buyer for its storied pay TV offering. But what does the future hold for viewers, staff and sports deals?

  • by Calum Jaspan
People feeling the pinch are resorting to eating basic meals at home and dining out less.
Opinion
Bills

What’s happened to the cost of living is trickier than you think

While we complain about “the cost of living”, the mugs who elected Donald Trump again were on about “inflation”. Aren’t they the same thing? Maybe, maybe not.

  • by Ross Gittins

America and Australia tell a tale of two pandemics, and their political outcomes

While Australians challenged fireworks cancellations last week, the richest man in the world was busy lobbying America’s president-elect for a shutdown.

  • by Sean Kelly
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Opinion
Column 8

Sleighed in cold blood

Stumbling upon a Christmas crime scene.

Ruby celebrating Chrismukkah in 2005.
Opinion
Christmas

Why ‘Chrismukkah’ has come at the perfect time for my family

When you strip both holidays back, the differences aren’t so different. Both traditions are about food, family and celebration. Both embrace connection, community and love.

  • by Ruby Kraner-Tucci
Trains are delayed across the network.

Long-suffering commuters deserve a Christmas present

The unions are essentially holding the city to ransom for an unrealistic pay and working conditions claim, writes our correspondent.

Gisele Pelicot gives a statement inside the courthouse after the verdict.
Editorial
Crime

An extraordinary woman stood up to dozens of ordinary men – and exploded a myth

A horrific mass rape trial in France has shone a light on the dark web and may help change attitudes around the world.

  • The Herald's View
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Luigi Mangione was taken to New York where he could eventually face the death penalty.

Health problems in the US, and the repercussions

Jacqueline Maley’s excellent analysis covers parts of the utterly broken system in the US that Luigi Mangione experienced in a failed healthcare system,

Is woke broke?

It’s the year that woke broke, a victim of its own excess

It’s been a long time coming, but at last you get the sense that people are waking up to wokeism.

  • by Parnell Palme McGuinness
Four-year-old Riley Gillet, of Orlando, lights a candle with her family, marking the beginning of the traditional Jewish holiday of Hanukkah, during the Chabad of Greater Orlando's "Chanukah on the Park" celebration in Winter Park, Fla., late Sunday, Nov. 28, 2021. Held at Central Park, the event included the lighting of a giant menorah, live performers, music and dancing. Jews worldwide will celebrate Hanukkah through Dec. 6. (Joe Burbank/Orlando Sentinel via AP)
Opinion
Religion

The time for lights

This year Christians and Jews are celebrating a religious festival at the same time.

  • by Nomi Kaltmann
Summer reads illustration by Matt Davidson.

‘Internal’ exile is in fashion, and that’s where I’m headed this summer

Taking comfort in simple pleasures – such as reading – can provide us with a shield against the world’s woes. Toughness can wait.

  • by Jacqueline Maley
Turn right: Some are asking if Elon Musk, right, will be Donald Trump’s “co-president”.
Analysis
US politics

Musk helped kill a bill. But much of what he spread was misinformation

The X owner, an unelected figure, not only used his outsize influence on the platform to help sway the US Congress, he did so without regard for the facts.

  • by Melissa Goldin
Sam Konstas.

The moment I knew Sam Konstas was ready for Test cricket

On a gloomy afternoon at the SCG the cricketing prodigy proved that he has what it takes.

  • by Geoff Lawson
Virat Kohli and Steve Smith index image for Greg Chappell column

I knew when my time was up. Ageing greats Kohli and Smith will, too

Cautiousness and a creeping self-doubt that stems from poor performances and heightened scrutiny: it’s the story of every great batter who faces the inevitability of time.

  • by Greg Chappell
Film still from the movie Heretic starring Hugh Grant and Keira Knightley in a scene from Black Doves.
Opinion
Streaming

This Christmas, Keira and Hugh take us from Love Actually to mass murder, actually

It’s been 21 years since the two combined to conjure the most loved Christmas movie of the 21st century, but now they have turned to a new “blood and baubles” genre.

  • by Steve Meacham
Best of Fitz Files illo

The best and worst of sport in 2024: And that was only Raygun

At the end of another extraordinary sporting year, it’s time to celebrate the best and worst athletes, moments and quotes from 2024.

  • by Peter FitzSimons
Illustration: Simon Letch

Let’s rethink The Lucky Country. Australia’s fortune was never dumb luck

Donald Horne’s seminal book cast Australia as a mediocre country run by second-rate people. The truth is its brand of democracy has often led the world.

  • by Nick Bryant
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Balmain, Western Suburbs and Wests Tigers fans at Leichhardt Oval.

In NRL clown town, can a Tiger turn into a Magpie? It’s not black and white...

Wests Tigers are a three-ring circus, but there are reasons why the Magpies can’t just swoop in.

  • by Darren Kane
Workers on the Sydenham train station tracks.

Respect all public sector workers with a fair wage

Sydney’s rail network will be strangled by industrial action in the lead-up to New Year after the NSW government failed to strike a pay deal with the Rail Tram and Bus Union.

Vladimir Putin with Gazprom CEO Alexey Miller. Russia’s energy empire is crumbling.

Putin’s spectacular act of self-sabotage has killed the Kremlin’s biggest market

Gazprom was for decades Russia’s biggest money-spinner and the most striking symbol of the Kremlin’s influence abroad.

  • by Ben Marlow
Elon Musk aligned himself with Trump in the closing stages of the presidential race, and it has paid off.

‘Co-president’ Elon Musk? True power of Trump’s ally in the spotlight

The unelected tech billionaire’s role in scrapping a spending deal in Congress alarmed Democrats and watchdog groups, and could result in a government shutdown.

  • by Cat Zakrzewski, Jacqueline Alemany, Marianne LeVine, Liz Goodwin and Colby Itkowitz
Ange Postecoglou’s Spurs are into the Carabao Cup semi-finals.
Analysis
England

‘Are you not entertained?’ Postecoglou is two steps away from vindication with Spurs

After a close shave against Manchester United in the Carabao Cup, Ange Postecoglou is inching closer to winning a trophy like he says he always does in his second seasons.

  • by Vince Rugari
Illustration: Dionne Gain
Opinion
Christmas

We’re trying Christmas without presents. Blame my late Aunty Elspeth

It’s not the presents that count. It’s who’s present.

  • by Malcolm Knox
Artificial intelligence can help uni students write essays. But is that such a bad thing?
Opinion
AI

To AI or not to AI? How chatbots can help revive the university essay

Artificial intelligence could help in writing essays, but only if we take the time to reconsider their history and real purpose.

  • by Huw Griffiths
Sydney train commuters are caught in the middle of the brinkmanship between rail unions and the government.

Sydney’s rail network hangs in balance ahead of ultimate showdown

The high-stakes brinkmanship between the state Labor government and powerful rail unions has been leading to this moment for months.

  • by Matt O'Sullivan
Trying to plan Christmas lunch around the weather is a national pastime for Australians.
Opinion
Christmas

Our unhinged annual Christmas obsession is the one thing Aussies can’t control

You’d think living in a country where the weather swings from droughts to flash floods might’ve taught us to be laid-back. Yeah, nah.

  • by Kate Halfpenny
E. Jean Carroll exits the New York Federal Court, Friday, Sept. 6, 2024, after former President Donald Trump appeared in court, in New York. (AP Photo/Eduardo Munoz Alvarez)

What’s scarier than Trump suing to cow the media? The media caving in

News outlets need to keep saying Trump is all the things the courts have declared him to be.

  • by Bill Wyman
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In the past, the federal government has paid state governments to push through productivity-boosting reforms.
Opinion
Spending

Why bribery is key to boosting our economic prosperity

The key to making us better off in the long term – lifting productivity – may require the feds to offer incentives to the states.

  • by Millie Muroi

The nation has lost its horsepower. Why? Because our leaders are too scared to act

The mid-year economic update is a dismal portrait of a mediocre nation, but both sides of politics are culpable.

  • by David Crowe
Opinion
Christmas

All I want for Christmas is world peace and a four-year snooze

Failing that, I’ll have what my dog, Heidi, is having. She seems like the smartest one in the room.

  • by Genevieve Novak
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Opinion
Column 8

Does your ferry have a fridge magnet?

And does your car need a hand?

Elon Musk, Taylor Swift.
Opinion
Trade wars

How Elon Musk and Taylor Swift can resolve US-China relations

While we were sleeping, China took a great leap forward in high-tech manufacturing of everything. Will China bury us? That is not at all inevitable.

  • by Thomas L. Friedman
Nudity is the stuff of nightmares for most Australians - but for Germans it’s about connecting with nature.
Opinion
Body image

Germans get it. We need to stop being so hung up about our naked bodies

Like many Australians, I had anxieties about my body. Getting nude in front of strangers has made all the difference.

  • by Liam Heitmann-Ryce-LeMercier

In defence of the middle ground on Gaza

Rodger Shanahan perfectly sums up the disturbing nature of Middle East commentary, where “advocates press hard for their side without conceding any ground to the other”.

Peter Dutton claimed nuclear waste from a small reactor each year would fit in a coke can.

Australians don’t want a nuclear wasteland in their backyards

The main stumbling block facing a Coalition plan for nuclear power stations around the nation will be where to store the waste.

  • The Herald's View
Chief selector George Bailey watches a Shield match alongside Pat Cummins.

Is Darren Lehmann right about Australia’s chief selector being too close to the team?

Critics say George Bailey’s close relationship with the Australian team means hard decisions are not being made, but within the team they have a different view.

  • by Daniel Brettig
Dustin Milligan as Jack Snowman in Hot Frosty.
Opinion
Christmas

Sex merchants have hijacked Christmas. Does Santa really need to be ‘weirdly hot’?

I’m no prude, but isn’t Christmas a time for us to put the horizontal happy hour on ice?

  • by Cherie Gilmour
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ANZ’s outgoing CEO Shayne Elliot.
Opinion
Big four

‘What the hell is going on?’: Big bank’s year of woe summed up in one meeting

A horror annual general meeting is an ignominious way for ANZ’s outgoing boss Shayne Elliott to mark his exit.

  • by Elizabeth Knight

Albanese has taken hits but isn’t a terrible PM. Cut him some slack

Labor is slipping in the polls and there is even a whiff of leadership talk in Canberra. Albo may have tried to avoid picking fights but voters won’t cop that approach any longer.

  • by Paddy Manning
Wall Street tumbled after the Fed shifted its thinking for 2025.

The Trump shadow hanging over Wall Street’s meltdown

A big change in the Federal Reserve’s thinking triggered a bloodbath on Wall Street that has spread around the world.

  • by Stephen Bartholomeusz
Usman Khawaja.
Analysis
Test cricket

We all love Uzzie, but we’d love some runs from him even more

Usman Khawaja’s struggles exemplify what has become of this series and perversely enough why it is so engrossing. We’re willing him to make runs, but is that enough?

  • by Greg Baum

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