Opinion
Opinion
Test cricket
Sam Konstas is the right player at the right time for Australia. Here’s why
I have always believed that it is the job of selectors to unearth champions, not pick those who make up the numbers.
- by Greg Chappell
Latest
Opinion
Social media
Stop blaming social media and take the phone off your kids
If your teenager is raging out of control because you haven’t enforced strong enough boundaries around devices, maybe it’s time to stop blaming social media and look in the mirror.
- by Nicole Jameson
Analysis
Australian cricket
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
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
Opinion
Test cricket
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
Opinion
Greater Good
From Perth to Manhattan to Sudan, this is the year that changed my life
I haven’t felt that way about many, if any, of the 34 years I lived before this one. But I am certain what I experienced in 2024 will stay with me forever.
- by Tess Ingram
Opinion
Australian culture
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
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
Analysis
Media & marketing
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
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
Opinion
Productivity
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
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
Opinion
Culture wars
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
Opinion
Religion
The time for lights
This year Christians and Jews are celebrating a religious festival at the same time.
- by Nomi Kaltmann
Opinion
Summer reads
‘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
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
Analysis
Australian cricket
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
Opinion
Australian cricket
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
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
Opinion
The Fitz Files
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
Opinion
Australian culture
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
Editorial
Australian economy
Public patience wearing thin on Labor’s economic vision
The question is whether the treasurer’s talk of a soft landing will convince voters that the government is doing enough to alleviate the hardship they are experiencing.
- The Age's View
Opinion
Wests Tigers
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
Opinion
Putin's Russia
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
Analysis
US Votes 2024
‘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
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
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
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
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
Opinion
Trump's America
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
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
Opinion
Australian economy
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
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
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
Analysis
Australian cricket
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
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
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
Opinion
Political leadership
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
Opinion
Interest rates
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
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
Opinion
Greyhound racing
Kiwis are brave enough to ban greyhound racing. Why aren’t we?
The NSW government tried to ban greyhound racing, but backed down. Now New Zealand have made the decision.
- by Peter FitzSimons
Opinion
Jobs
Why my bosses are both out of a job. But spa builders are doing OK
What’s in a job title? Everything, if your job just happened to disappear as part of a major revamp by the bureau of statistics of the nation’s thousands of occupations.
- by Shane Wright
Opinion
Performing arts
I was once team Raygun. After her heavy-handed legal threats, no more
The Australian breakdancer’s demand that a venue pay her $10,000 in legal fees over a tribute show she forced them to cancel is beyond a joke.
- by Jordan Baker
Opinion
Christmas
935 reasons why Christmas gift guides need to be chucked down the chimney
In theory, I don’t hate gift guides. But tensions arise when it becomes clear that the marketing teams sending these emails don’t exist in the same universe as I do.
- by Wendy Syfret
Analysis
Test cricket
Jasprit Bumrah has Australia’s number. It might be up on Boxing Day
Jasprit Bumrah’s burst was one of a few reasons why India will reach Melbourne feeling like they dodged a bullet and fired one or two of their own as the Gabba Test petered out.
- by Daniel Brettig
Analysis
Federal budget
Might look like Chalmers is spending like a drunken sailor, but this is what’s really going on
Both sides know the current system, reliant on the nation’s army of wage slaves, is failing the economy and future generations.
- by Shane Wright
Analysis
Test cricket
Who needs runs and who’s in a different class? Player ratings from the third Test
The third Test in Brisbane was heavily affected by rain and ended in a draw on the fifth day. Here’s how players from both teams rated.
- by Tom Decent and Daniel Brettig
Opinion
Global economy
The world’s most important bromance needs to be rekindled
Xi Jinping and Donald Trump can’t let relations between China and the US deteriorate any further.
- by Karishma Vaswani
Opinion
Israeli-Palestinian conflict
Telling Israel the killing must stop in Gaza is not antisemitic
Israel had every right respond to Hamas, but some of its supporters ignore a critical constraint under international law.
- by Rodger Shanahan
Original URL: https://www.watoday.com.au/opinion