Opinion
Free Speech vs Gender Dogma
First posted on Substack August 26, 2026 Part of the crowd at the rally This is the speech I gave to the ‘Restore Women’s Rights’ rally in Martin Place, Sydney, on 23 August 2026. We Australians are mostly a tolerant bunch. We are fine with other people living their lives
On Jizz and Bird Worlds
First published on my Substack August 15, 2026 In the world of birding, “jizz” is a fascinating but little-used term (perhaps little used because of its other, crude meaning). Jizz refers to the overall impression of a bird—its shape, posture, movement, and “vibe”—that allows an experienced birder to identify it
The lesbian phallus, and how it found its way into the Federal Court of Australia
First published on Substack June 30, 2026 In May, the Full Court of the Federal Court of Australia ruled that Sall Grover, the proprietor of a women-only app Giggle for Girls, had discriminated against a transwoman, Roxanne Tickle, for denying Tickle access to the app. Sall Grover did not know that Roxanne
The Rise of Resilience Power, and Odd Arne Westad’s Climate Disavowal
First published on my Substack June 16, 2026 The Coming Storm, the new book by Yale historian Odd Arne Westad on great powers and the prospects for world war, is attracting considerable attention. Westad’s basic argument is that today’s pattern of great-power relations bears an uncomfortable resemblance to the years preceding the
Dodgy Pronouns and Phantom Identities
First published on my Substack June 04, 2026 I have been invited to speak in Sydney about my new book on climate change at the Festival of Dangerous Ideas in August. Filling out the author information form, I have been asked to nominate my gender. In fact, the form
Thinking the Anthropocene #3 The hallucination of modernity
First posted on my Substack June 10, 2026 This post is the third of three on the philosophy and politics of the Anthropocene. The first post can be read here and the second post can be read here. Environmental ethics By characterising the Earth as ‘defiant’ in my book of that name I