ROWAN DEAN The sick fantasy of the Albanese Labor government is that there is some vast far-right network out there in the shadows stirring up all sorts of malign schemes. Indeed, the ‘far right’, the ‘neo-Ns’ and the ‘white supremacists’ appear to warrant far more attention from the Albanese government – certainly in press conferences and interviews – than do, for example, radical Islamist hate preachers and their ilk. But the simple fact is that the violence and political trouble-making that this country has seen in recent years is almost entirely of the left, be it of the communist, socialist, anarchist or Islamist persuasion. Article | spectator.com.au/2026/10/lef…

My grandfather survived the Holocaust and came to Australia believing he had found something precious: a country where his children and grandchildren could live without the antisemitism he had endured in Poland. I find myself grateful he is no longer here to witness what has happened to that Australia. Article | spectator.com.au/2026/10/wha…

By the time you read this, the New Zealand election will be about a week away. ... and they just might elect a Labour government. The odds are against it, but it remains a real possibility. Why is that? Article | spectator.com.au/2026/10/new…

Do we really want Albanese and the Labor government in charge of AI's future? Where will they take this technology? What do they seek to achieve with it? "History offers few encouraging examples of governments acquiring extensive power over information and then choosing not to exercise it." Article | spectator.com.au/2026/10/bra…

Had the Howard government refused to sign us up to the Rome Statute, Ben Roberts-Smith would not now be in the ruinous position he is in. Yes, he would have possibly faced a court-martial. Full stop. End of conversation. That is the only way, in my opinion, a soldier should ever be accused, charged or tried with a war crime. By a military court. In my opinion, civilian juries and more importantly woke lefty civilian judges should never be trusted with interpreting and determining the moral and legal complexities of the battlefield. Article | spectator.com.au/2026/10/the…

Is demand for the water of life running dry? I’ve just returned from a trip to Islay in Scotland, which has more whisky distilleries per square mile than anywhere else in the UK, and several of its famous single malts are struggling. Article | spectator.com.au/2026/10/are…

Regard the protestors. See how happy they are. Can you hear them whoop and whistle? The burning clock tower of the town hall has fallen inside the old building. Houp-là. How they whistle and whoop! The baying of such mobs in public places is as old as the history of towns and cities, the burning of buildings equally antique. Order and chaos, civilisation and barbarity, the call of the primeval. Article | spectator.com.au/2026/10/our…

The essence of Gambon’s art was contradiction. He could be simultaneously dishevelled and elegant, grotesque and sensuous. His captivating face managed to be bony and spongy at once. He wasn’t camp, but he could do camp, perfecting a kind of blokey refinement. When he misfired, he was out of control, imprecise and erratic, most sadly of all as Falstaff. Anxiety and bad teeth made a disappointment of what had seemed perfect casting. But when he was good – as Brecht’s Galileo; in David Hare’s Skylight or Miller’s A View from the Bridge – he was matchless. He had technique to burn (except in mastering foreign accents) but was an instinctive performer, disdainful of research, acting from the guts. Article | spectator.com.au/2026/10/we-…

The warden of Merton College, Oxford, where Tolkien was Professor of English Language and Literature, was ‘visibly shaken’ when Tolkien showed him the blurb for that sequel, eventually titled The Lord of the Rings. Reviews were largely poor: the American critic Edmund Wilson was not alone in thinking it ‘juvenile trash’. Article | spectator.com.au/2026/10/the…

Every year, around Trafalgar Day, I rewatch Peter Weir’s 2003 film Master and Commander. It seems obvious to say that this is a film about heroism, but it took me until this year to realise that the hero is not in fact Captain Jack Aubrey. Article | spectator.com.au/2026/10/in-…

Sitting through Campbell being ‘interviewed’ by former Today host Mishal Husain about his godawful new self-help book... Article | spectator.com.au/2026/10/ala…

“It’s fine to have free movement as long as not too many people move” isn’t a policy. Article | spectator.com.au/2026/10/doe…

Benjamin Netanyahu’s political survival is astonishing. Despite being prime minister during the worst massacre of Jews since the Holocaust, the shocking infiltration of Qatar into the highest reaches of government, and the catastrophic erosion of Israel’s standing on the world stage, the pro-Bibi bloc is polling neck and neck with the opposition. Article | spectator.com.au/2026/10/to-…

I landed in Israel as acres of commentary continued to declare its current election the most consequential ever. An emergency. The language is familiar. The last chance to save Israeli democracy. The last chance to remove the right. The last chance to restore a serious government. The last chance to stop Benjamin Netanyahu. The last chance to save Benjamin Netanyahu. The last chance to deal Iran a decisive blow. Every election here arrives carrying some version of apocalypse. Article | spectator.com.au/2026/10/the…

Labor’s Digital Duty of Care bill forms part of an ongoing tantrum put on – jointly – by the Uniparty and media after they lost control of the political narrative. The rise of social media represents their loss of power. One Nation supports social media because we believe the voice of the people and independent journalists make Australia freer and safer. We believe Canberra cannot be trusted with censorship powers and that mainstream media deserve to be out-competed on account of their appalling behaviour exhibited over decades. Article | spectator.com.au/2026/10/rag…