"I would much rather share an affectionate hug with a human than a pet animal, but other people have a different view, which deserves respect," writes ROBERT MACKLIN.
"As Australia’s second prime minister, Alfred Deakin celebrated a White Australia Policy and declared the Aboriginals a dying race, a victim of social Darwinism," writes "The Gadfly" columnist ROBERT MACKLIN.
"When the housing market went nuts the value of Tuross passed the threshold that prevented even a part pension. And just because we can’t live in two places at once, we’re suddenly the bad guys," bemoans columnist ROBERT MACKLIN.
"There are better systems available than the adversarial one, but the lawyers are presently having such a fine time – and have infiltrated all levels of government and stations of the elite – so we’re stuck with it," writes ROBERT MACKLIN.
"The ladies looked at me as though I’d gone nuts. "Sam Kerr?” said their pleasant spokesperson. "She’s got a life too, you know. She’ll be back in Chelsea earning a living,'" writes columnist ROBERT MACKLIN.
"Somehow, the little nerves and muscles around his coccyx knitted themselves back together and he was up and running like a whippet off the leash. And that was just the first two minutes." ROBERT MACKLIN's been watching the soccer.
Columnist ROBERT MACKLIN finds himself disempowered and struggling with the condescension bordering on contempt from staff amid the daily chaos that is Canberra Hospital's emergency department. Until he makes a break for it…
"While ever there’s a captain like Pat Cummins there’s hope for the future," but is the Ashes series really that important anymore, asks "The Gadfly" columnist ROBERT MACKLIN.
"Mr Dick intones something that, if you listen closely, can make your hair stand on end," bemoans "The Gadfly" columnist ROBERT MACKLIN.
"British occupiers, who had packed their castles and manor houses with the wealth from three centuries of slave trading, were simply sickening," writes ROBERT MACKLIN.
"Maybe our species is not fit for purpose – perhaps hard fact and comforting fiction are inseparable in the human psyche; and our time in the universe will be as fleeting as a passing shadow," writes "The Gadfly" columnist ROBERT MACKLIN.
"Albanese has railed against the neoliberal movement to abandon domestic manufacturing in favour of imports... He is determined that we will once again be a country that makes things," writes "The Gadfly" columnist ROBERT MACKLIN.
