Learning the lessons of history I begin by offering my apologies to Colin Teese. In referring to the risks of assuming that “creating additional currency and credit will energise the economy” I was expressing only a general concern about the soundness and sustainability of what today is almost universal conventional wisdom. Whether we look at the history of private-sector economic initiative or public-sector…

Three economic realities go a long way towards explaining why 22 per cent of Australians no longer vote for any of the major political parties. The average 18 year old will have five changes of career and 17 jobs by the time he or she is 75. “Generation rent” describes under 35 year olds, because the proportion owning their own home has fallen…

  BARKSKINS by Annie Proulx 4th Estate, London, 2016 Paperback: 736 pages Price: AUD$34.95   Reviewed by Jeffry Babb   Finding a novel with more gore than Barkskins would be difficult – Cormac McCarthy’s Blood Meridian perhaps? North America’s woods were a dangerous place in the old days. Many people died in bizarre circumstances; dying an unnatural death was not surprising…

SPQR: A History of Ancient Rome by Mary Beard Profile Books, 2016 Paperback: 608 pages Price: AUD$24.99   Reviewed by Bill James   You can tell that this is not a typical old-fashioned tome of ancient history, because the front cover has a sticker affixed to it containing a photograph of the author and the caption “AS SEEN ON TV”. …