A multi-contributor publication of commentary, observations and articles where clarity matters more than comfort. A small publication for sharp observation, inconvenient questions, and the occasional necessary honk.
The Honking Goose | 16 August 2026 | Editorial
There is a mayor in Bundaberg who says she is being bullied. There is an anonymous group of satirists who say they are making comedy. Both propositions deserve to be taken seriously.
Reverend Green | 15 August 2026 | The Parish Pump
The Office of the Hon Andrew Powell MP replies to emails promptly. This is, as it turns out, most of what can be said about it with total confidence.
She Who Must Be Obeyed | 13 August 2026 | Scuttlebutt and Small Talk
There is a new price for something that used to be, simply yours.
Fur Balls | 11 August 2026 | Pulpit and Podium
Christine Lagarde found out what had happened to several billion euros of her currency the way most people find things out these days: after it was over!
Fur Balls | 09 August 2026 | Pulpit and Podium
A US Supreme Court ruling about presidential removal powers has Brussels rattled. Nobody in Australia will hear about it, which is rather the point.
Reverend Green | 07 August 2026 | The Parish Pump
Australia's food supply chain has been investigated, reported on and legislated against for the better part of a decade.
Reverend Green | 05 August 2026 | Pulpit and Podium
A US senator has been standing in front of congregations lately and doing something mildly unfashionable. He has been reading them the Bible.
Ophelia | 03 August 2026 | Pulpit and Podium
Long before constitutional lawyers became interested in political slogans, Shakespeare, Carroll and Kafka had already noticed that words rarely stay where authority puts them.
She Who Must Be Obeyed | 01 August 2026 | Pulpit and Podium
Ninety three per cent of Australians trust the label on the tin.
Miss Daisy | 30 July 2026 | Pulpit and Podium
Companies occasionally announce, in careful language, that something has gone slightly wrong. OpenAI's turn came last week, and the language was very careful indeed.
Fur Balls | 29 July 2026 | The Parish Pump
Queensland spent $48.8 million telling itself apart from Labor last year.
The Conquest of Gallifrey | 28 July 2026 | Pulpit and Podium
There is a rule in world sport nobody writes down, because until recently nobody needed to.
Fur Balls | 26 July 2026 | The Parish Pump
Some politicians choose their words carefully.
Miss Daisy | 25 July 2026 | The Parish Pump
A church voted last week to stop women doing a job they'd been doing for decades. Whatever else you call that, it isn't new.
Reverend Green | 23 July 2026 | The Parish Pump
Every institution exists for the moment when arbitrary power comes knocking. The rest is administration.
The Conquest of Gallifrey | 21 July 2026 | Pulpit and Podium
In which the Pentagon discovers a medical intervention it can get behind.
Reverend Green | 19 July 2026 | Pulpit and Podium
A short sermon on durability, in a year in which nothing has been allowed to stay decided.
Conquest of Gallifrey | 17 July 2026 | Pulpit and Podium
Why the rest of the world has started quietly buying insurance.
Fur Balls | 16 July 2026 | Pulpit and Podium
This wasn't a larrikin being a larrikin. It was a Prime Minister trying to sound like the bloke at the barbecue.
Reverend Green | 14 July 2026 | Pulpit and Podium
Neutrality as a Status You Can Apply For.
The Conquest of Gallifrey | 12 July 2026 | Pulpit and Podium
Count Binface has never been to Clacton. This puts him roughly on par with most of his rivals.
Ophelia | 10 July 2026 | Pulpit and Podium
There is an odd difference between remembering the past and living in it.
The Conquest of Gallifrey | 09 July 2026 | Scuttlebutt and Small Talk
On Wednesday morning, a small number of Telstra's servers stopped agreeing with the rest of the country about something fairly basic.
The Conquest of Gallifrey | 06 July 2026 | Pulpit and Podium
FIFA has spent decades insisting that football exists above politics.
Fur Balls | 29 June 2026 | The Parish Pump
Principles are one thing. Electoral systems are quite another.
Fur Balls | 24 June 2026 | The Concrete Canopy
Queensland calls this decisive government.
The Conquest of Gallifrey | 16 June 2026 | Pulpit and Podium
A Modest Proposal, From a Shareholder.
Miss Daisy | 11 June 2026 | Pulpit and Podium
On Luxury and Legacy and Who Gets Left Outside.
Bean Sprout | 07 June 2026 | The Concrete Canopy
They have a tendency to turn up after speeches have been written..
Bean Sprout | 04 June 2026 | The Parish Pump
The aunt finally showed up.
Fur Balls | 02 June 2026 | The Concrete Canopy
Something is in the air in Queensland.
Ophelia | 29 May 2026 | Pulpit and Podium
A study in what happens when a country confuses 'buying things' with 'governing'.
Fur Balls | 27 May 2026 | Pulpit and Podium
Trust, transparency and twelve points from somewhere unexpected.
The Conquest of Gallifrey | 26 May 2026 | Pulpit and Podium
Classical literacy in diplomacy is never accidental.
Ophelia | 25 May 2026 | Pulpit and Podium
On the Beijing summit, and the art of achieving very little - magnificently!
Reverend Green | 24 May 2026 | Pulpit and Podium
The Anatomy of Responsible Decline.
Fur Balls | 23 May 2026 | Pulpit and Podium
On the sudden political usefulness of a faith.
Fur Balls | 21 May 2026 | Pulpit and Podium
On gold, glory, and the things people build while they wait.
Bean Sprout | 19 May 2026 | The Concrete Canopy
The Ceremony of Listening Carefully Before Ignoring Everything.
Bean Sprout | 18 May 2026 | The Concrete Canopy
Australia watches things go, as it has always watched things go.
Fur Balls | 16 May 2026 | Pulpit and Podium
On free speech, consequences, and the occasional own goal.
Fur Balls | 14 May 2026 | Scuttlebut & Small Talk
Keep the home fires burning.
The Conquest of Gallifrey | 12 May 2026 | Pulpit and Podium
When we rely on phrases designed to prevent thought rather than encourage it.
The Conquest of Gallifrey | 11 May 2026 | Pulpit and Podium
Familiarity is not a culture. It is a preference.
Ophelia | 10 May 2026 | Pulpit and Podium
The Seashell Doctrine or Aggravated Symbolic Intent.
Miss Daisy | 09 May 2026 | The parish Pump
One Nation's anti-establishment politics, brought to you by the establishment.
Miss Daisy | 08 May 2026 | Pulpit and Podium
An extraordinary evening at an ordinary dinner.
The Conquest of Gallifrey | 07 May 2026 | Pulpit and Podium
The cartel built to resist Western dominance is unravelling because of it.
Ophelia | 05 May 2026 | Pulpit and Podium
Washington got the bell. Canberra got the bill.
Ophelia | 04 May 2026 | Pulpit and Podium
On kings, ghosts, and the art of delivering a message.
The Conquest of Gallifrey | 03 May 2026 | The Parish Pump
Queensland has found a clear answer. The question is less settled.
Ophelia | 02 May 2026 | The Concrete Canopy
The empress has new clothes. So, it turns out, does the gym wall.
Fur Balls | 01 May 2026 | The Parish Pump
A NSW court has found that cohesion understood as quiet is not quite the same thing as democracy. Australians remain broadly supportive of tolerance, but terms and conditions apply.
Fur Balls | 30 April 2026 | The Parish Pump
The words are not the problem. You are.
Fur Balls | 29 April 2026 | The Parish Pump
Dissent is fine. Knowing when to keep it to yourself is better.
Fur Balls | 28 April 2026 | Pulpit and Podium
A world that loudly condemns concentrated power seems curiously reluctant to dismantle it.
Bean Sprout | 26 April 2026 | The Parish Pump
If the system only opens one door, it should not be surprised who walks through it.
Ophelia| 25 April 2026 | The Parish Pump
Nambour kept its car park. The community deserves credit for that.
The Conquest of Gallifrey | 24 April 2026 | Pulpit and Podium
Australia has spent a generation interrogating its colonial past. Apparently its digital future is not covered by the same inquiry.
Bean Sprout | 23 April 2026 | Pulpit and Podium
When the problem is supernatural, expertise is beside the point. That, it turns out, is rather the idea.
Miss Daisy | 22 April 2026 | Pulpit and Podium
A privately funded speaking tour with a wellness retreat and an AI clothing app, described inevitably, repeatedly, by everyone, as a royal visit. Someone is finding this very useful.
Fur Balls | 21 April 2026 | Pulpit and Podium
When scripture goes to war, it's worth checking the source.
Ophelia | 20 April 2026 | The Concrete Canopy
A new supermarket may seem practical. But as its edge grows, so too does the quiet disappearance of what makes a small town feel like itself.
Miss Daisy | 19 April 2026 | Pulpit and Podium
If you can’t follow the logic, you’re probably not meant to board it.
Ophelia | 18 April 2026 | Scuttlebutt & Small Talk
A pause once suggested thought. It now seems to require explanation.
Ophelia | 16 April 2026 | Pulpit and Podium
The AFP arranged the camera. The camera arranged the argument.
The Conquest of Gallifrey | 14 April 2026 | Pulpit and Podium
Australia didn't go to war in the Gulf. It also wasn't asked.
Ophelia | 12 April 2026 | Culture Vulture
The stage remains lit, the lines continue, but the audience has begun listening differently. Shakespeare understood that power rarely notices the moment obedience begins to thin.
Fur Balls | 11 April 2026 | Culture Vulture
The Victoria Cross is awarded for gallantry in the field. It has never, in its history, come with a warranty.
The Conquest of Gallifrey | 10 April 2026 | The Parish Pump
The Blackall Range has very few Muslims and a great deal to say about them.
The Conquest of Gallifrey | 10 April 2026 | Pulpit and Podium
Prayer still appears in quiet corners and printed programs, even as it circulates for other ends elsewhere.
Fur Balls | 08 April 2026 | Pulpit and Podium
She has all the trappings of family, power, public certainty, and polished performance. Yet some rooms, it seems, remain unfilled.
Bean Sprout | 07 April 2026 | Pulpit and Podium
Panic at the pump and the quiet irresponsibility of abundance.
Miss Daisy | 06 April 2026 | The Concrete Jungle
Brisbane once promised a climate-positive Olympics. By 2032, the only target still standing may be the concrete.
Miss Daisy | 02 April 2026 | The Parish Pump
A friend observed recently that the hinterland is becoming Amish. Not by philosophy. By infrastructure. Then the Petrol started to run out.
Bean Sprout | 29 March 2026 | The Parish Pump
On surveys, scones, and the peculiar comfort of crossing a road that might kill you.
Fur balls | 27 March 2026 | Pulpit and Podium
Wilful blindness isn't ignorance. It's a management strategy, and like most management strategies, the downside is distributed to people not in the meeting.
Fur balls | 21 March 2026 | Pulpit and Podium
The Strait of Hormuz is closed, petrol is $2.50 a litre, and Barnaby Joyce wants a refinery. Meanwhile, four million Australian rooftops quietly disagree.
Fur balls | 16 March 2026 | Pulpit and Podium
Why are we so fluent about places we barely know, yet hesitant to speak of the ground beneath our feet? Our national habit of certainty, imported and local, remains one of Australia's stranger comforts.
She Who Must Be Obeyed | 10 March 2026 | Culture Vulture
Ireland has solved live music, a Sunshine Coast Arts Advocate's Facebook post has revealed. Arts advocacy may begin with culture, but rarely stays there once questions of influence, voice and public space emerge.
Bean Sprout | 01 March 2026 | Pulpit and Podium
Modern boycotts flourish mostly as statements of taste and moral posture, quietly bypassed by the necessities that keep life moving.