Opinion | Comment & Analysis | The Age

We’re sorry, this feature is currently unavailable. We’re working to restore it. Please try again later.

Opinion

Advertisement
Letters
Letters

Radical shake-up needed of rental market

Readers debate the pros and cons of investment in the housing market.

Latest

Queen Camilla reads Winnie-the-Pooh to children alongside Jim Cummings, who voiced Pooh for film and television, at New York Public Library on day three of her and King Charles visit to the US . Camilla also gifted the Library a specially-made replica of Roo produced by Merrythought, the same manufacturer that produced Christopher Robin’s original dolls in the 1920s.
Opinion
Royalty

Get stuffed, Uncle Sam! Return Winnie-the-Pooh immediately

Queen Camilla this week gifted America a stuffed toy called Roo, to complete a set of Winnie-the-Pooh characters. But if Greece can take back the Elgin Marbles, surely Britain should reclaim Winnie and co.

  • by Catherine Pepinster
Matt Willis

The ’80s are back, but should they be?

It’s 2026 but Tom Cruise, Madonna, Arnold Schwarzenegger and Bon Jovi didn’t get the memo. I was an ’80s kid but I’m parking my BMX, OK?

  • by Charles Purcell
Donald Trump in one of Elon Musk’s Teslas at the White House on Tuesday.

Trump’s war has been a gift to an industry he detests

The US president would be furious at the unintended consequences of his war on Iran.

  • by Jeremy Warner
FIFA President Gianni Infantino presents President Donald Trump with the FIFA Peace Prize late last year.
Opinion
WordPlay

Believe it or not, I’m lost for a word

What do you call it when a thing is not really a thing?

  • by David Astle
The massacre at Bondi, in which 15 people were killed, led to the royal commission into antisemitism.

Echoes of Lindt inquest in Bondi inquiry: Security chiefs must accept scrutiny

In the case of Lindt, police fell into the trap of complacency. State and federal agencies must be open to criticism over the Bondi atrocity.

  • by Deborah Snow
Advertisement
Veteran entertainment reporter Peter Ford has fled Melbourne for the Gold Coast.
Opinion
Crime

Apparently crime in Melbourne is so bad people are fleeing to Queensland. Have fun up there

Veteran entertainment reporter Peter Ford this week fled to the Gold Coast because he said crime in Melbourne has gotten so bad. I have some news for you, Pete.

  • by Kate Halfpenny
Trump, Crown Prince Mohammed Bin Salman Al Saud, golfer Cameron Smith.

The Saudis used LIV Golf to try to win over Trump. The players were just rich pawns

The rebel golf tour sold itself as an attempt to reinvent the game. What will be its legacy?

  • by Malcolm Knox
Betty Draper makes the rest of us look adequate.

This Mother’s Day, let’s be proud that at least we’re not Betty Draper

Watching mothers behaving badly reassures us we’re doing OK.

  • by Sophie Quick
Betrayal is always painful on a personal level.

My colleagues secretly mock my clothing choices. What can I do?

At the centre of this behaviour is an effort to maintain a hierarchy, and it’s one you should think carefully about being a part of.

  • by Jonathan Rivett
The current gap between generations is narrower than the record reached in 2019.
Opinion
Tax reform

Housing isn’t just a young people problem. We know how this story ends

Intergenerational fairness is an issue for all of us. Our politicians need to act on it.

  • by Millie Muroi
An event flyer with Alan Kohler session with links to the Teals/Independents in Melbourne

‘My stuff-up’: Alan Kohler pulls out of political event

ABC finance presenter Alan Kohler, arguably Australia’s most experienced business journalist, was an unlikely headline speaker at a ticketed event in Melbourne.

  • by Calum Jaspan
Opinion
Gas

Australians have had it with mining companies. A gas exports tax is inevitable

When One Nation voters strongly support a policy backed by the Greens, Labor’s rank-and-file and the likely future leader of the Liberal Party, it might not happen overnight, but it will happen.

  • by Waleed Aly
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese and Treasurer Jim Chalmers must make difficult choices in the budget.

Can Albanese hold his nerve when the angry Boomers come for him?

Labor is expected to make some of its most ambitious tax changes in the federal budget. Baby Boomers will be among the big losers – and it’s a calculated gamble that most voters won’t care.

  • by James Massola
Letters
Letters

Here’s to the hanky, long may it reign

A piece on the humble handkerchief has elicited myriad responses from readers.

Ripper Golf captain Cam Smith.

LIV Golf is on the brink of collapse. What’s next for Cam Smith and the rebels?

LIV Golf stars, including Smith and several other Aussies, face uncertain futures and some tricky pathways back to other major tours.

  • by Iain Payten
Advertisement
Australians’ renewable energy choices are driven by pragmatism – not ideology.

In a time of big shocks, Australians want bigger answers

Our research has found that people are pragmatic, especially about their energy choices. Politicians are the ones lagging.

  • by Rebecca Huntley
Poor sleep can be a factor in relationship breakdown.
Opinion
Sleep

Considering a sleep divorce? This Danish technique might just save your marriage

Couples who are not sleeping well have more anger and conflict in their relationships and worsened perceptions of relationship quality.

  • by Lisa Martin
Virginia Bell held a private meeting with victims and their families from the Bondi attack.

The key questions Virginia Bell wants ASIO, police and the government to answer

Bell’s interim report leaves many questions unanswered but makes clear she believes more could have been done to respond to surging antisemitism.

  • by Matthew Knott
The dizzying changes wrought by energy shocks are only ever seen in the rearview mirror. But Asia might be in the cusp of a major transformation.

This oil shock will hit Asia harder than the 1970s

Europe’s oil demand never recovered from the shocks of the 1970s. If the crisis in the Strait of Hormuz doesn’t end soon, a dramatic transformation awaits in Asia.

  • by David Fickling
Spinach, spinach and rocket, mixed leaf salad, spinach and kale, stir fry with teriyaki sauce and a honey mustard salad kit are among the impacted products.

Woolies launches charm offensive for customers as shareholders take a hit

Woolworths is love-bombing customers in a strategy to win market share and improve loyalty - at least in the near term.

  • by Elizabeth Knight
Opinion
AI

Think twice: Five key rules for using AI at work

Every worker should define their own personal rules of engagement for how they choose to interact with this powerful new technology.

  • by Tim Duggan
Wayne Campbell ‘flies the flag’ for teammate Matthew Knights in 2001.
Opinion
AFL 2026

Called a snitch: Inside the case that blew up the AFL players’ code

I’ve experienced the AFL’s judiciary system from a couple of different perspectives. Bitter disappointment only arose once.

  • by Wayne Campbell
Jerome Powell’s decision to hang around rather than depart quietly will inevitably incense Trump, who has said he will fire Powell if he didn’t retire when his term as chair ended.

Trump will be furious as an old foe digs in his heels

Fed chair Jerome Powell has long been one of Donald Trump’s favourite targets. But he might have the last laugh after a historic move that will incense the president.

  • by Stephen Bartholomeusz
Kitty and Billy Wallaby and their children; Lake Condah; Anzac Day dawn service at the Shrine of Remembrance. 
Tony Wright’s Column
Indigenous culture

My grandfather was told to offer Kitty Wallaby a meal. She rebuffed him with six words

Kitty Wallaby’s welcome to Tony Wright’s family was an act of grace and generosity. It is a message lost on far too many today.

  • by Tony Wright
Winners all round: How Jarome Luai’s PNG move impacts everyone in rugby league.
Opinion
NRL 2026

Everyone, even the Tigers, can win with Luai’s PNG move. Here’s who I would target next

I don’t think the PNG Chiefs could have landed a better marquee player to lead the NRL’s new franchise. Their next signings could set up a rugby league powerhouse.

  • by Andrew Johns
Advertisement

Iran’s supreme leader has not been seen in months. For Trump’s sake, he better not be dead

The Islamic Republic has long featured multiple and competing centres of power, often played off against each other by the supreme leader in a chaotic yet effective strategy of divide and rule.

  • by Kylie Moore-Gilbert
Devil Wears Prada 2
Opinion
Style

Hardly ground-breaking. What happened to the fashion in The Devil Wears Prada 2?

Even Meryl Streep and Anne Hathaway can’t save this sequel from dated looks and flat handbags.

  • by Damien Woolnough
Premier Jacinta Allan

Jacinta Allan has a strange plan to reduce debt. It involves spending even more

The Victorian premier has outlined the principles of Allanomics, a circular budgetary philosophy where there’s one antidote to excessive government spending.

  • by Chip Le Grand
Illustration
Letters
Letters

Australia needs to rethink its defence strategies

Readers cast a stern eye over the AUKUS submarine deal, and options put forward by the Coalition.

Rebel Wilson, Sue Chrysanthou and Charlotte MacInnes.
Analysis
Defamation

Rebel without a pause: The ‘truth teller’ and the celebrity silk duel

Subplots abound in the real-life drama of Rebel Wilson.

  • by Harriet Alexander
Departed Melbourne CEO Paul Guerra.
Analysis
AFL 2026

Guerra was appointed last April. It didn’t take long for the Demons to get buyer’s remorse

Paul Guerra drove into the MCG’s underground car park at 7.30am on Tuesday. Everything about the day was normal – until it wasn’t.

  • by Michael Gleeson
The war is having wide-ranging effects on the global economy.

The next casualty of Trump’s war is already here

It is the coldest-known substance on Earth used in a number of crucial parts of the global economy. And we are running low.

  • by Ambrose Evans-Pritchard
Donald Trump’s war against Iran has pushed inflation to a three-year high.
Analysis
Inflation

Everyone’s getting mugged by inflation – and you’ve got one man to blame

If Donald Trump’s war against Iran had not started, inflation would be falling – not increasing. That’s the problem facing the Reserve Bank.

  • by Shane Wright
Saints coach Ross Lyon with Brad Hill.
Opinion
AFL 2026

Brad Hill had a hard conversation with Ross Lyon. This is why it’s good for the AFL

It showed me what can happen when people get on the front foot, don’t hide things and are prepared, as leaders, to be vulnerable.

  • by Mathew Stokes
One Nation candidate David Farley, left, and Barnaby Joyce campaigning in Farrer last month.

Why One Nation candidate David Farley’s ‘political journey’ doesn’t add up

Pauline Hanson’s man in Farrer voiced support for independent Michelle Milthorpe at the last election. He didn’t stop there.

  • by Rob Harris
Advertisement
Elon Musk and Sam Altman.
Opinion
AI

Musk says he’s saving humanity as he battles Altman in court - but it may actually be xAI

Musk is playing up his role as AI’s - and indeed humanity’s - safety guard against a technology that “could kill us all”.

  • by Elizabeth Knight
The Quentin Blake illustration for the cover of The Twits, by Roald Dahl.
Opinion
Literature

If kids read The Twits and laugh, hairy-faced men will just have to cope

An academic fears Roald Dahl’s novel exposes children to violence, coercive power and stereotyping of men with beards. OK, but what if kids actually opened a book and couldn’t put it down?

  • by Michelle Cazzulino
Michael Bachelard still loves using a hanky.
Opinion
Health

The humble hanky has fallen out of fashion. I am, single-handedly, bringing it back

A hanky contains multitudes. Or it can. An adept user with a thick cold can bestow it with six or eight emissions before it goes into the laundry at the end of the day.

  • by Michael Bachelard
The UAE’s exit from OPEC is sudden, but not unexpected.
Opinion
Oil

Emiratis’ exit from OPEC will boost the flow of oil after the war

UAE’s defection will reduce the oil cartel’s influence over the global energy market and help make up for the billion barrels of oil lost because of the closure of the Strait of Hormuz.

  • by Stephen Bartholomeusz
The King with US President Donald Trump on Tuesday.

King Charles just told Trump exactly what he needed to hear – but it may not be enough

The King used the power of the podium at the US Congress to deliver a clever message to the American people – but the US president is unlikely to listen.

  • by David Crowe
Shifting your super.

Forget the flowers: This Mother’s Day gift could net you $730k

This one decision could be worth more to your financial future than any bunch of service station carnations ever will be.

  • by Melissa Browne
Superannuation was never really meant to be an investment vehicle for children.

Our grandkids’ super accounts were frozen. How else can we invest for them?

Superannuation is a great way to save money while you’re working, but it’s less suitable for young children.

  • by Noel Whittaker
Donald Trump has supported numerous conspiracy theories - now his supporters are turning those claims of orchestrated events against him.

Trump told Americans to ‘do their own research’. Now they think the attacks on him are staged

Two popular theories now circulating in the MAGA-verse are that the 2024 assassination attempt against Trump was staged and that Trump is the literal Antichrist.

  • by Melanie La'Brooy
Illustration by Simon Letch

The fossil fuel industry is using the Iran war to undermine net zero

The war is like a Trojan horse – it’s being used by oil and gas producers to lobby for “energy security” and fight tax rises.

  • by Ross Gittins
The Storm and Bulldogs have struggled with the quicker pace of the game this year.
Opinion
NRL 2026

How speed killed the Bulldogs and the Storm

Melbourne and Canterbury built their games on defence – with plenty of success. But the expanded use of six-again set-restarts this season has left them exposed.

  • by Neil Breen
Advertisement
Letters
Letters

Trump right to take on misogyny of Iran regime

Readers respond to conflict in the Middle East, a welcoming nation, bicycles on Sydney Road, and Donald’s ducking.

Labor party members and government associates fill a disproportionate number of board seats.

Victoria’s public board appointments process must be examined

The numbers show it is well past time that the appointments process for public board spots was changed.

  • The Age's View
The FluMist vaccine.
Analysis
Healthcare

There’s a new nose-spray flu vaccine. Should your kids get it?

With flu season almost upon us, it’s time to get vaccinated. And for the first time, there’s more than one option available.

  • by Liam Mannix
Opinion
Religion

Accused rapist Russell Brand has found God. If only he knew how to find Bible verses on live TV

The comedian turned conspiracy theorist turned born-again Christian was doing an interview with commentator Piers Morgan to promote a new book about his awakening when it all went off the rails.

  • by Katy Hall