Dr James Allan: Just Repeal and Undo

How many readers have noticed this huge failing in so many longstanding, establishment conservative political parties around the democratic world? To start, the Left side of politics when in power will seed or remake some institution. Or it will enact some big-ticket legislative reform. Maybe it’s bringing into being a beefed-up, more potent and renamed Australian Human Rights Commission. Maybe it’s enacting a statutory bill of rights in Victoria, in Queensland, in New Zealand, in Britain.

Dr James Allan: No, Trump Hasn’t “Undermined the Rule of Law”

In two recent articles in the pages of Quadrant (March 2026 issue ‘The Temptations of Unfreedom Revisited’ and May 2026 issue ‘Nasty, Brutish and Short-Sighted’), Oliver Hartwich has spent considerable time attacking US President Donald Trump. In the first of these, Hartwich alleged that Trump has systematically violated the rule of law. And that he has undermined the institutional integrity of the courts, law enforcement and the civil service. And that he has weaponised the Justice Department against his political foes. The listed vices go on.

Dr James Allan: Trump’s First Year Has Been Outstanding

It’s been just over a year since President Trump capped off the most remarkable comeback in US political history (okay, we can argue about Andrew Jackson) to win a non-consecutive second term as President. He was only the second man ever to do that. Now the US Constitution requires the election winner to wait over two months before taking power in the new year. That meant lots of time for the Biden autopen to issue pardons, spray money everywhere and allow myriad Third World people to keep pouring into the US. So any assessment around now is not of Trump’s first year of his second term, but rather more like a 10-month gauging or evaluation. But hey, for all those lovers of the metric system, let’s go ahead now and see how The Donald is doing.

Dr James Allan: In Defence of Cancelling the Left

This past fortnight has seen an explosion of interest in free speech in the United States. First there was the political assassination of the conservative activist Charlie Kirk, the founder of Turning Point USA. Then there was the decision by Disney (owner of the ABC TV broadcasting network in the US) to remove late night host Jimmy Kimmel from the air. A lot is going on in the name of ‘free speech’ so let me start with some facts.

Caleb Anderson: The psychopathology of the left - and the Magna Carta

The following question is being asked with telling frequency. "How do we reverse the decline of the West before the point of no return, and is this even possible, are we already beyond this point?"

New Zealand is daily subject to assaults on the hard earned foundational principles of our nation, the principles that have delivered a stable democracy, economic prosperity, and social cohesion, unlike few nations of our time, and certainly historically.

Dr James Allan: Australia’s Conservatives Are Paying the Price of Kowtowing to the Left

When the so-called ‘moderate’ MPs in a Westminster conservative political party remove a sitting Prime Minister from their own party, one who has delivered a majority government but is to the right of these moderates, the long-term effects are not good. Back in 1990, and after delivering 11 years of majority governments, Maggie Thatcher was knifed by the wets or moderates in the British Tory party. It is arguable that the party has never recovered.

Sallust: Smug Lefties Most Likely To Think They’re Right And Everyone Else Is Wrong

A polling group called More In Common has found that the “young, highly educated and socially Left-wing”, which the group euphemistically calls Progressive Activists, constitute just 8% of the UK population, but are found in far higher proportions in public-sector bodies and charities. They could have added in the BBC.

Professor James Allan: Losing to Win

Longer term readers of the Speccie will recall that back in 2015 and 2016 I thought, and argued, that all conservative voters would do better to preference Labour rather than Malcolm Turnbull and the Libs in the 2016 election. In other words, I thought we had to lose short-term to win long-term.

Dr James Allan: Climate Change Giving Meaning to Life

The religious mindset embraces the belief that there is more to life than the material world of the senses. There are truths that transcend the here and now. Things that give a non-contingent meaning to human existence. This is obvious with the monotheistic religions, and a little less obvious with Buddhism and polytheistic beliefs. Still, the appeal of this sort of belief in transcendent truths is pretty obvious. That means that not all that many people who reject established religions will move over to some sort of David Hume or Bertrand Russell-type sceptical view that what you see is what you get – we are here because of the fortuitous collisions of trillions of atoms, lots of time and even more luck. As Hume famously said, “the life of a man is of no greater importance to the universe than that of an oyster”.