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‘Have they learnt nothing?’ Radical surgery only option for hospital giant

The sale of major hospitals around the country could determine the final fate of Healthscope and its 19,000 staff.

13.12.2025 5

Colin Kruger

Trump won’t shield US teens on social media but wants to scroll through yours

A plan to vet the social media and personal history of tourists entering the US is a new low in Trumpian chaos.

latest 10

The Herald&x27S View

A deep dive into the time of Trumpian magical realism

“What will fiction be like in the Trump era?” one writer wondered eight years ago. Now we have the answer: not as fanciful as reality.

latest 7

Nikki Barrowclough

A bunch of deep red Republicans just stood up to Trump. Here’s why it matters

In Indiana, the state Senate roundly rejected a push to redraw the electoral map to benefit Donald Trump. In the end, despite the president’s...

latest 30

Michael Koziol

Hand over my social media accounts and pics? I’m cancelling my US trip

It’s a strange old time when a country that once symbolised freedom and the open road wants to poke through your social media posts.

latest 10

Kate Halfpenny

Interest rates are blunt. But so is the RBA – when it needs to be

Why was RBA boss Michele Bullock so explicit this week? Here’s why it might be intentional.

latest 8

Millie Muroi

Khawaja should play in Adelaide out of ruthlessness, not charity

The decision whether to extend Usman Khawaja’s career has been framed, somewhat insultingly, as a charitable donation.

latest 10

Malcolm Knox

I’m 15 and I’ve been podcasting for five years. Do you expect me to stop now?

I’ve been interviewing people about politics since I was 10. This social media ban stifles democracy.

latest 9

Jack Okill

As China unleashed on Japan, the US stayed silent – until Beijing went too far

Taiwan is the reddest of red lines for Beijing, and Japan’s new prime minister has discovered the cost of crossing it.

latest 5

Lisa Visentin

What it’s like to live in a $37m apartment at Sydney’s Crown Residences

Dressed in a fluffy robe and mismatched socks, I was leaving the room service tray outside the $37 million apartment when I heard the door slam and...

latest 8

Kristy Johnson

The social media ban may be a more seismic shift than we realise

Inconveniently for someone like me, just about everything said about the teen social media ban this week will probably prove irrelevant. The...

latest 9

Waleed Aly

Anika Wells is a talent. She could be PM one day, but Albanese should sack her as sports minister

Can Anika Wells ever set foot inside a sports stadium again? Australians love to boo a politician at the footy. John Howard was regularly heckled...

latest 8

James Massola

‘25 years of war’: Wests Tigers need a strongman to take charge

When John Singleton was engaging with the Bears to take over management rights of NSW’s Central Coast stadium after their joint venture with Manly...

latest 8

Roy Masters

England are in disarray. This is what they should be doing in Noosa

England’s Ashes tour is in disarray after two heavy defeats, and the cricket world is questioning their approach. As a former player and coach, I...

latest 8

Greg Chappell

From AFP raid target to eulogist: Sky’s Whittaker gets the last word on Richo

In this year’s final On Background, Boris forgives an old target, scuttlebutt of succession planning in Guardian Towers, a clampdown on Christmas...

latest 6

Calum Jaspan

‘It’s really tariffs’: Cutting through the fog, Fed lowers rates again

If the Federal Reserve was operating in a fog when it met last month, the visibility was even worse at this week’s meeting. The US central bank did...

yesterday 10

Stephen Bartholomeusz

If I had a teenager, I’d rather they were addicted to smoking than scrolling

Teenagers across Australia woke yesterday to find their social media accounts deactivated. Why? The government has stepped in and banned access for...

yesterday 10

Fred Thomas

Stick with Bazball or swallow some pride? How England can save the Ashes

The first two Ashes Tests have been an unmitigated disaster for England, much to the delight of Australian cricket fans. Illustration: Simon Letch...

yesterday 2

Tom Decent

Cat and mouse: How under-16s are circumventing the social media ban

One day into the new era of social media age restrictions, thousands of young Australians have been booted from their favourite apps. The process...

yesterday 10

Tim Biggs

Master of the universe: Musk wants to take data centres to space

Conceptually, it is difficult to fathom which of these notions is more difficult to get your head around. The first is Elon Musk adding more than...

yesterday 5

Elizabeth Knight

Albanese is getting close to his ‘I don’t hold a hose’ moment

For a prime minister who has spent his adult life inside the machinery of parliament, Anthony Albanese knows precisely how political brushfires...

yesterday 8

Rob Harris

Usually confident Albanese puts a wrong foot forward

December seems to rattle prime ministers. Scott Morrison achieved a sort of gormless immortality when he declared on December 20, 2019, “I don’t...

yesterday 2

The Herald&x27S View

What to do when your child plays detective to unmask Santa

It’s getting to that delicate time of year when theories abound as to whether Santa has a secret identity, like Superman or Wonder Woman. Two young...

yesterday 2

Melissa Coburn

Social media bans are nothing new to me, and here’s why they don’t work

It’s been 20 years since my first social media ban came into effect. At the peak of the MySpace era, when all my friends turned into tiny web...

yesterday 20

Brodie Lancaster

With single act, Nobel Peace Prize winner drastically raises stakes in Trump stand-off

The decision by Maria Corina Machado, the Venezuelan opposition leader, to leave her homeland after more than a year in hiding has drastically...

yesterday 2

Anatoly Kurmanaev

Christmas etiquette used to be simple. These are the new rules for our bizarre times

Deck the halls with boughs of folly – it’s party time! The heady combination of alcohol, mistletoe, silly hats, flashing antlers, family reunions...

yesterday 7

Kathy Lette

Drivers aged over 40 are pushing us towards record-high road tolls

Going for an afternoon walk the other day with my wife and our hound, a motorcycle roared up our quiet suburban street. About three seconds later...

yesterday 7

Shane Wright

Politicians work damn hard. Let’s be careful about shredding their ‘perks’

It is an uncomfortable truth, but here we go. Most politicians work damn hard. I have been covering politics for much of my lengthy journalism...

yesterday 2

Alexandra Smith

Tariff rescue: Trump gives Band-Aids to the farmers he hurt

This week Donald Trump announced an $18 billion bailout of US farmers, saying that it wouldn’t have been possible without the revenue from his...

previous day 5

Stephen Bartholomeusz

Kids can still use social media – they just can’t sign their lives away to tech giants

Australia has just enacted one of the most important reforms in the international movement to protect kids from the industrial-scale harms caused...

previous day 10

Jonathan Haidt

I take it all back. Barnaby is a fool, after all

I have long defended Barnaby Joyce as one of the smartest strategists in conservative politics. I disagreed with him on almost every subject, but...

previous day 10

Rk Crosby

Vanishing act: The Anika Wells expenses exclusive pulled by News Corp

It was a red-hot political exclusive that triggered a week of searing coverage about Communication and Sport Minister Anika Wells’ expenses. So why...

previous day 10

Calum Jaspan

The only way is up: The RBA’s interest rate reprieve is over

As interest rate cycles go, this was one of the shortest and shallowest in history. This week, with a stroke of the pen, the Reserve Bank engineered...

previous day 2

Elizabeth Knight

Wells’ expenses a costly distraction from admirable social media ban

The Albanese government is proudly promoting its groundbreaking under-16 social media ban – but the ongoing coverage of Communications Minister...

previous day 1

The Herald&x27S View

They’re Australians whose cause was bloodthirsty and lawless. Here’s why we should bring them home

Six months into his second term as prime minister, Anthony Albanese’s government is entrenching its own reputation for political timidity, with the...

previous day 6

Michael Bachelard

A piece of turf the size of a doormat is deciding another Ashes series

The opening two Test matches of the Ashes series have provided a stark, painful lesson for the England cricket team, raising serious questions not...

previous day 1

Greg Chappell

Slacking off at work? It’s a rational response to unaffordable housing

One of the most common clap backs against complaints about unaffordable housing is that buying a home has always been hard: perhaps if young people...

previous day 2