When the conflict in Syria broke out some two years ago, most ordinary Australians who followed the media reports and typically have only a vague idea of the motivations driving the deadly conflicts in the Islamic world, would surely have gained the impression that Bashar al-Assad was the big baddie in the conflict. I deliberately use the word ‘baddie’ because the media often represent such conflicts in the simple terms of a Saturday matinee western. Who the baddie is and who the goodies are in the matinee often depends on what the leftist class voice has decided. Continue reading
Putting Christ and the Mass back into Christmas
HAPPY CHRISTMAS
By Paul Stenhouse
Fr Paul Stenhouse MSC PhD (Middle Eastern studies) is editor of Annals Australasia and an acknowledged expert on the (modern and ancient) Middle East. He is a regular contributor to the media discussion on events in the Middle East. Below is his editorial for the Annals’ Christmas edition which will be of interest to the conservative for its historical details – apart from anything else.
THE STREETS of Sydney have been bedecked since mid-November with pennants hanging from light poles featuring multi-coloured stars – which I take to represent the star of Bethlehem – and the words Happy Christmas. Continue reading
Samuel Taylor Coleridge – Conservatism’s radical prophet
by John Ballantyne
Originally published in News Weekly, June 19, 2004
Samuel Taylor Coleridge (1772-1834) is famous as the English poet who wrote Kubla Khan and The Rime of the Ancient Mariner, but today is almost forgotten as one of the greatest political thinkers of his time.
He was the first conservative to advocate social and political reforms as a means of maintaining a stable and cohesive society. He warned against the dangers of unchecked industrialisation, criticised the then prevailing ideology of the unfettered free-market, and called for far-reaching reforms to give the poor a greater stake in the economy. Continue reading
Geoffrey Robertson Returns on a Visit to the Colony
Geoffrey Robertson, human rights celebrity lawyer and Australian expatriate (in London) swanned into Australia again this last week to promote a new book. We must expect much the same from this visit: the Robertson superior waltz while he lectures the Australian population about that esoteric thing called law which he neatly divides into the good represented by Julian Assange and the bad represented by Pope Benedict XVI; the fawning adulation of the ABC and Fairfax journalists who bow, scrape and tug the forelock to so much awesome legal intelligence; and the reaction of those wretched outcast conservatives who have to hold their hand over their mouth in response to his emetic hypocrisy, anti-religious bigotry, sanctimony, and sweeping ideological condemnations. Continue reading
Report: AGM and Seventh Meeting of Edmund Burke’s Club (Australia) Inc. 20 September 2013
The Annual General meeting and the seventh of Edmund Burke’s Club (Australia) Inc took place at the Savage Club, Melbourne, on the 20th of September.
The President welcomed members and guests, with a particular acknowledgment of Chris Rath, the Club’s only Sydney member. Chris had flown to Melbourne for this important occasion.
The President said that the AGM was a great occasion, celebrating a milestone that the membership can be truly proud of. From a seemingly off-the-cuff suggestion, EBC quickly took form, he said, and after a year in operation continues to build on that form. It has engaged the interest of an impressive membership who have maintained their enthusiasm, interest and commitment. At this present point, he continued, EBC is equipped to move ahead and pursue the objectives set out in its mission statement. Continue reading
Report: Sixth Meeting of Edmund Burke’s Club (Australia) Inc. 19 July 2013
The sixth meeting, not quite a year after the inauguration of the Club, took place again in the congenial surroundings of Melbourne’s Savage Club. Some of our regular members were not able to attend but their absence was made up for by four guests who were made welcome. The President dealt with same small business matters, which included updating the membership list, before beginning his presentation. Continue reading
Some Personal Details About Edmund Burke
The person who comes to the study of Edmund Burke’s thought faces an enormous volume of writing. Because Burke was not a philosopher in the systematic sense, one has to read a great deal to reach an understanding not only of the prominent argument with its many intricate connections, but also of the unmistakable metaphysical and epistemological presuppositions embedded in his writings. Similarly the student of Burke has to read widely in his works to appreciate his mastery of the English language and the potency of his oratory. This is to state what the true Burkean scholar has said many times. Continue reading
A New Book on Edmund Burke
In May, a new book on Edmund Burke appeared, Edmund Burke: Philosopher, Politician, Prophet. Its author is Jesse Norman who, according to an interview on the Kirk Center website, is ‘a Conservative MP for Hereford and South Herefordshire in the UK…a senior fellow at the UK think tank Policy Exchange and has taught philosophy at University College London and Birkbeck College.’
With the combination of academic and practising politician, Norman has a suitable background for authoring a book on Edmund Burke.
The book received a favourable pre-publication review in the UK’s Telegraph from well-known UK newspaper editor Charles Moore under the heading, ‘The first important conservative thinker.’ Continue reading
Report: Fourth Meeting of Edmund Burke’s Club (Australia) Inc. 12 April 2013
The fourth meeting of EBC took place again at the Melbourne Savage Club, Bank Place, Melbourne. The title of the President’s talk was ‘The Australian Conservative, Abortion, Same-Sex “Marriage” and the Exercise of Prudence’. The talk was an exploration of Edmund Burke’s ideas on the nature and the exercise of prudence in politics. It was an examination of Burke’s political reasoning and its application in a particular case. Although Tony Abbott’s alleged change of mind on the issues of abortion and IVF served as an introduction, the focus was on how any conservative politician in the Burkean mould would deal with such fundamental political issues as abortion and same-sex ‘marriage’. The talk brought to the fore an important distinction Burke made between ‘inveterate evil’ in the body politic and new policy under consideration. Continue reading
Report: Third Meeting of Edmund Burke’s Club (Australia) Inc. 18 January 2013
The third meeting was again at the very congenial Savage Club, Bank Pl, Melbourne City, of which Sir Robert Menzies was President 1947-1962. As there was not any business to conduct during this meeting, we proceeded directly to the presentations. Continue reading