Author Archives: chiefprick

Given that the current regime running the show in NSW Parliament House is – with the help of its various aiders and abettors in the press – trying to make having that third glass of wine about as socially acceptable … Continue reading →

With Australia Day imminent, the tiresome culture wars over whether it should really be called “Invasion Day” or if there is in fact anything worthwhile being proud of in one of the world’s most prosperous and tolerant democracies is once … Continue reading →

So the Prick’s back in the Telegraph today, speaking truth to the various neo-prohibitionist killjoys who would use a bunch of ‘roided-up lunatics as an excuse to shut down everyone else’s good time: The fact is Australia is something of … Continue reading →

“This isn’t a faux-dive. This is a dive!” – The Simpsons One does not often think of English Romantic poets in the context of refurbished titty bars. But when it comes to John Keats and the new-look Oxford Tavern in Petersham, … Continue reading →

In the fight between a bunch of freedom-hating nannies who’d impose their grey aesthetic on the world and the fast food giants, there’s really no question whose side to take. The Prick in the Telegraph today: Putting aside the creepy implication that … Continue reading →

Ever since Trollope wrote his indictment of late-Victorian England, the phrase “the way we live now” has been used to label any panoramic novel which captures a moment in time and becomes required reading for literate people of the day … Continue reading →

Eighty years ago this week America’s long national nightmare of prohibition ended, but that doesn’t mean prohibitionists have abandoned the cause. One of the current terrors of the public health police, who have taken up the mantle of the late … Continue reading →

Me in the Daily Telegraph again, today talking about Joe Hockey’s populist economics: THREE months after an election that has delivered us a new government, Australians could be forgiven for thinking that for all that has changed, not much has changed … Continue reading →

The Prick is just going to put it right out there: Thanksgiving is the greatest holiday on the calendar, and everyone – not just Americans – should celebrate it. Falling in between Halloween and Christmas on the calendar (traditionally, for … Continue reading →

Not really food-related (though I’m sure some people will still think I’m a Prick), here I am in the Daily Telegraph talking Kennedy, conspiracy theories, and communism: FIFTY years on, the question of who shot John Kennedy lingers. Despite all reasonable evidence … Continue reading →