The Spectator Australia

If you blinked this week, you would have missed the ABC cutting short coverage of President Trump’s speech. Mr Trump stunned everyone by announcing the release of security information relating to allegations of electoral fraud. Our (their?) ABC, along with ABC in the US and CNN, decided that they know better than to stick with the leader of the free world. Yeah, right. Pull the other one. Next time, you can watch it live-streamed directly from the White House account on X without interruption.

Defence is not a game. Our geopolitical advantages are not trivial election pieces to be moved around the board. And never, in Australian history, have we had a demographic of politicians and citizens less interested in the cold facts of war. This is not a piece about the Greens’ suicidal defence approach that views communist China as a huggable panda. It is an expression of frustration over a footnote in this week’s announcement about Australia’s strengthening engagement with India.

As the country comes to terms with England’s World Cup drubbing, a familiar ritual is now playing out as a metaphor for the nation’s bruised psyche. Along with empty cans and mashed-up takeaway boxes, the St George’s flags are coming down – and, it seems, with almost indecent haste. My own neighbour, whose home had been festooned with bunting from the outset, had de-flagged his house before the pubs had even closed.

Keir Starmer won’t leave much of a legacy, but his last week has brought one thing which will be seen as a totemic achievement in Labour circles: he has completed the nationalisation of British Steel. Not only will that warm the cockles of his party members, but Starmer has stolen a march on Nigel Farage, who had also proposed to nationalise what remains of the steel industry.

We are the greatest nation on Earth … or so our leaders keep saying in a rather wooden and uncertain fashion, as though reading from an autocue. But we can still take advice from others. At some stage, the world noticed that Ronald Reagan was a better President (1981-89) than many. He was not a conventional intellectual and used to enrage many by reading out folksy letters and articles from the great American people.

There will always be a certain class of people who sigh that Nigel Farage only reaps what he sows. Ever since milkshakes starting being tossed at a man they regard as an incendiary rabble-rouser, they have argued that it’s his fault for having raised the volume and coarsened the tone of political discourse in this country in the first place. In other circumstances this would be called ‘victim-blaming’: he shouldn’t have behaved so provocatively. He was asking for it.

Taking the luck out of betting might lessen the thrill, but it certainly ups the profit. White House teleprompter operator Gabriel Perez allegedly made more than $100,000 by using inside knowledge of the President’s speeches to place bets on prediction market Kalshi, according to ABC News. Perez, who has operated Trump’s teleprompter since 2016, is believed to have placed bets on more than a dozen speeches – including February’s State of the Union address.

Andy Burnham’s new head of political strategy is a trustee of a charity that campaigns to repatriate Isis brides and abolish citizenship stripping, The Spectator can reveal. Matthew McGregor was today announced as one of the latest additions to Burnham’s incoming top team in Downing Street. He is currently chief executive of the activist organisation 38 Degrees and previously served as director of campaigns and communications at Hope Not Hate.

I’m not going to say that CPAC is dead… but it’s not the most alive… pic.twitter.com/IsRoUTenz0 — Anna Ridgway (@annaroseridgway) July 16, 2026 Oh dear. Liz Truss’s CPAC Great Britain bonanza does not appear to have got off to quite the flying start she envisaged. Images from the InterContinental London – The O2, along with testimony from those inside, suggest the conservative jamboree is proving rather less Reagan and rather more relegation.

Just when you thought you couldn’t dislike Sir Keir Starmer any more, he has gone and awarded Sir Sadiq Khan a peerage. The London Mayor is among 26 new members of the House of Lords announced by No. 10 as the Prime Minister prepares to leave the building. The move paves the way for Sir Sadiq to – deep breaths – join Andy Burnham’s cabinet, although his team insists he remains focused on serving out the remainder of his mayoral term.