The rise of both left-wing and right-wing populism presents a serious challenge for liberal democracies. This paper explores the psychological needs that populism exploits, and the reasons it so easily attracts followers.

This paper argues that the biggest risk to Australia's public health and economic outlook is not the failure to reach thresholds for full vaccination, but that governments will be excessively cautious in easing restrictions once the thresholds are reached.

In the context of national reviews of curriculum and teacher education, this paper traces Australia’s history of policy instability in English literacy education and proposes strategies for improvements and greater accountability.

This publication is an edited version of Noel Pearson’s speech at the Centre for Independent Studies event ‘Scaling up success in majority Indigenous schools’, held in Sydney on 18 May 2021.

Australia’s recent closure of its embassy in Kabul, and the withdrawal of all US forces from Afghanistan by 11 September 2021, casts a deep shadow over Afghanistan’s future prospects. In this paper, leading expert on Afghanistan, William Maley, examines the implications for the Afghan nation and its people.