Young Australians should travel instead of going to Woke universities

I’ve prioritised my education above my finances, my health, and my personal relationships.

Some people will read the German icon Thomas Mann on a train from Berlin to Dresden, marvelling at his wit and insight. Others will spend three years and $80,000 to be told that Mann justifies Germany’s out of control immigration program because his mother was Brazilian and therefore an immigrant. Such biased thoughts would occur despite having taken unconscious bias training.

Today’s Australian university sector has embraced the socialist fantasy of equality of outcomes with a zeal that belongs in the former German Democratic Republic. Pass rates must rise, failure must be abolished, feelings must be protected, and if the content has to be hollowed out to achieve this, so be it. The result is a credential that certifies nothing except endurance of the process and a desire to don a rainbow lanyard.

My latest in The Spectator Australia, Young Australians should travel instead of going to Woke universities.

HAS AN AUSTRALIAN UNIVERSITY EDUCATION LOST ITS VALUE?

With universities willing to hand out the parchment for little more than turning up (or not turning up), then a degree itself has become all but worthless.

Employers already know this, that’s why graduate recruiters now… pic.twitter.com/SEbbtgZlxL

— The Spectator Australia (@SpectatorOz) January 1, 2026

Merry Christmas from the heartland of Santa Claus

Easily the most amazing experience I have had so far is visiting the Neuschwanstein Castle.

From Munich: German Christmas markets are the best in the world. There’s something about Germany that makes Christmas feel more like Christmas than anywhere else. The focus is on food, drink, and good cheer, just as the Santa of my childhood represented. Back then, Christmas was special. It was a celebration of the birth of Jesus Christ. It was a time where everyone said Merry Christmas to each other, and it was the most special time of year.

In light of recent events in Australia, I think the Christmas spirit, much like chivalry and civility, is not dead. It has just been hiding in a closet, biding its time. The good news is that that time has come. And Germany, for all its faults, has reminded me of all that is great about the Christmas spirit.

My latest in The Spectator Australia, Merry Christmas from the heartland of Santa Claus.

In light of recent events in Australia, I think the Christmas spirit, much like chivalry and civility, is not dead. It has just been hiding in a closet, biding its time. The good news is that that time has come. And Germany, for all its faults, has reminded me of all that is… pic.twitter.com/ATMAuV3O4D

— The Spectator Australia (@SpectatorOz) December 24, 2025

This won’t blow over, Albanese

This won’t blow over, Albanese. Not until this architecture of fear has been blown to smithereens.

From Nuremberg: I’ve been exploring the city that was home to both the beginning and the end of the most atrocious form of ideological extremism in the 20th Century. Nuremberg’s Zeppelin Field, where Adolf Hitler conducted his Nazi Party propaganda rallies during the 1930s, became the scene of an American victory parade in 1945 where the huge swastika was blown to smithereens. Later, the city hosted the inevitable retribution of the Nuremberg Trials. The Nazi’s fanatical ideology had no logical end goal other than hatred.

Today, Islamic terrorism is driven by a similar fanaticism but with unconventional means to instil fear. Like Nazism, Islamic terrorism should never be allowed to fester unchecked.

Being in the heart of historical atrocities while Islamic terrorists were killing 15 Australians at home put my emotions into over-drive. It will never make any sense to me and my heart breaks for the families of the victims of Nazis here and the Islamic terrorists at home. Both groups are antisemitic in nature, but Islamic terrorism has not been called out by our Prime Minister. Much like the left’s inability to utter the words ‘Merry Christmas’, they refuse to call the Bondi attack what it is: Islamic terrorism.My latest in The Spectator Australia, This won’t blow over, Albanese.