The Battle of Britain: A boy’s dreams and a family’s legacy

My great-grandfather called me ‘Baron’, after the Red Baron, indulging my dreams of becoming a fighter pilot.

July 10 marks the 85th anniversary of the Battle of Britain. While it was far away from Australia, as a lad growing up in 1980s Far North Queensland, my boyhood imagination soared over the skies of 1940 Britain.

The Battle of Britain wasn’t just history to me. It was an obsession. Fuelled by Paul Brickhill’s Reach for the Sky and my hero-worship of Sir Douglas Bader, Airfix models of Hurricanes, Spitfires, Me-109s, and Me-110s filled my bedroom, each plastic kit a tribute to the RAF’s defiance.

Now in my 50s, that fascination endures, reinvigorated by a recently discovered family connection to another wartime theatre and a career that brought me tantalisingly close to my boyhood dream of becoming a fighter pilot.

In the Unfiltered newsletter, Alexandra Marshall wrote:

Today marks 85 years since the Battle of Britain. Michael de Percy writes, ‘The Battle of Britain, fought from July to October 1940, was far from dull. Hitler’s Luftwaffe aimed to crush the RAF, clearing the skies for an invasion of Britain. Outnumbered, the RAF’s pilots in Hurricanes and Spitfires, often barely out of their teens, fought back with ferocity. Churchill’s ‘The Few’ speech captured their sacrifice: “Never in the field of human conflict was so much owed by so many to so few.”’

My latest in The Spectator Australia, The Battle of Britain: A boy’s dreams and a family’s legacy.

July 10 marks the 85th anniversary of the Battle of Britain. While it was far away from Australia, as a lad growing up in 1980s Far North Queensland, my boyhood imagination soared over the skies of 1940 Britain.https://t.co/NgevON4KDa

— The Spectator Australia (@SpectatorOz) July 10, 2025

Hey Albo, cop this mate. With love, The Don

Albo picked a fight with The Don. It's not a smart move.

As Albo continues to ignore the only nation and ally that has spilt blood in the defence of our continent, the stakes have just been raised.

President Trump has threatened to raise tariffs on Australian-manufactured pharmaceuticals to 200 per cent and copper to 20 per cent. These two items were previously in a tariff-free zone. Not anymore.

While ‘Handsome Boy’ Albo is busy schmoozing up to his ideological mate in Beijing, ‘The Don’ has sent a clear message that ca no longer be ignored.

My latest in The Spectator Australia, Hey Albo, cop this mate. With love, The Don.

"The tariffs have nothing to do with economics. They have everything to do with power."

While ‘Handsome Boy’ Albo is busy schmoozing up to his ideological mate in Beijing, ‘The Don’ has sent a clear message that ca no longer be ignored.https://t.co/IOqUzzfKWE

— The Spectator Australia (@SpectatorOz) July 8, 2025

Disloyal far-left breakaways are coming for Labor

A new far-left party could disrupt Labor’s hold on key seats

Jeremy Corbyn’s new far-left party poses a significant threat to Starmer’s Labour government by risking a split in the left vote, a danger illustrated by the Social Democratic Party (SDP) in the 1980s.

In Australia, Anthony Albanese’s Labor government, while currently dominant, faces similar vulnerabilities as left-wing criticism grows. Although Australia’s preferential system offers some protection, a new far-left party could disrupt Labor’s hold on key seats and influence policy through the Senate.

In the Unfiltered newsletter, Alexandra Marshall had this to say:

There is a reason the ‘right’ is rising (and the left is splintering off into new movements). It is a desperate attempt to salvage a desperate situation.

My latest in The Spectator Australia, Disloyal far-left breakaways are coming for Labor.

The good news is that the emergence of a new far-left party in either country could destabilise the governing left-wing parties. In Australia, this would be the reverse of what happened to conservatives at the 2025 election.https://t.co/mQMlIuwoyv

— The Spectator Australia (@SpectatorOz) July 7, 2025