International
23 March 2017
With new afterword | Surprise in Congress: healthcare reform is complicated and politically fraught
National affairs
15 March 2017
New PISA results confirm that the social makeup of schools affects the performance of individual students
Essays & reportage
10 March 2017
Surveys show how persistent – and persistently wrong – beliefs about welfare spending can be
National affairs
27 February 2017
The Centrelink overpayments controversy highlights shortcomings in social security reforms in Australia and Britain
Essays & reportage
16 February 2017
Australia urgently needs a new school funding structure, says one of the authors of the Gonski report, and it’s not the one Labor, the Coalition or their critics have in mind
Books & arts
30 January 2017
Books | Are we coming to the end of the relatively brief period in which salaried work dominated the economy?
Essays & reportage
8 December 2016
It wasn’t until 1966 that women in the Australian public service won the right to remain employed after marriage, overcoming resistance even from their own union
Books & arts
2 December 2016
Cinema | The veteran director’s tender dive into the indignity of Britain’s welfare system tries too hard to avoid complication
Books & arts
28 November 2016
Books | Bernie Sanders’s critique of American democracy assumes heightened relevance in the Trump era
International
15 November 2016
Long-term Republican supporters again turned out to support the party’s candidate, and their inevitable disappointment will help open up the possibility of change
National affairs
11 November 2016
Donald Trump’s support partly reflects genuine economic uncertainties and fears. For Australian governments, the lessons are clear
National affairs
26 October 2016
One man and two-and-a-half thousand listeners – economist Thomas Piketty takes to the stage at the Sydney Opera House
National affairs
28 September 2016
Federal minister Simon Birmingham has fired the first shots in the latest battle of the school funding wars. Here’s our short guide to the terrain
Essays & reportage
21 September 2016
With education ministers meeting this week to discuss school funding, a close look at the figures reveals large differences between states and sectors
National affairs
9 September 2016
The Coalition’s proposed budget cuts would have a disproportionate impact on low-income groups, write Peter Whiteford and Daniel Nethery in this detailed…
Essays & reportage
6 September 2016
Governments began watering down Gonski’s school-funding recommendations right from the start, says panel member Ken Boston. But New South Wales shows how it could have been
Essays & reportage
11 August 2016
Tom Bamforth discovers the afterlife of Melbourne’s Olympic village
National affairs
18 May 2016
Barristers and solicitors have taken the unprecedented step of rallying to demand an increase in legal aid funding. Will it come to wigs on the picket lines, asks Peter Mares
National affairs
3 March 2016
A new report on negative gearing rests on deeply flawed assumptions, write John Daley and Danielle Wood. But that hasn’t stopped the government from using…
Books & arts
12 January 2016
A multilayered portrait of divided Britain is trapped by its animating spirit
National affairs
24 July 2015
Australia’s school funding system keeps shifting resources towards non-government schools, write Chris Bonnor and Bernie Shepherd. And the argument that…
Books & arts
13 July 2015
Books | Why are we angered by stories of Greek hairdressers retiring at fifty on public pensions, asks Jane Goodall, yet unmoved at the thought of bailed-out…
National affairs
11 June 2015
The prime minister’s attacks on NATSEM’s modelling can’t hide the fact that resources have been taken away from lower-income households, write Peter …
National affairs
28 May 2015
There’s no such thing as “us” and “them,” writes Andrew Leigh. A good social safety net is there for all of us
International
25 May 2015
The NZ government sees economic as well as social benefits in breaking cycles of poverty and imprisonment. Although the policy has its critics, it’s worth watching, writes…
Books & arts
8 May 2015
Television | “Poverty porn” it isn’t, but the aims of Struggle Street still worry Jane Goodall
National affairs
22 October 2014
Gonski got it right, and in the years since he reported his findings have become more relevant than ever, write Chris Bonnor and Bernie Shepherd
Books & arts
11 September 2014
There is a solution to the plight of pariah schools
National affairs
5 August 2014
The post-budget debate reveals two fundamentally different worldviews, writes Peter Whiteford
Essays & reportage
30 May 2014
Thomas Piketty’s phenomenally successful Capital confirms that Western countries are becoming less equal. John Quiggin looks at how he fits into a…