For your holiday reading, a "best-of" selection from the blog's non-election stories of last year.
Category: Ideas
Liberal government, 150 years on
Remembering Gladstonian liberalism, and contemplating its continued relevance.
Oh dear, it’s populism again
A new series on populism in the Guardian promises to raise some interesting questions.
“Election” preview: Fiji
Fiji goes to the polls tomorrow, still ruled by the man who uprooted its democracy 12 years ago. Australia should hang its head in shame.
Blasphemy in Ireland and Austria
Ireland strikes a blow for freedom of speech, despite an unfortunate precedent from the European Court of Human Rights.
Worrying about the far left, part III
Now if ever seems to be the time for a new popular front. Can liberals, social democrats and Marxists manage to work together?
Do the Liberals have a history?
Former minister David Kemp undertakes an ambitious history of Australian liberalism. Can it tell us something about today's Liberal Party?
Worrying about the far left, part II
If we assume that the political extremes are equally dangerous in principle, are there still good practical reasons to worry about one more than the other? I think there are.
Worrying about the far left, part I
Should we be as concerned about the far left as we are about the far right? Perhaps not, but that doesn't mean there's nothing to worry about.
Megalogenis and the curse of parallelism
A look at how commentators can go wrong in thinking about the Liberal Party and leadership instability.
The World is Not Enough 