The journalist Niki Savva has been stalking Tony Abbott for what seems like decades.  Suddenly noticing a current absence of political leadership, Savva has broken the habit of a lifetime and actually praised Abbott.  As an Opposition leader.  She still misses plenty.

Is Australia the champion of Covid management, or did we - despite the current furore - just get lucky with a low number of deaths from the not-so-killer virus?  Explaining Australia's performance is important for many reasons, not least because what has been achieved has come at a great cost.  And on close inspection, our performance is nothing about which to write home.

Those who thought that the NSW Government's approach to Covid management was both liberal and proportional have been delivered a rude shock, with escalating Covid State totalitarianism that is only just beginning.  This article first appeared at Politicom.

WB Yeats famously opined, in the dark shadow of the Great War, that "the centre would not hold".  A much quoted line, often tinged with sadness and fear.  The sensible centre of politics might similarly wonder - whither liberal democracy in this land, as we are assailed by the forces of the dark side and there seems no leadership emerging to fight these forces?