John O'Sullivan is a leading Conservative thinker, journalist, editor, and advisor to Margaret Thatcher. He’s the author of: The President, the Pope, and the Prime Minister: Three Who Changed the World. definitive history of the events that led up to the collapse of the Berlin Wall 33 years ago this November Today as Vladimir Putin pursues his goal of Soviet Union 2.0, O'Sullivan finds himself on the frontline of the new Cold War a a resident of Budapest, Hungary, just 250km from the Ukraine bor...
Mar 15, 2022•38 min•Ep. 85
Rebekah Koffler is a Russian-born American citizen who joined U.S. intelligence where she observed the threat from Russia up close. Her book 'Putin’s Playbook: Russia's Secret Plan to Defeat America' delves into the mind of Russian President Vladimir Putin and reveals his ambition to dominate America and the West. She reveals details of Russia's destabilsation campaign against American democracy built upon a sophisticated knowledge of existing tensions within American society and a deep understa...
Mar 08, 2022•50 min•Ep. 84
In this special Watercooler Conversation, recorded 24 hours after Russia's declaration of war on Ukraine, we assess the adequacy of the Western response, its global implications and what it means for Australia with the help of Dave Sharma, federal member for Wentworth, former ambassador to Israel, and an astute observer of strategic affairs. Presented by Nick Cater, Executive Director of the Menzies Research Centre Support us by subscribing to the Menzies Research Centre from $10 a month https:/...
Feb 24, 2022•26 min•Ep. 83
The lurch away from democratic government towards technocratic command and control has been one of the most disturbing developments in the last two years. Some are content to see it as inevitable as we wage war against the Covid-19 virus - that parliamentary process and executive accountably must take a back seat while we put the experts in charge. But is there any guarantee that the experts will turn in their badges and allow normal service to resume? Or is it part of larger retreat from democr...
Feb 10, 2022•46 min•Ep. 82
In the second of two Watercooler conversations centred around Australia Day and the need for stronger foundational narrative that accurately describes our country and that values that unite us. It is hard to have serious discussion about the meaning of European Settlement unless we can first agree on the facts. Yet fewer than four out of ten Australians know which event they are supposed to be celebrating or mourning, according a recent survey by Compass Polling. Only 39 per cent correctly ident...
Jan 24, 2022•50 min•Ep. 81
Anthony Dillon is a powerful voice for Australia's forgotten indigenous people, those without the privileged platform occupied by the educated, urban elite. In this Watercooler conversation with Nick Cater, he argues that ill-founded attacks on Australia are holding us back from true reconciliation. Rather than focus on our differences, our goal must be to rediscover the common core of humanity that all Australians share. This is the first of a two-part Watercooler conversation to mark Australia...
Jan 21, 2022•48 min•Ep. 80
The Covid-19 pandemic was a gift for Australia’s putative ruling class, says Nick Cater, in this essay for Spiked online. A self-appointed nomenklatura elite has exploited a public health threat to infiltrate areas of our private lives we once imagined sacrosanct. They have robbed the Australian people of dignity, denied them agency and demanded complete obedience. Where they might have drawn on Australians’ abundant reserves of good will and on voluntary compliance, they have instead resorted t...
Jan 06, 2022•12 min
The reaction to the torching of Canberra's Old Parliament House by Aboriginal protestors last week is evidence of the woke-ward drift of both the media and the police force. Nick Cater presents his latest column from The Australian. Read the column here: Email Nick [email protected] Support these podcasts by subscribing to the Menzies Research Centre from $10 a month: www.menziesrc.org/subscribe
Jan 03, 2022•7 min
Omicron is the variant we can probably live with, says Nick Cater. So let's stop panicking about vaccinations and get back to living our lives. Nick Cater presents his latest column from The Australian in this bonus podcast from the Menzies Research Centre. Read Nick Cater's column in The Australian : https://www.theaustralian.com.au/commentary/steady-on-omicron-may-be-the-variant-we-can-live-with/news-story/985f5299742e3199fbee8d0b052ee0c3 Email Nick Cater: [email protected]...
Dec 20, 2021•7 min
In the face of the biggest strategic alignment in most of our life times, Australians must unite around values and reconcile their differences. Brendan Nelson puts forward a practical proposal for bringing together two conflicting narratives of Australian settlement and ending the controversy over Australia Day. Dr Nelson delivers the Ninth John Howard Lecture to an audience in Sydney on December 16, 2021
Dec 16, 2021•1 hr 14 min•Ep. 79
Jussie Smollett's conviction for staging a hate crime against himself is a blow not just to his reputation, but the credibility of the woke narrative he tried to exploit, says Nick Cater. Read Nick Cater's column in The Australian: https://www.theaustralian.com.au/commentary/the-smollett-case-and-waking-up-to-woke-folly-of-good-v-evil/news-story/d55407d62713b7efb3207c44ed02e7f6 Email Nick Cater: [email protected] This is a bonus Watercooler podcast presented by the Menzies Research Centr...
Dec 11, 2021•7 min
Labor's climate policy is so full of holes that it will haunt Albanese until election day as surely as it attached itself to Bill Shorten like some godforsaken seabird in a Samuel Taylor Coleridge poem, says Nick Cater. Read Nick Cater's column in The Australian: https://www.theaustralian.com.au/author/nick-cater Email Nick Cater: [email protected] This is a bonus Watercooler podcast presented by the Menzies Research Centre
Dec 05, 2021•7 min•Ep. 10
Michael Leunig is one of Australia's best-loved cartoonists. His work has appeared in The Age for more than 40 years. He talks to Nick Cater about the cartoonist's shrinking role as court jester and free thinking spirit in an age when the restrictions around humour are increasingly suffocating and the penalties for dissidents increasingly harsh. Email Nick Cater: [email protected] Support this podcasts by subscribing from just $10 a month at www.menziesrc.org/subscribe Book a seat for th...
Dec 02, 2021•55 min•Ep. 78
The Religious Discrimination Bill strikes a blow against the intolerable and intolerant religion of social justice. Nick Cater presents his latest column from The Australian. Email Nick Cater: [email protected] Book a seat at the 9th John Howard Lecture: www.menziesrc.org/events
Nov 28, 2021•7 min
The stability of the two-party parliamentary system is challenged by the rise of special interest campaign groups and the rise of minor parties. Yet joining a mainstream party is still the best path for individuals who want to achieve change in the national interest, argues Tim James. Tim James Is Executive General Manager of Menzies Research Centre and has been a member of the Liberal Party since 1993. Nick Cater is Executive Director of the Menzies Research Centre. Email Nick and Tim: watercoo...
Nov 25, 2021•49 min•Ep. 77
In this column from The Australian, Nick Cater argues that the exclusion of the unvaccinated from public places is an insult to our intelligence. It cannot be justified on public health grounds unless the object is deterrence through humiliation. Email Nick Cater [email protected] Read the column: https://www.theaustralian.com.au/commentary/the-tyranny-of-ineptitude-drives-more-to-the-streets/news-story/0e5370a6bd54c95611634dfc92b7038d
Nov 21, 2021•7 min
Stephen Chavura joins Nick Cater to defuse the loaded language of the anointed, starting with the terms “left” and “right”. As Thomas Sowell observed, while it is relatively easy to define what it means to be “on the left”, the term “right wing” seems little more than a label used by the anointed to condemn those with him they disagree. “Those who oppose the left are said to be on the right — and when they are strongly opposed, or opposed across a broad spectrum of issues, they are said to be on...
Nov 15, 2021•1 hr 19 min•Ep. 76
In this Directors' Cut edition of Watercooler, Nick Cater, John Roskam and Oliver Hartwich discuss the things about which we need a more intelligent conversation. Nick Cater is Executive Director of the Menzies Research Centre . John Roskam is Executive Director of the Institute for Public Affairs Dr Oliver Hartwich is Executive Director of the New Zealand Initiative Email Nick Cater Support these podcasts by subscribing to the Menzies Research Centre from just $10 a month...
Nov 08, 2021•49 min•Ep. 75
Smart phone technology means the most dangerous place for children is alone in their own bedroom. In this bonus podcast, Nick Cater presents his latest column from The Australian. Read the column Email Nick Cate r: [email protected]
Nov 08, 2021•7 min
Victoria's Dan Andrews is demonstrating that high-handedness and ham-fistedness are two sides of the same coin. Menzies Research Centre Executive Director Nick Cater presents his weekly column in The Australian as a podcast. Read the column Email Nick Cater: [email protected]
Oct 31, 2021•7 min
Delegates at the Glasgow climate summit should draw lessons from the city's architecture. Don't let the enthusiasts take charge. Menzies Research Centre Executive Director Nick Cater presents his weekly column as a podcast. Read the column More reading: Thomas Sowell, The Vision of the Anointed: Self-congratulation as a Basis for Social Policy , Hachette, New York, 1995....
Oct 24, 2021•7 min
The attacks on NSW Premier Dominic Perrottet about his religious conviction is another example of the radical secularism that is trying to purge people of faith from public life. In this Watercooler Conversation, Nick Cater is joined by Greg Sheridan and David Furse-Roberts to get to the heart of that debate and the limits some are trying to put on the freedom of faith. Greg Sheridan is a columnist for The Australian and the author of "Christians: The Urgent Case for Jesus in Our World". David F...
Oct 15, 2021•55 min•Ep. 74
In this column in The Australian , Nick Cater examines why some are hesitant to embrace the freedom of a post-pandemic world. Nick Cater is Executive Director of the Menzies Research Centre Email Nick: [email protected]
Oct 09, 2021•20 min
In this bonus podcast, Menzies Research Centre executive director Nick Cater presents his latest column from the The Australian
Oct 03, 2021•7 min
Senator James Paterson entered parliament pledging to fight for freedom of speech, personal responsibility, federalism and free markets. In this Watercooler Conversation with Nick Cater, he reflects on the setback of Covid 19, the threat of cyber warfare and what Paul Keating gets wrong. Sign up for Watercooler News delivered to your inbox every Saturday: https://www.menziesrc.org/mailing-list Show your support by subscribing to the Menzies Research Centre from just $10 a month https://www.menzi...
Sep 30, 2021•52 min•Ep. 73
Nick Cater and Oliver Hartwich sound the alarm at the creeping authoritarianism on both sides of the Tasman in response to the pandemic. Nick Cater is Executive Director of the Menzies Research Centre. Oliver Hartwich is Director of the New Zealand Initiative. Contact Nick Cater: [email protected] Sign up for Watercooler News from Nick Cater, delivered to your inbox every Saturday: https://www.menziesrc.org/mailing-list Show your support by subscribing : www.menziesrc.org/subscribe1...
Sep 20, 2021•51 min•Ep. 72
Anthony Albanese's qualified support for nuclear propelled subs overturns 50 years of Labor Party opposition to anything nuclear. Can he hold the line against the backlash in his own party? asks Nick Cater in this column from The Australian. Read the column: https://www.menziesrc.org/news-feed/nuclear-fission Contact Nick Cater: [email protected] Sign up for Watercooler News from Nick Cater, delivered to your inbox every Saturday: https://www.menziesrc.org/mailing-list Show your support ...
Sep 20, 2021•7 min
David Furse-Robert's book God and Menzies is a timely reminder of the importance of Australia's Judeo-Christian heritage. The message for today's political class is clear: religious freedom is the foundation of a culture of respect. In conversation with Nick Cater Buy God and Menzies : https://www.menziesrc.org/book-shop/pre-order-only-god-menzies-the-faith-that-shaped-a-prime-minister-and-his-nation-hardback Sign up for Watercooler News delivered to your inbox every Saturday: https://www.menzie...
Sep 16, 2021•53 min•Ep. 71
Nick Cater's latest column in The Australian as a bonus podcast. Read column here: https://bit.ly/2VERT2S Email Nick Cater: [email protected]
Sep 11, 2021•7 min
The horror of 9/11 drove Andrew Hastie to enlist with the Australian Army and later the SAS to play his part on the War of Terror. Twenty years later he reflects on the decision and the difficulty of establishing democracy in a country like Afghanistan. In conversation with Nick Cater, Executive Director of the Menzies Research Centre. Sign up for Watercooler News delivered to your inbox every Saturday: https://www.menziesrc.org/mailing-list Show your support by subscribing to the Menzies Resear...
Sep 11, 2021•50 min•Ep. 70
