Julia Baird

The Prince Andrew debacle is shameful for the monarchy — it's not a pile-on, it's alleged paedophilia. So should the royals do more, here? 

This year's Boyer Lectures will consider whether our democratic system will hold in the face of global headwinds.

Slow looking has become profoundly counter-cultural. And anything that serves as an antidote to chronic distraction, that pulls our gaze from pulsing, popping screens to quieter skies surely should be applauded.

When there are systemic problems, shortages of staff, lack of money, insufficient organ donors, delays in treatment, and over-burdened medical systems with long wait times in or out of emergency systems, doctors and nurses can feel it deeply.

Lucy Letby is currently serving multiple life sentences after being convicted of murdering seven babies and attempting to kill others. There's only one problem: the group of experts saying there's no evidence of wrongdoing.

The contrast of Pope Leo and Donald Trump goes far beyond Christendom or American economic power; it goes to what we want from our leaders, who we will follow, who we will heed, and where our future lies.

I may be the last person on earth to be personally confronted by the potential of AI technology. I knew it would come for our jobs. But I didn't expect it might come for our hearts.

Pope Francis's passing reminds us yet again of the complete absence of women in the upper echelons of the church. This is despite the fact that he did more to elevate women than any other pope.

I've often wished we could all have a brief moment of hurtling around the Earth, not to posture or preen, but to show the opposite — we are small, we are humble, and we need to fiercely care for the Earth.

Our fascination with the rich and famous often seems to curdle into something darker, even if it is hard to tell if we're eating the rich or eating cake.

Hanif Kureishi does not pretend his new life is anything but often hellish and a profoundly unwelcome shock. But he has also been moved and sustained by new discoveries about connection, creativity and love.

If we want to avoid the potentially fatal sway of canny fabulists like Belle Gibson, the answer is not to ridicule patients but to elevate science, to put more money into cancer research.

Thirty-three years ago, to much celebration, women were made priests in the Anglican Diocese of Canberra and Goulburn. A new era, it was thought, had begun.

Three decades after the first ordinations of women to the Anglican priesthood, women are still struggling to gain and maintain strong footholds on the rungs of leadership.

All year, I had been looking forward to launching my book in a city that never forgets, never forgives, let alone never sleeps. When I arrived in Manhattan, it was obvious grace was in short supply.

As we crunch data and pore over the exit polls to try to get an understanding of the way America voted, along with the economy and immigration, religion must also be understood as a decisive factor delivering victory to the Republicans.

Tim Winton's sobering, grimly-compelling new book, Juice, is a reminder that knowledge is power — if we can do something with it. Eco-anxiety can only fester if we feel we are unable to effect change.

Suchita Smith was born with a degenerative condition that leads to short stature and badly-formed joints, causing significant chronic pain. But she loves to dance — and as physical limitations have taken hold, she has learnt to find other ways to do it.

Any efforts to kickstart conversations about abuse should be applauded. But as a serious reflection of what domestic violence is really like, It Ends With Us falls short.

Could it be true that midlife crises are worthy, necessary expeditions and not simply cringey, cliched self-indulgence? The central character in Miranda July's new book, All Fours, thinks so.

In the past few days, spotlights have narrowed and focused on one face above others: Jill Biden. Will she do what is right for her husband, the country? And what will this mean?

Last weekend, whilst swimming in what looked like a protected natural rock pool, I was pulled into a dangerous rip that was dumping onto a reef. My mind cleared as I slowed down and I thought: "So this is it. This is how people drown."

Yet again, the manufacturers of a wildly popular drug, taken by millions of women globally, have not collected data on what this drug might do to a woman's reproductive organs or offspring.

Jon Owen, the pastor of Sydney's Wayside Chapel, has spent decades caring for the broken, eschewing a comfortable life for one of radical compassion. He's learned he needs to commit to certain regular habits in order to protect his own mental health, writes Julia Baird.

For many of us, Mother's Day is a time when our hearts are a bit sore. I miss my own mother so much. I miss her humour, her levity, her wisdom, and the way she made everything seem better. So how should we think about this day when grief is still fresh?