Martin McKenzie-Murray

“The ability to play chess is the sign of a gentleman. The ability to play chess well is the sign of a wasted life.” – Paul Morphy

Amidst our people here is come The madness of the dance. In every town there now are some Who fall upon a trance.

Extraordinary leadership combined with a great team effort. A hard-fought but clear victory. This is what Australia's men's cricket team demonstrated over a tough but successful five-match Test series against India this summer. Federal Labor is desperate to achieve the same over the upcoming five-week federal election campaign.

It's informal, the Labor insider says, and muted by holidays and the public's summer disengagement, but the 2025 election campaign has begun. This week, the prime minister flew several thousand kilometres to visit two states and a territory in one day – compelling the opposition leader to mobilise his own “shadow campaign”.

A vehicle hit the bridge our train would soon cross, an apologetic announcement informed us, and thus our journey to the MCG would abruptly terminate. This obliged the sudden disgorgement of passengers, at least half of whom were Indian cricket fans, and the creation of a panicked bottleneck at the bus bay that was incapable of neatly accommodating all of us pilgrims.

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The last time I wrote about Nick Kyrgios was during Wimbledon 2022. Enough time has since passed that we might see that moment as the high-water mark of his career and that his tide's recession began very soon after. In fact, it seemed to begin immediately after the men's singles final in post-match comments that were strangely resigned, almost elegiac.

If Peter Dutton ever had a so-called “two-term strategy”, that strategy disappeared on Sunday when he soft-launched his election campaign in the Victorian seat of Chisholm.

It wouldn't be an Australian Open without several news pieces on the extravagant cost of beer and pizza (scandalous or forgivable?), endless “debate” about the quality of our crowds (barbarous goons or larrikin heroes?) and Daniil Medvedev losing his mind.

David* is too young to be this tired and too idealistic to be this resentful. Now in his fourth year of teaching, a career that has included both private and public schools throughout Victoria, his enthusiasm strains against a job he struggles to contain within manageable hours.