Treasurer Scott Morrison's budget forecasts and claimed return to surplus are based on wages growth almost doubling from its current record low — but pigs might fly before that happens, writes Stephen Long.

Before he was Australia's longest-serving prime minister, Robert Menzies languished on the backbench. Through appealing to the middle class, he found a route back to power.

Any hiccups from China will rattle our economy — and the past week has seen some concerning signals emanating from Beijing that its latest attempt to extract itself from a looming debt crisis has done more harm than good, writes Ian Verrender.

The United States and Saudi Arabia sign a string of agreements in a telling triumph of commercial interest and strategic orthodoxy over US President Donald Trump's alt-right campaign rhetoric, writes Matt Brown.

Sweden's decision to drop its rape investigation into Julian Assange might be hailed as a victory by some, but the Australian is likely to stay put in London's Ecuadorian embassy for the foreseeable future, writes Europe correspondent James Glenday.

The best bands often have the most distinctive, emotive vocalists and in this, Chris Cornell was par excellence, writes Alistair Clout.

Survivors of child sexual assault and cover-ups are watching with familiar trepidation the making of an unprecedented national redress scheme, writes Paul Kennedy.

It's clear Salman Abedi was on the radar of security services, and hard questions will no doubt be asked about how authorities missed the deadly Manchester attack, writes Philip Williams.

Research shows consumers value speed when it comes to shopping, so Australian retailers need to react or they will lose.

The ACA's creation of The Cricketers' Brand is the latest power play in the endless negotiations between the players' union and Cricket Australia.

Renters have fewer legal protections in Australian than other countries with high private rental rates, and newly published research shows their responses to long-term insecurity ranges from lack of concern to constant fear and anxiety.

As the 50th anniversary of the release of Sgt Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band hits us, listen to it, wallow in it, celebrate it for what it is — and don't let arguing over lists drag it into the mundane and confining world the Beatles were rebelling against when they made it.

Political reporter Nick Harmsen explains why hearings for the Independent Commissioner Against Corruption's probe into the SA Government's knowledge of abuse and mistreatment at an aged mental care facility will be held entirely in secret.

Winning the schools funding argument has not been helped by the Government's short-sighted decision to claim a mythological $22.3 billion "saving", but regardless of who is winning the Gonski reforms are in trouble, writes Andrew Probyn.

Labor is pushing hard on James Ashby. A prime motive is embarrassing the Coalition over preferences, ahead of the Queensland election, and the later federal one.

If the goal of the terrorists was to force all Brits to permanently change their way of life, then they've failed — they've barely changed it for 24 hours, writes James Glenday.

We shouldn't be surprised that Rebel Wilson's family are embracing their apparent boganism, writes Ben Pobjie. Where once bogan was a vicious slur, nowadays it's a point of pride.

In the wake of the Manchester attack targeting young girls, many Muslims speak out against Western liberal feminists who deliberately ignore or downplay the threat of Islamic misogyny. Emma-Kate Symons writes.

Now Donald Trump has opted out of the Paris Agreement, it doesn't necessarily follow that the brakes are coming off US carbon emissions, writes Greg Jennett.

Margaret Court is wrong to claim marriage is "a union between a man and a woman as stated in the Bible," writes Robyn Whitaker. She is even more wrong to suggest she is being persecuted for her views.