Sorry – Not Sorry

We didn't star the culture wars, but we will end them – with Western erudition and eloquence, not leftist slogans and abuse.

To my loyal and patient followers,

You may have noticed my posts have been relatively scant lately.

I have an excuse. The Australian government has become so insane that, rather than write another word about its depressingly deliberate destruction of Australian culture and prosperity, I’ve taken up selling ceramic bongs at the Mullumbimby markets instead. You wouldn’t believe how much more mellow I am now. You can find me there every Saturday, between the mermaid stand and some bloke soliciting group hugs to end the War in Iran.

Just kidding. Opposing Prime Minister Anthony Albanese’s lifelong plan to destroy the country that gave him far more than his slimy, slurring, sappy soul deserves is a historic gift handed on a platter to anybody who treasures Western Civilisation and enjoys writing robustly in its defence.

Our culture has survived far worse than this. In the immortal words of my late friend Bill Leak, who once compared defending freedom in the 21st century with defending it from the trenches of France in World War I: “If I’ve got to put in a bit of an effort and mount my own fight for freedom, I’ll be doing it in taxis and trains and air-conditioned buildings and there will only be the stench of hypocrisy in the air. It’s pretty easy by comparison.” (More on Bill in a second.)

So if my Substack output has been scant lately, it’s not because I’ve been taking it easy. As it happens, my wife Bella d’Abrera and I have started a publishing company, Wyborn Press, which we intend to build into a new and thriving home for conservative readers and writers. We look forward to offering you world-class writing imbued with the truth, beauty, intellect and wit that all civilised people crave.

Naturally, our own books are the first to be published. Bella’s is called Mindless, a shocking exposé of the education system’s mission (which is almost complete) to mould children into braindead cogs in the left’s socialist machine. And mine is a lightly updated edition of Die Laughing: The Wild Life of Bill Leak.

Bill’s life is even more relevant now than when I published the first edition in 2021. His warnings, late in life, that Australia was heading towards self-destruction, which elicited ridicule and acrimony even from former friends, are now coming true.

Here is a small extract, in which his friend Leigh Sales, of the ABC, explains why so many people easily mistook Bill, one of the most egalitarian Australians who ever lived, as a racist bigot:

Leigh then explains how such confusion arises these days: ‘I think the way things are viewed nowadays is that intent is irrelevant. It’s how it’s received. If somebody feels offended, then their offence trumps the intent. These days it’s not good enough to go, “Well, I didn’t intend it to be racist or sexist or bigoted.” If it’s perceived as racist, then it’s racist, no matter what the artist or writer or commentator was hoping to say.’

This is an astonishing admission for a journalist to make. It renders all published content vulnerable to unintended offence, and burdens journalists with the odious task of predicting what that offence might be, and self-censoring accordingly. No wonder the ABC is so boring these days.

Bill wasn’t like that. Throughout his career, he thoroughly relished causing offence to as many people as possible, but only intentionally, to people he thought deserved it. Offending people unintentionally was, to him, as absurd as asking Marcel Marceau to do voice impressions.

Hear hear. We need to get back to being intentionally offensive in our defence of Western Civilisation, something I hope has been a defining characteristic of this Substack account. And just to be clear: to anybody who is offended by anything I’ve said, please do not accept my apologies.

To everyone else, if you are looking for some stimulating reading material, please consider Wyborn Press’s first two offerings, and look out for more high-quality books in the future.

Thanks, as always, for your loyalty and support.

Please share this letter far and wide, and encourage your friends to become free or paid subscribers here: