The article on Richard Dawkins and the Free Church (20 August) is, I am afraid, based upon a false premise. The Free Church did not "take exception" to Dawkins appearing at the Faclan Book Festival in Lewis, nor are we furious at his coming to Lewis. Indeed, we have welcomed him to the island and thank him for raising issues which we consider to be of vital importance.

The undertone that homosexuality will lead you to an early grave is not something that sits easily on the restless mind of a teenager, writes Brendan Maclean.

It was upon a rocket-powered crucifix that the Australian Christian Lobby and Jim Wallace jumped the Gay Marriage Shark and landed with a thud on the sands of extremism.

China built Australia last year — 1.9 billion square metres of residential floor space. Actually, that's not quite true — the total floor space of all of Australia's housing isn't quite that big.

From ComPost at the Washington Post

Too many Coalition frontbenchers are invisible - or worse.

NEITHER our Prime Minister nor our Opposition Leader is popular. That shouldn't worry us at all. Governing a country and taking it to a better place is not a popularity contest.

One-fifth of the "spineless creatures that rule the world" may be at risk of extinction, according to a new study.