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Van Badham

Van Badham is a theatre-maker and author of QAnon And On: A Short and Shocking History of Internet Conspiracy Cults. An occasional broadcaster, critic and trade union feminist, she writes columns for the Guardian and lives in Melbourne.

April 2025

  • US flag Times Square

    America used to fire the world’s imagination – but now the cultural conversation is being silenced

    Van Badham
  • Andrew Tate speaks to media in Bucharest, Romania, on Tuesday

    Gen X men: if you don’t find the strength to inoculate boys against the manosphere, what men are left?

    Van Badham

March 2025

  • Donald Trump and Anthony Albanese

    The impact of Trump 2.0 on Australia is evidence of how American we suddenly aren’t

    Van Badham
    Our two countries once shared a history fighting together for freedom. But does the US, like, even do that any more?

February 2025

  • Peter Dutton

    Dutton has backed more funding to women’s health. But the political record is worth revisiting

    Van Badham
  • Hands at a typewriter

    My advice to male writers struggling to get published? Toughen up – and embrace poverty

    Van Badham

January 2025

  • A Hawaiian pizza

    Norwich pizza chefs are waging war over pineapple. But they’re just the latest to put a tax on taste

    Van Badham
  • Tesla CEO and X owner Elon Musk

    They say Musk has turned the GOP into the new punk rock but I say never mind the bollocks

    Van Badham

December 2024

  • reading paper book on the beach from personal perspective

    In the spirit of both Zen and Christmas holidays, I’ve decided to become a digital dropout

    Van Badham
    This year I am adapting my own rituals – and with them, hopefully, the landscape of my brain - as the ultimate gift to myself

November 2024

  • Sally Smart’s Performance/Punokawan/Chout (The Choreography of Cutting), with Yinka Shonibare’s Refugee Astronaut

    Queer quilts, rebellious knitting and political pants: the radical world of textiles

    From union banners to sewn sculptures, a major new exhibition in Adelaide celebrates the emotional and revolutionary force of textiles
  • Illustration of a hand holding a smartphone emanating flames

    A social media ban for everyone is in the national interest – not just kids under 16

    Van Badham
    I personally resent being excluded from protection against monetised fear, anger and toxicity
  • Women rally in Washington after Donald Trump’s election win

    Women need to be kept safe from the ‘your body, my choice’ peddlers. Here’s how

    Van Badham
    Does self-protection have to mean rejecting men and sex and joining the 4B movement? Of course not – but it does mean recognising the power of cultural persuasion

October 2024

  • King Charles III and Queen Camilla standing at the doorway of a plane bearing an Australian flag. Camilla is waving.

    King Charles, know this: Australians don’t hate the royals – we just wish you’d lose interest in us

    Van Badham
    It’s a bit awkward: Charles and Camilla are expecting us to bring out the bunting. Instead, they’ll meet with a wall of lazy republicanism, says Guardian Australia columnist Van Badham

September 2024

  • A Melbourne pro-choice rally in 2022

    A South Australian MP’s mad anti-abortion bill shows the culture wars are far from over

    Van Badham
    Liberal Ben Hood’s forced-births proposal demands outcomes both cruel and ridiculous
  • A pregnant woman undergoing an obstetrical ultrasound scan

    Yes, more Australians should have access to IVF – but talk of a fertility ‘problem’ has the scent of old patriarchy

    Van Badham
    It could be seen as an advancement of rights but instead the proposed changes to IVF remain entwined with rightwing reproduction madness
  • An AI hand reaches towards a human hand in an echo of The Creation of Adam painting in the Sistine Chapel

    Fearing AI, I was reluctant to use ChatGPT. But friends, it changed my life

    Van Badham
    Newly diagnosed with ADHD, I’ve outsourced task prioritisation to the ‘robot in my phone’. It does not judge me

August 2024

  • Shadow of a woman in silhouette

    Why are men who murder women seen as less of a threat than terrorists?

    Van Badham
  • Boxing - Olympic Games Paris 2024: Day 11<br>PARIS, FRANCE - AUGUST 06: Imane Khelif of Team Algeria celebrates victory against Janjaem Suwannapheng of Team Thailand in the Women's 66kg Semifinal match on day eleven of the Olympic Games Paris 2024 at Roland Garros on August 06, 2024 in Paris, France. (Photo by Richard Pelham/Getty Images)

    Girls, ignore the sexist rhetoric. Revel in everything that upsets the haters

    Van Badham

July 2024

  • Man, holding "you're cute sign" and woman lean out of separate car windows

    Is flirting dying? The apps appear to have swallowed the most delicate and delicious of human interactions

    Van Badham
  • Group of isolated, coloured silhouettes of people talking.

    Gossip, my friends, is both a moral mission and a pleasure. It’s also something those in power can’t control

    Van Badham

June 2024

  • Woman sheltering from the sun under Union Jack umbrella Hyde Park London<br>AP6BC7 Woman sheltering from the sun under Union Jack umbrella Hyde Park London

    Brits, you have no idea how to be sun safe. But as an Australian, I can tell you exactly what to do

    Van Badham
    Full-body swimsuits, ‘no hat, no play’ – avoiding the sun is a national pastime, says Guardian Australia columnist Van Badham
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