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Twenty-six years ago Lady (Mary) Fairfax granted me one of the few interviews she ever did to discuss her purported role in the then decimation of Fairfax, the oldest media company in the world. Following her death this week her story bears repeating. It is one for the ages. http://davidleser.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/03/Mary-Fairfax.pdf

All of us as journalists are grappling with new ways to tell our stories and this is arguably one of the most exciting acts of reinvention to date: Stories for the Stage … everything from comedy and culture to crime and politics; from the back blocks of Brisbane and highlands of Papua New Guinea, to …

Many introverts don’t know this but they are often the most powerful people in the room. Through their silences, their non verbal cues and their comfort in their own company they are able to draw others in with a quiet and irresistible magnetism JONES MAGAZINE INTROVERT STORY

This is the live press conference of Midnight Oil announcing its “Great Circle 2017” world tour on Sydney Harbour. It comes from the band’s Facebook feed and starts 30 min 55 sec in. Enjoy https://www.facebook.com/midnightoilofficial/

Forty three years ago I applied to be the lead singer of Midnight Oil. Needless to say I didn’t get the job, despite singing Jethro Tull’s Locomotive Breath completely in tune. They gave the job to the other guy because he could actually dance and sing. Today, however, after more than four decades of heroic …

Donald Trump’s sensitive ego is a boundless force of nature. The President-elect has hit back at Meryl Streep for having the temerity to criticise him at the Golden Globes, describing Streep as an “over-rated actress” and flunky of Hillary Clinton’s. A few years ago I had the pleasure and privilege of profiling Meryl Streep for the Australian …

The ABC’s sensational three-part series on Australian masculinity, Man Up, finished last week. It is compulsory viewing for men everywhere. Actually make that men, women and children. Here’s a story I wrote on the “Loneliness of Men” which goes to many of the issues explored in the ground-breaking ABC series.

Richard Neville died last night after a long illness. He will be hugely missed – for all his shining intelligence, rapier wit and generosity of spirit. Five years ago, on the publication of his daughter Lucy’s memoir, Oh Mexico!, I interviewed father and daughter for the Australian Women’s Weekly. Here’s the story in full. Thank you …

A prolonged bout of insomnia left David Leser as a physical and emotional wreck. Now recovered, he still remembers the experience as one of the most harrowing in his life. Read full article in Sunday Life Magazine here.

Latest article published in Good Weekend about Marcus Blackmore, Chairman of the largest nutraceutical empire in the Southern Hemisphere. How is it that The Medicine Man attracts so much hostility from orthodox practitioners? It didn’t take me long to discover why. There are still doctors in this world – perhaps well-meaning – who believe that …