The simple fact that we have never before spoken about Australia's "first bloke" is, I suspect, telling, and highlights the more laid back and uncensorious sides of the national personality.

BBC: The first bloke

If the pattern of public opinion in general is bell-shaped, that of religious belief has the profile of a Volkswagen Beetle: a bump of evangelical Protestants at the front, a bigger bulge of uncensorious congregations in the middle and a stubby secular tail.

ECONOMIST: Therapy of the masses