Looking back at the shock election result, Gerard Henderson says it's no wonder the media got it so wrong. Despite the forecast by the academics, the polls and the pundits, there is no substitute for 'staying in touch' with the voting public.

Will May 18 go down as the most dramatic failure of political prediction?

Gerard Henderson, author, columnist for The Australian and executive director of the Sydney Institute.

WITH THE BENEFIT OF HINDSIGHT

70 years after the establishment of NATO, the threat that justified its creation has long gone. Wasn't the expansion that started 20 years ago, a dangerous idea?