He teaches English at the University of Newcastle (NSW, Australia) and he's a regular columnist in a number of newspapers. He's from the left, but since September 11 has been one of those left-wing commentators, who generally speaking has criticised the rest of the left for being anti-American - he's pointed out that there are real similarities between the Western "intelligentsias" attitude towards the United States, and that of radical Islamists.
He thinks the left has got it seriously wrong on terrorism.
He's co-editor of a book - Blaming Ourselves: September 11 and the Agony of the Left