Pat Buchanan and thirty years of culture wars
It was a relatively cool 85 degrees in Houston on the August evening thirty years ago when Republicans gathered at the…
The Olympics and World Cup Soccer – can we afford it?
As the Tokyo Olympics wound down, enthusiasm for the Olympic Games persisted, but there is a downside to the acceptance…
Northern Territory is set to abolish religious freedom
Proposed amendments to Northern Territory 1992 anti-discrimination legislation is set to abolish religious freedom, as well as erode freedom of speech. The…
The coal miner’s Diamonds
Gina Rinehart was correct to withdraw the extraordinarily generous $15 million she had donated to Netball Australia following a severe…
Grace and lucidity
The news of Carmen Callil’s death last week shocked the literary world even though it was expected. She made an…
Aussie life
My wife gave me a rude but loving shove in bed this morning. ‘Well,’ she asked, ‘are you going to…
Language
Have you ever come across the ‘Oxford comma’? If you haven’t, here’s a short explanation. When you have a list…
Ruthless efficiency
George Saunders’s handbook published last year, A Swim in a Pond in the Rain, gave masterclasses on seven short stories…
Bananas Foster
I’m a sucker for a challenge. I absolutely cannot resist a little competition. Throw down a gauntlet, and I am…
Bridge
I get very tense, not to say cranky, if I’m interrupted while playing bridge. But last week I decided it…
But what about the plot?
You wouldn’t like Tamerlano when he’s angry. ‘My heart seethes with rage,’ he sings, in Act III of Handel’s opera…
Dear diary
In Competition No. 3272, you were invited to imagine a well-known diarist, real or fictitious, commenting on contemporary events. This…
One long moan of woe
I was moved and shaken by Crystal Pite’s Flight Pattern when I first saw it in 2017. In richly visualised…
