Latest Articles
We are encouraged to rely more and more on government officials to do for us what we could equally well do for ourselves—and, maybe more importantly, not to do what might help us solve our own problems.
Sep 08 2024
10 mins
If we imagine a metric called the Pinocchio Scale, which measures the number of lies told by a politician as a percentage of his or her overall public statements, our current prime minister (for want of a better description), Airbus Albo, has moved well into uncharted territory.
Sep 06 2024
5 mins
Waiter, There’s a Flighty Lefty in My Soup
A funny thing happened to me at the pub not long after May 21’s election. I was having dinner with a friend and there was another couple, a man and a woman (can I even say that these days?), at a nearby table. For some reason, probably to do with drugs and/or alcohol, the woman came over to our table, introduced herself and gushingly told us all about her life, her business and the various properties she owned. Apart from incorrectly assuming that I and my male companion ‘were an item’, her effusive barrage of interruptions to our meal was at the same time intriguing, amusing and yet mildly annoying. What was even more intriguing was that she mentioned with evident self-approval that she gets all her news, information and opinions from the ABC. “Isn’t it a great TV station!” she enthused.
As the rather lopsided ten-minute encounter progressed she also exclaimed, “Wasn’t it a great election result!”. When I replied, “Albo only got 32 per cent of the primary…
Madam: Archbishop Fisher (July-August 2024) does not resist the attacks on his church by the political, social or scientific atheists and those who insist on not being told what to do.
Aug 29 2024
6 mins
To claim Aborigines have the world's oldest continuous culture is to misunderstand the meaning of culture, which continuously changes over time and location. For a culture not to change over time would be a reproach and certainly not a cause for celebration, for it would indicate that there had been no capacity to adapt. Clearly this has not been the case
Aug 20 2024
23 mins
A friend and longtime supporter of Quadrant, Clive James sent us a poem in 2010, which we published in our December issue. Like the Taronga Park Aquarium he recalls in its 'mocked-up sandstone cave' it's not to be forgotten
Aug 16 2024
2 mins
