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
Joe Dolce: Four Poems
Jolokia
The ghost
India’s cruellest chili pepper
four hundred times the punch of Tabasco
Guinness Record’s hottest until
superseded in 2012 by Trinidad Scorpion
nicknamed Noga after ferocious Naga warriors
Bih Jolokia the poison Jolokia
the mighty chili the rough chili
ripe peppers coloured red
orange yellow chocolate
a food a spice a relief from sunheat
weaponized by the Indian Army
a tear gas grenade for mob control rioters and terrorists
imparting distinctive flavour to curries chutneys
smeared on fences in Northern India
will repel wild elephants.
Joe Dolce
Dry Whisky Tongue
Bring me scotch whisky for my dry whisky tongue
your wine is much too tame
your wine is much too tame
an old girl to kiss my dry whisky tongue
Laphroaig is her name
Miss Laphroaig is her name
six weeks of drought with a dry whisky tongue
I need some whisky rain
I need some whisky rain
your tears will not quench my dry whisky tongue
saltwater ain’t…
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
