A Looming Fall of Shakespearean Proportions
The increasingly frequent prediction that the Gillard government is headed for a defeat of Shakespearean proportions behoves us to revisit Shakespeare’s plays, to see just what to expect. A re-examination of Richard II and Henry IV, Part 1 in particular provides an illuminating, occasionally amusing and sometimes uncannily close parallel to events that have unfolded in the halls of Australian government over the last few years. One suspects that Shakespeare is on the money still.
The names may have changed, but the process of disintegration that comes upon a government that has founded itself on betrayal, established no legitimacy, with little idea of any higher purpose, and weak and self-serving leadership, remains remarkably similar. The astonishing and consistent poor judgment; plundering taxes to fund extravagant schemes; a legitimate leader deposed for having lost his way and finally viciously character-assassinated for—well, still being there, really; a guilt-ridden successor…
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