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
John Ford’s “Ealing” Movie
No, the head of Ealing Studios, Sir Michael Balcon, did not invite the great American director to work at his studio, even though it would have been quite feasible. Ford had broken with 20th Century Fox, with whom he had made Young Mr Lincoln (1939), The Grapes of Wrath (1940), How Green Was My Valley (1941) and My Darling Clementine (1946). By 1948 he was working for Herbert J. Yates at the much smaller Republic Pictures. This had proved very successful. It was at Republic that he made the cavalry trilogy—Fort Apache (1948), She Wore a Yellow Ribbon (1949) and Rio Grande (1950)—not to mention The Quiet Man (1952), for which Ford won his last Oscar. But his move away from the big studios had been to secure greater independence; and even if Balcon had been tempted to invite the American director to Ealing, Ford’s autocratic ways would not have gone down well in the studio that prided itself on its team spirit.
Nevertheless in 1957 John Ford did make Gideon of Scotland Yard in Britain…
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
