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
Star Chambers, Red Star
Academic Collegiality
Sir: I was fascinated to read Gregory Melleuish’s piece on the History Wars (April 2017). It took me back to an experience I had as an academic, when I published an article in the IPA Review which was critical of some theoretical approaches in health sociology (which I was then teaching).
Imagine my surprise when two other staff members and the departmental head used this article to submit me to a mini Star Chamber. They handed me a three-and-a-half-page signed memorandum which defamed me so thoroughly that it practically glowed in the dark.
I walked out of the “meeting”, went straight to a lawyer, and obtained a full written and verbal apology from both staff members. I was then sent to Coventry for a year by the entire teaching team of the unit.
I was twenty-six years old.
Philippa Martyr
Palmyra, WA
If China Approves
Sir: Bruce Anderson underestimates the strategic challenge from China in his otherwise sensible article, “How Donald Trump Can…
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
