The Latest From Peter Ryan
The now-silent voice of Auberon Waugh was once a trumpet […]
Jun 01 2009
7 mins
What revolutions we Australians have watched in what Doctor Johnson […]
Apr 01 2009
6 mins
To American writer Daniel Boorstin, a “celebrity” was a person […]
Mar 02 2009
8 mins
Most serious readers of Australian history have long since laid […]
Jan 01 2009
13 mins
The gaze of dogs who don’t understand and who don’t know that they might be right not to understand.
—Italo Calvino
A few days ago, while I was out strolling harmlessly near home, a savagely snarling cattle-dog sprang at my hand. His mistress had him on a short, stout lead, and no harm was done.
Dec 10 2008
8 mins
When Her Excellency Quentin Bryce became our twenty-fifth governor-general, publicity focused chiefly on the fact that she is a woman. This was understandable, because she is the first of her sex to hold her country’s highest office; any notion that some anti-feminist “glass ceiling” hangs over the governor-generalship has been disproved, which is a very good thing, and we may all congratulate Quentin Bryce for having “got there”. And now could we all forget about that, and look ahead?
Nov 01 2008
9 mins
We have all heard stories of a lucky boot dislodging […]
Sep 01 2008
6 mins