June 2016 Volume Volume Lx, Number 6, No. 527
The Mysteries of Trumpism
Cameron’s Brexit Bind
Of Guinea Worms and Thylacines
Look Seaward, Australia
Stan Grant’s Nostalgia for Injustice
Games Politicians Play: Liberal, Labor, Insiders, Outsiders
Contents
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Donald Trump’s Appeal Sir: Peter Murphy (May 2016) writes with […]
June 1, 2016
11 mins
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Those who wish Britain to remain in Europe are given to depicting Leave supporters as ill-educated simpletons, not to mention crypto-fascists and, inevitably, vile racists to boot. Perhaps they haven't noticed that elitist disdain is driving a global wave of populist rebellions
June 4, 2016
9 mins
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The sub-pagan belief in nature, very common among those who claim to be spiritual but not religious, is very successfully mocked on a website called Save the Guinea Worm. A parasite of revolting appearance and habit, who amongst today's green-eyed romantics speaks for its survival?
July 9, 2016
8 mins
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The alibi of cultural kinship with the West that has facilitated so much of Australia’s strategic dependency must, in the decades ahead, become tempered by a much greater spirit of strategic independence—an independence facilitated by an Asian geopolitical destiny
June 1, 2016
39 mins
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The journalist and TV personality's book, 'Talking to My Country', is not simply the heartfelt testimony of one man’s 'lived experience' as an Aboriginal Australian, it is a chronicle of a would-be victim's quest to justify his alienation from the country in which he has done well
July 13, 2016
36 mins
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After Malcolm Turnbull became prime minister last year the veteran […]
June 1, 2016
11 mins
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Nowadays we all seek “the good life”, but in doing […]
June 1, 2016
14 mins
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The path to terrorism among Muslim youth with refugee backgrounds often begins with the embrace of hip-hop culture's hyper-masculinity, and from there to anti-social behaviour and crime. Add religious fervour and the next step is a small one: sympathy and support for Islamist terrorism
June 13, 2016
10 mins
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A staple of American political rhetoric is an appeal to […]
June 1, 2016
40 mins
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In this, the third of three articles about Dr John […]
June 1, 2016
30 mins
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Most Australians would know Nuremberg only as the German city […]
June 1, 2016
22 mins
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It is hard for Australians to picture the degrading poverty of tiny and truly destitute island nations, not least the stoic resignation of the local people. As one foreign resident put it, 'If they get really sick they don’t go to hospital to get better. They just die.'
July 30, 2016
9 mins
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The English and Their History by Robert Tombs Penguin, 2015, […]
June 1, 2016
10 mins
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The notion of free speech is worthless if the speech in question amounts only to people saying stuff you like hearing. Restricting speech infantilises the voters and sets judges get to thinking of themselves as philosopher-kings who can tell the rest of us what to do, how to act
August 2, 2016
12 mins
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Ever the prisoner of PC rectitude, President Obama wrongly fears that opposing -- or evening naming -- global jihadism as the enemy of civilisation is a declaration of war against Islam. By this reticence he has flung petrol on the Islamist fires
July 6, 2016
10 mins
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The Romantic Attack on Modern Science in England and America […]
June 1, 2016
14 mins
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Idle Talk: Letters 1960–1964 by Gwen Harwood Brandl & Schlesinger, […]
June 1, 2016
10 mins
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Samuel Beckett played and enjoyed cricket. He also won a […]
June 1, 2016
9 mins
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Percy Grainger loathed the popularity of his arrangement of the […]
June 1, 2016
10 mins
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Anne Tyler writes about Baltimore, Maryland. So have Nora Roberts […]
June 1, 2016
8 mins
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In the hinterland of Queensland’s Sunshine Coast lies Maleny, a […]
June 1, 2016
5 mins
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The 'gentleman cracksman's' exploits are meant to be fun, but they are also blessed by darker textures. With lead characters based in part on Oscar Wilde and Lord Alfred Douglas, there is a subtle gay sub-text in the originals -- just one of the elements that drew George Orwell's incisive attention
July 17, 2016
15 mins
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Some 700 kilometres north of the Tropic of Capricorn, the […]
June 1, 2016
20 mins
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More than ever we need old-fashioned public servants who will give tough advice. Who else is there to give the lie to the army of private-sector consultants, contractors, lobbyists and PR merchants whose self-interested posturing is irresistible to many politicians?
August 6, 2016
8 mins
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A Little Ray of Sunbeams Variations on the Sunbeam frypan […]
June 1, 2016
1 mins
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Polenta Memories Our handyman, friend of an old friend, […]
June 1, 2016
4 mins
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Valparaíso for Thomas J. Lawlor, 1882–1960 Valparaíso, tattered town; tattooed […]
June 1, 2016
3 mins
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Hiroko Can Go Jump Hiroko can go jump Out […]
June 1, 2016
2 mins
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One Day at Tea Bag Bay an ocean liner comes […]
June 1, 2016
1 mins
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The Genoa Grail “la memoria di tanta grazie” —Cattedrale di […]
June 1, 2016
5 mins
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Haiku chilling the drink rocks that need an ocean Trevi […]
June 1, 2016
1 mins
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Bunbury motel How pleasant to wake and see from […]
June 1, 2016
1 mins
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A Weaving for Alice Kavanagh Too proud of having […]
June 1, 2016
2 mins
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A Game of Cards My uncle was a great […]
June 1, 2016
3 mins
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Taylor Swift When Taylor struts her stuff at the […]
June 1, 2016
1 mins
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Among the white-barked gums Last night possums descended from […]
June 1, 2016
1 mins
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A Somerset Jig (Gustav Holst, Yehudi Menuhin on violin) […]
June 1, 2016
3 mins