July-August 2020 Volume LXIV, Number 7-8, No. 568
In Praise of Empires
It Could Never Happen Here? Ah, But It Is
The Sincerity of a Single Fresh Flower
Rebels Without a Pause
Comorbidity in the English Curriculum
COVID-19 and the Perils of Expert-Driven Policy
Contents
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These days, imperialism is so at odds with political fashions that few say a good word for it. Deepak Lal, one of the wisest men I’ve known, dared do just that, noting that empires come in two varieties: those that plunder and those, such as the British Empire, that served as custodians of laws and civil orderJuly 6, 2020
8 mins
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Because the central claims of the revolutionary cause are false and some of its actions unlawfully violent, its propaganda outlets have to lie and obfuscate. Here is how BBC news reported the first London protests: '27 police officers injured during largely peaceful anti-racism protests in London'June 29, 2020
9 mins
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'There was here a little grave of a child aged two who had died nearly fifty years before. On this grave was a vase with a single fresh flower in it. Two years later, when I returned to again indulge my affection for cemeteries, the vase was still there, and still with a fresh flower'July 19, 2020
8 mins
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The more remote the rioting, the more attractive it seems. This year, your ABC has been glorifying the burning of police stations across the United States, which is a a long way from Ultimo. Meanwhile, Joe Biden keeps a mental distance from reality, applauding violent 'protesters' while simultaneously calling for restraintJuly 31, 2020
8 mins
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Australian schools are coming out of shutdown, where for many […]June 29, 2020
7 mins
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When the Australian Senate’s Select Committee on COVID-19 held its […]
June 29, 2020
31 mins
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Decolonisation theory, an elaborate and assiduously promoted lie, has claimed as collateral damage the Queen’s portrait at Oxford's Magdalen College and, it also appears, the sanity of Prince Harry. The truth is that Elizabeth II has been the patroness not of imperialism but of a genuine and mostly successful decolonisationJuly 9, 2021
8 mins
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The Children's Book Council of Australia's, a body whose endorsement once counted for something, has just declared Bruce Pascoe's 'Young Dark Emu' one of 2020's best books. In July, when this essay first appeared, Quadrant warned that honouring a book of misrepresented history by an author who misrepresents himself would do immense damage to the CBCA's reputation. Alas, the judges didn't listenOctober 20, 2020
5 mins
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Sir: David Barnett’s article “The Missing Voice of the Country […]
June 29, 2020
7 mins
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'Have you turned conservative?' It was the early 1980s, I was back in Australia, and the speaker was a friend I had made during the campaign for Whitlam in London. It was the last time I saw her. Those on the Left are very aware that something is wrong with us even before we are. They are a sensitive lot, ever ready to scent dissentAugust 22, 2020
15 mins
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Such was Beijing's adherence to protocol that my table companions through two years of interminable Great Hall dinners never varied. There was the Greek who heroically tried to keep conversation going -- a daunting task given that two of our companions were Africans who did not appear to speak any known languageJuly 14, 2020
13 mins
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Perhaps in a sustained effort to protect dolphins from the threat of COVID-19, socially-distancing surfers were driven from the water at McKenzie’s Bay, near Bondi, presumably by police concerned with animal rights. As with so many other edicts, another pointless measure intended to scare rather than achieve a tangible gainJuly 12, 2020
21 mins
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Asked what lies ahead for the world, the most famous of contemporary French writers replied with customary asperity, 'The same—only worse.' Man does not learn from experience or from anything else, he maintains; and because time’s arrow flies in one direction only, we cannot restore a smashed civilisation. In short, we are doomedJuly 9, 2020
18 mins
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Our soi disant progressives tend to discourage us these days […]
June 29, 2020
16 mins
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The infamously abrasive essayist, once hounded from a rural village after throwing a young woman over his knee and giving her a spanking, wondered '… have I not reason to hate and to despise myself?' He provided his own answer: 'Indeed I do; and chiefly for not having hated and despised the world enough'August 10, 2020
14 mins
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Seventy years ago, in the last week of June 1950, […]
June 29, 2020
13 mins
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The desecration of property has been an unfortunate by-product of […]
June 29, 2020
7 mins
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The Russiagate hoax saw Mueller's investigators reprise of the conspiracy to entrap Mike Flynn, only writ large. All the main and same ingredients are there, starting with comprehensive intelligence community surveillance of the subject, all justified on the pretext of a non-crime. If Trump fails in November, the Deep State, not Biden, will be the real winnerJuly 29, 2020
25 mins
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The Royal Commission into Institutional Child Abuse has a list […]
June 29, 2020
15 mins
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In a long interview with Sky News after Cardinal Pell’s […]
June 29, 2020
8 mins
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“When you’re on a good thing, stick to it.” Like […]
June 29, 2020
12 mins
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The underlying conservatism of both Hungary and Poland is not simply a rejection of 'progress', however tendentiously that is defined by the serried ranks of the Left, but the shedding of memories of attempted Sovietisation. Understandably, they prefer that Soviet masters not be replaced with the overlords of BrusselsJuly 21, 2020
16 mins
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This article has its genesis in a letter by Dr […]
June 30, 2020
26 mins
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The COVID pandemic and official reaction to it should prompt renewed introspection on the part of a Western world in danger of losing its soul. In this task of moral, political and philosophical self-interrogation and renewal, there is no better guide than French liberal conservative thoughtAugust 15, 2020
22 mins
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Textbook theory never envisaged governments taking the extraordinary step of closing down their economies. We are in uncharted waters, which makes it difficult to predict the outcome. With that proviso, I pose the two key questions of the moment: Will inflation take off? Will government debt burden the future?July 17, 2020
12 mins
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Eric Bedford, Franco Labbozzetta and Paul Landa have children who must live with the star Sydney Morning Herald journalist's published accusations of corruption, a destruction of reputation which this article aims to mitigateJuly 23, 2020
26 mins
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The letter of unsolicited condolence sent by an obscure Australian schoolteacher to Sidney Webb upon the death of wife Beatrice was, first of all, a slightly disconcerting act of homage. Beyond that, it was an affirmation of Clark's yearning to do something heroic for the Fabian cause, an ambition that coloured all his writing and would never be stilledJuly 20, 2020
8 mins
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With five full biographies to his credit -- Malcolm Fraser, Owen Dixon and Ninian Stephen amongst them -- Philip Ayres is a master of his craft. Open-minded yet sceptical, his collected encounters with the likes of Gerald Ford, Diana Mosley, Antonin Scalia, Ian Paisley and others is a delightJuly 10, 2020
13 mins
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This is a comprehensive, informative and reflective account of the […]
June 30, 2020
11 mins
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Fashionable scholars will tell you his unsettling paintings are windows on the soul of a violent abuser, one alleged proof being his preference when working for dungarees and T-shirts, a la Stanley Kowalski. Such is the state of art criticism these days that the trite is deemed preferable to the circumstances and truth of an artist's lifeAugust 1, 2020
49 mins
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even years ago I wrote an article in Quadrant on the slow but steady erosion of the suburban church as a centre of community activity and faith. Since then the decline has gathered speed. Fancy a used pew or perhaps a pulpit? You’ll find them for sale on eBayJuly 26, 2020
10 mins
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The Netflix series is only four episodes, but that's enough for a revealing peek at New York's insular, secretive and ultra-ultra-orthodox Satmar sect, which opposes the very existence of Israel. 'The only real Jews are Hasids,' they preach, 'even a drop of assimilation instantly disqualifies them from being a real Jew'August 9, 2020
20 mins
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You met Chou, asked the president of the Chinese national federation? I was visiting Beijing many years later and replied that not only had I met him but he had shaken my hand, which I held up. The president took the honoured hand in her own and held it with the greatest reverence
August 6, 2020
8 mins
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Christopher stood on the hotel terrace, looking over the oasis […]
June 30, 2020
21 mins
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Australians are generally well-mannered, which is why we overwhelmingly complied with official directives to shutter our businesses, lose our jobs and wages, and cease to enjoy meaningful social lives. All of our sacrifices, we were assured, were necessary steps towards containing the dread China virus. That was then. And now? Well, just look at VictoriaAugust 5, 2020
8 mins
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An Academic Nursery Rhyme There was an old scholar who […]
June 30, 2020
3 mins
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Willowwitch Willowwitch weaves her streaming hair White hands fashion a […]
June 30, 2020
1 mins
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The Clockmaker A clock built with the biggest of hands […]
June 30, 2020
2 mins
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A Little Watercolour At dusk, ants hover on fragile wings […]
June 30, 2020
1 mins
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The Green Parasol (After the painting by E. Phillips Fox) […]
June 30, 2020
2 mins
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In memoriam Professor Wilkes I remember his robes Riffling en […]
June 30, 2020
1 mins
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Ezra Pound: London and After With Tapers Quenched, but with […]
June 30, 2020
1 mins
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The Eyes of Artists in the Brochure This is not […]
June 30, 2020
1 mins
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Brindabellas If that peat wasn’t searing infrangibly or that dorsal […]
June 30, 2020
2 mins
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Winter Break Briefly unencumbered we travel to warmth on a […]
June 30, 2020
2 mins
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The Electric Didgeridoo Riverbeds, twisted as the unkempt hair of […]
June 30, 2020
2 mins
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observing a girl eating in the library no eating, it […]
June 30, 2020
1 mins
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Middle-aged Karma I was shaky drunk and weepy in a […]
June 30, 2020
1 mins
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R.J. Stove: Henry V suddenly sees the error of his ways, advocates Brexit, and offers Falstaff a job
Henry V suddenly sees the error of his ways, advocates […]June 30, 2020
2 mins
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Thursday, June 20, 2019 Rain frames the blackened pinions of […]
June 30, 2020
1 mins
