April 2017 Volume LXI, Number 4, No. 535
Owners? No, ‘custodians’
Bill Shorten’s Identity Politics
Can Dumb Luck Save Malcolm Turnbull?
Absurd Logic Meets Moral Exhibitionism
How Trump Can Save the West from Itself
The New Totalitarians
Contents
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Custodians, Not Owners Sir: Upon the publication of my article […]March 30, 2017
10 mins
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Australians once thought politics akin to sport -- lose the contest, revise tactics, do better next time. Today it is civil war, with blatant and irresponsible lies prominent in the Opposition leader's arsenal. His contemptible myths about poisoned waterholes demonstrate just how low he can stoopApril 5, 2017
8 mins
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Turnbull has not shone as PM. His own standing in the polls, the justification for ousting Abbott, is dismal. He almost lost an election and struggles to articulate an agenda, let alone a vision of where Australia should be heading. His best hope may well be Labor's talent for blowing sure thingsApril 7, 2017
9 mins
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Lovers of humanity in general don’t seem to be very happy in themselves. How can they be, from the strictly ethical point of view, with so much misery to commiserate? “Now that we talk of dying,” asked Eliot, “should I have the right to smile?”April 16, 2017
8 mins
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Europe owes everything to the beneficence of America, which was even prepared to sign up for mutually-assured destruction in its protection. When Trump accuses such generosity's recipients of ingratitude the only surprise is that the complaint was so long in comingApril 29, 2017
18 mins
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Patriotism in the White House, in any other era, would not have been anything out of the ordinary. In the America of managerialism and 'global governance', not to mention identity politics, Trump’s patriotism plunges the chattering classes into fits of frothing indignationApril 28, 2017
13 mins
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The greatest lesson to be drawn from so many revelations of abuse is that a culture which privileges clerical privacy over lay distress has to change, and quickly. Should that not happen, protecting non-negotiables like the seal of the confessional from the state will be near impossibleApril 23, 2017
29 mins
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British hospitals report an average of fifteen cases of female genital mutilation each day, yet despite the practice being illegal since 1984 there have been no successful prosecutions. Where are the feminists on this and other issues such as forced marriages and 'honour' killings? Nowhere, it seemsMay 3, 2017
11 mins
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Suppose you run a workshop near the border. A competitor opens up across the street employing sweated labour. Foul! You cry. Now put this competing workshop just across the national border. Exactly why has the unfair competition become fair?May 5, 2017
12 mins
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Following the seismic political events of 2016, including Brexit and […]
March 30, 2017
11 mins
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What happens when historians forget that history is about inquiry and instead see themselves as founts of wisdom which is not open to challenge? When two of my colleagues at Wollongong University took exception to my argument, I learnt all about their methodsApril 6, 2017
12 mins
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Australia’s system of government is that of a parliamentary democracy […]
March 30, 2017
33 mins
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Brian Galligan writes: In response to my review of his […]
March 30, 2017
40 mins
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Max Suich, one in a succession of gifted Fairfax editors […]
March 30, 2017
18 mins
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Being smart doesn’t make psychiatrists, as a body at least, immune to irresponsibility and foolishness. One of author Tanveer Ahmed's pet peeves is the way every mental affliction, from sadness upwards, is being medicalised, labelled a condition and therefore in need of treatmentMay 7, 2017
8 mins
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Kenneth Clark: Life, Art and Civilisation by James Stourton Knopf, […]
March 30, 2017
14 mins
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Today, being St Patrick's Day, we'll leave the harps, shamrocks and green-tinted sentimentality to others. Instead, hear from the assassin of an Ulster policeman. 'I am deeply ashamed of that act,' he writes, 'like many young Irish republicans, I thought I was fighting for Irish freedom. I was not'March 17, 2018
11 mins
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Bright, Precious Days by Jay McInerney Bloomsbury, 2016, 416 pages, […]
March 30, 2017
9 mins
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The Curse of Mungana by David E. Moore Boolarong Press, […]
March 30, 2017
6 mins
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Apart from fancifully reconstructing a conversation between a mother and her outlaw son, author Grantlee Kieza breaks no new ground in this latest addition to the ever-expanding trove of books that present a wild, lawless and thoroughly disreputable family as oppressed heroesMay 13, 2017
9 mins
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Writing music takes more talent, but writing lyrics takes more […]
March 30, 2017
22 mins
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From time to time I come across one of Alan […]
March 30, 2017
17 mins
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20/5/06 The very joy I’ve now appraised nearly all the […]
March 31, 2017
13 mins
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Land that was once open fields filled with nonchalantly grazing […]
March 31, 2017
5 mins
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Francis walked towards me as I sat at a table […]
March 31, 2017
10 mins
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The compulsory hijab might be the most visible aspect of […]
March 31, 2017
11 mins
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Kindling the Real Estate Pages (Energy can neither be created […]
March 31, 2017
1 mins
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Gossiper As a brass clapper in a windbell, so a […]
March 31, 2017
1 mins
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The World is Simple soft, loose curlicues of sea palm […]
March 31, 2017
3 mins
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Women at the River Women eye each other on opposite […]
March 31, 2017
1 mins
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Infinite? For Leo Sooner or later, we are all […]
March 31, 2017
1 mins
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Anniversary Poem By now the love we share is […]
March 31, 2017
1 mins
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On Courage i.m. Geoffrey Wentworth Courage is the slow […]
March 31, 2017
1 mins
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The Ablation of Time At close range the clash […]
March 31, 2017
2 mins
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Go for it, Joe! for Joe Dolce Go for […]
March 31, 2017
1 mins
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Miss Anderson’s Doorbells Miss Anderson taught us Latin: Silky white […]
March 31, 2017
2 mins
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This is it A Reading from Paul’s Letter to the […]
March 31, 2017
2 mins
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Sea Dog Out on the Harbour in the wooden […]
March 31, 2017
3 mins
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This life … and more with thanks to Lisel Mueller […]
March 31, 2017
3 mins
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the moment, taken harkening clouds storming over our weatherboard house […]
March 31, 2017
1 mins
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Combine The tractor puffing diesel crawled along the swath, […]
March 31, 2017
3 mins
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Cullinan A flash of light in shaft wall. First thought: […]
March 31, 2017
1 mins
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Clearing This is the price of light: chainsaws squealing, […]
March 31, 2017
2 mins
