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
Leon Trainor: ‘Waking to Rain’
Waking to Rain
Sounds of wet run everywhere,
soak is crying out to seep
to fill drains, infuse the soil,
bond with droplets in the air,
flow together in a stream
that never stops. This the dream
we wake to share, all our sleep
was for this: to lie muddled, warm,
wishing to blend with what we hear
although we fear it may enfold
sounds that never found a form.
Moments of clarity are few
and brief, and always outside: through
miles of whispering, blurred rain,
individual birds
ping grace notes at intervals,
as if an orchestra withdrew
leaving behind the triangles
to offer meaning to the world.
Leon Trainor
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
