Latest Articles
Our new G-G let slip an avalanche of heartfelt concern that recast our 236 years of indifference and guilt
Sep 17 2024
8 mins
The lust for power can be as great or greater driver of human effort as the good and humane
Sep 16 2024
11 mins
The promise a Covid royal commission has been renounced even as a sweeping inquiry is needed more than ever
Sep 16 2024
6 mins
Libby Sommer: ‘Tactics’
Tactics
A woman is hitting back & forth
across the net, a peaked cap
secured by her ponytail.
Can she overcome the self-doubt,
anxiety & lapses of concentration?
She mustn’t let her mind
be the winner in this battle.
Right here, right now,
she’s in control,
even in the wind,
alternating her drives
to the far corners of the court.
Nothing distracts her,
not the noisy leaf blower
or her male opponent
with superior physical strength.
Tactics are her best weapon.
Now she is serving,
tossing the ball high,
straight as an arrow,
reaching up,
accelerating,
out wide
to his lefthanded backhand.
She ignores her cap
escaping with the wind
as she executes
a perfect follow through.
She smiles.
Ace! It’s an ace.
Libby Sommer
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
