Latest Articles
From a perspective of some eighty years it is possible to misunderstand or underestimate the intensity of the fears—but also the hopes and aspirations—of the British people as they faced up to another colossal existential challenge, less than a full generation after what, it was now suddenly clear, had only been the first world war.
Sep 10 2024
11 mins
The Republican presidential contender is an acquired taste. Given the alternative, it's a taste persnickety conservatives should make the effort to acquire
Sep 09 2024
4 mins
An Education at the movies
Too early? By rights, An Education (BBC Films) shouldn’t be called a classic, but it sure looks like one. It’s easy on the eyes, for one thing. At times, early 1960s London looks like a watercolor, with her rainy days, her dreamy schoolgirls, and her wet footpaths. How many movies – today at least – look stylish? What’s more, the camera doesn’t have a problem with beautiful people smoking cigarettes, and looking better for it. (Quick call the censors!)
London. Oxford. Paris. Location wise, place names tend to be blessings or curses, at the movies. But somehow they work here without becoming clichés, because we see them through the eyes of a 16-year-old private schoolgirl. They’re skylines with souls. Cultural magnets attracting young dreamers.
An Education is based on the memoirs of Lynn Barber. The movie’s central character is Jenny (played convincingly enough by 22-year-old Carey Mulligan). Her character shouts innocence and roars naivety. We see her, funnily enough, talking…
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
