In This Issue
February 2012 in brief
THE NATION REVIEWED Mr President, there are people dogging you. There are people saying America’s hollowed out like a walnut with...
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The Nation Reviewed
Comment: Address to the US President: Draft for a Prime Minister’s Address on the Occasion of Another Visit from the President of the United States
Don Watson
Mr President, Thank you for making room in your busy schedule to see me while you are in Darwin. In the short time I have at your disposal...
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The Nation Reviewed
The Art of Ideas: Wim Delvoye at MONA
Amanda Lohrey
The phenomenon that is Hobart’s Museum of Old and New Art (MONA) is a Plato’s cave of multi-layered subterranean space where shadows of the...
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The Nation Reviewed
The Beat Goes On: Sex and Secrets in Public Parks
Sonya Hartnett
In a corner of the Darling Gardens in Melbourne’s boutique inner-city suburb of Clifton Hill stands a small, well-maintained toilet block...
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The Nation Reviewed
The Looks Department: The Rise of Cosmetic Medicine
Tanveer Ahmed
Dr Joseph Ajaka came to the world of cosmetic medicine in 2006 after the messy rupture of his training to become an anaesthetist. After...
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The Nation Reviewed
Long in the Tooth: Trixie Gardner
Paola Totaro
The Baroness Gardner of Parkes, Conservative member of the British House of Lords, waves me through the Peers’ Lobby and with an informal “...
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The Monthly Essays
Divided We Fall: The Australian Greens Party
Sally Neighbour
*Nine days after the Christmas drinks in Canberra, a far more toxic atmosphere prevails as the NSW Greens assemble for their bi-monthly...
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The Monthly Essays
So Who the Bloody Hell Are You?: Scott Morrison
Nick Bryant
In a country that has always exhibited a fickle streak towards foreigners heading for its shores, Scott Morrison is especially well...
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The Monthly Essays
The Elephant in the Room: Australia–India Relations
Michael Wesley
Great expectations attend the Australia–India relationship. The Labor Party’s agreement to sell uranium to India has removed a major...
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The Monthly Essays
In the Picture: Burma
Sebastian Strangio
The woman they call the Lady is all over town, staring down from the walls of teashops, hanging on sun-dappled street corners, perched on...
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The Monthly Essays
Angry Boys: Republicans and the US Presidential Race
Julia Baird
The Family Table Restaurant is a small, dingy diner in Atlantic, Iowa, the state known as the Hawkeye State, that claims to be the corn...
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Arts & Letters
The Bride Wore Black: Akira Isogawa
Peter Robb
Think ‘dress designer’ and what comes to mind? Not a whole lot of fun. Think of the last picture you saw of Karl Lagerfeld or John Galliano...
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Arts & Letters
Citizen Kael: Brian Kellow’s 'Pauline Kael: A Life in the Dark'
Christos Tsiolkas
The day after I finished reading Brian Kellow’s Pauline Kael: A Life in the Dark (Viking, 432pp; $39.00), I watched John Cassavetes’ Faces...
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Arts & Letters
Gumbo: Allen Toussaint and New Orleans
Paul Kelly
My job as a singer–songwriter often involves being interviewed. One of the questions I’m asked most frequently, up there with “What comes...
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Arts & Letters
Philosophic Emissions: Roger Scruton’s 'Green Philosophy: How to Think Seriously about the Planet'
Peter Singer
Climate change is a threat to us all but it poses a particular difficulty for those who, like English philosopher Roger Scruton, are on the...
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Arts & Letters
The Politics of News: David McKnight’s 'Rupert Murdoch: An Investigation of Power'
David Marr
Australian journalists have a sad history of going off to Washington to be ruined. They leave home the hope of the side but after a visit...
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Noted
'The Chemistry of Tears' By Peter Carey
Jennifer Byrne
In the peaty depths of Germany’s Black Forest, nineteenth-century English gentleman Henry Brandling commissions a giant clockwork automaton...
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Noted
'Outland' by Kevin Carlin
Benjamin Law
On paper, the premise of the new ABC1 sitcom Outland seems too self-consciously quirky for its own good. Homosexuals and sci-fi nerds?...
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Encounters
Fred Schepisi & Vladimir Putin
As Fred Schepisi was whisked along the Rublyovka highway, past luxury car showrooms and Gucci boutiques, he reflected on how much Moscow...
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Peter D Jones
Sally Neighbour’s article on the Greens (‘Divided We Fall’, February) sounded a bit like a rehash of the German Greens ‘Fundis versus...
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Senator Brett Mason
Contrary to the impression conveyed by Sally Neighbour (‘All About Cory’, Dec/Jan), Cory Bernardi enjoys great respect in the community and...
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Glenn Sutherland
While women play a significant role in our armed forces, whether they should be deployed in frontline combat situations is quite debatable...
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Margaret Johnson
To my great delight, Don Watson (‘Comment’, Dec/Jan) referred to Halldór Laxness’ novel Independent People. Having lived some 20 years...
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Jedda Bradley
Nick Bryant’s statement that Queensland is “Australia’s most conservative state”(‘Can Do?’, Dec/Jan) needs challenging. Joh Bjelke-Petersen...
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