THE NATION REVIEWED

Now it is true that most writers will knock each other over for a chance to talk to someone in public; but the record shows that even the shy ones believe Ramona Koval is as good as the chance gets. Her interviews have depth and intimacy, intelligence and wit.

In the Monthly Comment, Don Watson tunes into The Book Show, ABC Radio National’s pre-eminent program on books and writing. A recent announcement that the show will be amalgamated into a ‘books and arts’ program has writers and listeners up in arms. What’s more, the much-admired host Ramona Koval may not be at the helm. Watson implores the ABC to uphold its duty and preserve our literary culture.   

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Plus, in “Summit Season”, Hugh White examines Julia Gillard’s approaching foreign affairs engagements; in “I Heart New Yorker”, Christine Kenneally meets Amelia Lester, the managing editor of arguably the world’s most sophisticated magazine; in “The Legend of Jandamarra”, Gail Jones takes her seat in the Kimberley to watch an on-stage history of a Bunuba lawman and warrior; and, in "Garage Alchemists", Robyn Davidson is indulged by the gastronomic wizards of Hobart.

THE MONTHLY ESSAYS

Back in 2002 Bolt opposed Labor’s decision to guarantee that 40% of all winnable seats went to women because "women are more likely to act irrationally" … not only were female politicians more likely to be "superstitious New Agers" but "more dangerously, they’ll tend to show … an irrational fear of useful things like nuclear power and genetically modified crops".

In “The Bolt Factor”, Anne Summers surveys the career of Andrew Bolt, the conservative News Limited journalist, blogger and host of The Bolt Report who captures a huge national audience. On 29 September the Federal Court found Bolt to have breached the Racial Discrimination Act in two of his opinion columns. Summers interviews personal and professional acquaintances of Bolt’s, starting from his days as a 20-year-old cadet at the Age, to trace the making of an opportunist.

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“There’s no doubt that an out-of-control kid put on Ritalin settles very quickly. Do I wish there was another way? Yes. The reality is, as teachers we can’t do our jobs when a kid is climbing the walls.”

In “Prescribing Behaviour”, Gail Bell considers the rush to diagnose ADHD in children. From Ritalin to Catapres to Risperdal, a cocktail of potent drugs are regularly administered to kids for what is essentially a behavioural disorder – one likely to diminish in adulthood. Bell interviews teachers and students in special learning environments to see how the young members of the Ritalin club are faring, and whether there is a better alternative.  

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“It’s a dog’s breakfast. Every cynicism is confirmed. The state of [Murray–Darling] politics in Australia is sickening. They will say anything at all if their polling suggests it’s the way to go and then say the opposite shortly after and manufacture the most transparent mishmash of lies to justify the about-face.”

In “Water Under the Bridge”, Kate Jennings unleashes a dog in the fight to take a bite at the Murray–Darling Basin Authority. The community response to the MDBA’s proposed Basin Plan suggests that water cuts could destroy parts of regional Australia. Born and bred in Griffith, NSW, Jennings follows her country roots to talk to farmers, climate scientists and extended family. She gives voice to the most important people in the basin, the community, who are so often unheard.

ARTS & LETTERS

Arts Issue: 20 Australian Masterpieces Since 2000

To mark the Monthly’s inaugural Arts Issue, we approached 20 arts critics and asked each to identify the most significant Australian work of art in their field since 2000. Ranging from visual art to music, fashion to poetry, the Monthly’s list of masterpieces reveals some little-known gems as well as renowned works of art.

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Dogs cling to their kennels or baskets, but Meow Meow is at home wherever she can sling her feather boa and find a piano on which to drape as she performs French chansons or Brechtian ballads.

In “Queen of the Night”, Peter Conrad submits to the not-so-demure cabaret performer Meow Meow, AKA Melissa Madden Gray. Australian by birth, cosmopolitan by occupation, Meow Meow’s reputation for cabaret performance reveals an artist who knows how to high-kick the rules.  

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The bodies of old women are rarely celebrated in art, and representations of them are few. The faces of older women who’ve achieved status and standing have long had their place in portraiture, which can indeed be a celebration. But the aged and unclothed female body – that’s rare indeed.

In “Bodying Forth”, Drusilla Modjeska celebrates two provocative artists, the late Alice Neel and Louise Bourgeois. Neel, who declared a “revolt against everything decent”, and Bourgeois, whose work was “sexually ambiguous and often explicit”, made representations in art startling for their self-exposure. Modjeska ponders a link between each artist and the fertility of age; in Bourgeois’ words: “A woman has no place as an artist until she proves over and over that she won’t be eliminated.” 

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Like the image of a prancing matador being hoist to the heavens on the horns of a bull, the barrister trading his cape for prison garb somehow tells of a world where justice knows no bounds.

In “Line of Appeal”, Jack Marx meets Andrew Fraser, the criminal lawyer notoriously thrown in jail in 2001 for possession of drugs and being “knowingly concerned” with the importation of cocaine. Defence lawyer to a who’s who of Melbourne’s underworld, Fraser thanks his five years in jail for breaking his dicey coke habit – but not the men who put him in there. In the new series Killing Time (screening on TV1), Fraser is played by David Wenham. 

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Plus, in “Fathers & Sons”, Peter Robb builds a rapport with architect Glenn Murcutt; in “Clean As You Go”, Paola Totaro corresponds with the indefatigable Clive James; in “Bowing to the Bard”, Louis Nowra learns Shakespeare is not just ‘caviar to the general’ in the hands of John Bell; and in “Taking to the Woods”, John Collee enters the wilderness of Daniel Nettheim’s The Hunter and Anh Hung Tran’s Norwegian Wood.