Dismembering government
New public management and why the Commonwealth government can’t do anything anymore
The Monthly | Australian politics, society & culture
The Latest
If only the government’s definition of “effort” was a little broader when it came to sourcing vaccines
Living to regret: ‘Nostalgia Has Ruined My Life’
With an exasperating but charming protagonist, Zarah Butcher-McGunnigle’s episodic novella demonstrates faultless comic timing
True to form: ‘No Sudden Move’
Steven Soderbergh’s Detroit crime movie is another formal experiment with commercial trappings
New public management and why the Commonwealth government can’t do anything anymore
The meanings of production: ‘Beautiful World, Where Are You’
Novelist Sally Rooney returns to the dystopia of contemporary life while reflecting on her own fame
The Monthly Essays
The pandemic and the shrinking of Australian politics
Rather than prompting reform, the COVID emergency has hardened the major parties’ neoliberal ideology
New public management and why the Commonwealth government can’t do anything anymore
The life and times of activist Sister Brigid Arthur
The Nation Reviewed
America’s failure in Afghanistan and its contempt for Australia as an ally
Why politicians love being caught rorting in their electorates
Clinical trials in Perth will study the use of MDMA to treat PTSD and addiction
Tasmanian devils may soon be returning to the wild on the mainland
Vox
Arts & Letters
A shock of renewal: ‘Hilma af Klint: The Secret Paintings’
The transcendent works of the modernist who regarded herself not an artist but a medium
Desire’s conspiracies: ‘The Right to Sex’
Philosopher Amia Srinivasan’s essays consider incels, consent and sexual discrimination
The meanings of production: ‘Beautiful World, Where Are You’
Novelist Sally Rooney returns to the dystopia of contemporary life while reflecting on her own fame
True to form: ‘No Sudden Move’
Steven Soderbergh’s Detroit crime movie is another formal experiment with commercial trappings
Noted
‘Harlem Shuffle’ by Colson Whitehead The author of ‘The Underground Railroad’ offers a disappointingly straightforward neo-noir caper set in the early ’60s
‘Beirut 2020’ by Charif Majdalani The Lebanese writer’s elegiac journal captures the city’s devastating port explosion
