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The Monthly | Australian politics, society & culture

The February issue

Friday, January 27, 2023

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PREFERENCE CENTER

Essays  Right arrow

Federal politics

Capitalism after the crises

In a time of serial disruption – to our economy, our society and our environment – the treasurer argues for the place of values and optimism in how we rethink capitalism

Capitalism after the crises
Hillsong and the life of Brian

Law and order

Hillsong and the life of Brian

The Hillsong founder lost control, first of his judgement, then of his authority and finally of his church itself – now, on criminal trial, he’s desperate to control his story

Manila’s countless dead

Law and order

Manila’s countless dead

New president Ferdinand Marcos Jr promised a more compassionate approach to the Philippines’ war on drugs, but the shadow of Rodrigo Duterte remains


Online Latest  Right arrow

Black-and-white photograph of Janet Malcolm with husband Gardner Botsford standing in front of an old-fashioned automobile. Malcolm is looking into the camera, smiling, while Botsford is looking at her and smiling.

Books

The Apartment

On memory, adultery and secrets of the heart

Waste can be seen among recyclable items from domestic bins at the Cleanaway Recycling Centre in Brisbane, November 11, 2021. Image © Jono Searle / AAP Images

Environment

Does Australia recycle anything? And does it matter?

The suspension of REDcycle’s soft plastics collection program has prompted questions about the state of recycling

Image showing a man dressed in a large 19th century overcoat, standing in a glass-fronted box suspended above a stage. Surrounding the glass box is a black background, onto which white text and numerals are projected in the shape of a map.

Opera

‘Antarctica’ at Sydney Festival

Mary Finsterer’s stylistically diverse opera deftly interrogates the stories we have long been told about the great southern continent

Still from Sebastian Lelio’s The Wonder, showing star Florence Pugh as English nurse Lib Wright in a billowing blue dress walking through the Irish Midlands, while a man follows behind her, carrying an 11-year-old girl.

Film

The best of 2022 on screen

From an Iranian masterpiece lost for decades to a devastating documentary about troubled children in eastern Ukraine, the year on screen was full of surprises

The Nation Reviewed  Right arrow

Anthony Albanese and Anika Wells wearing masks among staff at St Paul’s Terrace aged-care home, Frankston, Victoria, August 15, 2022

Federal politics

Nothing to see here

It’s a new year and COVID remains a major public health crisis – so why isn’t the government talking about it?

Illustration of bushfires

Environment

Flame wars

Michael-Shawn Fletcher’s claims that conservation measures create extreme bushfire conditions are dangerously informing government policy

Illustration of smell-lines being inhaled through a nose

Society

On senses: A citizen nose

Touring the suburbs with a man in possession of a professionally average sense of smell

Illustration of small figures on grey land below large night sky

Indigenous Australia

Care and control in the Kimberley

Could on-Country communities help address soaring juvenile crime rates in remote Western Australia?

VOX

Sweet regret

After the death of her mother, the author reflects on the hold of sugar upon her family’s health and history

Days on the Hawkesbury

Remembering the late poet through his writing about fishing on his beloved river

Arts & Letters  Right arrow

Aerial view of the Art Gallery of New South Wales’ new buildings

Architecture

Modern times: AGNSW’s new galleries

In Sydney Modern, Pritzker Prize–winning architects SANAA have delivered the gallery a cluster of pavilions with an emphasis on movement and people-watching

Close-up of two crude plaster figurines of young men

Sculpture

Terracotta worriers: Linda Marrinon

The Australian artist’s brilliant, cack-handed plaster and terracotta figurines recall ancient Greek statuettes, and possess a similar aura of inauthenticity

Still from ‘Babylon’ depicting Margot Robbie held aloft by crowd at a party

Film

Wince upon a time in Hollywood: ‘Babylon’ and ‘Aftersun’

Damien Chazelle’s cacophonous reimagining of silent-cinema Tinseltown, and Charlotte Wells’ beguiling film about mourning

Noted  Right arrow

Front cover of ‘Spare’, featuring close up of Prince Harry's face

Books

Prince Harry’s ‘Spare’

The Duke of Sussex’s blockbuster memoir surprises with its mastery of self-portraiture, and of payback

Text-based cover design of ‘This Is Not Who I Am’

Books

Emily Bootle’s ‘This Is Not Who I Am’

The American writer explores the debilitating effects of our culture’s insistence on the performance of authenticity

Life sentences Right arrow

Flowers being watered

“Robert, this morning you have the straightest back in class”

In the first of a new series on lines long remembered, the author recalls how a schoolteacher’s praise reverberated beyond the classroom

Podcasts  Right arrow

7am

‘Politicians are naturally weak’: Tony Windsor versus the gas industry

Former Independent MP Tony Windsor on our water, how gas developments can threaten it and how grassroots campaigns can force politicians to back down.

HOST Kara Jensen-Mackinnon
GUEST Tony Windsor

7am

Alice Springs: The crisis that shouldn’t have happened

Columnist for The Saturday Paper Chris Wallace on how giving communities a voice could force politicians to face complex challenges.

HOST Ruby Jones
GUEST Chris Wallace

7am

The case for returning crown land

Author and Noongar woman, Claire G. Coleman on the case for returning crown land.

HOST Ruby Jones
GUEST Claire G. Coleman