Eugene Kamenka, supervisor of my doctorate at ANU, expert on Marxian thought and a man who would never have thought his name would appear in an article about the twenty-fifth anniversary of Neighbours, once, in his youth, found himself giving …

Marc Newson - ‘Qantas A380 Economy Seat’, 2008

The State of Design Festival

PL Travers and Mary Poppins

“I’m not going to bore you with a lot of oratory, because I’m not an orator,” Sir Les Patterson once remarked. “I’m an Australian politician.” He was unfair to his breed and to his country as well. Australia’s reputation for tongue-tied …

Well, at least nobody had to wear tights. We were all clad in a seemly manner – academic robes for most of us – when we stepped onto the stage and into a flashy, Renaissance-lite set curiously reminiscent of an amateur production of Kiss Me, Kate. …

‘Underbelly’ and ‘The Wire’

“My idea of heaven is sitting in my garden with the sun on my back, a cup of tea and someone I love,” says a woman at the back of the room. It’s a philosophical claim that, like so many, invites more questions than it resolves. Is she saying that …

“We’re in the renaissance period of artificial light at night,” says composer and light designer Mary-Anne Kyriakou. “If the city at night is only a place where people drink, what good is the city?” On this warm June night, the crouching pug …

Alistair Cooke’s ‘Reporting America’

Recent food books

When is Australia going to stop being young? I may have miscounted but, as far as I can see, of the 193 independent nations states listed in the CIA World Factbook, no fewer than 143 are younger than us. Even if you allow that many of these have ancient …