La travesty
Culture
Opera Australia’s troubles
By this author
La travesty
Culture
Opera Australia’s troubles
The pursuit of usable beauty
Society
Damien Wright & his table
Incentivising
Society
An age-old conjugation of democracy runs something like this: I am guided by the will of the people; you are a slave of public opinion; he is a crude and craven populist. It was on show in March, during the crazy few weeks that began with the hounding …
Vanity fare
arts
Michael Wolff’s ‘The Man Who Owns the News’
The comeback kid
Society
Eddie Perfect’s ‘Shane Warne: The Musical’
Feeling lucky
Society
What drives economic optimism?
Ursa major
Society
This year marks the centenary of an early classic of American finance: Fifty Years on Wall Street, by Henry Clews, a self-made speculative tycoon turned éminence grise. It is bookended by calamities. Clews first strolled the street during the …
Totally wired
essay
Wire’s ‘Object 47’
Sir Donald Bradman at 100
Society
The serious Australian
‘Renegade: The Lives and Tales of Mark E Smith’ by Mark E Smith (with Austin Collings)
arts
Mancunian Mark E Smith is the founder of The Fall, after 27 studio albums the most durable and protean of all bands to emerge from that burst of musical DIY inspired by punk 30 years ago. Actually, if that is news to you, no purpose is served by reading …
And you can too
arts
Recent book subtitles
Razor-gang blues
nation_reviewed
They think well of Kevin Rudd at the National Library of Australia. For all his posturing as Mr History, John Howard only visited the library once - and then to launch the government's online-porn filter while the children of staffers gambolled for the …
Gas!
arts
Upton Sinclair’s ‘Oil!’ & Paul Thomas Anderson’s ‘There Will Be Blood’