
Culture
October 1, 2008La travesty
Opera Australia’s troubles
LATEST
Culture
October 1, 2008La travesty
Opera Australia’s troubles
Society
May 6, 2009Incentivising
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 …
Society
April 1, 2009The pursuit of usable beauty
Damien Wright & his table
arts
March 1, 2009Vanity fare
Michael Wolff’s ‘The Man Who Owns the News’
Society
February 4, 2009The comeback kid
Eddie Perfect’s ‘Shane Warne: The Musical’
Society
December 1, 2008Feeling lucky
What drives economic optimism?
Society
November 5, 2008Ursa major
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 …
essay
September 2, 2008Totally wired
Wire’s ‘Object 47’
Society
August 6, 2008Sir Donald Bradman at 100
The serious Australian
arts
July 2, 2008‘Renegade: The Lives and Tales of Mark E Smith’ by Mark E Smith (with Austin Collings)
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 …
arts
June 4, 2008And you can too
Recent book subtitles
nation_reviewed
May 7, 2008Razor-gang blues
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 …
arts
April 2, 2008Gas!
Upton Sinclair’s ‘Oil!’ & Paul Thomas Anderson’s ‘There Will Be Blood’
Society
March 5, 2008Packed it in
The demise of the 'Bulletin'
Society
February 6, 2008Monkey business
A couple of days after the second Test between Australia and India ended at the Sydney Cricket Ground amid acrimony and indignation, I boarded the tram for an evening’s practice at my cricket club with 15-year-old Bill. A bright boy, Bill. I knew him …