June 3, 2013
Man united
nation_reviewed
Clive Palmer and his Palmer United Party
John Birmingham
By this author
May 3, 2012
Comment: The Shock Jock Rule of Campbell Newman
It was Winston Churchill who famously refused to cut funding to the arts to pay for more Spitfires and destroyers during the grimmest days of World War II, demanding of his art-hating, penny-pinching advisers in Treasury, “Then what are we fighting …
June 1, 2012
Winning Enemies
Books
The humiliating retreat from the southern Iraqi city of Basra, into cantonment at the airport, is widely regarded as the modern nadir of the British military. On 2 September 2007, a bugle sounded ‘Advance’ to signal the withdrawal, and a convoy carrying …
October 1, 2010
The man who fell to Earth
Society
Julian Assange’s WikiLeaks
September 3, 2010
‘Into the Woods: The Battle for Tasmania’s Forests’ by Anna Krien
Culture
Tasmania is another country, sometimes another world. To move beyond the edge of settlement, which largely peters out a short drive from the fairytale towns of Hobart and Launceston, is to pass into an antipodean Middle Earth. As quickly becomes clear …
August 5, 2010
‘Brisbane’ by Matthew Condon
arts
Cities have memories that outlive those who first held them. London will always recall the Blitz, Rome the glories of empire. Some memories are, of course, lost. Time, war, civilisational collapse all take their toll. But how do you explain a city that …
June 2, 2010
‘War’ by Sebastian Junger
Culture
It might seem strange and contrary, but among the many surprising truths in Sebastian Junger’s brilliant evocation of 15 months, on and off, spent at the front in Afghanistan is the presence of love at the heart of war. The strong bond that can develop …
December 4, 2009
Failed state
Politics
New South Wales
November 5, 2009
Changing frontiers
Politics
The National Party
October 1, 2009
Mash-up
Society
A short history of the media future
September 7, 2009
Looking west
Politics
Australia and the Indian Ocean
July 3, 2009
Soiled goods
Society
The dimpled orange, bursting with sweetness, that you cut for your breakfast this morning had been dying from the moment it was plucked from its twig. Human hands might have grabbed it from the branch, or perhaps a giant mechanical harvester shook the …
June 1, 2009
The coming storm
Society
Out of work in a land of plenty