Andrew Bolt refused to talk with Walkley Award-winning journalist Anne Summers for her profile in the October Monthly. That's not particularly surprising: many public figures recoil from in-depth profiles. But Bolt's response to a reference to his former fiancée, posted on our blog this week, was intriguing; denying that he has a former fiancée – for the record, we know he does – Bolt on Monday urged us to pulp the magazine. Clearly he's in favour of free speech only when it suits him.

Whatever your opinion of the Federal Court's ruling against Bolt, Justice Bromberg was certainly spot-on in his critique of Bolt's writing, citing a "lack of care and diligence" and "distortions of the truth", and lambasting "the derisive tone, the provocative and inflammatory language". Summers' portrait reveals Bolt to be a cynical opportunist – a one-time moderate who courted fame and influence through becoming a right-wing populist.

But this Monthly, our inaugural Arts Issue, is ultimately a celebratory one. Twenty-five pages thicker than usual, it's packed with profiles and reviews of some of today's most exciting artists, and presents a critics' choice of 20 Australian arts masterpieces since 2000.

Ben Naparstek
Editor