Looking at the news over the past fortnight (or year, or decade), you might reasonably wonder what on earth is the matter with Parliament House. What happens to people when they spend a lot of time there, and why? Luckily, we have a recent escapee – articulate, frank, unencumbered by political obligations – who is willing to explain how the system works. And how it doesn’t. And how to fix it.

Scott Ludlam, the charismatic former Greens senator, writes about his time in Canberra, and warns readers that “what I’m about to say may shock you”.

His first major essay about his time in politics contains unvarnished observations, nuanced arguments and some sharp words for those who deserve them. In other words, everything you’d expect from Scott Ludlam. It is a portrait of Australian politics that could only come from someone who spent more than a decade in its trenches, and is still searching for “creative ways to make trouble”.

As with Richard Cooke’s cover essay, a portrait of the always intriguing tennis player Nick Kyrgios, or Robert Manne’s reflections on life lived in the shadow of mortality, or Kate Holden’s stocktake of the #MeToo movement, it shows that in today’s febrile media environment, a little perspective goes a long way.