October 2016
Magazine
The Monthly Essays
Richard Flanagan delivers the inaugural Boisbouvier Lecture
The arts funding cuts are just a symptom of a broader malaise in Australia
Lovatts Crosswords gave its profits to employees. What went wrong?
The Nation Reviewed
The mystery of Malcolm Turnbull
What does the prime minister stand for, and when will we find out about it?
Welcome to the Collingwood English Language School
Video artist Heath Franco is making a name as a provocateur
Helen Pynor’s bio-art explores life after death
The late historian leaves behind a stunning body of scholarship
VOX
Medicine
Arts & Letters
Six stories of 100 words
‘Mike Parr: Foreign Looking’ brings the anti-institutional artist to the National Gallery of Australia
National anthems reflect all the complexities – and oddities – of the countries they represent
Celebrated short-story practitioner Joy Williams turns to micro fiction in ‘Ninety-Nine Stories of God’
Where did Baz Luhrmann go wrong?
Netflix’s hip-hop drama ‘The Get Down’ squanders its potential
Frank Ocean’s ‘Blonde’ bemuses but rewards
Noted
‘The Good People’ by Hannah Kent Picador; $32.99
‘The Island Will Sink’ by Briohny Doyle The Lifted Brow; $29.99
In Light of Recent Events
By Oslo Davis
Thugs, drink-driving teens, rapists, even the innocent, have appeared on the news for years, often peeking out from under a variety of props in an effort to hide their identity. Most recently I spotted someone walking to the Melbourne Magistrates’ Court with her face buried in a daggy zebra-print shawl. She’d been charged with attempting to murder her husband by poisoning his meal of meatballs, and clearly didn’t want her mug on the evening news. But while I discovered the shame is often the same, the effort that those accused put in to their pitiful subterfuge varies. Here, I rank a few recent efforts:
