Newsletter
Newsletter 451
Monday, August 8th, 2022 Newsletter,I’m writing this on the way back from Darwin, where I’ve been fully employed with the National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Art Awards and the satellite shows that accompany the main event. I know I keep saying this, but it’s great to be travelling again. The annual visit to Darwin provides a unique opportunity […]
Newsletter 450
Monday, August 1st, 2022 Newsletter,While war rages in the Ukraine, the global economy takes a nose dive, Europe withers in an historic heatwave and new strains of COVID-19 keep popping up everywhere, the big news in Australia was that seven players from the Manly Sea Eagles stood down from a game because they didn’t want to wear a jersey […]
Newsletter 449
Monday, July 25th, 2022 Newsletter,Just when I thought I’d never be writing another Scummo-themed newsletter, our late, unlamented PM turns up at an evangelical rally in Perth, telling everyone not to trust government and put our faith solely in The Lord. It was a remarkable performance from someone who was the head of government only a few months ago, […]
Newsletter 448
Monday, July 18th, 2022 Newsletter,Perhaps I should just stop apologising for the lateness of these postings. Ever since the pandemic restrictions began to ease I’ve been on the road again – this week really on the road, covering roughly a thousand kilometres around the Pilbara. I filed my film review from the Ganalili Centre in Roebourne just before heading […]
Newsletter 447
Tuesday, July 12th, 2022 Newsletter,I’ve been reading Alexandra Harris’s brilliant book, Weatherland: Writers & Artists Under English Skies, which feels about right for a time when the weather has become such a dominant topic of conversation. Aside from reminding me what it was like to live in England for a number of years, fighting my way through those grim, […]
Newsletter 446
Saturday, July 9th, 2022 Newsletter,A little slow this week, mainly because no topic suggested itself with sufficient force to get me started. It really is remarkable how all the steam has gone out of politics now that the Morrison government has been evicted. Judging by the talent on the Opposition benches, and the kind of stuff they’ve been saying […]
Newsletter 445
Monday, June 27th, 2022 Newsletter,It’s been an interesting week for the Judith Neilson Institute for journalism, with four board members quitting and executive director, Mark Ryan, allegedly negotiating an exit package. It’s ironic that a meltdown at a philanthropic institution devoted to supporting and improving the standard of journalism has been reported in such a scratchy fashion. The first […]
Newsletter 444
Monday, June 20th, 2022 Newsletter,In 1950 A.A.Phillips came up with a famous term: “the Cultural Cringe”. It was an observation of the way Australians responded to the best of international culture – with a mixture of embarrassment, insecurity, and a desire to flee the room. Or perhaps a bold statement that such stuff didn’t matter anyway. There will be […]
Newsletter 443
Monday, June 13th, 2022 Newsletter,I admit to a touch of Schadenfreude this week, reading the hit jobs published in the Murdoch press on Michael Brand, the Director of the Art Gallery of NSW. Someone who is not a fan of the director seems to have passed on his government credit card statements to the tabloids, who have snapped at […]
Newsletter 442
Monday, June 6th, 2022 Newsletter,How dull things seem now that we have a sensible government. Rather than spending the week in a lather of outrage, glued to screen waiting for something else to set me off, I now find I can hardly bring myself to watch the news and current affairs. The Morrison era really was a bad dream […]