Newsletter
Newsletter 356
Monday, September 14th, 2020 Newsletter,As the COVID-19 restrictions drag on and on it seems as if state and federal governments have lost the plot – presuming there was ever a plot to lose. The draconian border restrictions have become laughable, as they are causing a lot of grief and stress to perfectly healthy people. We obviously need to be […]
Newsletter 355
Monday, September 7th, 2020 Newsletter,Last week I received an extraordinary document in my email which read like a User’s Guide to Nepotism in the Australian (read Melbourne) Art Scene. It wasn’t simply a list of perceived conflicts of interest, it was a devastating indictment of the way art prizes are awarded, academic positions filled, and decisions made as to […]
Newsletter 353
Monday, August 31st, 2020 Newsletter,It’s always interesting to study the photos the newspapers run of somebody they really can’t stand. There are figures, such as Donald Trump, who look more frightful when they’re smiling than when they’re scowling or making faces. In other cases, a few discreet decisions have been made. Scummo with his baseball cap eating a meat […]
Newsletter 352
Monday, August 24th, 2020 Newsletter,A friend, knowing that I came from a certain country town, recently presented me with a little book she had found. Coaltown: A Social Survey of Cessnock N.S.W. by Alan Walker (1946), proved to be absorbing reading. The author was obviously an early Australian follower of the French Annales school of historians, as he adeptly […]
Newsletter 351
Monday, August 17th, 2020 Newsletter,Although I try and resist the impulse to believe that everything is going down the drain, in certain cases it seems indisputable. Take the ABC for instance. A sustained period of Coalition rule has just about gutted the national broadcaster although Scummo won’t even admit he’s made any cuts. When the organisation is talking about […]
Newsletter 350
Thursday, August 13th, 2020 Newsletter,Watching Jonathan Swan’s interview with Donald Trump this week made me feel that perhaps there is a future for common sense in this world. Each time Trump tried to spin off into one of his alternative realities, Swan brought him back to earth. If one disregards the President’s casual attitude to an ongoing coronavirus death […]
Newsletter 349
Tuesday, August 4th, 2020 Newsletter,Each morning I wake up to some fresh indication that we are headed into a new Cold War – or worse. To learn that the Australian Foreign Minister and Defence Minister were winging ther way to Washington D.C. this week, to assure the appalling Mike Pompeo that we’re going all the way with the USA […]
Newsletter 348
Monday, July 27th, 2020 Newsletter,As of this week the Sydney Morning Herald has asked me to send readers to the version of the art column that appears on the newpaper’s site instead of taking the direct route to my own website. It’s perversely flattering they seem to believe I may be discouraging people from buying the paper on Saturday, […]
Newsletter 347
Monday, July 20th, 2020 Newsletter,As a new surge of cornonavirus cases in Victoria threatens to plunge us back into lockdown, I’m starting to wonder when normal service will ever be resumed – and I’m speaking as someone who has enjoyed the seclusion more than most. The obvious danger of a second lockdown is that many businesses will find it […]
Newsletter 346
Monday, July 13th, 2020 Newsletter,Pardon the cliché, but what a difference a week makes! The previous newsletter anticipated a long, bitter fight to keep the Powerhouse Museum in Ultimo, but on Saturday morning I was amazed to hear that the government had backed down from their “non-negotiable” stance and decided the PHM should stay where it is. Almost […]