Newsletter
Newsletter 456
Monday, September 12th, 2022 Newsletter,There’s only one news item this week: the Queen is dead. I thought she’d go on forever, or at least until she’d passed the hundred mark, like her mum. All the comments by world leaders dwell on Elizabeth’s consistency and stability. She was a solid, dignified presence in a politically turbulent world, benefiting greatly from […]
Newsletter 455
Monday, September 5th, 2022 Newsletter,I’ve finally managed to leave these shores, albeit briefly. Last week I spent two solid days in Singapore, feeling like everything was on the verge of returning to normal, as governments proceed with indecent haste to roll back COVID-19 restrictions. After three years of self-isolation, masks and general paranoia, are we finished with the pandemic? […]
Newsletter 454
Monday, August 29th, 2022 Newsletter,Every month I receive books from authors and artists who hope I can write about their work, bringing it to wider attention. Most of the time, I’m afraid to say, it’s not possible, largely through considerations of time and space. I have severe limitations on both, no matter how well disposed I might be towards […]
Newsletter 453
Monday, August 22nd, 2022 Newsletter,Scott Morrison really is the gift that keeps giving to the Labor Party. Like Donald Trump, after leading his troops to a crushing election defeat he simply can’t stay out of the spotlight. Albo may have made politics sensible and boring again, but our version of The Former Guy is determined to keep the entertainment […]
Newsletter 452
Monday, August 15th, 2022 Newsletter,This week I went along to the Australian Chamber Orchestra performing The Crowd and I. Although I’m a little sceptical of concerts combined with film shows (because one’s concentration keeps wavering between music and image), this event felt like a success. The crowd is a phenomenon that has generated some remarkable writing, from authors such […]
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, […]