Newsletter
Newsletter 320
Monday, January 13th, 2020 Newsletter,Late again! I hope to get the newsletter back on a regular schedule soon but I’ve had a few unavoidable distractions at the beginning of this year. At this moment nobody in Australia seems able to think about anything but the bushfires. And how could it be any different? Day after day we watch the […]
Newsletter 319
Monday, January 6th, 2020 Newsletter,If you thought these newsletter have dried up recently, that’s right. I still managed to keep the columns rolling, but gave the website a week or so off over Christmas. It wasn’t much of a break, as one of the joys of not being on staff anywhere is that there’s no such thing as holidays. […]
Newsletter 318
Thursday, January 2nd, 2020 Newsletter,As we move into the dreaded Christmas season, with Sydney wreathed in smoke, it’s hard to avoid thinking about the bushfires. If Scummo is willing to call his election victory a “miracle” he might consider having a word with Jesus about the fires that are predicted to be still raging in February. Perhaps when he […]
Newsletter 317
Monday, December 16th, 2019 Newsletter,It’s not my intention to start ranting about politics every week but the mixture of radical inertia about big issues such as climate change, and vicious pettiness in other areas, keeps fuelling my distaste of this government. When Scummo and the gang go out of their way to ignore the glaring lessons of the bushfires; […]
Newsletter 316
Monday, December 9th, 2019 Newsletter,When someone of the stature of Clive James dies there is inevitably a vast outpouring of tributes and reminiscences. Reading some of them last week I was struck by the tendency of the obituarists to spend so much space writing about themselves. This would have amused Clive, himself a famous egotist. He more or less […]
Newsletter 315
Monday, December 2nd, 2019 Newsletter,Last week found me in Singapore for the opening weekend of the Singapore Biennale. Weather-wise it was a pretty good time to be there. At less congenial moments it can be so hot and sticky one can hardly breathe in the streets, and catch a cold from the sub-Arctic air conditioning. The press was accommodated […]
Newsletter 314
Monday, November 25th, 2019 Newsletter,Sydney felt a bit like Beijing last week with grey smoke from the bushfires hanging in the air. The difference, so I’m told, is that the air quality in Beijing is a lot better nowadays as the government have quietly but prudently responded to growing public unrest. It takes a lot to rouse the Chinese […]
Newsletter 313
Monday, November 18th, 2019 Newsletter,Back at the Museum of Contemporary Art for the second week in a row, I’m reviewing the Cornelia Parker exhibition. When I saw the show for the first time I thought of all the dumb, vulgar, putatively-offensive stuff that has come out of the British art world for the past few decades, and was delighted […]
Newsletter 312
Monday, November 11th, 2019 Newsletter,I’m always bemused by people who say: “Oh, how can you write such nasty things” about a particular person or show when it never occurred to me that I was being the least bit “nasty”. More often than not those same people relish passing on malicious gossip – all behind someone’s back, of course. The […]
Newsletter 311
Tuesday, November 5th, 2019 Newsletter,Late again this week! Apologies for the delay with this newsletter, but it’s been another round of extra obligations, tight deadines and – alas – unnecessary delays. As I’ve left you waiting so long already I’ll take my time with the explanation. The story begins with the Sydney Morning Herald asking for an early review […]