Newsletter
Newsletter 487
Monday, April 17th, 2023 Newsletter,We’ve lost John Olsen, but this should not distract from the most urgent arts story of the week – a story that it has been confined almost entirely to the pages of The Australian. When the Oz finally got around to publishing Greg Bearup’s piece that effectively accuses white art assistants at the APY collective […]
Newsletter 486
Monday, April 10th, 2023 Newsletter,This week Albo committed $535 million over the next four years to nine national institutions. It was the most tangible gesture of support for the arts we’ve seen in decades, and a sign that the new government – as it keeps telling us – is listening. It’s also an indictment of the Coalition’s cavalier neglect […]
Newsletter 485
Monday, April 10th, 2023 Newsletter,First it was Roald Dahl, now we learn the sensitivity police have been quietly roughing up Agatha Christie and Ian Fleming in the back room. How did we ever get to the point where publishers believe it’s OK to rewrite the works of dead, bestselling authors to cater for the supposed sensitivities of present-day readers? […]
Newsletter 484
Monday, March 27th, 2023 Newsletter,There are two reasons this newsletter is a little later than usual. Firstly, I’m on my way back from an outrageously busy week in Hong Kong, where life is bouncing back, post-pandemic, with seeming indifference to the draconian new laws imposed by Beijing. Secondly – and most importantly – I was waiting for the outcome […]
Newsletter 483
Monday, March 20th, 2023 Newsletter,There’s nothing in the papers but submarines this week but I’ve got nothing to add, apart from my pleasure at watching Paul Keating at his abrasive best at the National Press Club. One suddenly remembers what politics used to be like… After confessing my forebodings that the 2023 Academy Awards would contain some terrible clangers, […]
Newsletter 482
Monday, March 13th, 2023 Newsletter,In a week in which Albo arrived at the cricket in Ahmedabad in a golden chariot, and inspired some resolute batting, there’s nothing else to say, really. Unless one looks at the succession of articles published in my newspaper, The Sydney Morning Herald, explaining why we’re about to go to war with China. Paul Keating […]
Newsletter 481
Monday, March 6th, 2023 Newsletter,This slightly delayed newsletter is coming to you from the Emirates lounge at Dubai airport, as I await my flight home from the Middle East. I’ll save any reflections on Dubai for another occasion, as I’m still digesting the experiences of a few hectic days. In the meantime, there are issues closer to home, such […]
Newsletter 480
Monday, February 27th, 2023 Newsletter,This week media outlets around the world have been debating the changes made to novels by Roald Dahl, who died in 1990 – changes intended to make his books more “inclusive”. Some people, including the publishers and the Roald Dahl estate, seem to think this is OK, we are simply moving with the times. Personally, […]
Newsletter 479
Monday, February 20th, 2023 Newsletter,“What’s in a name?” asked the typically inane headline the Herald gave to Linda Morris’s most recent article about the Powerhouse Museum. I’m sure most people forget this plodding cliché is Shakespearean in its origins. “What’s in a name? That which we call a rose by any other name would smell just as sweet,” ponders […]
Newsletter 478
Monday, February 13th, 2023 Newsletter,This week I’ve snatched a chance to peruse Revive, the new National Cultural Policy, and it’s left me with mixed feelings. Although anything that suggests the government is engaging with cultural matters and setting up structures that will ensure funding and basic industry standards is good news, I can’t help feeling that reading such documents […]