November 2 – 8, 2024
News
Comment
Comment
Santilla Chingaipe
Waking the ghosts of ancestors
“I remember when they moved in. It was shortly after I’d given up my workspace in State Library Victoria and had relocated indefinitely to writing from my home. These were the first days of the pandemic and perhaps the isolation facilitated the listening. This can’t be real, I remember thinking. What do they want?”
Comment
Stan Grant
The US is facing an existential crisis
“Whoever wins next week, America loses. One candidate is grotesque and the other insipid. Donald Trump’s television-inflated personality and proto-fascist flirtations divert focus from the inadequacy of Kamala Harris, who until recently was a near-invisible vice-president. She is a calculated, accidental candidate, who was resoundingly rejected by the Democrats the only time she sought the nomination.”
Letters, Cartoon & Editorial
Culture
Profile
Violinist Joshua Bell
A giant of classical music, violinist Joshua Bell embraces everything from celebrity collaborations to working with disadvantaged youth in New York schools.
Fiction
Uniforms
“Anna couldn’t say what it was like being one of two sisters who were famous for a time as the most beautiful girls anyone had seen. It was like expecting a mountain to tell you of its mountain-ness or a tree of its treeness. It just was, their beauty, a fact that permeated the air, real, necessary, enveloping.”
Books
Life
Puzzles
Quotes
Poverty
“The world is littered with stories of people who have escaped poverty into positions of wealth, power or just middle-class comfort.”
The former foreign affairs minister blames bad parents for the continuation of poverty. His logic makes sense when you consider his wealth can be attributed solely to his parents.
Media
“Presidential endorsements do nothing to tip the scales of an election.”
The billionaire responds after more than 250,000 people cancel their subscriptions to The Washington Post in protest at its decision not to endorse a candidate for the first time in 30 years. Easy to say when you’re planning a new colony in space.
Travel
“The cheaper option for the taxpayer was for my office to speak to Mrs Rinehart’s office as to whether the plane might be available.”
The opposition leader confirms his office contacted Gina Rinehart’s office to arrange the use of her private plane. It’s like saying a kickback is just a salary you didn’t have to pay.
Education
“Not enough has been done to tackle sexual violence in our universities and for too long students haven’t been heard.”
The education minister responds after a student was gagged with a sex toy during a mock trial at Sydney University’s St Paul’s College. Many of the people involved will likely end up in the judiciary.
Law
“Unfortunately, his doctors have forbidden him from appearing here today.”
The lawyer for Gérard Depardieu explains that diabetes and a heart condition have prevented his client from appearing in court. Speaking of sickness, the actor is accused of abusing 21 women.
Technology
“I always say, it’s so sad that Kurt Cobain died when he did, because he never saw GPS … I just find it completely magical and unbelievable.”
The actor explains what the Nirvana frontman missed out on when he died. It’s a roundabout message on suicide prevention but everything helps.
