May 5 – 11, 2018
News
Comment
Comment
Yassmin Abdel-Magied
Tyranny and free speech
“The colliding of opinions will only lead to the emergence of truth if the force behind both is equal, if the playing field is level, if there is a commitment to truth rather than to an agenda that is self-serving. Herein lies the rub: those who claim to be the biggest proponents of free speech seem uninterested in the pursuit of truth, unable and unwilling to accept any version of truth that is not their own. ”
Comment
Paul Bongiorno
Morrison’s budget play
“If Shorten is having nightmares over the thought of Morrison demolishing his politically toxic corporate tax cuts, the Business Council of Australia has signalled it is putting together a war chest estimated at $26 million to campaign for them. Here, the Liberals should be careful what they wish for. ”
Letters, Cartoon & Editorial
Culture
Profile
Writer Carmen Maria Machado
Author Carmen Maria Machado comes at issues through award-winning short stories and probing essays, teasing out truths about gender politics and body image. “The compulsive-reflexive nature of fatphobia is just really deep and I feel that it’s not a thing we talk about a lot … There’s different kinds of fat, there’s the kind of fat that I am, which is, like, bigger than is acceptable but also fits in plus-size clothing, and there’s the kind of fat that means the world is inaccessible to you.”
Music
William Crighton’s ‘Empire’
William Crighton delivers the year’s best album, Australian or international, with the charged rock and heartfelt lyrics of Empire.
Portrait
Sam Muhirwa and Epiphanie Mukashyaka
“Sam’s admiration for his mother is instantly apparent. Epiphanie Mukashyaka established her coffee business Buf (pronounced buuf) in 2000, six years after she lost her husband – a coffee farmer – one of her children and members of her extended family in the 1994 Rwandan genocide. With seven remaining children to raise, including Sam, she decided to keep the farm going. ‘Coffee was how my mum was going to raise [us],’ Sam tells me. ”
Food
Chocolate cake with Swiss meringue buttercream
“There’s nothing like an impending ‘state occasion’ such as Mother’s Day to bring out the wannabe cake-maker in me. While this recipe looks disturbingly long and convoluted, it’s actually very simple. The base recipe is a version of chocolate cake made with oil rather than butter. It produces a cake that is very moist but doesn’t have a tendency to ‘crumb’, which means it’s a delight to slice, fill and decorate. ”
Books
Life
Health
Aerotoxic syndrome
While the focus of air safety is largely on crash prevention, passengers and crew may face a potentially greater risk from aerotoxic syndrome, a condition experts have dubbed ‘the asbestos of the skies’.
The Quiz
Quotes
SPORT
“It’s always been in my character to stand up and accept the responsibility. I was a bloody idiot.”
The Wallabies halfback says he won’t fight sanctions and a fine after misconduct at his bucks night. As it turns out, it is also in his character to stand up dressed in a cow suit and urinate against a hotel bar.
AMERICA
“I am 32 years old, which is an odd age – 10 years too young to host this event, and 20 years too old for Roy Moore.”
The comic delivers her monologue at the annual White House Correspondents’ Dinner. Her routine was widely criticised as vulgar and obscene, which fits the White House quite well right now.
FRIENDS
“We talk about the Bible. We talk about what’s happening with my kids, what’s happening with his family.”
The actor describes her relationship with Julian Assange. The pair are not romantically linked but he has probably hacked her emails.
DIPLOMACY
“She has asked me to say she found the president’s compliment as charming as it was memorable.”
The prime minister intervenes in criticism of French President Emmanuel Macron, who had mistakenly described Lucy Turnbull as “delicious” during an official function. Macron was dealt a traditional Australian punishment: Racist Photoshop on the cover of The Daily Telegraph.
MONEY
“I could live on 40 bucks a day knowing that the government is supporting me with Newstart looking for employment.”
The Liberal backbencher defends the meagre welfare offered to the unemployed. She owns six houses and is literally named after corrupt, money-hoarding institutions.
LAW
“Funnelled it through the law firm, and the president repaid it.”
The former mayor of New York confirms that Donald Trump personally repaid the $130,000 given to porn actor Stormy Daniels in exchange for her silence over an affair. Trump also personally slept with her.
