August 11 – 17, 2018
News
Comment
Comment
Behrouz Boochani
Manus prison theory
“The soul of Manus prison and the system that created and governs Manus prison is in the process of replicating itself throughout Australian society, reproducing itself in unlimited numbers. This is the merciless system that takes humans as captives and subjects them to rules and regulations of micro-control and macro-control, a system that takes their human identities.”
Comment
Sean Kelly
Pushing the limits of acceptable debate
“Like Donald Trump’s presidential victory, the appearance of far-right nationalist Blair Cottrell on Sky News cannot be excused by reference to recent events. It wasn’t the dumb mistake of a producer, nor was it unique to Sky. The expansion of what is considered acceptable to broadcast in this country did not begin this week. The middle ground may be where it has always been but the edges have been getting further out for years now. It’s the political equivalent of urban sprawl.”
Letters, Cartoon & Editorial
Culture
Profile
Danny Glover on acting and activism
Actor Danny Glover is probably best known for his on-screen roles spanning nearly 40 years, but his appearance in Australia to address a trade union conference comes after a lifelong commitment to civil rights and labour activism. “I was invited here again, by First Nations people, 22 years ago. I went to visit men who were incarcerated and, like in my own country, they were disproportionately people of colour. Then I knew a little bit more about Australia.”
Music
Gabe Gurnsey and Rebel Yell
While Gabe Gurnsey’s Physical is a slow-burn techno album that evokes the unfolding of a big night out, Rebel Yell’s Hired Muscle delivers a sharp slap of industrial primitivism.
Portrait
Playwright, director and dramaturge Declan Greene
“Spidery handwriting is scrawled over almost every inch of the large freestanding whiteboard, demarcating a complex web of scenes, scene transitions and narrative arcs. Melbourne playwright, director and dramaturge Declan Greene crouches down to scrawl notes in the only sliver of space left. The room is midsummer-hot, but the back of Greene’s fitted T-shirt inexplicably avoids being sweat-stuck.”
Food
“I know I’m courting controversy and might even lose some of you immediately with the next statement, but here we go. Candied peel is absolutely delicious. I can hear the howls of horror in my head. I’ve come to conclude that it must be one of the pantry’s most divisive common ingredients. At Christmas, people want fruit mince tarts sans peel. At Easter they want hot cross buns sans peel. A lot of people really, really seem to dislike it. But have they tasted handmade, seasonally produced peel, or have they only ever come across the nasty supermarket packet version?”
Books
Life
Life
Library learning with ‘Dolly’
Library-borrowed copies of Dolly magazine offered a much-loved window to the world of beauty, fashion and budding sexuality. But, beyond the model searches and sealed sections, they were also tinged with feelings of solidarity and shame.
The Quiz
Quotes
THE REEF
“The prime minister basically said, ‘We’re going to give you half a billion dollars.’ ”
The Queensland Labor senator describes his understanding of the meeting where Malcolm Turnbull gave $443 million to the Great Barrier Reef Fund. When you put it like that, it almost sounds shady.
POLITICS
“It’s a really … sad day. It’s a disappointing day for me.”
The Labor member announces she will not contest the next federal election. It’s almost quaint to think of a time when the ugliest politics in Lindsay was the fact it set John Howard’s border policies.
APPOINTMENTS
“The government should make Barnaby Joyce and Tony Abbott special ministers for drought and natural disaster today.”
The shock jock offers Malcolm Turnbull advice on ministerial appointments. It seems fair to call Abbott a natural disaster, but it’s a bit rough reflecting on Joyce’s skin type.
CLIMATE
“Look, that’s a big call.”
The agriculture minister refuses to link Australia’s drought to climate change. The bigger call is pretending everything is fine because one half of your party is living in 1953.
MUSIC
“You attacking events without doing any research on them and starting a media campaign based on your own isms and schisms is the sort of thing that worked well in Nazi Germany.”
The Bluesfest boss responds to a woman who complained about the lack of diversity on the festival’s bill. Noble would sooner invoke the Holocaust than listen to an artist who isn’t Jack Johnson.
DIPLOMACY
“I have great respect for the UK. United Kingdom. Great respect. People call it Britain. They call it Great Britain. They used to call it England, different parts.”
The United States president riffs on names for Britain. He might not know the difference between England and the United Kingdom, but then he doesn’t know the difference between collusion and lawful electoral practices either.
