June 23 – 29, 2018
News
Comment
Comment
Omar Sakr
What is political correctness?
“On and on, everyday cruelties abound. Somehow, conservatives get away with running things exactly how they want, while complaining loudly that they’re unable to because of censorship. They are both underdog and victor, gagged yet constantly heard. What, then, is this confected Trumpian backlash really against? Thought? Ironically, this is what free speech warriors are fighting so valiantly against. It would be funny if it weren’t so tragic.”
Comment
Paul Bongiorno
Turnbull’s aspirational targets
“As one Liberal lamented, no matter what happens, voters won’t have received any tax cuts in their pockets at the time of the next election. But according to the prime minister’s inner sanctum, Labor will do the Liberals a huge favour by promising to raise people’s taxes. It will, but not for the majority of workers – “only millionaires”, who Labor says it can’t afford to help for now, and onto whom it will reapply the deficit reduction levy. ”
Letters, Cartoon & Editorial
Culture
Profile
‘From the Wreck’ author Jane Rawson
Combining a real-life shipwreck and an alien octopus doesn’t seem an obvious way to explore the impact of mankind on the environment, but, for author Jane Rawson, the message in From the Wreck couldn’t be more imperative. “We’re very keen to look elsewhere and say, ‘Oh, this is terrible in developing countries’ … We seem to be blissfully unaware that some of the worst deforestation in the world is happening in Australia … We have one of the worst extinction records in the world.”
Film
‘Disobedience’
Through subtlety and its refusal to out a villain, Disobedience sees its three stars radiate passion and intensity – for their faith and each other – under the masterful direction of Sebastián Lelio.
Portrait
Choreographer Diane Busuttil
“Movement is my first language, she says, and nimbly she tap dances across the floor, feet quick and sure; she shimmies to one side, the other, her limbs jogging so loose and deft under flowing black clothes. This woman has been moving like this for years: her body is her instrument, it’s strong and good and it springs like glee.”
Food
Smoked oysters and chicken broth
“When done with consideration, cooking can be a great way to show the oyster’s flavour. In winter, especially, oysters tend to have more of a muscle, and rock oysters can be treated almost like clams to show this off. This recipe uses smoked oysters in a Chinese-style chicken broth that riffs on the meatiness of the oyster. Next to this is one of my favourite things of all time – buttered cabbage and turnip – which gives it a bass note. ”
Books
Life
Life
The power of fandom
As the National Library raises funds to preserve 19th-century fan scrapbooks, the author reflects on giving herself over to fandom – and how its obsessiveness is both critical and self-reflective.
The Quiz
Quotes
BIRTH
“Welcome to our village wee one.”
The New Zealand prime minister announces the birth of her first child. No news yet on what Charles Wooley thinks but it’s probably creepy.
ART
“The work itself refuses to respond. It’s the null of the image.”
The artist describes his work Under the Bitumen the Artist, which saw him entombed beneath a Hobart street for 72 hours. Drunks jumped up and down on the road where he was buried, so that even under the earth he could know he was in Tasmania.
MEDIA
“I’m doing this so the girls feel empowered, and know their mum stood up and defended our fine name.”
The estranged wife of Barnaby Joyce agrees to an interview with the journal of record, Women’s Weekly. It’s a fine name to defend, except that it is also her husband’s.
COMEDY
“Clamping down on Winnie the Pooh comparisons doesn’t exactly project strength. It suggests a weird insecurity.”
The satirist becomes the subject of a Chinese ban on social media after mocking President Xi Jinping. A real leader would have just pointed out how much Oliver looks like a weird cross between Rabbit and Piglet and maybe Christopher Robin.
TAX
“You’ve heard it from the horse’s mouth!”
The One Nation leader explains that she is a supporter of workers. That is why she is backing tax cuts for the rich and a pay increase for herself.
AMERICA
“I have a much better apartment than they do. I’m smarter than they are. I’m richer than they are.”
The president chooses the occasion of caging children to boast about his apartment and explain why he is better than the liberal “elites”. The only guilt that interests him is on the frames around his mirrors.
