Arts and Sport
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The musician and the soldier: Two revolutionary lives
A frontline medic writes of two individuals she met in Kayah State, whose stories exemplify the diverse ways Myanmar’s youth are contributing to, and sacrificing for, the revolution. Continue reading »
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In praise of Afghanistan’s cricketers
Much has been written about the International Cricket Council’s World Cup competition being played in India, but relatively few of the words have been about the incredible achievements of the Afghanistan team. Against a backdrop of poverty, war, political turbulence and natural disasters, the team performed magnificently. Continue reading »
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In the beginning was the word – and the word was UWRF
Indonesia’s expanding dark side was hardly noticed by festival audiences at the Ubud Writers and Readers Festival (UWRF). But for all his domestic popularity, Indonesian President Joko ‘Jokowi’ Widodo is no reformist liberal. Continue reading »
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In the Chinese new era, what’s new is old
Industrial transformation has accelerated China’s rise as a global power. In the New Era, which was officially recognised in the Chinese national constitution in 2017, the narrative of national rejuvenation is writ large: it underpins the Community of Shared Future, the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), and China’s various soft power campaigns. Continue reading »
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While Australia votes, India-Pakistan cricket is downstream of politics
On 14 October, my attention will wander between three unconnected stories as they unfold in real time. I will be in New Zealand on that general election date. Polls indicate the Labour government will be replaced by a centre-right coalition. But the peculiarities of the electoral system make election results and the outcome of post-election Continue reading »
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Battle at Lake Changjin: Will we choose pride, prejudice, propaganda – or peace?
The second highest grossing film in the world in 2021 barely got a mention in the Australian press. It was co-directed by three acclaimed filmmakers, cost close to US$200 million to produce, made $1 billion, and was nearly three hours long with a sequel of equal length. It ran briefly at the Event Cinema in Continue reading »
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Australia’s aborted cultural decolonisation
Over the 50 years since Patrick White’s Nobel Prize, the progressive cultural nationalists, who borrowed White’s honour, challenged a tired old elite, and then generated a new cohort of tired old elites. They had broken with Britain, but embraced America and its fantasy of the universal progressive empire that dare not say its name. The Continue reading »
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The biggest sporting event the West has never heard of
The last week in September saw the much delayed (due to Covid) opening of the 19th Asian Games. This event which is held on a four-year cycle involves participants from 45 nations, and perhaps unsurprisingly given the enormous populations in this part of the world sees a larger number of athletes taking part than even Continue reading »
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In the grim dark face of military madness
Increasingly I keep finding myself singing, even humming or whistling the old Graham Nash song, ‘Military Madness,’ sometimes hardly aware that I am doing so. Continue reading »
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The Greatest: Vale Ron Barassi
Of the proposition that he was the greatest there can be no doubt. Continue reading »
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Heading into trouble: Hazards of the Women’s World Cup
Much of the health reform urgings I have presented over the years have emphasised the importance of “prevention” and the paucity of attention it receives. Less than 1.2% of our health budget is spent on preventing health problems. OK, but what has this to do with the Soccer world Cup? Continue reading »
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Pay the (colonial) rent?
Internationally-acclaimed Indigenous artist Richard Bell’s latest ‘Pay the rent!’ installation at the Tate Modern in London goes to the heart of some of the intractable problems of Australian white settlement. Continue reading »
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Oppenheimer and the “forever” wars: Have we learnt nothing?
For the first time since the US achieved global domination economically and militarily after WWII, the military industrial complex and Biden administration fear the rise of China. They have decided that it must be crushed. The US, NATO and its compliant states have whipped up a frenzy of fear and loathing for the Chinese. This Continue reading »
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Cancelling strange British Empire legacy event just Aussie common sense
Elite sport is something of a sacred cow. To criticise it is to risk being considered unAustralian. So while Premier Andrews’ announcement that Victoria would not host the 2026 Commonwealth Games was not a wholesale critique of elite sport, I am happy to take up the baton. Continue reading »
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“The great gates of Kiev”: A Cold War story
Europeans endured two world wars in the 20th Century. Surely they have no wish to begin the 21st Century with a third. Continue reading »
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Another great example of English hypocrisy
Why oh why is anyone surprised by English reaction to the Bairstow stumping? Continue reading »
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It’s not Cricket! Grounds for confining sledging to the history books
Elite sport has the potential to uplift, inspire and connect individuals and groups in a way that is unrivalled in our culture. It can represent the soaring ambition and capabilities of our species, as well as our innate capacities for collaboration and compassion. Sport can be an unmatched training ground for developing character and creating Continue reading »
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Cricket and ethics: Always more to do
Cricket has always had a difficult relationship with ethics and integrity. This is notwithstanding two things: the game’s pride in the saying “It’s not cricket” to describe anything unfair, and the inclusion in the game’s Laws of a Preamble called “The Spirit of Cricket” to guide player behaviour. Continue reading »
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The search for The Palace Letters
The story behind Jenny Hocking’s epic battle against the Australian Government and HM Queen Elizabeth to access the Palace Letters is being told through a new documentary film. Continue reading »
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Adam Goodes – “If I’m only known for football then I’ve failed”: must watch interview
“You be the bigger person, and you walk away.” AFL Legend and Co-Founder of the GO Foundation, Adam Goodes Gets Real with former Manchester United player and England Football Captain, Rio Ferdinand covering family, leadership, racism, culture and identity, and his love for sport. Continue reading »
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Martin Flanagan’s ‘The Empty Honour Board’ draws us in to an unnatural world
The boarding students were far from home and the variable consolations of family life. They were shackled with priestly companions, pledged to lives of celibacy, who also had been removed from their families in their early teens and isolated from society in religious institutions from which they were then turned out, with scant proper preparation, Continue reading »
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Fred Smith: The Sparrows of Kabul
During the crush at the evacuation of Kabul airport in 2021, a little girl became separated from her mother and was inconsolable and could not be moved. Fred left her for a moment, during which CS gas caused a stampede of marines. When he looked for the girl, she had disappeared. Continue reading »
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Book review: The Next Civil War: dispatches from the American future
The United States is going through a profound transition to which there are only difficult and costly choices. In this latest book on America’s political chaos, we are taken deep into the future of an unacceptable but perhaps unavoidable breakup of the union. Continue reading »
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Carefully throwing stones
The human dynamic of subcultures was one of Anne Coombs’ preoccupations. She turned it into a skill that guided her activism and philanthropy. Both GetUp! and Rural Australians for Refugees, two of the causes for which she will be best remembered, relied for their success on mobilising people with shared values and beliefs. These movements Continue reading »
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Searching for Elsewhere: Born into a cult. How to survive?
Graeme Johanson’s Searching for Elsewhere (Ginninderra Press, 2023) provides a compelling answer. His memoire, a gripping story from beginning to end, deals with the dangerous manipulation of young lives brought up in an extremely controlling sect with bizarre rules, destroyed families and strict separation from the World. Continue reading »
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Bruce Haigh: time for some revolutionary Australian art
Don’t it always seem to go, that you don’t know what you got till it’s gone? – Joni Mitchell Continue reading »
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Getting it wrong about culture
On 30 January 2023, the Albanese Government released its new national cultural policy, REVIVE: a five-year plan to revive the arts in Australia. There was widespread pleasure that after a decade of neglect of cultural matters, attention was being given again to this important aspect of Australian life. There was, however, some dismay at the Continue reading »
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The edifice sports complex, AFL and Tasmania
Historically, Australian sport has been bosom-tied to corrupt administrative and state management. Administrators of the myriad sporting codes are typically conceited in assuming they provide a service for an increasingly obese populace. The sports personalities turn up and play; spectators turn up in their colours, pies and beers; the sporting hierarchs can then claim they Continue reading »
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Vale Sir Les Patterson
The passing of my distinguished predecessor, Sir Leslie Colin Patterson deserves a tribute. Continue reading »
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Indonesian politics scores an own goal
It’s the biggest story next door but barged offside by the Australian media for the Trump indictment and the ‘No’. There’s another factor: Soccer’s not our national game. Continue reading »
