Arts and Sport
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Cricket Australia’s ‘Afghanistan problem’
In cancelling its scheduled March series of three one-day matches against Afghanistan, Australian Cricket takes us into familiarly problematic territory. It brings to mind the battle, fought for two decades against South Africa’s apartheid regime, where cricket and rugby boycotts played a significant role. Continue reading »
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Netball Australia should and can do better with First Nations players
Although netball is highly popular among Australian girls, it also has a history of failing to retain and protect First Nations players. Continue reading »
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Can ‘Bazball’ save Test cricket?
Test cricket is sometimes its own worst enemy, regularly shooting itself in the foot. Can ‘Bazball’ save it? And can the playing conditions be applied more effectively? Continue reading »
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Country for bad dreams: vandalism on the Nullarbor Plain
“This is quite shocking,” declared South Australia’s Attorney-General and Aboriginal Affairs Minister, Kyam Maher. “These caves are some of the earliest evidence of Aboriginal occupation of that part of the country.” That evidence was subtracted this month by acts of vandalism inflicted on artwork in Koonalda Cave on the Nullarbor Plain, claimed to be the world’s largest Continue reading »
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The rub of the (very) green at the ‘Gabba
“It’s not cricket” is a term that originates from the idea of the importance of fairness. In the first cricket Test against South Africa we’ve just seen a case of alleged lack of fairness, of a kind, demonstrated at the ‘Gabba in Brisbane. Continue reading »
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The BBC’s abysmal coverage of Qatar’s World Cup
The British state-owned broadcaster’s refusal to show Qatar’s Opening Ceremony reeks of hypocrisy. Continue reading »
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As time goes by: eighty years since the premiere of Casablanca
It was 1942. Across the Atlantic, vast, troubled swathes of Europe were occupied by the Wehrmacht. Millions of its civilians were displaced; millions more would pack up their belongings and flee as World War II continued to unfold. Continue reading »
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Joy and a troubled conscience at the Qatar World Cup
I will be watching some games – but I will do so with a bad conscience! Continue reading »
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Marles pushes ‘China Threat’ in PNG Rugby League talks
Defence Minister Marles and PM Albanese would like to see two Papua New Guinea rugby league teams join the Australian club competition as a way to counter China’s growing influence. Instead of banging on about China, why not start a new regional competition including one or two Pacific Islands teams, New Zealand and Australia? Sport Continue reading »
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Can T20 and Test cricket continue to exist together?
For decades there have been concerns about the viability of Tests. Do administrators, in their lust for the rivers of cash which T20 brings in, recognise the dangers of this moment in cricket’s history? Continue reading »
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Qatar FIFA World Cup: West silent on human rights
Competitors at the FIFA World Cup will grace stadia built in near-slave labour conditions and enjoy the receptions and hospitality of a state with a brutal penal system. Continue reading »
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The AFL, racism and neoliberal corporatist sporting cultures
In the last days of September around the biggest event on the sporting calendar for most Australians, the AFL Grand Final, a leaked report raised the harrowing, but hidden, history of racism at the Hawthorn Football Club. Continue reading »
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Truth-telling with Walpiri people at the heart of new opera
Jack Waterford warned recently that ‘it’s time to get fair dinkum, or the Voice proposal will lose momentum and support’. A way to do that is by taking a two-way approach to telling shared stories. That’s what the composer Anne Boyd is doing as she creates a musical language for the Australian landscape. Her new Continue reading »
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Dear times and costly cricket: Australia’s Sri Lankan Tour
For a country experiencing its worst economic crisis since gaining independence in 1948, the picture of a touring team pampered and fussed over might cause consternation. But the Australian cricket tour to Sri Lanka has only been met by praise from the country’s cricket officials, where logic is inverted, and the gaze of responsibility averted. Continue reading »
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Michael Edwards-The unfortunate irrelevance of the arts in Australia
Objective and anecdotal evidence shows that activity in the Australian arts sector declined significantly during the pandemic. Performances closed, venues shut, exhibitions were cancelled and many artists were forced to abandon their artistic careers — hopefully temporarily. The sector’s demise produced the occasional news item, but otherwise it has aroused little reaction from the public Continue reading »
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In sport and in society, women eclipse the antics of boorish males
While women display their abilities in fields monopolised by men, people in power not only allow these talents to be wasted but actively inhibit them. Continue reading »
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Cricket cannot afford to go back to the bad old days of abuse
Bored by the lack of an Ashes contest, past players are creating mischief by calling for a return to sledging. These calls must be rejected. Continue reading »
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Bad sport: harsh training regimes amount to human rights abuses
The International Olympic Committee should step up to protect athletes from brutal treatment while training for elite competition. Continue reading »
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Beijing Winter Olympics boycott is a hollow gesture
A boycott of the Winter Olympics serves no real purpose — history shows that Olympic boycotts in the name of human rights abuses are ineffectual. Continue reading »
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Squid Game: what the subtitles don’t tell you
Eight cultural specificities in Squid Game explained to help you do business, build stronger relationships and succeed in Korea. Continue reading »
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Will prospects for long-term human survival improve in 2023?
What can we expect in 2023 about future human prospects? Will current threats to long-term human survival, continue to increase or will they begin to diminish as a consequence of responses to current threats?” Continue reading »
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Terry Irving, The fatal lure of Politics: the life and thought of Vere Gordon Childe
Certainly the best biography I read in 2022 and possibly the best non-fiction book in any genre, is Terry Irving’s comprehensive and incisive examination of the varied and controversial life of archaeologist, political theorist and leftist practitioner Vere Gordon Childe. Continue reading »
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Why Labor can’t be trusted with Australia’s security. It started with US Marines in Darwin
Basing nuclear capable B52 bombers at the Tindal airbase is an abrupt, unambiguous sign that our government believes it is Australia’s interest for China to feel threatened with American nuclear strike from our soil. At America’s pleasure. Continue reading »
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Dismantling global white privilege: Book by Chandran Nair-Equity for a post-western world
One of the few uplifting political trends of the past decade has been the growing strength of movements for gender equality and, even more surprisingly, the demand for racial justice. But a higher-level structure of discrimination governs both racism and sexism: The global dominance of a white power elite in virtually every arena of human Continue reading »
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Infrastructure Australia should be abolished
A review of Infrastructure Australia risks putting the cart in front of the horse. It should consider whether the organisation should exist. Continue reading »
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Nuclear non-proliferation treaty review conference in historical context
The Tenth Review Conference of the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty is underway at the UN in New York. The record of the treaty is not perfect but it is the major persisting arms control agreement. If peace means a continuing negotiating process with the other, as President Kennedy asserted, we need more of this. Continue reading »
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Defence reviews; what are they good for?
It is essential that the new Defence review not degenerate into the usual ritualistic orthodoxy. In these perilous times it cannot be allowed to become a narrow, jargon-laden, orthodox military consideration but must situate Australia’s strategy and military posture in the context of the important foreign policy issues. Continue reading »
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Remarks on the Australia-China divide at the AsiaLink launch of Happy Together, by David Walker and Li Yao.
The juxtaposition and interweaving of life stories from Australia and China make for endlessly fascinating reading. Continue reading »
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Keeping them honest: A book review
This book Keeping Them Honest: the case for a genuine national integrity commission and other vital democratic reforms puts solidly the case for a Commonwealth Integrity Commission known in the trade I’m told as a CIC. Continue reading »
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“South Flows the Pearl” Book launch speech about Chinese Australian voices
Chinese people have been in this country almost as long as the British. …Unfortunately, from the 1980s on, following an increase in immigration from Hong Kong, South-East Asia and mainland China, there have been new waves of racism, so that even today the Chinese community still feels marginalised. Continue reading »
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