Review
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Summing up
The world and its people are facing very serious local and global emergencies. Climate change, economic instability, limits to free speech, threats to independent media and increasing social inequality all signal the breakdown of democratic systems across the world. The genocide in Gaza and the war in Ukraine are ongoing. Our political institutions and leaders Continue reading »
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25 years of reviews and policy statements: What do they reveal about Australia’s R&D challenges?
Australia’s ability to harness the full potential of its research and development (R&D) capacity has been a subject of intense scrutiny for at least 25 years. Continue reading »
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The fall of Israel
Dr Steinbock’s new book The Fall of Israel is a stunning look at the longstanding forces undermining the state of Israel and the lives of Palestinians, while fostering genocidal atrocities and regional escalation. His interview offers revealing insights about the ongoing catastrophe. Continue reading »
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Is humanity’s destiny Winton’s dystopian world?
I turned 90 recently after a long retirement following decades as an academic and an aquatic scientist working on the zooplankton of Australian and Antarctic waters. But now, every day of my life, there’s something deeply corrosive that eats into my psyche and it’s nothing to do with any fear or dread associated with my Continue reading »
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Australia at war – again, again and again
Every year or so Australia gets a bulky new book about an Australian war, military action, hero or some other military matter written by what is known as ‘storians. Continue reading »
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Sanitising genocide
The Los Angeles Review of Books (LARB) has just published “The Most Moral Army”- an excoriating review of Israel’s continuous reliance on deceitful medical imagery to disinfect its horrific abuse of power in Gaza. Continue reading »
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Jack Iverson was, my father often told me, the finest bowler to whom he ever kept
Playing against England, in the home Ashes series of 1950–51, Iverson led the Australian bowling averages with 21 wickets at 15.24 runs per wicket. Bamboozling the Poms, in one Test he got 6 for 27. A little known fact is that Jack Iverson’s highest score in all five Tests was 1 not out. Continue reading »
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Coups, covert ops, dirty tricks: how the US abused its power from 1947
David Talbot’s 2015 book The Devil’s Chessboard: Allen Dulles, the CIA, and the Rise of America’s Secret Government: Unpacking Dulles’ times, impact and legacy is quite a journey Continue reading »
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The Forever War: America’s unending conflict with itself. Reviewed by Braham Dabscheck
In the aftermath of the attempted assassination of Donald Trump, our need to understand the US feels more immediate than ever. Continue reading »
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Review: Peter Gibilisco: Rocking the Boat – Significantly Essays from a wheelchair promoting due respect for all
I was profoundly amazed the moment I walked into the room back in 2018 where I was to have an interview with one of Peter’s support workers. Continue reading »
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How economic bureaucrats make policies and remake the Chinese state
Yingyao Wang opens the black box of the Chinese bureaucracy to reveal the agency of the men and women who designed and redesigned Chinese economic policy. Continue reading »
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“Ill-begotten siblings”: Australia and the United States of America
Allan Behm has been about a bit. Continue reading »
