Quadrant articles from December 2005

Quadrant archives from December 2005

The dismissal--all passion spent.(Gough Whitlam government dismissed)(Editorial)
December 1, 2005... THE SILLIEST public comment on the recent thirtieth anniversary of the dismissal of the Whitlam government came from former prime minister Paul Keating, who, launching a reissue of the book on the affair by Michael Sexton (The Great Crash,...

Identity cards.(Letters)(Letter to the Editor)
December 1, 2005... SIR: While I agree with most of what you have said on the "national identity card" issue (September 2005), I feel that the argument need not be so broad. It is possible that card is often used as a kind of shorthand for database, but to me...

Defending Australia.(Letters)(Letter to the Editor)
December 1, 2005... SIR: The intellectual rigor which Paul Monk (September 2005) brings to the defence debate is to be commended, and demonstrates, somewhat alarmingly, the inflexibility within Defence to recognise the massive change which is occurring across the...

Don't mention, ER, porcine animals.(Letters)(Letter to the Editor)
December 1, 2005... SIR: Further to Peter Ryan's article (October 2005) on Christopher Robin, Winnie the Pooh and associates, a recent piece of news actually eclipses in sinister imbecility Mr Ryan's anecdote of the 1950s leftist who discovered that Christopher...

The ABN.(Letters)(Letter to the Editor)
December 1, 2005... SIR: In the September issue you write: "anyone engaged in the sale of goods and services, from Woolworths to the amateur painter making occasional sales, has to have an Australian Business Number." This is quite wrong. The only people or...

Republican white ants.(Letters)(Letter to the Editor)
December 1, 2005... SIR: In the September 2005 letters John Power asks whether other readers agree with the idea of a republic. Well I've been a subscriber for a few years and my reply is no. I used to, but I don't now. Let this sleeping dog lie, this is...

Curriculum disputes.(Letters)(Letter to the Editor)
December 1, 2005... SIR: Kevin Donnelly (Letters, October 2005) is concerned at four criticisms I made regarding his critique of contemporary Australian education, Why Our Schools are Failing. My article, "The Disputed Curriculum" (July-August 2005) was not, of...

Wrong way to equity.(Letters)(Letter to the Editor)
December 1, 2005... SIR: I was astounded by the short contribution of David Foster, "A Plea on Behalf of Eros" in the October issue. I have not read such an elegant, understated and sophisticated measure of thinking around the discussion on reconciliation. It is...

Evolution and intelligent design.(Letters)(Letter to the Editor)
December 1, 2005... SIR: I don't see why intelligent design and scientific evolution should be in conflict with one another. They need one another for their survival. I have been involved for more than fifty years in the academic study of religions and so far have...

Employment of the disabled.(Letters)(Letter to the Editor)
December 1, 2005... SIR: I have found Peter Saunders' work to be engaging, both in Quadrant (September 2005) and in the material available on the website of the Centre for Independent Studies. It is quite true that most people in Australia--and I would like to...

Doctor death in Bundaberg.(Dr. Jayant Patel)(Biography)
December 1, 2005... BETWEEN 1978 AND 2005, in New York, Oregon and Australia, Dr Jayant Patel left a trail of the mutilated and the dead. How could this happen? Who protected this miscreant throughout his career and prevented his activities being exposed? Has the...

The strange mythology of anti-Zionism.(Society)
December 1, 2005... THERE IS LITTLE DOUBT that the hardcore twenty-first-century Left has cast its political lot with those who are agitating for Israel's disappearance from the map. Yet many Leftists wish to eat their anti-Zionist cake while still retaining their...

A most un-conservative war.(Politics)
December 1, 2005... THIS MONTH Britain's Conservatives will finally choose a replacement for outgoing party leader Michael Howard. Whether or not David Cameron or David Davis inherits the crown, one thing is guaranteed: the new Tory leader, like his two...

Who will he watch when I'm gone?(Poem)
December 1, 2005... WHO WILL HE WATCH WHEN I'M GONE? When the surgeon's knife cut out that one bung lung he mounted a rear-view mirror on the side of his armchair. Made him feel like he was still out there, driving trucks along...

The work choices bill and its critics.
December 1, 2005... TWO THINGS are particularly disappointing about recent commentary in response to the release of the government's Work Choices bill. The first is the lack of balance in the academic "discussion", and the second is the rather poor level of the...

Opus 1, No. 1: Encore.(Poem)
December 1, 2005... OPUS 1, No. 1: ENCORE (An old Beethoven string quartet LP plays on a 44th wedding anniversary) One-two three-four strings, Swelling, bring what lingers: The boxed gift's string incising My mother's pianist...

The EU's usual crisis.(European Union)
December 1, 2005... MY SYMPATHIES go out to anyone, American or European, who seeks to understand what is going on in "Europe" (as the European Union is quaintly known in the media) following the recent "No" votes in the French and Dutch referenda on the proposed...

Gertrude.(Poem)
December 1, 2005... GERTRUDE The boy was here again last night making an unbelievable fuss. He's a prince, of course, and sensitive. Also, one of those men for whom mother is always virgin. He suspects that sex is more than duty...

Why David Hicks will get a fair trial.(United States and Australia make arrangements for trial of terrorism suspect)
December 1, 2005... THE TRIAL OF DAVID HICKS by US military commission should satisfy not only the Australian and US governments, but also their critics--which may come as a surprise to them. A likely but unexpected consequence of the US-Australian arrangements...

She Keeps Each Anniversary.(Loveshots)(Poem)
December 1, 2005... She Keeps Each Anniversary With slant beret and pink cravat he swanned the mirror dark in which I sat, playing his part. Dear stranger, shall I pour? It is a clinker pinot noir. Look how its ruby lights...

On the Cavalier Poets.(Loveshots)(Poem)
December 1, 2005... On the Cavalier Poets Their king was devious and brave, lived out his right to misbehave, then wore that extra shirt to fox both January and the axe. John Suckling writhed in vomit while one rich allegiance...

I Can't Do Charity.(Loveshots)(Poem)
December 1, 2005... Back to the skyline, they stood in cayenne dust, vultured in their wrappings, all Africa distressed. I can't do charity unless I am rehearsed. I wished those millions neither here nor there. Bring in the first, there are...

Weatherfronts Instinct with Tact.(Loveshots)(Poem)
December 1, 2005... Weatherfronts Instinct with Tact I rise to a slow and bluewhale swollen weatherfront that hauls the skyline like a white tarpaulin through my local hills. My times evolved me, I place trust within the...

The Three Blue Days.(Loveshots)(Poem)
December 1, 2005... The Three Blue Days A lovely mother and her daughter splashed waist-deep in slippy water. April crisped the blue Divide, our spouses on its further side. Through mountain forests we had come from loves we were not...

First Sex, Grim Sex.(Loveshots)(Poem)
December 1, 2005... First Sex, Grim Sex He talked to her all night. His spiel was cleverish, It earned him one bared bosom, pale as a cuttlefish. What was his need exactly? Comfy girl? Or sense his virgin self was binned now in the perfect...

In Thought They Lived Like Russians.(Loveshots)(Poem)
December 1, 2005... In Thought They Lived Like Russians They stripped the furniture from their flat, and put on gloves to pay the rent, they scorned their freeholds in the fat of middle class content. Lived like a tightrope walking...

Crimes Act.(Loveshots)(Poem)
December 1, 2005... Crimes Act She is his lunchtime crossword puzzle, his most slippery of clues, and, washed up from her razzle-dazzle, he's the parkbench she can choose. He brings her capers, wine, black pepper, kilos of...

A conversation with Helen Hughes.(Devine)(Interview)
December 1, 2005... THE 1967 REFERENDUM on the status of Aborigines did not, as has come commonly to be believed, confer Australian citizenship on them. They had had that since 1947, when Australian--rather than British--citizenship was introduced. Nor did the...

A Form.(Poem)
December 1, 2005... A FORM SURNAME? Collins, double 1. With a stroke of pen I went from Kovalski to conformity. NAME? Eva The only remnant of far away lands, where seasons are back to front, and...

The Daughter.(Poem)
December 1, 2005... THE DAUGHTER I saw a Polish movie last night. The theatre was crowded with softly spoken, pirouetting people. Smiling men bowed their heads, raising women's hands to their lips. Perfumed women kissed each other, dabbing...

Mates, media, ministers and moguls.(Media)
December 1, 2005... MEDIA MOGULS are among the many of us with difficult, thankless--indeed maligned--jobs. It is customary, sometimes with good reason, to speak ill of them. But like police, politicians and journalists, where would we be without them? Somebody...

Endless Night.(Poem)
December 1, 2005... ENDLESS NIGHT A bird of doom alighted on my shoulder as I lay breathing in my life and rides me now and ever more-- its caw so gloomy and its feathers dark as night. No matter how I seek respite in...

Turkey: pulled in two directions.(Foreign Affairs)
December 1, 2005... A RECENT VISIT to Istanbul indicated that in Turkey today changes are apparent if outcomes remain uncertain. Istanbul, a city divided by the Bosphorus and the Sea of Marmara, spreads itself across two continents, intermixing their cultures, if...

Who will pick up the five cent pieces?(Poem)
December 1, 2005... WHO WILL PICK UP THE FIVE CENT PIECES? flung flippery-glittering from fingers pulling change out of my pocket. Like I was buying wishes from the Fairies I left them where they fell. Little wishes in the garden and...

A Short Poem.(Poem)
December 1, 2005... A SHORT POEM A pod upside down still reads pod.

The mystery of Mozart's skull.(Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart)
December 1, 2005... THE SKULL has been frightening people for years. Grinning, it sat in a drawer for a while and then was displayed in a glass cabinet for all to see. The office workers at the Mozarteum in Salzburg could hear music emanating from the skull,...

The epic of Sandor Petofi.(Literature)
December 1, 2005... SANDOR PETOFI, who lived for only twenty-six years, has the longest entry by far in the Oxford History of Hungarian Literature. According to the author of that book, in Hungary Petofi enjoys a place like that reserved for Shakespeare in...

The Norma Khouri affair.
December 1, 2005... Marge, it takes two to lie--one to lie and one to listen. --Homer Simpson ON JULY 24, 2004, one of Australia's most popular non-fiction books was denounced as a fake. Forbidden Love: A Harrowing True Story of Love and Revenge in Jordan...

My First Ghazal.(Poem)
December 1, 2005... MY FIRST GHAZAL For Jenny and Sasha leaving after Christmas They are sorting and packing, picking up Loose ends, toys, ribbons, bits and pieces of the heart. I am father and grandfather, sitting by, Letting the sorrow...

Directors' cuts and butchers' cuts.(Film)
December 1, 2005... THE 1950s AND 1960s may have been one of the great periods of American cinema but it was a time when film art was in the greatest danger. Archiving and preservation were rudimentary, film studios, distributors, censors and television stations...

Gone Missing.(Poem)
December 1, 2005... GONE MISSING The men had searched for five days, scouring every inch of the farm. The stubbled paddocks, crazed saucers of the dams, the eucalypt scrub in the far gullies. Was it a niggling doubt which urged my father...

The Mother.(Poem)
December 1, 2005... THE MOTHER After love comes hate and then the lies in a bitter contest for custody. Unforgiving of men she shames her son, spares the rod--flays him with a dress. His sister's dress that he must wear to school, ...

Mr Stuart in Aswan.(Poem)
December 1, 2005... MR STUART IN ASWAN Remembrance Sunday, 2004 We stepped out on thin ice, then back, without blinking an eye. It was a dream, I'm sure, those two years married up the Nile, so hot and poor, so hard on lovers. Sky is pure ...

The suit.(Poem)
December 1, 2005... THE SUIT For Tim 1. At seventeen he finished Year 12 and with the future in his eyes bought his first suit to create a good impression at the navy interview. I had to tie his tie and wait with him for...

The name of the bird with no name.(Story)(Short Story)
December 1, 2005... The plane had landed and those who had been passengers crowded the luggage carousel, which had not begun to move. There came the announcement that luggage would be delayed. No reason was given. After a time came further announcement of further...

The official secretary's story.(David Smith works)
December 1, 2005... For God's sake, let us sit upon the ground And tell sad stories of the death of kings: How some have been depos'd, some slain in war, Some haunted by the ghosts they have depos'd, Some poisoned by their wives, some sleeping kill'd, All...

The necessity of great poetry.(The Long Game and Other Poems)(Book Review)
December 1, 2005... The Long Game and Other Poems, by Bruce Beaver; UQP, 2005, $22.95. I READ BRUCE BEAVER'S The Long Game with elegiac greed. It s his last book, published posthumously almost a year to the day after his death. But there is nothing morbid or...

Ordinary life in perfect proportions.(Avenues and Runways)(Book Review)
December 1, 2005... Avenues & Runways, by Aidan Coleman; Brandl & Schlesinger, 2005, $22.95. THE GREAT STRENGTHS of Avenues & Runways, the debut collection of young South Australian poet Aidan Coleman (b. 1976), are its relative simplicity, directness and...

A conspiracy of good intentions.(Prozac as a Way of Life)(Book Review)
December 1, 2005... Prozac as a Way of Life, edited by Carl Elliott and Tod Chambers; University of North Carolina Press, 2004, about $35. PROZAC, as Carl Elliott writes in the introduction to Prozac as a Way of Life, may have begun life as a brand name for...

Forty-five years of service.(A Lifetime in Conservative Politics: Political Memoirs of Sir Joseph Carruthers)(Book Review)
December 1, 2005... A Lifetime in Conservative Politics: Political Memoirs of Sir Joseph Carruthers, edited by Michael Hogan; UNSW Press, 2005, $54.95. FORTY INDIVIDUALS have occupied the position of Premier of New South Wales since the advent of responsible...

Marvellous in parts.(The Encyclopaedia of Melbourne)(Book Review)
December 1, 2005... The Encyclopaedia of Melbourne, edited by Andrew Brown-May and Shurlee Swain; Cambridge University Press, 2005, $150. IN THE PART OF MELBOURNE I came from, if you used long words, or worse, long well-structured sentences, you risked being...

The diligence of the clerks.(Politics, Patronage and Public Works:The Administration of New South Wales, 1842-1900, vol.1 )(Book Review)
December 1, 2005... Politics, Patronage and Public Works." The Administration of New South Wales: Volume 1, 1842-1900, by Hilary Golder; University of New South Wales Press, 2005, $59.95. NEW SOUTH WALES proclaims itself as the Premier State. Though...

The pearl he left behind.(After the Monsoon)(Book Review)
December 1, 2005... After the Monsoon, by Ian Callinan; Central Queensland University Press, 2005, $25.95. AFTER THE MONSOON, "a saga of war and pearling" is no Gone with the grind. Insular hero Charlie Land is no Rhett Butler, while stoic heroine Brenda...

Hats off.(RYAN)
December 1, 2005... WHEN I WAS a baby in arms, no doubt I wore a bonnet, or one of those knitted infant caps, but I don't remember; early photograph albums are unhelpful on the point. The first headgear of positive recollection was my school cap, which went on at...