Quadrant articles from December 2006

Quadrant archives from December 2006

Pragmatism versus multiculturalism.(Editorial)
December 1, 2006... DO WE NEED the word multiculturalism? The federal government is looking to scrap it. Parliamentary Secretary for Multicultural Affairs, Andrew Robb, says the word "is not often helpful because different people listen to it and give it different...

The politics of "progressive" education.(Letter to the editor)
December 1, 2006... SIR: The Australian electorate across the political spectrum is virtually unanimous about the importance of education, most obviously primary and secondary schooling. This is largely driven not so much by philosophical considerations, or the...

Why Jews are smart.(Letter to the editor)
December 1, 2006... SIR: Reviewing Nicholas Wade's Before the Dawn: Recovering the Lost History of Our Ancestors, Robert Murray (November 2006) implies that Wade utilises non-Darwinian Lamarckism to explain the undue preponderance of Ashkenazi Jewish Nobel Prize...

Remembering Grahame Johnston.(Letter to the editor)
December 1, 2006... SIR: Reading Peter Coleman's "James McAuley and the New Dunciad" (October 2006) in your fiftieth anniversary number sent me to my (alas now yellowed) copy of the March 1977 edition, which was entirely devoted to him. In a footnote by...

Israel's right to exist.(Letter to the editor)
December 1, 2006... SIR: In Philosophy 101 (beyond which, I confess, I did not proceed) it was suggested that all analogies are suspect. Whether that is a universal truth is for others to consider, but it certainly applies to an unfortunate lapse in Paul...

The fiasco on the hill.(Letter to the editor)
December 1, 2006... SIR: In "The Fisher King and the Siege Perilous" (October 2006) B.J. Coman denigrates political reporting, particularly in times of relative prosperity and stable government: "They [the press gallery] will continue to utter totally Tantastic...

What drives the world?(Letter to the editor)
December 1, 2006... SIR: Rosemary Righter's article on the United Nations (September 2006) identifies a multiplicity of world problems: the UN's role in informing the citizenry, preventing humanitarian distress in dysfunctional states and re-defining terms like...

Intellectuals and international relations.(Foreign Affairs)
December 1, 2006... IN UNIVERSITIES the discipline of International Relations is a new activity. It is odd that this should be so, for study and debate about relations among states or empires goes back as far as the earliest written records of ancient societies....

The fall of the Bush doctrine.(George W. Bush)
December 1, 2006... AS ALL BUT A FEW naive idealists now concede, the current American-led effort to remake Iraq as a viable and peaceful democratic state is on a losing course. Whether Iraq descends into a civil war or breaks up into three or more largely...

The Soldier.(Poem)
December 1, 2006... THE SOLDIER patrols your house in moonlight, his shadow on your couch. When was your house bombed? It doesn't bother him and neither does the darkness. His General said, You're at one with darkness. He...

Prescription, proscription and sterilization.(LAW)(Speech)
December 1, 2006... IN CHARLES DICKENS Great Expectations, the hero is befriended by his guardian's clerk, Wemmick. Today Mr Wemmick would be described by some as a member of the aspirational class. There is every possibility that he might reside, if he were alive...

Getting it wrong in Papua New Guinea.(The Pacific)
December 1, 2006... IN DAYS OF OLD in Papua New Guinea, white men were generally addressed by non-English-speaking Papua New Guineans as "masta". Today this honorific is infrequently heard; where a foreigner is known well, his first name is universally used. Where...

Holy Music.(Poem)
December 1, 2006... Holy Music (after Rilke) Where does harmony go when the rain in your heart beats hard, when the tall dry late summer grasses leached of green, sway as if to music only they can hear, as if to...

Why history needs an overhaul.(Education)
December 1, 2006... THE RECENT HISTORY SUMMIT in Canberra, in response to Prime Minister Howard's comments about history teaching lacking a strong narrative and failing to celebrate Australia's cultural heritage, has thrown the spotlight on how the subject is...

Why we need a national science curriculum.
December 1, 2006... POLITICAL MEDDLING is never very far away in education. The latest incident centres around the debate over whether to have an outcomes-based system, as most of the states and territories promote, or revert to the traditional methods as old as...

Leaves from the diary of a madman: the political virus.(First Person)
December 1, 2006... Families, when a child is born, Want it to be intelligent. I, through intelligence, Having wrecked my whole life, Only hope the baby will prove Ignorant and stupid. Then he will crown a tranquil life By...

Petrarch and the mountain: the perennial problem of the truth in history.(Environment)(Critical essay)
December 1, 2006... ONE SMALL EPISODE in late medieval history is often singled out for special mention by historians, especially those with an interest in environmental history. This concerns the ascent of Mt Ventoux in France by Petrarch in 1336. Kenneth Clark,...

How to start a catholic university, or possibly twenty.(Devine)
December 1, 2006... LAST YEAR the Medical Journal of Australia published an article expressing misgivings about the establishment by the University of Notre Dame, in Fremantle, of Australia's first religiously affiliated medical school. Its principal author was Dr...

Yulgilbar.(Poem)
December 1, 2006... YULGILBAR It's not so much the castle as up there on the bluff: the "temple" or the "sketching-house" is where it's seen most clearly, surrounded now with cattle-tracks, its sandstone cut...

Daily Rhythms.(Poem)
December 1, 2006... DAILY RHYTHMS sniffy businessman, long, loose limbs collapsed behind a desk, would be a runner rounding up deer or 'roo. straining against an orange light, that man with woomera grip on his toolbox is...

Americanising Australian English.(Language)
December 1, 2006... IF ONE HAD JUST AWOKEN from the long sleep enjoyed by most of the population in relation to their language, one might confess to being amazed at the infusion of American vocabulary and accents which had taken place. Such a person might say, as...

Brief Theory of Relativity.(Poem)
December 1, 2006... BRIEF THEORY OF RELATIVITY I'm taking a break from my screenplay as is my nature short on action long on brakes I scan the newspaper with my electron microscope for particles of truth and today's...

Drought Again.(Poem)
December 1, 2006... DROUGHT AGAIN I've been writing this bloodyfucken poem for a long bloodyfucken time originally called Drought it didn't bloodyfucken rhyme I thought about what I wanted to bloodyfucken say-- we're in a...

Picnic Races.(Poem)
December 1, 2006... PICNIC RACES Warren, NSW In the small green paddock of the members' enclosure, heads accustomed to dusty plonked-on hats carry the weight of bows and bunches on kicked-up brims; sinewy brown fingers strap ...

The growing intolerance towards Islam.(Society)
December 1, 2006... I WAS GREATLY RELIEVED when my September 2006 issue of Quadrant arrived in Jeddah, in its clear plastic envelope. Moreover I was delighted that it had made its way past the censors, particularly with its bold subheading "The Growing Problem...

Moths to the flickering screen.(Australian television)
December 1, 2006... EVERYONE HAS BEEN talking about commercial television, but in fairly predictable ways. This clamour of opinions, analyses and predictions is probably caused by the changes to the media laws, and the recent celebration of fifty years of...

River of Gold.(Poem)
December 1, 2006... RIVER OF GOLD Big skies make dreams irrelevant, the evening's got the whole works: red, orange, yellow, green... flirtation that doesn't leave you feeling stupid or confused as to whether it's the real...

Too much and not enough.(Things I Didn't Know)(Book review)
December 1, 2006... PERHAPS AN ALTERNATIVE title for Robert Hughes' recently released memoir Things I Didn't Know might be Things I Shouldn't Have Said. The world's most famous art critic would like us to believe that he was an accident. His arrival ten years...

Four approaches to Patrick White.(Literature)(Critical essay)
December 1, 2006... THE SO-CALLED history wars are part of a broader conflict of interpretation within the humanities. The variety of academic approaches to Patrick White's fiction is an example of that conflict. The first generation of White academics noticed an...

By Moonlight.(Poem)
December 1, 2006... BY MOONLIGHT You didn't know where Moscow is or who Mozart was. I touched you and asked you to dance but your face collapsed. As you slammed the pupils of your eyes shut you unleashed a powerful one-note perfume, like a...

A day in bed with Aunt Maud.(Poem)
December 1, 2006... A DAY IN BED WITH AUNT MAUD My dear high-foreheaded aunt, good at sums and attentive to all that love demands, loved a day in bed. No illness drove her there, or fever no drenched nightgown, twisted but the...

Sandwiches.(Poem)
December 1, 2006... SANDWICHES When my father died we ate sandwiches. On the day of the funeral a plate of sandwiches before we went to the church, the cemetery. What shall we have for dinner? Sandwiches. I don't remember the fillings....

When is a remake a masterpiece?(The Departed)(Movie review)
December 1, 2006... JUST AS A DECENT PLOT or character wasn't safe near Shakespeare or his contemporaries, film-makers have been making and remaking each other's films L7 since the silent era. Sometimes it has been carefully concealed. Akira Kurosawa didn't let on...

Marvellous Harbours.(Poem)
December 1, 2006... MARVELLOUS HARBOURS Picture this: a fishing boat, days out on the ocean, makes an entrance, small and flee of sway, amid a suddenness of settlement. What the harbour absorbs, routinely, happens without fanfare. The sea...

The providers.(Story)(Short story)
December 1, 2006... "Where shall I put the pumpkins?" Anne's voice sounded desperate. Her sister Cathy, standing by the living room windows with her arms folded, felt embarrassed by Anne's anxious blathering. The unexpected guests had surprised and...

Candle.(Poem)
December 1, 2006... CANDLE When the Romans besieged a city, When they ringed a city with their campfires, Their tents, their spears, their coarse soldier's jokes, And the very air throbbed with the threat of a sacking (the words...

A critical romance.(Summer in Baden-Baden)(Book review)
December 1, 2006... Summer in Baden-Baden, by Leonid Tsypkin, translated by Roger and Angela Keys; Penguin, 2006, $24.95. THE ENCHANTED STRIP of Europe from the Upper Rhine to Switzerland is haunted by literary ghosts. Some of them have Russian accents....

Underground poetry.(Caverns of Magic: Caves in Myth and Imagination)(Book review)
December 1, 2006... Caverns of Magic: Caves in Myth and Imagination, by Hal G.P. Colebatch; Cybereditions, 2006, $62.95. ALONG, DISCURSIVE and fascinating essay by Hal Colebatch, Caverns of Magic is far more than a survey of caves in human history and...

Home and away.(Earthly Delights)(Book review)
December 1, 2006... Earthly Delights, by S.K. Kelen; Pandanus Books, 2006, $19.95. WITH EARTHLY DELIGHTS, his seventh collection, it's clear that S.K. Kelen now possesses a very distinct poetic style which has moved some distance away from its original...

Seeking Merdeka.(Reluctant Indonesians: Australia, Indonesia and the Future of West Papua)(Book review)
December 1, 2006... Reluctant Indonesians: Australia, Indonesia and the Future of West Papua, by Clinton Fernandes; Scribe, 2006, $22. AN INDISPENSABLE QUALITY for the future of West Papua seems to be wisdom, preferably equal to that of Job, if not better....

Restless spirit.(Will Dyson: Australia's Radical Genius)(Book review)
December 1, 2006... Will Dyson: Australia's Radical Genius, by Ross McMullin; Scribe, 2006, $59.95. WILL DYSON was one of the first of the talented Australian satirists who. made it on the world scene; alternatively one of the most notable of the network of...

The Dead Wear Coats.(Poem)
December 1, 2006... THE DEAD WEAR COATS It looks cold in Germany where you are sixty years ago about to be shot. You and four others photographed before death half naked in your underwear everyone else wearing helmets and...

Achieving closure.(English dictionary)
December 1, 2006... I USED TO FEEL COMFORTABLE with the pace of change and development of the English language. It reminded me of the good old horses I'd had: always ready; no problem to catch or to saddle; no vices, such as kicking or biting; changing gait (by...