Quadrant articles from January 2002

Quadrant archives from January 2002

The election, government agendas and media bias. (Editorial).(Editorial)
January 1, 2002... ALL THE PARROTS in the Canberra press gallery petshop subsequent to the 10th November election were squawking about the need for the government to have a third-term agenda. But why? It is clear enough where the hacks are coming from--they have...

Why the towers collapsed. (Letters).
January 1, 2002... SIR: Pseudo-environmentalism has more to answer for in the collapse of the World Trade Center Towers than a simple criticism of the materials used in its construction would imply (Neil McDonald, November 2001). The steel columns supporting the...

The dance of the four horsemen. (Letters).
January 1, 2002... SIR: I must apologise to Paul Monk (Letters, November 2001) for my comment (October 2001) suggesting that ten months was not a bad turnaround in Australian strategic debate. It was a poor attempt at sarcasm and reflected my concern that there...

Immigration costs and benefits. (Letters).
January 1, 2002... SIR: Up to this point, the immigration debate has been viewed (incorrectly) as a battle between compassion and selflessness on the one hand, and narrow self-interest on the other. Professor Wolfgang Kasper's call (November 2001) for a rational,...

The work of Wycliffe. (Letters).
January 1, 2002... SIR: Peter Ryan (September 2001) seriously misled your readers by claiming that none of the 850-odd languages of Papua New Guinea has "any system of writing". I wonder how Mr Ryan can have remained ignorant of the extensive work in reducing PNG...

Race and immigration. (Letters).
January 1, 2002... SIR: Peter Ryan, in his October article, "Can't We Talk About It?", concludes with two questions. "What is it about race, skin colour, ethnicity, religion and suchlike that stirs passions which forbid us even to discuss them?" and "Mightn't we,...

Taiwan and the "Jews of Asia". (Letters).
January 1, 2002... SIR: Paul Monk's article on Taiwan (November 2001) was an interesting attempt to resolve what is now a long-running issue. It was, however, flawed on a number of levels. The first is the suggestion that China offer Taiwan de facto independence....

Is there a new family? (Society).
January 1, 2002... I AM HONOURED to be the first woman ever to deliver he Archbishop Sir James Duhig Memorial Lecture. So I thought I should choose a topic to which I could perhaps bring a uniquely feminine insight. It is an insight which was born of many years'...

Restoring adoption. (Society).
January 1, 2002... AN EMPTY CRADLE sits in the middle of the cobbled courtyard of a grand old building on Madison Avenue in New York City. Girls "who had done the unthinkable, unmarried girls who had done what must never be done and given birth" leave their...

Live Dangerously.(Poem)
January 1, 2002... LIVE DANGEROUSLY In dreams the electrifying hag could zip to where I hid, ignite those potent chemicals in a five-year-old's id. And at fourteen a senior could deprive me of my voice I'm going to punch you...

Reputations.(Poem)
January 1, 2002... REPUTATIONS Celebrity, celebrity, why do you not connect with all of us who blame you for such studious neglect? Of course we'd do the chatshows for that deference we want, but when caressively you bless these...

David Lewis. (Tribute).(Obituary)
January 1, 2002... BEFORE HIS sudden death on 14th October 2001, David Lewis was, by common consent of his peers, the most able philosopher of his age. He was also a great friend of Australian philosophy and of Australia. He was even a contributor to Quadrant,...

Developing Zoo Solutions.(Poem)
January 1, 2002... DEVELOPING ZOO SOLUTIONS Trapezoidal roof and verandahs silhouetted Against the sky suggest the head of a giraffe. Instead it's an elegant wood queenslander gazetted To go--out of its place, the shapes here all ...

The protection of our borders. (Politics).
January 1, 2002... ALMOST 2500 YEARS ago, Confucius said: "Good government obtains when the population is made happy, and those who are far off are attracted." Voltaire expressed a similar view when he counselled governments to make citizens want to continue to...

Poetry Now.(Poem)
January 1, 2002... POETRY NOW Poetry is tremendously popular now. That may be an astounding fact to many people, particularly as poetry in our culture has a negative image. After all, for many years we were subjected to the ...

Thistle Cutting.(Poem)
January 1, 2002... THISTLE CUTTING Once he hankered after thistle-cutting ten or twenty slashed with the sharp flash of his father's shovel, when school was finished and he'd bused and biked home to the dairy farm. Garnishes...

Science fiction, biotechnology and the shadow of September 11. (Philosophy & Ideas).
January 1, 2002... THE EMERGENCE of science fiction (or "SF") as a distinct literary genre in the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries was occasioned by the scientific and industrial revolutions, which encouraged speculation about extraordinary technological...

Dandelion Haiku.(Poem)
January 1, 2002... DANDELION HAIKU 1 The dandelions-- spatter-painting my work-boots with orange ochre. 2 The proximity of bees as I walk among the dandelions. 3 A dab of pollen left by the...

The elephant and the tortoise. (Philosophy & Ideas).(Michael Oakeshott)
January 1, 2002... THE CONSERVATIVE philosopher Michael Oakeshott liked to quote the poet Dunbar: "Man, please thy Maker, and be merry, And give not for this world a cherry." In one of his notebooks he wrote: "Please put this on my grave." As it turned out,...

The Altar.(Poem)
January 1, 2002... THE ALTAR Marie: I pray for sight, or mercy, and wish that God had told me rd wake, already crying from dreaming how he'd hold me, and thoughts of him would dually maim as they enchant me- my God....

Should we centralise labour relations? (Law).
January 1, 2002... THE UNDERSTANDABLE desire of business to have issue of Commonwealth power over corporations clarified by the states referring such power to Canberra has been distracted and complicated by the former minister Mr Reith's bid for a unitary system...

Quarks.(Poem)
January 1, 2002... QUARKS If Sasha were to come we could finish up the whisky, we could play three-handed cribbage, we could cook a baked alaska, if sasha were to come, were to come, were to come, if Sasha were to come right now. ...

The Good Father & His Daughter Kiss.(Poem)
January 1, 2002... THE GOOD FATHER & HIS DAUGHTER KISS they lean towards each other as safe from folding as a pyramid yet fragile as the baby fist she shook aloft like lightning when he was the boat she sailed in harbour to...

Killing the wrong people. (Foreign Affairs).
January 1, 2002... MANY OF THE ITALIAN political extremists who spread death and terror in the 1970s and 1980s have been reintegrated into society. Occasional pamphlets and one killing in 1999 are the only evidence that terrorists survive in Italy but, because...

Six Triolets.(Poem)
January 1, 2002... SIX TRIOLETS Our gardener loved his flowers, (No one else dared stake a claim), If picked he'd sulk for hours, For our gardener loved his flowers, Even sniffed he stands and glowers Till I crept away in shame. ...

Landowners.(Poem)
January 1, 2002... LANDOWNERS What does it mean to own a half-hectare? I stood on the bank of the stream and asked the stones and the pools: how deep do my boundaries extend, through how many seams of mantle? How high? Up to...

Never speak ill of the dead? (History).
January 1, 2002... IT IS SAID that you should never speak ill of the dead, presumably because they're no longer around to defend themselves. But in this day and age, with so many mercenary lawyers around, talking libel and slander, you cannot even speak ill of...

What Comes Round.(Poem)
January 1, 2002... WHAT COMES ROUND A band of yellow cyclists heads bowed down in adoration of the wheel sweep past, helmet cowled gaily, gaudy bright like oriental monks shouted mantras torn by pedalled speed, as ...

Pedallers.(Poem)
January 1, 2002... PEDALLERS A flock of cyclists multi-coloured heads helmeted bright sweep past chattering loudly swooping, swerving curves and corners in serial unison like a giddy flight of rainbow lorikeets

Albert Jacka and the choice of Achilles. (History).
January 1, 2002... IT IS REMARKABLE how, seventy years after his death, historians seem unfamiliar with the basic facts of the life of Australia's most acclaimed war hero, Albert Jacka VC, MC and Bar. One can understand why ideologues like Manning Clark and...

The compassionate society. (Argus).(Brief Article)
January 1, 2002... The Victorian Government's laudable concern to help the "psychologically infertile" conceive is only the first step towards a fairer society for the sychologically disadvantaged, according to Councillor Len Hoxha, chair of Ghasthurst City...

Tough summer ahead for Aussie championship contenders. (Summer Sport).(Brief Article)
January 1, 2002... January's knockout round of highway collecting championships looks like being the most gruelling ever in the relatively short history of this favourite year-round sport. The holiday fall in traffic passing through major urban intersections...

In my garden. (The pleasures Of Sharing Your Garden).(Brief Article)
January 1, 2002... As a keen participant in the Open Gardens Scheme, I must say that my own garden is quite literally a showpiece at this time of the year. It is good to hear the appreciative oohs and aahs from members of the public as they walk among my lovely...

The first skirmish of postmodern warfare: Black Hawk Down and the future of combat. (Defence).(Mark Bowden)
January 1, 2002... PERHAPS THE MOST eagerly anticipated and potentially influential film of 2002 will be Ridley Scott and Jerry Bruckheimer's adaptation of Mark Bowden s dramatic best-seller Black Hawk Down. The film, due for release in Australia in February,...

Cats.(Poem)
January 1, 2002... All ardent lovers in their prime keep cats, just as the careful scholar does; those creatures of quiet power, the pride of the house, crave, like their owners, to be still and warm. Epicures of austerity and ease, ...

Ned Kelly.(Poem)
January 1, 2002... I am a bush sculptor at heart, the establishment wasn't ready for my rough hewn depiction of knights in armour, I hadn't even reached the heralding part before the constabulary fired on me so I quickly invented...

Driving Past Mt Korong.(Poem)
January 1, 2002... Spindly shout of trees: "Bail up, bail up." The horses sweat eucalyptus, manes tangle leaves toss, stamp, snort at the tightly closed car window. The road rises sharply, single-lane bitumen, a no traffic ambush...

Reggie Vee is alive: regional variation in Australasian English. (Language).
January 1, 2002... THERE IS NO regional variation in Australia," claimed Bruce Moore, editor of the Australian National Dictionary. This was supported by book-of-the-series (as seen on television!) The Story of English, in which it was also stated that there was...

The Owls.(Poem)
January 1, 2002... translated from the French of Charles Baudelaire The owls are waiting ranged in state, sheltering from day in the dense black yews like little foreign gods in rows glaring red-eyed. They meditate. Not the least...

The uninvited attendees of English. (Language).(Brief Article)
January 1, 2002... ENGLISH USAGE varies from country to country, changes over time and reflects different levels of education. Most obvious are the differences between English and American pronunciation. Many words have the stress on the first syllable in English...

The Sponge.(Poem)
January 1, 2002... Each cold, wet, Pacific-Rim Spring, when we saw the one movie we saw, each vernal equinox, was it comforting to recognize the sponge, say, did I feel, at all, I was related to it--if you went back far enough through...

A Stone Face.(Poem)
January 1, 2002... In the museum at Lodeve I found a fragment of a woman's face embedded in a stalagmite. They called her "The Howler" from the Clamouse Caves. I thought she was you. And I was the child the other side of...

Consolation and The Novel. (Literature).
January 1, 2002... MY WIFE ANNE will never be anywhere without a novel. She reads or listens to novels as reflexively as she breathes, blinks or swallows. Though I know her to have fine literary discernment I know equally she does not let this interfere one jot...

The Sea Cook and the search for Treasure Island. (Literature).
January 1, 2002... THE CHILDREN'S CLASSIC tale Treasure Island, like any good allegory, tells us something new about the world and ourselves. Stevenson's story is always worth a revisit; yet there remains one mystery the solution to which obstinately eludes us:...

Apocalypse Now and then. (Film).
January 1, 2002... APOCALYPSE NOW "is not a movie. My film is not about Vietnam, it is Vietnam. It was what it is really like. It is crazy. It is very much like the way the Americans were in Vietnam. We were in the jungle. There were too many of us. We had access...

My Father's Books.(Poem)
January 1, 2002... MY FATHER'S BOOKS The moment of my father's death his books slithered off their shelves, they walked on their pages like giant centipedes. Or flew like thousand-winged moon-moths and landed on his...

Love is a Trabant. (Story).(Short Story)
January 1, 2002... Have you seen the movie Black Cat, White Cat?" asks Victor. "I'm afraid I haven't," responds Dr Prince. What do I do now? If I tell him about the movie, it will be another fifteen minutes at least, and I'm supposed to pay for all this. Victor...

Around midnight. (Story).(Short Story)
January 1, 2002... When are you open, I ask the woman on the telephone. We have a party twice a day. Every day. Twelve thirty to four thirty and seven thirty to midnight. Oh. Every day? I thought it was Saturday nights only. No darling. Every day....

All those peaceful, happy natives.(The Culture Cult: Designer Tribalism and Other Essays by Roger Sandall)
January 1, 2002... The Culture Cult: Designer Tribalism and Other Essays, by Roger Sandall; Westview Press, 2000, $55. ROGER SANDALL was a professional film-maker before he became an academic anthropologist in the University of Sydney. His films of...

Next year in Jerusalem.(One Palestine, Complete: Jews and Arabs under the British Mandate by Tom Segev)
January 1, 2002... One Palestine, Complete: Jews and Arabs under the British Mandate, by Tom Segev, translated by Haim Watzaman; Little, Brown, 2000, $65. AT THE CLOSE of 1917 General Allenby captured Jerusalem from the weakened remnant of one of the longest...

Souls under the Bolsheviks.(Requiem for the East by Andrei Makine)
January 1, 2002... Requiem for the East, by Andrei Makine; Sceptre/Hodder & Stoughton, 2001, $49.95. THE UNDOUBTED JOY I--along with many others--It felt at the fall of the Berlin Wall and the end of communist rule in Europe, was tempered by the knowledge...

Brightening his corner.(Look Back All the Green Valley by Fred Chappell)
January 1, 2002... Look Back All the Green Valley, by Fred Chappell; Picador, 2000, about $25. THIS IS THE final novel in a tetralogy that has taken about twenty years to complete. The first instalment, I Am One of You Forever, covered several years in the...

Crime Scene.(Poem)
January 1, 2002... He didn't look at the little girl, so dead in her bed, age ten. He zipped his coat and noticed the coroner examining the red- black stains on the corpse with the gash in its throat. He wandered down the hall to her mother's...

The old Territory. (Ryan).
January 1, 2002... CERTAIN ENGLISH WORDS, at certain stages of their lives, remind me of endangered children. They are abused, exploited, devalued and debased, with their integrity and dignity set at nought by those who have kidnapped them. Examples of these...