Quadrant articles from May 2004

Quadrant archives from May 2004

Universities and the decline of the ideological gentleman's club.(Editorial)(Editorial)
May 1, 2004... AUSTRALIAN UNIVERSITIES seem to be becoming ungovernable. The premature departure from the University of NSW of its Vice-Chancellor, Rory Hume, is just the latest manifestation of this, remarkable only because it follows so closely on the...

Evidence and trust.(Letters)(Letter to the Editor)
May 1, 2004... SIR: Hayden Ramsay's view (April 2004) that "sometimes we are justified in trusting without evidence, or even in the teeth of the evidence" is one that has got a lot of girls into a lot of abusive relationships. Elsewhere, teenagers who think...

Freedom and constraint.(Letters)(Letter to the Editor)
May 1, 2004... SIR: In his latest foray, "Don't You Worry About That" (March 2004), E.D. Watt dismisses as mere rhetoric the well-known, and widely-accepted, liberal position that the state should show a degree of deference to people's highly personal choices...

Evidence and experience.(Letters)(Letter to the Editor)
May 1, 2004... SIR: Moran and his research assistant Silver (Letters, March 2004) appear not to have read my letter (January-February 2004) concerning incineration of mammalian organic material using bush timber. I clearly pointed out that the example of...

Predicting the weather.(Letters)(Letter to the Editor)
May 1, 2004... SIR: Paul Monk's valuable and admirable article "Meriwether and Strange Weather" (April 2004) has it nearly right, but not quite. Monk proposes that people try to maintain their beliefs, regardless of new evidence. This could not be right;...

The recuperating universities.(Universities)
May 1, 2004... DECENTLY, Australian universities have come in for plenty of criticism. During the course of my university career--much of it in Australia--this has taken three main forms. First, leftists in the past have criticised universities for being...

Finding My Father (The 1901 Census).(Poem)
May 1, 2004... The House I am trying to fit you at four months, your father, a draper's traveller on his awn account, your mother, your brother David who was twelve, also Samuel Silverman, a tailor, his wife, their three children and...

Language wars.(Language)
May 1, 2004... IN RECENT YEARS, all states and territories have recognised the phenomenon called "gender reassignment". This means that throughout Australia anyone who wants to switch from being male to female or from female to male can now do so legally and...

The catches of Whitewash.(History)
May 1, 2004... KEITH WINDSCHUTTLE sat on the fight, facing the inquisitorial gaze of a packed auditorium, under the interrogatory glare of stage lighting. Robert Manne sat on the left, cocooned in cool shadow. The date was August 27, 2003; the event was a...

The ward fabrication.
May 1, 2004... SHORTLY AFTER my arrival as Professor of History and Head of the School of History in the University of New South Wales late in 1965, the Vice-Chancellor, the recently knighted Sir Philip Baxter, rang me at work at 9 a.m. and called me to his...

Alistair Cooke: broadcaster, author, and the ultimate Anglo-American.(Obituary)(Obituary)
May 1, 2004... ALISTAIR COOKE'S timing has always been superb. His retirement on March 2, only four weeks before his death on March 30, gave him the opportunity to read what were, in effect, his obituaries. Cooke enjoyed a unique place in the...

The Hoaxist.(Poem)
May 1, 2004... The Hoaxist Whatever sanctifies itself draws me. Whether I come by bus or Net, rage and fun are strapped around my body. I don't kill civilians. I terrorize experts and the elites. I drink their bubbly, I...

The Barbie Graveyard.(Poem)
May 1, 2004... The Barbie Graveyard Schoolteachers, shop assistants, ballerinas, unhorsed equestriennes and office cleaners, a gypsy, a mermaid, an African queen, brides in their wedding dresses, all have been flung down into what...

The Cruel Prayer.(Poem)
May 1, 2004... The Cruel Prayer "What's that dear? Can't hear you. Get me my coat. No. I'm going out. Yes. That's right. That's right. Yes. No. I'm going out today. Going out. What's that dear? Can't hear you. No, he hasn't come...

Tony Abbott and the abortion taboo.(Bioethics)
May 1, 2004... ON MARCH 16, Tony Abbott addressed the Adelaide University Democratic Club on the subject of "The Ethical Responsibilities of a Christian Politician". It's worth stressing the title, because from the reporting of the event it's likely most...

Home ownership--a dream worth fighting for.(Society)
May 1, 2004... WHEN JOHN D ROCKEFELLER died in 1937 he was reputedly the richest man in the world. At his funeral were a huge number of people--family, friends, employees from all his companies and a large contingent from the press. Seeing Rockefeller's chief...

Three Haiku.(Poem)
May 1, 2004... near closing-- the clerk removes expensive watches from the window feet first-- more water under the ocean Clouds halfway across this pond-- the couple looking over the edge into their faces

To get us thinking.(Art)
May 1, 2004... "IN THE LATE 1960s," I read, "European and American artists began to question the very basis of art making." Did they, one might wonder, escape the dilemma by finding employment as, say, carpenters or motor mechanics? Of course not. They...

After a Stretch.(Poem)
May 1, 2004... After a stretch For the first time in two years, waking at home. Rising, and entering the bathroom, He knows that air: the quietly feminine Smell of pot pourri, the French Still Life with Fruit. The wooden stool,...

An interview with John Clark.(Devine)(Interview)
May 1, 2004... JOHN CLARK is about to retire after thirty-five years as director of the National Institute of Dramatic Arts (NIDA). When he departs it will be from a campus neighbouring, though not part of, the University of New South Wales, Sydney. When...

The book of Mormon and the future of Mormonism.(Religion)
May 1, 2004... IN APRIL 1830 the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints was formally organised, with six members. (1) The scriptural foundation of the church was the Book of Mormon, which had just been published. Mormon Prophet-Founder Joseph Smith, who...

Six Haiku.(Poem)
May 1, 2004... autumn wind-- the bottle falls & rolls what little is left stays inside people who had fun gone-- the beach sticks out further at night Morning walk-- nothing for the stone fence to stop ...

Vale Bruce Beaver (1928-2004).(Literature)(Obituary)
May 1, 2004... BRUCE BEAVER, whose funeral took place at the Northern Suburbs Crematorium on February 24, was not only one of Australia's most valued contemporary poets but one of its most inspirational. In the heady days of the "poetry wars",...

The Bathwater Chorus.(Poem)
May 1, 2004... The Bathwater Chorus I know a rule that any fool Should treat as more than maybe. When you throw out the bathwater You don't throw out the baby. So listen up, my buttercup, Pin back those hairy...

Two Out of Ten.(Poem)
May 1, 2004... Two out of Ten When they took away the school house wisteria straddling the verandah fell, its back broken showering blue petals and bees into hydrangeas acidic with tea leaves teachers' wives had thrown there ...

The impulsive somnambulists.(Politics)
May 1, 2004... IN A RECENT Weekend Australian, Paul Kelly pointed out that Labor under Mark Latham is moving into new territory. Opposed to a war in which we, as a nation, are engaged; proposing the unilateral termination of commitments freely entered into as...

Principle--first refuge of the loser.
May 1, 2004... LIKE MANY PLACES that have a road along their waterfront, the Melbourne suburb of II Williamstown has had problems with hoon IL....d drivers along The Esplanade. Last year, with the approach of summer, in an attempt to give the precinct back to...

The World's First Inflatable Church.(Poem)
May 1, 2004... The World's First Inflatable Church You're camping out under the stars And there's nothing but you and the sod-- No street names, no shops and no cars, It's a place to feel closer to God. For religion's more precious...

The Magic Flute.(Poem)
May 1, 2004... The Magic Flute To begin with we stare into the huge nothingness exposed by boards, flies, wings, wires. Not even a feather floating in a shaft of light. Grey figures appear and sit cross-legged as if at a loose...

Alarm.(Poem)
May 1, 2004... Alarm i Premonitions of my presence unsettle the heron's poise. ii This way, that way-the anxious white face atop the heron's neck. iii Gawking at me, the white-faced heron...

Drama.(Poem)
May 1, 2004... DRAMA Uncle Vanya took me to see a play bravo! bravo! bravo! he watched me grow hysterical-- I adored the long red curtain.

Gates and gatekeepers.(First Person)
May 1, 2004... When open, gates allow people to come and go allowing free circulation; they express welcome and the offering of an opportunity. When shut, they prevent people from passing; they protect or they are a sign of refusal. Thus, they also suggest...

Sharp, Sudden, Clean.(Poem)
May 1, 2004... Sharp, Sudden, Clean 1. Sunday afternoon like a head muzzy with wine until in the north-west from where no thunder comes a solid pounding --someone giving the toes a touch-up Not unusual. ...

I See.(Poem)
May 1, 2004... I See A sharp, neat rhomboid The carpet the sun's thrown there. He stands on it And stares into the black, Tuning into two voices From further back Like listening to a radio For cricket scores. A...

Fragments of truth.(Film)(Movie Review)
May 1, 2004... IS IT A CRIME not to study history? Yes, if you happen to be President of the United States, or Secretary of Defense. That is the clear implication of Errol Morris's new documentary on Robert S. McNamara, The Fog of War. Morris is best known...

The Short Fat Ballad of Short Fat Henry.(Poem)
May 1, 2004... The Short Fat Ballad Of Short Fat Henry Henry Kissinger liked the ladies. The ladies were hot for Henry. Something to do with power and money and something to do with sex. Henry was built like a Hereford bull with a voice like...

Cathedral of the imagination: Mel Gibson's The Passion of the Christ.(Critical Essay)
May 1, 2004... WHATEVER ONE might think about the doctrinal or ritual changes in the Catholic Church since Vatican II, one thing is certain: the changes have not been inspiring for artists of any kind. It seemed that the great religious works of the past were...

The Pack.(Poem)
May 1, 2004... THE PACK A ring-tailed possum, disease-riddled and dazed in the light, had fallen from a tree onto the lawn, where it crouched in the middle of the day, looking, or so it seemed to me, not unlike a certain history...

Ariah Park.(Story)(Short Story)
May 1, 2004... "Hello, Tracy, great to see you again! Come on in out of that rain!" Ushering Tracy into the hallway, Shayne kissed her old friend on the cheek. Tracy wondered if she saw on her old friend's face a slight wariness, perhaps a faint...

Shopping with the wow niece.(Story)(Short Story)
May 1, 2004... The day began as a Mexican standoff between two stray cats, a turf war of the feline homeless that erupted in the street just as I was picking up the morning paper. I always figured you had to be tough to make it on the street as a cat, but...

Mene, Mene.(Poem)
May 1, 2004... Mene, Mene The bomber wrote its message above Baghdad and from its shadow something dark slipped to explode in a cluster of clay tablets, figurines, seals, pottery, tools. The target, a secret arms factory, was...

Homage to Satie (1886-1925).(Poem)
May 1, 2004... Homage To Satie (1886-1925) Lone wolf An eccentric The recluse who never allowed another in his dwelling After his death it was reported he collected umbrellas dozens were found in his Parisian apartment ...

Sex, lies and revolutions; the intellectual in love and politics.(Principles of Politics Applicable to All Governments)(Book Review)
May 1, 2004... Principles of Politics Applicable to All Governments, by Benjamin Constant, translated by Dennis O'Keeffe; Liberty Fund, 2004, $27. ENDEARING is not the first word that springs to mind to describe the French writer Benjamin Constant...

More than warts and all.(Portraits on Yellow Paper)(Book Review)
May 1, 2004... Portraits on Yellow Paper, by Roddy Meagher and Simon Fieldhouse; Central Queensland University Press/Outback Books, 2004, $25.95 (softcover), $49.95 (hardcover). RARELY, IF EVER, has the departure from the bench of an Australian judge...

Reclaiming Hill End.(Book Review)
May 1, 2004... Hill End: An Historic Australian Goldfields Landscape, by Alan Mayne; Melbourne University Press, 2003, $34.95. THE 1940S AND 1950S saw a renewed interest in some of the founding myths of Australian culture. The early novels of Patrick...

The Battle for the Names.(Lorrimer's Spider)(Book Review)
May 1, 2004... Lorrimer's Spider, by Mark Uhlmann; Ginninderra Press, 2003, $10. THE SOCIOLOGIST Zygmunt Bauman recently described the dynamic of these times as that of the contest between "the pain-inflicting forces and "the desperate struggle to...

Roads to adventure.(Ryan)(Short Story)
May 1, 2004... THOSE ADVERTISEMENTS in the weekend newspapers for "adventure holidays" seem to grow in number; they appear also to offer a widening range of--shall we call them energetic?--pursuits to which a couple of weeks can be put. These include...