Farewell notes
Today on a day of unsurpassable spring glory my wife and I visited the onetime home of her maternal great-grandparents,…
Churchill
When I first arrived in Australia quarter of a century ago one of the many kind invitations I received was…
Australian arts
Back in my now rather distant days of regular residence in Britain, I listened regularly to a radio program called…
Relief
Recently I touched on the subject of evaluating works of art prompted by what seemed to me rather an empty…
Australian arts
It’s all about the money honey. When I awoke to see the front cover of the Weekend Australian’s Review Section…
Cold war notes
In a truly excellent article in the Australian, Stephen Loosley reminded us – in my case rather appropriately – of…
Redemption notes
Decline of Australia
Chinese whispers
Following a good month and a half of often nocturnal motorised flights from active bushfires both at Echo Point in…
Evacuee notes
Along with thousands of others my wife and I are currently bushfire evacuees. In my case at least this is…
Climate notes
Amid the current crop of climatic horrors being visited on various inhabitants of Queensland and NSW I reflect, having just…
Kiwi notes
For much of my juvenile life in England, New Zealand existed only as a kind of mysterious dual oceanic blob…
Unneighbourly notes
More than 20 years of living in Australia has caused me to think that most Australians may now never really…
Cricket notes
It was the claim of one of my past editors – Jenny Naipaul – during my 11 years of writing…
Fair notes
In the land of the so-called ‘fair go’ it comes as no surprise that the words ‘fair’ and ‘fairer’ seemed…
Election notes
At the Anglican boarding school I attended in England as a scholarship boy from the age of ten it often…
Rhetorical Notes
In the somewhat distant days of my early manhood rhetorical language – that is language designed solely to persuade or…
Zeitgeist notes
The Inquirer section of the Weekend Australian March 16-17 kicked off with a veritable drum roll performed vigorously by editor-at-large…
Aesthetic notes
Earlier this week I attended a vast party thrown by Tim Storrier in Bowral to celebrate his and his twin…
Sports notes
James Allan’s notes last week about unenviable aspects of Australian tennis certainly struck a chord with me. When in Sydney,…
Australian notes
For me, at least, this year’s Australia Day was preceded somewhat significantly two days earlier by a vast four page…
Australian notes
How on earth can we ensure that 2019 is a more positive and constructive year than the last one? Australia…
Rainy day notes
As I write rain is absolutely bucketing down in the form of what is commonly known in the UK as…
Teaching notes
TEACHER’S VOW TO TURN KIDS OFF LIBS: so read the lesser front-page headline of the Australian on November 21. From…
Remembrance notes
Exactly a year ago I was on my way home starting the final stage of recovery from prolonged surgery. Indeed…
Learning notes
A week or so ago my wife thought she might be losing her mind when she heard the late Freddie…
