In-depth analysis of the day’s news, plus stories and gossip from Australian politics.
That glowing feeling
On the morning of 15 October 1927, a dim, autumn day, a group of men foregathered at the Rosedale cemetery…
The pain of being second-best
The boys at Radio 5, bless ’em, are now including the EU referendum as part of their sports trailers. As…
Tales of Mr Tod
Have you ever considered tying a fox’s penis to your head? Well no, nor have I, but if you suffer…
Un-Italian job
I have been waiting, like a heroine in fiction, for the specialist lasagne restaurant. London has long been heading this…
She’s the top
This book is the latest in Yale’s series of Jewish Lives — though in this case Jewish Loves might be…
Lives of gay abandon
Somewhere I have a couple of neat letters from the artist Richard Chopping, politely declining my requests to interview him…
Books & arts
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These foolish things
No reliable statistics exist — it’s not the sort of thing you can audit — but England is surely the…
The lost world
Every now and then, with great infrequency (alas), a film comes along that is like no other and completely knocks…
Boxing
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Doing bird
A decade ago, the French pianist and poly-math Pierre-Laurent Aimard announced that he was ‘very bored to live in a…
Sourced
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No laughing matter
Rossini is the meat-and-two-inappropriately-shaped-veg of summer opera; he’s the wag in the novelty bow tie, the two satyrs shagging enthusiastically…
Rolypoly
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Profit and loss
Bertolt Brecht took The Threepenny Opera from an 18th-century script by John Gay and relocated it to Victorian London. This…
Prophet
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Let’s talk about sex
At one time, Damien Hirst was fond of remarking that art should deal with the Gauguin questions. Namely, ‘Where do…
Doctor
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Polluted by podcasts
Just to prove my esteemed colleague wrong I’ve been out there in podcast space looking for a wireless moment that…
Jester
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Arrested development
Sometimes I wonder whether, of all the literary genres, graphic novels aren’t the most stupidly overrated. I can say this…
High life
Shelter Island is nestled in the Long Island Sound, ten minutes by ferry from Sag Harbor and a good 30…
Low life
Showered and shaved and wearing a stiff new Paul Smith candy-stripe shirt, I took an Uber to the party. I…
Real life
Would you like a Labour party manifesto with your breakfast?’ the tattooed, multi-pierced waitress might as well have asked as…
Long life
I’m back in England after travelling from Italy by railway, because I have been forbidden to fly in case the…
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