Quadrant back issues from May 2002:
Stem cells, cloning, and cannibalism. (Editorial).
May 01, 2002 ... WHILE IT IS NOW certain that the use of embryonic stem cells in Australian medical research will go ahead, and clearly the majority of the community endorses this decision, the issue is not as morally clear cut as most of the advocates of the experimentation like to think. There has been a ...
Refugees and migrants. (Letters).
May 01, 2002 ... SIR: Having followed the immigration debate for many years, I was dismayed by Andrew Kaldor's moral equation (March 2002) between the bribing of officials of repressive regimes and payments to people-smuggling syndicates for illegal entry into Australia. Refugees from political ...
Even blind Freddy ... (Letters).
May 01, 2002; ... SIR: "You'd have to be a bit of a dill" to appreciate my essay on Australian speech (January-February 2002), writes Suzanne Baker (Letters, March). This is the approved television method of dealing with language items--throw around a lot of "strewths" and "drongoes" in a jolly tone and ...
Democracy's failures. (Letters).
May 01, 2002 ... SIR: Ronald Conway's wide-ranging criticism (March 2002) of the shortcomings of democracy are not new and were described by de Tocqueville and many others. Few of the framers of the American Constitution were for a democratic government; rather the question was: How strong should the ...
Measuring performance. (Letters).
May 01, 2002; ... SIR: Chief Justice Spigelman (March 2002) is right--not all the things that count in an activity like the administration of justice can be counted. Organisational performance might need qualitative assessment rather than quantitative measurement. And it is also true that there are problems ...
The immeasurable humanities. (Universities).
May 01, 2002; ... ABOUT FIVE YEARS AGO the University of Adelaide circulated the university's new strategic plan with much fanfare and hype. Its mission statement boldly announced that by the year 2022 the university would be recognised as one of the top twenty-five universities in the world. ...
That Night.(Brief Article)
May 01, 2002; ... <Pre> THAT NIGHT The night when Genghis Khan met Cousin HughAnd Auntie Dilys blasted off for Mars,Down by the rail yard, back of B&Q,We stole away between the abandoned carsAnd found a place and sat for hours talking.That was the night we knew that we were ...
Phone Call.(Poem)
May 01, 2002; ... <Pre> PHONE CALL "Still fossiking in old anthologies,sifting through abandoned realms of gold",you ring to say hello and tell me howyou've found another group of the erased,"writers who stood alone, who speak for all." "To recover for our time their ...
Queen Elizabeth, the Queen Mother 1900-2002.(Obituary)
May 01, 2002; ... QUEEN ELIZABETH, the Queen Mother, was the longest-lived of all Britain's queens, perhaps the oldest royal since Methuselah, and the family's last surviving Victorian. The ingredients of her popularity and influence were an interesting mix: adding to her longevity and a personal magnetism, ...
A Pair of Scissors.(Poem)
May 01, 2002; ... <Pre> A PAIR OF SCISSORS I bought these scissors forty years ago,a student tourist on a trip to Spain;they cost about five shillings, not more,"Toledo steel, the best blades of their kind";they've kept their point, their incised arabesque. They've clipped ...
The Elephant in the Garden.(Poem)
May 01, 2002; ... <Pre> THE ELEPHANT IN THE GARDEN What they fail to seeis the elephant in the garden. As they straighten a drooping stakesupporting the broad beans,it rakes a prehensile minkover the peas. And ...
Three dinosaurs and a dragon. (Foreign Affairs).(Bill Clinton, Malcolm Fraser and Bob Hawke at the Australian Council for the Promotion of Peaceful Reunification in China)
May 01, 2002; ... FROM THURSDAY 21st to Saturday 23rd March this year, a conference was held in Sydney to promote the reunification of Taiwan with China. It was organised by a Chinese-government-sponsored body called the Australian Council for the Promotion of Peaceful Reunification in China (ACPPRC). The ...
On Balance.(Poem)
May 01, 2002; ... <Pre> ON BALANCE As the storm waned, she walkedalone in the garden,bleak in the bad weather.She stood a long minute staringat fallen stakesand at blackened stalks.She kicked over stones,and picking one up, she threw itat one remaining pane ...
Confessions of a bush treasurer. (Society).
May 01, 2002; ... CONTRARY TO OUR imagined reputation for hell-raising, we Aussies are natural bureaucrats. Put three of us together, and we have a president, a secretary and a treasurer in no time. The president is usually the most gregarious, and sees herself making speeches; the secretary thinks "writing ...
The dangers of harm minimisation.(Australia's National Drug Strategic Plan)
May 01, 2002; ... THE PRINCIPLE of "harm minimisation" has underpinned the national drag offensive since 1985. In the review document The National Drug Strategic Plan 1993-97, produced by the National Drug Strategy Committee, harm minimisation is described as follows: <Pre>Harm Minimisation is ...
Archaeologist.(Poem)
May 01, 2002; ... <Pre> ARCHEOLOGIST It is only laterwhen the dust settlesthat we come backand carefullyuncover the document seeing how the yearshave made defenceless all the thingswe thought we ...
Patroller of the stratosphere of ideas. (Philosophy & Ideas).(Karl Popper: The Formative Years, 1902-1945 )
May 01, 2002; ... KARL POPPER almost came to the University of Sydney in 1945. John Anderson invited him to join the staff in Philosophy but Popper delayed his decision in the hope of an offer from the London School of Economics. When that offer came he withdrew his application for Sydney and so Professor ...
Higher and closer. (Devine).(gay rights in Australia)
May 01, 2002; ... JIM FARMER, a leader with Martin Luther King of the black civil rights movement in the United States, once remarked of a dichotomy of attitude in his native land: "In the North they don't care how high you get so long as you don't get too close; in the South they don't care how close you ...
Klezmer.(Poem)
May 01, 2002; ... <Pre> KLEZMER Accordion and saxophonesing together arm in armthe outline of a river's curve, a fiddle from the floor of Europethat swung again as Broadway tunesalong the 1920s. Such music after eighty yearsstill has the chutzpah here to smile ...
Ten Questions.(Poem)
May 01, 2002; ... <Pre> TEN QUESTIONS 1.How is it that a man will traintwo years to fly into a wall? 2.How is it he can learn to sethis cross-hair sights for paradiseaiming at a tower? 3.How is it that in seconds nowhe'll stroll beside that brave ...
Comparisons.(Poem)
May 01, 2002; ... <Pre> COMPARISONS Six-year-olds at boarding schoolwill be a ready measure,children of the western gentrytoo far out to go--ormother done a bunk.Three times each yearthey'd be bussed homeand then come back in tears.At sixteen I had charge of ...
The tent: Cessnock show 1969. (First Person).(The Death of Juan Bravos)
May 01, 2002; ... I COULD HEAR THE CALLER throwing out challenges to "any mug brave enough to step into the ring with my fighters" and promising ten dollars if he could last three rounds. I could feel the drum they pounded to get your attention--"Boom, boom, boom"--long before I reached the tent, long ...
Poem.(Poem)
May 01, 2002; ... <Pre> POEM Try to describe these thingsthe figure told himseedlings turned toward sunlightbutterflies coming in swarmssooner or later soonyou'll lapse into silence. Those who tried beforeshe had his attentionfailed to produce ...
Thomas the private tank engine. (Economics).(Railtrack)(Brief Article)
May 01, 2002; ... A GREAT DEAL of ink has been spilled, not only in Britain but also in Australia, about the Blair government's decision late last year to "deprivatise" Railtrack, the private company that owned and operated Britain's track network following privatisation in the mid-1990s. No one ...
Thirty Four Years On.(Poem)
May 01, 2002; ... <Pre> THIRTY FOUR YEARS ON I watch fireworks two streets awayspring the night of its entrapment the way a magiciansprings a waterfall of coloured flowersfrom a black top-hat. Don't tell me nothing is as it was. Distance closes and expands. ...
The song of Peter Dawson. (Music).(Peter Dawson: The World's Most Popular Baritone)
May 01, 2002; ... THE AUSTRALIAN bass-baritone Peter Dawson (who was born in Adelaide in 1882 to Scottish immigrant parents and died in Sydney in 1961) had a remarkable recording career. It lasted from 1904, when he began his association with the Gramophone Company of London (later known as His Master's ...
Father and Sons.(Poem)
May 01, 2002; ... <Pre> FATHER AND SONS I He's been away for a week,so I telephone."Dad, your voice is too loud." II Two weeks with my sister-in-lawand her ordered parenting:my boys are like polished silver. III The cap still on the lens...
The mystery of the Namban Caves. (Australia).(location of caves being sought after entrances sealed in early 20th century)
May 01, 2002; ... THERE IS EVIDENCE that some of the most spectacular caves in the world are within a couple of hours' drive of Perth, lost and forgotten for more than ninety years. As well as containing natural formations of extraordinary beauty, they are reported to be rich in fossils and high-grade ...
Moments.(Poem)
May 01, 2002; ... <Pre> MOMENTS your buttered smiletoasts the morning I clingto the ...
The Irresistible.(Poem)
May 01, 2002; ... <Pre> THE IRRESISTIBLE Even on the strokeof sixty, Hiroshigecould ...
Fire.(Poem)
May 01, 2002; ... <Pre> FIRE It is the wrack of a forestBy a furtive handBut a swimming graceIs the sleight of ...
I am the Princess Living in London.(Poem)
May 01, 2002; ... <Pre> I AM THE PRINCESS LIVING IN LONDON She shook me awake, she couldn'tlet me sleep. The husband hoovering and whistlinglong thin arms folded across his chest. I vanish and I return.White hot. It feels likeMaralinga. I wrote it as ...
Fact and faction. (Film).
May 01, 2002; ... DID HALLE BERRY and Denzel Washington's joint Oscars as Best Actor and Best Actress at this year's Academy Awards signal the end of the covert racism that has so long disfigured American cinema? At present it's probably too early to tell. Certainly Ms Berry, although understandably ...
The Lord of the Rings: the film or the book?
May 01, 2002; ... FILM PURISTS tend to regard any book upon which a film is based as at best an irrelevance, insisting that a film be assessed on its own cinematic merits. Part of this attitude is indicative of an anxiety that film might still be regarded as a derivative medium, always in any comparison a ...
Apology for a Life.(Poem)
May 01, 2002; ... <Pre> APOLOGY FOR A LIFE I'm sorry I turned up unwelcome,No, my father's not thoughtful I know,And he wouldn't take no for an answer,There was no point in telling him so. So no doubt you were right not to tell him-Therewas no way that he'd understand,...
Fan mail.
May 01, 2002; ... 21st August Dear Katrina, I hope you are well. I just wanted to write a short note to let you know how thrilling it was to finally meet you. I'm sure you'll remember me. I'm the clumsy guy who spilled wine on your shoe at the opening of "Les Miserables" in Adelaide ....
From Two Camps of Freedom.(Demons and Democrats: 1950s Labor at the Crossroads, Night Train to Granada: From Sydney Bohemia to Franco's Spain--an Offbeat Memoir)
May 01, 2002; ... Demons and Democrats: 1950s Labor at the Crossroads, by Gavan Duffy; Freedom Publishing, 2002, $27.95. Night Train to Granada: From Sydney Bohemia to Franco's Spain--an Offbeat Memoir, by G.B. Harrison; Pluto Press, 2002, $27.95. AT THE HEIGHT of its mystique, ...
Some Types of Pleasure.
May 01, 2002; ... Quirky Qwerty: The Story of the Keyboard Your Fingertips, by Torbjorn Lundmark; University of NSW Press, 2001, $24.95. WE ARE ANXIOUS about text. Those of us who love it, and who believe in it, sense that there is a growing body of people who can't read or don't read, and we are ...
Woolf's Bane.(Who's Afraid of Leonard Woolf? A Case for the Sanity of Virginia Woolf)(Poem)
May 01, 2002; ... Who's Afraid of Leonard Woolf? A Case for the Sanity of Virginia Woolf, by Irene Coates; Soho Press, 2000, about $60. HIGHBROWS are awfully idealistic about humanity in the mass, but sometimes they have rather poor attitudes towards individual humans, even when they're married ...
The Once and Future Cromwell.(Roundhead Reputations: The English Civil Wars and the Passions of Posterity)(Poem)
May 01, 2002; ... Roundhead Reputations: The English Civil Wars and the Passions of Posterity, by Blair Worden; Penguin, 2002, $49.95. NEVER HAS parliament sunk so low." This British lament appears at first blush to be an eloquent cri de coeur emanating from a Blairite political landscape ...
Love and Money.(Straw Polls, Paper Money)(Poem)
May 01, 2002; ... Straw Polls, Paper Money, by David Love; Viking Penguin, 2001, $32. THE NAME of David Love will be familiar to many readers of Quadrant as economics writer for the Sydney Morning Herald and Australian Financial Review and producer/manager of Syntec Economic Services. He has now ...
Cheese Man.(Poem)
May 01, 2002; ... <Pre> CHEESE MAN As crusty as old cheesesoft camembert at heartwe slice you up...
Omphaloskeptically. (Ryan).(thoughts on the belly button)
May 01, 2002; ... BROWSING, as occasionally I do, through old volumes of Who's Who in Australia, I chanced to flick over page 668 of the issue of 1980. There was the biography of my old friend Cyril Pearl, author and editor, journalist, historian and wit. His recreations were listed as: exploring social ...