Spectrum
Opinion
WordPlay
Is it ‘ow-kus’ or ‘or-kus’? Deep diving to awkward depths in the AUKUS alliance
The AUKUS alliance is just plain awks when you have to say it. Do I correct the expert in diplomacy, I wondered mid-interview, or is he correcting me?
- by David Astle
Latest
Opinion
Life in Lockdown
Can a low mood lead to artistic greatness?
In a world of tedious lockdowns, it’s worth remembering that fabulous feats of heightened creativity have emerged from the psychological doldrums.
- by John McDonald
Opinion
Port Arthur massacre
Staring down evil and saying the unsayable: why you should see Nitram
Don’t fear Nitram. Watch it, says the award-winning author who watched with his friend Brian, a policeman helicoptered into Port Arthur during the massacre.
- by Richard Flanagan
★★★
Review
Torn again: Natalie Imbruglia’s new album proves she’s still in the game
After battling a self-confessed period of creative inertia, the ARIA Award winner has come out the other side with an album largely recorded in lockdown.
- by Martin Boulton, John Shand and Barnaby Smith
The new campus novel taking on toxic behaviour, drinking games and sex
Diana Reid’s Love & Virtue mines the messy relationship between gender, privilege and power.
- by Neha Kale
Nanna, lend me the Janome: the time-honoured art of sewing is back
Younger Australians, it seems, have noted that many of their elders allowed themselves to be deskilled. Well, no longer.
- by Richard Glover
Puzzler, piecemaker, jigseer: what do you call a jigsaw puzzle fanatic?
If home-baked sourdough is not the lockdown totem, then jigsaws run close, a logo above the ribboned slogan: “You’re on mute.”
- by David Astle
Former fire chief Greg Mullins faces the firestorm again
Fire fighting and standing up to authorities runs in the family for former NSW fire chief, now author Greg Mullins.
- by Heath Gilmore
★★★
Review
TV hit returns with bold mix of hot-button issues and high-end soap
Apple’s flagship drama Morning Wars has a budget of $15 million per episode and looks as sleek as you’d expect.
- by Kylie Northover
Opinion
Review
What’s really behind the internet’s ‘ugly portraits’ craze?
Ugly people were not made glamorous for the sake of vanity or posterity, while a religious edict led to many images in which Jesus looks like Alfred Hitchcock.
- by John McDonald
Vera’s becoming more like me, pet. I look out for clothes for her
Actor Brenda Blethyn, filming her 11th series as the old-mac-and-wellies-wearing detective, says there are increasing similarities between the two of them.
- by Ginny Dougary