After numerous knock backs by other record labels, in the autumn of 1962, The Beatles manager Brian Epstein persuaded George Martin, the head of a small EMI imprint Parlophone, to give them a listen. They were rough but had charm. Martin took a risk and signed them. They returned to Abbey Road in September to…
Advocates of identity politics in Australia want to control film, publishing houses and literary competitions, and force them to conform to politically correct precepts. I studied Marxist philosophy at Flinders University in the late 1970s. It’s unusual that any writing of mine would appear in Quadrant, as my writings have been trenchant attacks on the…
In the 1950s, Australian patrol officers in the Eastern Highlands of Papua New Guinea, stumbled across a strange disease. It only affected the Fore tribe. The victims shivered in the heat and grew cross-eyed. They lost balance, couldn’t swallow and made a laughing sound, like an involuntary titter. The tribal leaders blamed it on sorcery….
The American poet, Charles Bukowski, wrote that the days run away like wild horses over the hills. I’m 60 and not given to morbid reflections on death. But as I wheeze and pant, climbing these hot hills on the Greek island of Samos, I realise I’m no wild horse or spring chicken. The philosopher, Epicurus,…
The world’s languages are dying at a rate of one a fortnight, but an Aboriginal tongue has been brought back to life. Much has been written about the need for ecological diversity to maintain a balanced ecosystem. Yet in the City of Churches an equally profound revolution is taking place that has linguists all over…
Incremental economic decline is like a frog sitting in cold water: if we turn the heat up slowly, it doesn’t notice until it’s boiling alive. Five years ago, I wrote an InDaily opinion piece called Adelaide’s decline and fall. I’d returned to Adelaide in 2008 after working in Melbourne and Canberra for 20 years. The city looked like…
Think of age prejudice like this. A stylishly dressed young woman tells the men and women over 45 years of age, to get up and move to the back of the bus. No reason is given. She’s a recruiter hired by an employer you desperately want to work for. She decides whether you work or…
Storm water roars down Brownhill Creek as we charge along the ridge, past the Goodwood orphanage where the witches live; across the slippery stobie pole bridge, crashing through the bamboo and fennel, an invincible gang of six-year-olds, armed with jars of Trapdoor spiders. That’s a childhood memory of mine. What’s your happiest childhood memory? I…
It took eight years after the Global Financial Crisis (GFC) for the western world to realise that neoliberalism had turned communities into strangers, pauperised the working class and created a corporate business class devoid of ethics. Since the early 1980s, neoliberalism has been the default economic paradigm of developed nations. Neoliberals believe in free and…
Muhammad Ali was born Cassius Marcellus Clay Jr on January 17, 1942 in Louisville, Kentucky. At the age of 12, a thief stole his bike. Clay told police officer, Joe Martin, who trained young boxers at the local gym, that he wanted to ‘whup’ the thief. “Well, you better learn how to fight,” Martin said….
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