Society & Culture
Ghouls shower Bingle with scorn
MIRANDA DEVINE Three weeks ago, Sydney's latest whipping girl, Lara Bingle, updated her busy Twitter account with a prophetic message to the 10,000 people signed on to receive her tweets. ''I just wonder just how many of my followers are actually haters!'' she wrote on February 21.
How the sloppy denim brigades have come to menace the parades
LISA PRYOR Finally the city's two big parades have something in common: the fight against absorption into the sloppy denim mainstream. After the Mardi Gras, Andrew Creagh, editor of the gay men's magazine DNA, blogged about the dreariness of the parade this year.
The real winner on Oscar night: television
DAVID DALE The Oscars exist for one purpose: to boost audiences - at the cinema, on TV and for DVDs. They achieve that goal pretty effectively in America, but what happens 12,000 kilometres away from the Kodak Theatre in Los Angeles? Are Australians moved by the Hollywood hype?
All's fare in landscaping and war
CHRIS HENNING Scene: The desert, Uruzgan province, Afghanistan. In the distance snowcapped mountains rise to the pale sky, but here the flat, rocky landscape is dry. A sandstorm is approaching. An Australian patrol enters a settlement with low adobe buildings standing either side of the road, dun coloured like the desert itself. Sullen Pashtun tribespeople squat in the dust against the walls of the village, staring impassively at the approaching line of three Bushmaster patrol vehicles. In the rear section of the first truck, a mobile phone rings. Captain Phipps answers.
Nimby-led squeeze on social housing
MICHAEL LENNON The housing market is booming. People with money, or the ability to borrow money, have pushed prices up in a dramatic turnaround from the slump during the global financial crisis.
It's what I know now ... and wish I'd known then
RICHARD GLOVER He won't read them. Not yet anyway. But here are my best bits of advice for my son on the occasion of his 18th birthday. It's what I know now ... and wish I'd known then.
Australias disability laws need critical review
NICHOLAS PATRICK 12:49pm People with disabilities in Australia live on a lower socio-economic rung than most. People with a disability have poorer educational qualifications, have a higher rate of unemployment, earn lower wages on average, have a reduced life expectancy of up to 20 years, are three-times more likely to be a victim of violent crime and, are far more likely to be the victim of a sexual assault than the rest of the population.
Cricket world takes gender equity back a century or two
KATE SEEAR The nostalgia for a time when women ''knew their place'' is truly frightening.
Son of a gun: Uncle Sam turns nasty
HECKLER I harboured an irrational disapproval towards most things American during the ''Dubya'' presidency.
Too old to rock, too young not to
MYF WARHURST I am officially getting old. I can't say I'm happy about it, but it is starting to happen and I suppose I have to embrace it. My predicament became glaringly obvious last weekend. The Golden Plains festival was on last weekend. It is held at the Meredith Music Festival site; a natural amphitheatre, perfect for watching what was a pretty incredible line-up of bands.
Government launches First Tent Owners Scheme due to crippling house prices
CHARLES PURCELL Every day we read headlines like "The transport system is stuffed", "Sydney hospitals filled with wombat poo", "Police give biker gangs free hugs and lollipops". At times like these it's clear that there is only one way to fix Sydney — to appoint a benign dictator. Apppointed for the standard Roman period of six months – mercifully shorter than the four years it takes to get rid of an unpopular political party – he would have the power to finally address the state's many problems with an iron fist.
A salute to brave soldiers in a nerve-racking theatre of war
MIRANDA DEVINE The director of The Hurt Locker, Kathryn Bigelow, delivered the best moments of one of the best Academy Awards this week with her double Oscar win.
Stop it or I will take the cereal toys
HECKLER Recently there has been an encroachment of our working life into our private time, but I have observed a reverse trend: employees substituting the work kitchen for home, to consume their breakfasts**.
The dark side of football
KIM TOFFOLETTI Elite sportsmen have proven to be bad role models when it comes to respect for women.
Stereotypes do our peoples an injustice
SUSILO BAMBANG YUDHOYONO Overcoming simplistic national mindsets is essential to progress.
The social skill of meal-praising
DANNY KATZ It's time people learnt how to practise the fundamental social skill of meal-praising.
Sex myths and young misses
NINA FUNNELL When Neil Armstrong landed on the moon in 1969, he uttered a curious comment — "Good luck, Mr Gorsky". For decades the remark remained unexplained. Then on July 5, 1995, Armstrong announced that because Gorsky had died, he could finally offer an explanation.
Obsession with cricket can obscure common sense
BELLA COUNIHAN I just need to state the facts before I proceed. I don't watch cricket. I don't even really like the sport. But that doesn't mean you can't spot a load of crap when you see it. Unless you've been under a rock, you would know Australia's vice captain Michael Clarke has recently left a game in New Zealand to be with his partner Lara Bingle after a nude photo of her was spread around by some other sporty thick head. Peter Roebuck, a Fairfax sports writer, contends this is tantamount to treason and that Clarke should choose between his career and his woman before the very fabric of cricket itself disintegrates.
Bingle is not to blame
TESS LAWRENCE Hot on the heels of International Women's Day comes yet more vituperative bile about Lara Bingle. Now, we've got a phalanx of sportswriters putting the boot in.
Modern Hollywood has forgotten that masterpieces can also be popular
PETER CRAVEN The Oscars battle was between an art film and million-dollar bubblegum.
Would it kill you to look at me?
HECKLER Until recently, I was lucky enough to live and work in areas with ample street parking. This allowed my daily commute to be a relaxed drive - if I wasn't running late. With new employment, I found myself toiling in Sydney's CBD, where parking (or lack of it) is dire. This caused me to experiment with public transport.
Cheeky old things
TONI JORDAN I live in a genteel bayside suburb, and everywhere I see women who aren't quite right. There's one lady who must be at least 60. She has dual spherical pneumatically enhanced breasts that makes her look like she's wearing a deformed life preserver.
Nuclear does not have the answers we need
SCOTT LUDLAM Nuclear advocates frequently proclaim the need for a public debate about building nuclear power reactors in Australia. Well, last Thursday they got one, staged in front of 1200 people at the Melbourne Town Hall — and they were trounced.
Oscar and the dolphins: Coming to a Japanese cinema?
ANDREW DARBY Oscar buzz can generate bums on seats like little else. Which is why the best documentary win by The Cove will knit brows in Tokyo. This funny, and harrowing, American-made cameo of Japan's domestic dolphin hunt has screened in Australian cinemas and in 14 other countries.
The MTC's reliance on perennial favourites is starting to look tired
ROBIN USHER Melbourne's theatrical year started with a rush. Two shows were extended at the long-time home of fresh talent, La Mama, while at the Melbourne Theatre Company the commercial appeal of Geoffrey Rush and a cohort of stars saw an extended season of The Drowsy Chaperone sell out. But the good times have not lasted long.
A picture is worth: well, how much?
ANDREW FROST When the news came of a record amount paid for a work of art at auction, the reaction of TV news media was predictable.
Lessons of success from societies' oppressed minorities
TIM COLEBATCH Back when Indonesian presidents were dictators, not democrats, Soeharto banned four issues from public discussion: differences of ethnicity, religion, race and class. In Indonesia, ''race'' meant the Chinese.
Big is not beautiful in clothes shops
HECKLER The great irony of fat girl clothes is that the bigger you are and the more flesh you need to cover, the less there is available. To describe the choices for anyone above a size 16 as diabolical is to put it mildly.
Australia still high on India's radar
RUPAKJYOTI BORAH Australia's Foreign Minister Stephen Smith has just returned from a three-day visit to India, where he reiterated the view that Australia has no tolerance for racist attacks.
Cutting to the quick
MICHAEL LEUNIG There is much dismay in the dawning realisation that many young men are carrying knives in their pockets when they go out carousing on a Saturday night. Increasingly, the daggers are drawn, blood is spilt and lives get ruined. The old Australian blessing, "have a good weekend", may well now include the warning "and be careful you don't get stabbed".
