News

Exclusive: Denis Handlin acknowledges misconduct at Sony

Ruby Jones and Osman Faruqi Former Sony chief executive Denis Handlin has spoken for the first time since leaving the company, acknowledging that he had dealt with ‘issues of sexual misconduct’ across all levels of the business.

News

Exclusive: States unable to staff ventilator capacity

“National cabinet has been told the country could expand its intensive care beds by 944 places – but at best it has the staff to operate 346 of these.”

Rick Morton Analysis prepared for national cabinet shows that although states have built up surge capacity for ventilators during the pandemic, they do not have the medical staff to operate them.

News

News

Exclusive: Intelligence misjudged fall of Kabul by months

“The probability analyses presented a range of ‘what if’ scenarios, at least one of which was the fall of Kabul and the collapse of the Afghan government. None forecast the timing and nature of Kabul’s fall accurately. ”

Karen Middleton As sources describe the ‘chaos’ of Australia’s evacuation from Afghanistan, months of military intelligence failed to forecast the timing or nature of Kabul’s collapse.

News

Morrison’s hidden recession

Mike Seccombe Although not official, Australia is currently in a recession. The reasons for this are almost wholly due to the decision-making of the Morrison and Berejiklian governments.

News

Afghans in Australia: ‘I am human first of all’

Sarah Price In Sydney, a Hazara refugee wakes each morning and waits to hear from his mother in Kabul. He says he is drowning in fear.

News

Australia’s deteriorating role in global peace

Brian Toohey Faced with pandemics, global warming, species extinction and a possible war with China, there is understandable anxiety about the future. Perhaps the hardest question is whether it’s futile to push for new peace initiatives.

World

Ethiopia working on local rival to social media giants

Jonathan Pearlman

Mayor pledges to continue to fight for Afghan women from exile. An isolated Fijian island records two cases of Covid-19. China says it has suppressed latest Delta outbreak.

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News

Exclusive: Denis Handlin acknowledges misconduct at Sony

Ruby Jones and Osman Faruqi Former Sony chief executive Denis Handlin has spoken for the first time since leaving the company, acknowledging that he had dealt with ‘issues of sexual misconduct’ across all levels of the business.

Opinion

Opinion

Dhanya Mani
Remembering my lost friend Kate

“It was a Saturday when I found out Kate was gone. I was about to pick up the phone to call her, because I had not heard from her during the week … I knew something was wrong, but my mind tried to minimise the weight of any worry. Kate was and will always be the strongest woman I know.”

Opinion

Paul Bongiorno
Will Morrison push for a November election?

“The fictional Stone Age family of largely unremembered animated children’s film The Croods is the prime minister’s latest inspiration for a nation exhausted by lockdowns and living in fear of the Delta strain of Covid-19.”

Opinion

John Hewson
The politics of the greater good

“It’s taken a long time but the concept of the ‘greater good’ – the sense of a shared destiny, of shared interests, collective purpose, a common future – is finally returning to our politics. Largely this is the result of the need to build community support for lockdowns, various other restrictions on our lifestyle and for vaccinations in response to the Delta strain of Covid-19.”

Letters, Cartoon & Editorial

Cartoon

Read

Editorial
Moral stature

John Howard’s wife once complained to a cartoonist that he was drawing her husband too small. She insisted Howard was the same height as Bob Hawke. In the cartoons, he seemed much shorter: head and shoulders below him. The cartoonist paused and then explained that what he was depicting was moral stature.

Letters

Parlous state of Covid consensus

The article by Rick Morton (“Exclusive: National cabinet counts intensive care beds”, August 21-27) highlights the lack of information that is being collected by the Australian government …

Another policy failure

The extreme cruelty of the federal Coalition has long been apparent, in its scandalous refugee policies, in robo-debt, in its suppression of wages, its tax cuts for the well-off, its fossil fuels advocacy …

Read More

Culture

The Influence

Tina Havelock Stevens

Maddee Clark Tina Havelock Stevens says Gimme Shelter, the classic 1970 documentary about The Rolling Stones, shows her something different every time she watches it.

Fiction

Brisbane

“As befitted such a place, we coexisted there with other creatures: translucent geckos in the corners of the rooms; fat grasshoppers on the deck; fruit bats in the dusk fig tree; brush turkeys skidding across the road; and George the white cat, slinking in with something not-quite-dead between her dainty teeth. If we left the louvres open, a big brushtail possum climbed in to share our food, crouching like a squat grey Buddha in the fruit bowl, a banana clutched between his sharp front claws, a contemptuous expression on his toothy face. He would only clamber out when we shook the furry end of the broom at him.”

Emily Bitto

Books

Nicolas Rothwell
Red Heaven

Antoni Jach
Travelling Companions

Zarah Butcher-McGunnigle
Nostalgia Has Ruined My Life

Life

Food

Gozleme

Annie Smithers

Health

Interpreting the pandemic

Fiona Murphy In the course of the pandemic, sign language has adapted and changed to deal with the demands of televised press conferences. Importantly, the interpreters are increasingly Deaf themselves.

Life

Sydney food charity builds lockdown ‘war map’

Mark Mordue

In a community centre in Marrickville, in Sydney’s inner west, thousands of food hampers are being packed for people impoverished by the Covid-19 lockdown. Each day come more calls for help, and the response grows more elaborate.

Sport

Paralympian Liesl Tesch’s path to politics

Martin McKenzie-Murray For decorated Paralympian Liesl Tesch, a move to NSW parliament’s lower house opened up a new world of dirty tactics and absorbing games.

Puzzles

The Cryptic

Crossword No. 364

The Quiz

1. The name of which type of coat derives from that of the Belgian town where the coat fabric originated?
2. Meghan Markle recently celebrated turning 40 by announcing 40x40, a new charitable campaign, in a humorous video with which Nine Perfect Strangers star?
3. Name the winner of the 2021 Miles Franklin Literary Award.
4. How many stripes are on the flag of Thailand? (Bonus points for naming the colours of the flag.)
5. Who was the only Australian prime minister from Western Australia?
6. Georg Cantor is renowned in which academic field?
7. What plant is the source of both linen and linseed oil?
8. With 17 gold medals, in which position did Australia finish on the gold medal table of the Tokyo 2020 Olympics?
9. In Greek mythology, who is the goddess of sexual love and beauty?
10. Who is the host of the current season of Australian Survivor ?

Click through for answers.

Quotes

Policy

“Now it’s like that movie ... The Croods

Scott MorrisonThe prime minister explains that his plan to open up the country is based on the plot of a children’s film made in 2013. Similarly, his welfare policies are based on watching Annie a few times with the kids.

Entertainment

“The Wiggles are free to do what they like. It was nice while it lasted. But you go woke, you go broke.”

Matt CanavanThe former Resources minister expresses his concern about diversity in the new Wiggles line-up. Wait until he hears one of the Teletubbies was gay.

Media

“It even started with historic footage of Rupert Murdoch with his two sons … setting up the whole dynasty schtick complete with dramatic music.”

Chris Kenny

The News Corp columnist writes the first of dozens of articles complaining about Four Corners’ series on Fox News. Given Kenny had previously sued the ABC to prove he hadn’t had sex with a dog, you could say Sarah Ferguson was kind to his boss.

Disease

“Covid ‘vaccines’ are not fully tested ... I will not take Covid injections.”

Malcolm RobertsThe One Nation senator continues to raise his objections to Covid-19 vaccinations. For a man with a head that shape you would think he’d be more excited by the scientific breakthroughs that followed phrenology.

Food

“I am deeply concerned about the promotion of plant-based proteins over genuine meat.”

David LittleproudThe minister for Agriculture writes to the CSIRO after a “plant-based burger patty” was included in education material on nutrition. Presumably this was top of his list of priorities after working out how to clip on his tie.

Investment

“It will simply align the treatment of the Future Fund under the FOI Act with that of other entities that deal regularly with commercial information.”

Simon BirminghamThe Finance minister defends legislation to protect the Future Fund from having to disclose its investments. The future is more exciting that way.