Sending good vibes to decision makers about the new ministry
Arts isn’t simply about entertainment, leisure and hobbies. At its best it affects our education policy, our health policy, our trade, our relations around the world, our industrial relations approach and is a driver of economic growth.
The Mandarin newsletter observed today: No state or territory is more metropolitan than the ACT, and in turn, it’s no surprise that the Liberal party now holds none of Canberra’s three lower-house or two senate seats.
It’s the first time in our history that one of the ‘major’ parties has no representation for an entire state or territory.
It seems the commonwealth public service had the last laugh.
As the results rolled in it was difficult to grasp: the Liberals of the 2020s, eerily like the Soviet communists of the 1980s, were suddenly an anachronism. Like the Politburo, they too had become entrapped within their fervent ideologies and grown so distant from reality that they lost the moral legitimacy to govern. Power was now haemorrhaging away in a death agony of lost seats. Morrison government’s fall marks end of Howard-era ascendancy
Meet the territorial females and matriarchs in Australia’s backyard The Conversation
NSW Premier's Literary Awards
They've announced the winners of this year's NSW Premier's Literary Awards; for a more convenient list of all the winners, see the Books + Publishing report.
The Christina Stead Prize for Fiction went to Dark as Last Night by Tony Birch -- see also the University of Queensland Press publicity page -- while Book of the Year (and the Multicultural NSW Award) went to Still Alive by Safdar Ahmed -- see also the Twelve Panels Press publicity page.
The Isolation of Social Media Harvard Medicine Magazine.
I went to buy lunch at the Readsboro VT general store. I saw Tim and his wife, the owners, Lindsey the baker, Justin the UPS driver (who said I have something on his truck), hippie dude, the Fedex driver with my trees and Joe, my lumber guy. All in 15 min of meet, greet and chat to pick up lunch….no smart phones involved
Orwell Prizes finalists
They've announced the finalists for this year's Orwell Prizes, which includes the Orwell Prize for Political Fiction, for which nine titles remain in the running (none of which I've seen).
There are also prizes for Political Writing and for Journalism, but of course the best-named of the lot is the Orwell Prize for Exposing Britain's Social Evils for which there are, surprisingly, only ten finalists .....
The winners will be announced 14 July.
New York Times Op-Ed: The Rich Are Not Who We Think They Are. And Happiness Is Not What We Think It Is, Either., by Seth Stephens-Davidowitz (Author, Don't Trust Your Gut: Using Data to Get What You Really Want in Life(2022))
