Bring on the crowds
I was becoming short with my fellow species in the Before Times, weary of the aggressiveness. But I want to unlearn cautiousness.
Columnists
Our choice of Armageddons beckon, nuclear or climatic
It was Carl Sagan’s genius to compress the 13.8 billion years since the Big Bang into a notional single year. It’s an amazing idea.
The ties that bind us
Over 31 years, a generation of Australians endured two world wars, a pandemic and the Great Depression. What got them through it?
Flex those mussels
Some very fond memories connect me to mussels, and I love to eat them. Why don’t more Australians feel the same way?
Redundant, left out in the cold
It’s an awful hammer blow of a word. The very meaning – no longer needed, superfluous – implies uselessness.
Statues of limitations
From the Bamiyan Buddhas to Mount Rushmore and the effigies of Communist leaders: a brief history of sculptures.
Let’s face it, we’re stuffed
It’s a condition of modern life that is still gathering momentum: the steady accumulation of stuff. Let’s start with the garage…
Am I back in time?
What is time? Einstein insisted that ‘the distinction between past, present and future is only a stubbornly persistent illusion’.
I was blindslided: the day my life broke
This time in my life is something I have never written about. The humiliation, the mortification, the blindsiding. But I’m addressing it now.
Do you know how soy sauce is made?
Neither did I, but we all probably should. A new book on how our food is made must be compulsory reading in every home.
The handwriting’s on the wall
It has reigned supreme for centuries as proof of who we are. But the signature is being ruthlessly hunted into oblivion.
How to make the perfect lasagne
If any food has come to represent the Covid-19 era, it’s lasagne. I have 112 recipes for it on my shelves – but this one’s the best.
The Merc too smart for its own good
The Mercedes-Benz S-class has become a byword for innovation. But this is a step too far.
I don’t waste time on friends who exhaust me
Over the past year I’ve distilled my life in so many ways, flushed it clean — and friendships are one.
The man with two brains
I’ve been spending time in the fascinating company of the world’s most famous detective (sorry, Hercule), Mr Sherlock Holmes.
War by stealth
The nature of conflict has changed. There is still a market for war, but now it’s more likely to be carried out by stealth.
Flipping the witch
Historically, we have demonised the crone. Want her silenced, vanished. She is of no use. But at their most unvalued, these women have been freed.
Do you have the time?
I reckon Einstein was half-right: time is distorted not so much by gravity, but by the ageing process.
Meals really are meant to be shared
Plonking yourself down on a stool, ordering a drink and starting a conversation with the person next to you? What a way to dine.
The case for banning the birthday
Cancel all birthdays. Australia’s, the Queen’s, the Year’s and yours.
Original URL: https://www.theaustralian.com.au/weekend-australian-magazine/columnists/page/42