Hairspray the Musical: Cultural politics of the 60s, now, and race
What interests me in this post is the cultural politics of Hairspray. One of its marketing themes is 60s nostalgia. That nostalgia is by necessity a collective re-imagining of what the 60s ‘meant’, whether or not we were around to form our own judgements.
NSW election: What is the way forward for progressive parties?
Some quick observations on the New South Wales election result: The really useful guide to what occurred is The Poll Bludger’s breakdown of votes and swings by region. 1. Labor Barry O’Farrell was right to pitch part of his fairly [...]
Are the Humanities dying? II
I closed my last post on the current state of the Humanities with this observation: Left undebated, or perhaps just lightly sketched, is the question of whether humanistic scholarship has been its own worst enemy. In adding some of my [...]
“Great” cities and European irrelevance
From a political perspective, the great success of the monarchists in the republic referendum of the nineties was transforming the issue into one of giving the “politicians” a good kicking. Canny campaigning, but it was made possible by the lousy [...]
Victorian government’s climate change package
It will take a while to go through Victorian Government’s climate change white paper, so I won’t try to pronounce judgement the quality of the individual actions proposed. At first glance, shutting down part of Hazelwood is a good start. [...]
Reality check: Is Sydney actually “full”?
Ever since the Penrith by-election, we’ve been hearing endlessly about Western Sydney as the epicentre of the Australian political nation. The population “debate” proclaims that we need to “pause” as outer suburban areas groan under population pressure and failing infrastructure. [...]
Bike paths for the beancounters
Sydney City Council, along with other inner-suburban Sydney councils, wants to spend 180 million dollars on a bike path network, and they’re seeking federal and state money to do it. The federal government, commendably, wants the costs and benefits of [...]
All coppers are…
Be careful what word you use to complete the title if you live in New South Wales, because the State’s Police Commissioner wants the Director of Public Prosecution to re-open an offensive language case against a university student which was [...]
A great win, but still a lousy call
I wonder how many other people took themselves away from work early to watch the amazing conclusion to the second Test. It was a highly improbable comeback by the Australians; only six times in the history of Test cricket have [...]
Kristina Keneally NSW Premier
OK, apparently New South Wales has a new premier, after Planning Minister Kristina Keneally rolled Nathan Rees 47-21 in a ballot held tonight. Anybody want to take bets on Keneally lasting until the state election?
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