The Muddle-Headed Wombat Abroad

Matthew WhiteQuadrant, June 2024 pp 81-84

Is there any point in being a satirist in the postmodern world, especially in present-day liberal democracies? How can one create a sense of just ridicule of social and political conduct when the daily newsfeed promises to produce examples that are more absurd than the satirist’s imagination, leaving even his or her best work the loser in a sinister game of psychic one-upmanship?

Who can better as satire the Prime Minister refusing to comment on his telephonic argument with Father Frank Brennan about …

‘Waggy Bill’ (William Norman Kerrigan) funeral service,10.30am Tuesday 28 May, 2024 at  St Mary’s Church, Manly.

   As a  long-time member of Alcoholics Anonymous, I would like to pay tribute to ‘Waggy Bill’ (William Norman Kerrigan) who was a great help to me and to so many other alcoholics, especially to newcomers.

Although he took some time to stop drinking, Bill was one of a kind. 

As a  member who would have been 60 years sober on 28 May, the day of his funeral, he was a fine example of AA in action.

In …

Jailing of whistleblower a travesty

As Wilcox’s fine cartoon makes clear (Editorial cartoon, May 15),  the sentencing in the ACT Supreme Court of military whistleblower David McBride to 5 years and 8 months imprisonment is an utter travesty.

   It is not only a serious blow to justice and democracy,  but  such a punitive prison sentence sends a powerful message of deterrence to  any potential whistleblowers in the future.

   Surely it is well and truly time for federal Attorney General, Mark Dreyfus, to intervene? I  can testify that Mr McBride is a person of good …

Launch of The Ascent of Everest : The Outrageous Adventures of Grafton Everest by Ross Fitzgerald & Ian McFadyen.(Hybrid Publishers, Melbourne, $49.99)

The Olsen Gallery Woollahra, Sydney 6pm May 9, 2024.

Tuesday morning, when I was stumbling around Surry Hills, a middle-aged woman asked: “Are you Professor Fitzgerald, author of the Grafton books?”

After I responded “Yes”, she said , “You look much better on the television!”

When, as many people do, she then inquired, “Is Grafton you?”, I responded : “Of course not. He’s what I could become if I let myself go!”

But …