GERARD HENDERSON’S MEDIA WATCH DOG ISSUE – NO. 537 16 April 2021 * * * * Stop Press – A leftist Melbourne stack on Q&A – with Norman Swan cast as the hero; Malcolm Turnbull to return to Q&A with or without leather jacket Can You Bear It? – Mike Carlton misplaces the start of [...]
In the wake of Easter, it was “sneering secularist Tuesday” at Crikey this week. The newsletter (editor-in-chief Peter Fray) ran an article by Adelaide-based journalist Tory Shepherd titled “Saints preserve us: what Pell’s Easter homily gets wrong about the holiday”. The reference was to Cardinal George Pell’s article “Reflection and belief in the quiet Eternal [...]
GERARD HENDERSON’S MEDIA WATCH DOG ISSUE – NO. 536 9 April 2021 * * * * · Stop Press – Record low ratings for Q&A and a proposal for the ABC; 7:30’s Justin Stevens now plugging failure · Can You Bear It? – Fitz on “le tout Sydney” gathering to see Hamilton; Jon Faine (fresh off 25 years at the same prestigious job) [...]
Last Sunday, ABC TV Insiders presenter David Speers told viewers that neither Scott Morrison nor the Minister for Foreign Affairs and Women Marise Payne had agreed to be interviewed for the program. Victorian Liberal Party backbenchers Katie Allen (MP for Higgins) and senator Sarah Henderson stepped up to the task and performed very well. But [...]
NOT ALWAYS DIPLOMATIC – AN AUSTRALIAN WOMAN’S JOURNEY THROUGH INTERNATIONAL AFFAIRS By Sue Boyd UWA Publishing 2020 ISBN: 978-1-76080-149-6 RRP: $29.99 (PB) Reviewed By Anne Henderson Sue Boyd’s memoir begins with a meeting she had with Prime Minister Gough Whitlam after returning from her first overseas posting as an Australian diplomat in Portugal where the [...]
Witness: An Investigation into the brutal cost of seeking justice by Louise Milligan Hachette Australia 2020 ISBN: 9780733644634 RRP $34.99 Reviewed by Gerard Henderson The front cover of Witness describes the author as a “Walkley award-winning journalist and bestselling author of Cardinal’”. The full title of ABC TV journalist Louise Milligan’s first book is Cardinal: [...]
CODE NAME MADELEINE – A SUFI SPY IN NAZI OCCUPIED PARIS By Arthur J Magida W W Norton & Company 2020 ISBN-10: 0393867552; ISBN-13: 978-0393867558; RRP: $44.95 (HB) By Anne Henderson Winston Churchill called the Special Operations Executive (SOE), which he created under his minister for economic warfare Hugh Dalton in July 1940, the “Ministry [...]
SIR ROBERT ASKIN By Paul Loughnan Connor Court Publishing ISBN: 9781922449368 RRP: $19.95 Reviewed by Milton Cockburn No biography of Bob Askin has ever been published or, as far as I am aware, attempted. This is odd given that Askin is certainly the most controversial NSW premier since Jack Lang. For an account [...]
GREAT SOCIETY – A NEW HISTORY By Amity Shlaes HarperCollins 2019 ISBN 0061706426 ISBN-13 9780061706424 RRP: $44.95 (HB) By Anne Henderson Stand-up US comedian Charles Fleischer is credited as the originator of the now well-worn line: “If you remember the ’60s, you really weren’t there.” Well, historians and archivists are another matter. Many were there and kept [...]
Former Labor prime minister Paul Keating is reported to have declared that if you want a friend in politics get a dog. There are few real friendships in politics since nearly everyone is competing to become prime minister or opposition leader or hold cabinet or shadow cabinet positions. Friendship is one thing. Loyalty is another. [...]
