You and Al Gore - David Ritter

The New Critic's inaugural person of the year is the former Vice President of the US, Al Gore, for his film An Inconvenient Truth, which has been so deeply influential in this country in shifting public and political consciousness on global warming. On 17 November 2006, Gore spoke in Perth to a sold out audience at the Concert Hall and later to a capacity dinner at the Convention Centre...

No-one Could Creep up on Uncle Billy - Gillian Cowlishaw

Let us begin with an early frontier as narrated by Aboriginal people, first the Rembarrnga of Bulman on the southern border of Arnhem Land, where I first conducted ethnographic field-work in 1975. A white cattle-man called Billy Farrar arrived at Bulman about 60 years before I did. His place in local memory, or history, is a challenge to the warriors on both sides of the history wars...

The Fashion of Our Sustainable Future - Jo Pickup

How our new and 'informed' consumer values may be further contributing to the cause of our environmental problems and how the Fashion industry may hold the key to understanding this phenomenon...

Integration in a Diverse Plural Society - Laksiri Jayasuriya

According to the Prime Minister's advice to some members of the Islamic community in Australia, "fully integrating means accepting Australian values". "Full integration" was also defined primarily in terms of learning the English language and accepting the equality of men and women...

An Inconvenient Truth in Western Australia - Michael Bennett

Economically, it is a golden time in the West. Our growth rivals China's. Unemployment is at an all time low. Money is flowing into the Treasury's coffers, thanks to stamp duty revenue from a booming property market and mining royalties. The same activities that are bringing us prosperity are also helping to fuel what is now widely acknowledged to be one of the greatest global challenges of the 21st century...

The Past is a Magic Pudding Quarterly Essay (Review) - Louise McLeod

In The Screwtape Letters, a senior devil in the lowerarchy of Hell advises his nephew Wormwood, a junior devil, about the best ways to damn the soul of his assigned human. Screwtape instructs Wormwood that amongst Hell's most effective arsenal is the "Historical Point of View", which has been successfully inculcated into humanity to prevent them from acquiring wisdom...

Good vs Evil: The Surprising Truths Behind the Detention of David Hicks - Heather Millar

A presentation by Major Michael Mori on the 9th of November in Perth, organised by The Australian Lawyers' Alliance, addressed the issue of David Hicks' continued detention. The presentation confirmed what most people in the audience probably already knew. The United States is shadowboxing...

On The Book Thief by Markus Zusak - PIAF's One-Book 2007

Every year the UWA Perth International Arts Festival runs a 'One Book' project; inviting people throughout WA to celebrate the written word by reading, sharing and discussing one book. In 2007 the One Book is Marcus Zusak's novel The Book Thief, a book which explores the overarching theme of the festival, 'The Human Family'...