Flying to Mexico
13 March 2014 | Transport
The wonders of flying ‘Great Circle’ routes never cease to amaze me. You fly between Australia and southern Africa (Jo’burg say) or southern South America (Buenos Aires) and a glance at the map and you think it’s straight across the Indian Ocean or the southern South ...
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A Tale for the Time Being
16 January 2014 | Media
Ruth Ozeki’s mysterious novel was a short list contender for the 2013 Booker Prize. The other 2013 contender I’ve read was Colum McCann’s TransAtlantic, which only made the long list. I was particularly interested in that one because of its connections with the first ...
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Argo & the missing Paykans
12 December 2012 | Media
▲ Paykans and the Ayatollah in Isfahan
OK it’s a movie, not a book or an article – I went to see Argo the Ben Affleck film about getting six American diplomats out of Tehran during the 1980 Iran ‘hostage crisis’. Great movie although it’s been criticised for glor...
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Sites of Impact
1 February 2012 | Media
▲ Wolfe Creek Crater, Western Australia
Every now and then I pick up a ‘got to go there’ book, you read it or look at the pictures and that’s what you immediately think. Judith Schalansky’s Atlas of Remote Islands was a fine example, she claimed she hadn’t been t...
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Afghanistan comes to Mildura, Australia
26 January 2012 | Culture
▲ Afghan kite, Australian gum tree
Australia Day on 26 January is Australia’s equivalent of the USA's 4th of July or France’s Bastille Day (there isn’t a UK equivalent). I go some- where in the state of Victoria every year as part of the ‘Australia Day Ambassador...
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