David Walsh

@dlwalsh.bsky.social

201 Followers 569 Following

Labor councillor for Canterbury-Bankstown

Rather than VS Naipaul's masterful A Bend In the River, rather even than William Golding's typically impressive Darkness Visible, the committee had plumped for Offshore by Penelope Fitzgerald. Hilary Spurling, one of those judges, noted that the decision had surprised them as much as everyone else: "We'd spent the entire afternoon at loggerheads, settling at the last minute by a single vote for William Golding's Darkness Visible, by which time the atmosphere had grown so heated that I said I'd sooner resign than have any part in a panel that picked a minor Golding over a major imaginative breakthrough by Naipaul. So we compromised by giving the prize to everybody's second choice."
The proposed reform would see Italy move to a fully proportional system which would award a bonus to the party or coalition with the largest share of the vote, even if they fall short of a majority.
An article titled "8 Classic Movies We Need a Remake Of"
Seeing two people approaching a pedestrian crossing, I slowed my car. They were still about five metres from the kerb but I stopped anyway. As they crossed in front of me, I waited for an acknowledgement – just a nod or a raised hand – but nope, nothing. They were men of late middle age. One was absorbed in talking, the other in listening. It’s a bugbear of mine when pedestrians do this, and I was in a bad mood and almost opened my window to offer some righteous words about manners. Then I noticed that the talker was Tony Abbott, and I realised how futile it would be to shout, because here was a man used to being shouted at by random members of the public. If he heard me at all, he would think I was only abusing him for his politics, not his lack of common courtesy.
Passage of text which begins: "After fifty years, the purpose of the war has faded and men could hardly remember its cause."
Facebook post by former Australian prime minister Tony Abbott. Highlighted text: "He [Orban] and I differed on Ukraine" Full text: "Viktor Orbán has been a very consequential PM - probably the most consequential Hungary has ever had. The economy has strengthened, the city of Budapest has been transformed, and Hungary’s family policies and determination to keep its culture have been studied around the world. He and I differed on Ukraine but I thought he was dead right to defy the EU, on illegal immigration especially. Why should a sovereign nation be bullied by Brussels into policies that would jeopardise its future as a distinct people? Under Orbán, Budapest became something of a haven for conservative intellectuals. This has been a significant point of soft power for Hungary and I don’t expect the new government will want that to change."
End of chapter 13: Louis could feel as confident in his generalship as he felt of God’s special favour. He also now knew that the succession was safe. His wife had recently provided the realm with an heir and already had another baby on the way. A crusade was certain to prosper, especially since Louis was willing to put all of his considerable resources into making it the best-planned crusade of all time. To prepare his kingdom morally and financially, he reformed the realm’s government, commissioning his favourite friars to stamp out corruption among his officers, and he raised enormous sums of money from the towns and the clergy.40 The king even built a new port on the Mediterranean at Aigues-Mortes for the sole purpose of assembling his crusading fleet. Louis and his project seemed invincible. What could possibly go wrong? Chapter 14 heading: Death on the Nile (Louis IX)
Philip’s lawyers offered various but unsatisfactory rationales over the twenty years that he fought to be free of Ingeborg. When their genealogical excuse proved fallacious, they floated the marriage’s non-consummation, and when that failed in the face of Ingeborg’s unwavering testimony to the contrary, they tried claiming that while penetration had occurred, ejaculation had not, for the king had been made temporarily impotent by witchcraft or sorcery. The Church ultimately rejected this explanation,
End of chapter 8: Unwed since the death of his first wife on the eve of the crusade, Philip sealed the alliance by marrying Cnut’s sister. In so doing, however, he made a serious mistake, perhaps the most serious mistake of his reign, one that would plunge both king and kingdom into a religious and legal imbroglio that took two decades to resolve. On 14 August 1193, Philip married Ingeborg of Denmark – and repudiated her the very next day. Chapter 9 heading: The Danish Witch
Paragraph from news report: The bookstore has become a one-star sensation, with one netizen saying they were “tempted to drive an hour just to experience the craziness”. Another called it the “Fawlty Towers of bookshops”.
From What We Can Know by Ian McEwan: Let me repeat. Most of our history and literature students care nothing for the past and are indifferent to the accretions of poetry and fiction that are our beautiful inheritance. They sign up to the humanities because they lack mathematical or technical talent. We are the poor cousins and we don't get the smartest bunch.
Wordle: it took me five attempts to correctly guess FIFTH
Paragraph from Crikey article: Ernst & Young economist Cherelle Murphy agreed, arguing more consumption taxes would discourage renters from being so profligate, and might encourage them to work more overtime instead of “blowing the week’s wage on frivolities to make the rental feel nicer”.
Tweet by @dril: turning a big dial taht says "Racism" on it and constantly looking back at the audience for approval like a contestant on the price is right
Paragraph from Richard Flanagan's Question 7 that begins: "The more he returned serve the more she came back with another ace."
Photo of a book: The Fight by Norman Mailer
Cat sitting on rug atop couch
Book stack: Reef by Romesh Gunesekera Paradise by Abdulrazak Gurnah How Late It Was, How Late by James Kelman The Folding Star by Alan Hollinghurst
Innocence by Penelope Fitzgerald
Five Brian Moore novels: The Doctor's Wife, The Colour of Blood, Lies of Silence, No Other Life, The Statement.
Robertson Davies, The Cornish Trilogy. One of the landmarks of Can-Lit. I’d read Fifth Business (the first novel in the series) decades ago, but never the other two, The Manticore and World of Wonders.
Sword of Honour by Evelyn Waugh
The Honorary Consul by Graham Greene
Orbital by Samantha Harvey
Image from the Simpsons: Otto standing outside "Stoner's Pot Palace" (a store that sells pots) saying "Man that is flagrant false advertising".
Stoner: A Novel by John Williams
Original tweet: Screenshot of Trump congratulating the Kansas City Chiefs, revealing his ignorance by placing the team in the state of Kansas. My reply tweet: Commiserations to the Washington Commanders. No doubt all their fans, from Seattle to Spokane, are devastated. Some moron's reply to my reply: I'm going to assume this is sarcasm. #WashingtonDCCommanders
Omnibus edition of David Lodge's trilogy of campus novels: Changing Places, Small World, Nice Work
Michael watches Polly's approach with alarm. He has been appraising her breasts while she has been dancing with Miles and is afraid that she has noticed. This is not in fact the case, but by coming and speaking to him, she effectively puts a stop to the appraisal. They are in the same Department, English, and talk books for a while. Michael's favourite novel at the moment is The Heart of the Matter, and Polly's, Brideshead Revisited. "But Greene's awfully sordid, don't you think?" says Polly. "But Waugh's so snobbish." "Anyway, it said in the Observer that they're the two best English novelists going, so that's one in the eye for the Prods."
Book cover of David Lodge novel "How Far Can You Go?"
Book stack of Hisham Matar's three novels: In the Country of Men Anatomy of a Disappearance My Friends
Photo of the paperback edition of Sunjeev Sahota's The Spoiled Heart
Book stack: Paul Auster - The New York Trilogy Alice Munro - Hateship, Friendship, Courtship, Loveship, Marriage Alice Munro - Runaway Edna O'Brien - The Little Red Chairs
Pages 68-69 of Paul Auster's New York Trilogy. Each page displays a diagram of a character's movements, forming shapes resembling the letters W and E respectively.
Ruth Prawer Jhabvala - Heat and Dust Thomas Keneally - Gossip from the Forest
This book would be for someone who is in the mood for something: adventurous challenging dark emotional funny hopeful informative inspiring lighthearted mysterious reflective relaxing sad tense How would you rate the pace of the book? Slow Medium Fast
Text recording von Bülow active in government in the 1930s.
We’re huge fans of John le Carré on the books desk — particularly his most interesting and enigmatic creation, George Smiley, the man who typified a declining but still proud 20th-century Britain. So we were intrigued when Penguin announced this afternoon that Smiley was returning. A lost manuscript? A voice from above? No, le Carré’s son, Nick Harkaway, is writing a new novel featuring Smiley. It’s due in autumn 2024 — we’ll reserve judgment until then …
Album cover for "In the Aeroplane Over the Sea" by Neutral Milk Hotel