As someone who works from an inside office on the second floor of a building in Ultimo, I couldn't help but be impressed as I gazed out the window of Governor Phillip Tower. Sneakily, I took a photograph, worried that I might be picked up by a security guard concerned I may have been a terrorist. Sadly, I felt too shy to take another shot, and therefore can only rely on my memory to convey the Harbour Bridge and Opera House view that was just around the corner, and which provided a side-drop … [Read more...]

For my recent trip north I bought two books at the airport; one going up and one going down. As I'm quite interested in politics, especially the electoral process, on the way up north I settled on "The Crikey Guide to the 2007 Election". Although I found much of the book went through material I was already familiar with, there were two interesting sections: one dealing with the press gallery, the other focussing on who would or wouldn't win the forthcoming election based on historical … [Read more...]

In stark contrast to last week when I went to the Unisex Amateur Strip Night, tonight I went to a rather erudite discussion at Glebe Books about the forthcoming Federal Election, followed by tapas at a nearby Spanish restaurant. The occasion was a discussion between former ABC journalist and now political aspirant, Maxine McKew and Sydney Morning Herald journalist, Peter Hartcher. I admire them both for the consistently even hand approach they have demonstrated in their professional careers. The … [Read more...]

I mentioned the other day on this blog that I'd received an autographed copy of the new Edmund White biography. When I got around to putting this in my bookcase, I just sat down for a while and had a look through some of the other autographed books I've been lucky enough to obtain. As each of these books has an interesting story associated with them, I thought I'd choose three at random for your reading pleasure... At the time of interviewing Peter Ryan, he'd recently been relieved of … [Read more...]