Week beginning January 11 2023

Louise Candlish The Only Suspect Simon & Schuster (Australia), Simon & Schuster UK 08 Mar 2023 

Thank you, NetGalley, for providing me with this uncorrected proof for review.

The Only Suspect is another success for Louise Candlish. Once again she has devised a novel that has all the intrigue, twists and turns to keep a reader engrossed. None of these is the all too familiar contrived clumsy attempt to fulfill the current requirement that a twist be included in a psychological thriller. Instead, Candlish is almost fiendishly clever in developing the characters and plot to ensure that any twist makes sense – which is why the narrative moves forward smoothly and the reader is left wondering why they didn’t see the clues to the mystery. Even where I had suspicions, I was not disappointed with the reveal. Books: Reviews

After the Covid report: Changes in publishing; Bob McMullan – Global Political Trends for 2022; Barbara Walters and today’s women in Televison; Joan Sydney (Matron Sloane from A Country Practice); Cindy Lou eats out in Canberra; Jocelynne Scutt’s Brilliant and Bold zoom meeting to be held on January 15th and streamed on Facebook.

Covid in Canberra after Lockdown ends

Changes In Publishing With Jane Friedman

Joanna Penn was a speaker at a Guardian workshop I attended several years ago in London. She is an ‘indie’ writer and spoke about this, comparing her experience with that of writers published by the trade publishers. She recently interviewed Jane Friedman author of The Business of Being a Writer.

The topic was : What has changed in the publishing industry over the last few years? What can authors learn from the DOJ vs PRH court case? How can mid-list authors thrive in uncertain times?

​Click here to listen or read

A few of those fabulous women

Vale to Joan Sydney

“Sydney was known for her Logie-winning role playing Matron Maggie Sloane in A County Practice between 1983 and 1990.

However, her screen debut occurred when she was just 18, in the 1957 film version of English play When We Are Married.

She joined the Neighbours cast in 2002 playing Valda Sheergold on a semi-regular basis, before becoming a permanent cast member between 2007 and 2008.” Oral History Group https://www.facebook.com/groups/AMOHG/

Global Political trends from 2022

Bob McMullan

I noticed George Megalogenis’ recent article about the possibility of a “progressive wave” in the Anglosphere and other commentary suggesting a global trend towards parties of the Left.

While this is a legitimate point if you are content to look at just the UK and USA or selected others, the global picture is much more complex.

Some of the elections of 2022 are difficult to classify across a progressive/conservative continuum. For example, Papua New Guinea’s recent election and some of the elections in the Balkans don’t lend themselves to analysis within such a framework. Similarly, the recent contest between former PM Bainimarama and Sitiveni Rabuka in Fiji cuts across conventional western interpretation. What was significant in Fiji was the peaceful transfer of power after the incumbent lost the election, something the US found very difficult in 2020. A similar peaceful transfer of power occurred in Kenya after a hotly contested and very close presidential election.

However, most of the elections during 2022 can be broadly classified across the conventional framework.

It is true that progressive parties have had some good results. In Europe, progressive parties in Albania, Portugal, Malta and Denmark did well and in France the Right was once again beaten in the Presidential election by the most electable non-right candidate, although Macron should probably be classified as a centrist.

In Latin America the Left did well, exemplified by Lula’s election as President of Brazil. However, it must be acknowledged that an attempt to establish a new and progressive constitution in Chile was a disastrous failure.

Elsewhere, the Right and in particular the extreme Right did disconcertingly well in a number of countries. In South Korea the conservative presidential candidate won narrowly. In Israel the most right-wing government ever was elected and in Hungary Victor Orban’s party won a crushing victory. In traditionally progressive Sweden the ultra-right wing party, the Sweden Democrats, made big gains and helped establish a centre right government.

The outstanding example of right-wing victories was in Italy. Here, the Brothers of Italy Party, with links to the Fascist past in Italy, led a right-wing coalition to government. This may presage a significant change in Italian politics or may prove to be a brief flirtation with extremists. However, the result has very worrying potential which should give us all food for thought.

It is not possible to discern a sweeping global pattern to either end of the political spectrum.

What is notable is the failure of centre-right parties overall. Where they gained government, it was principally as a result of improved performance of the ultra-right at the expense of the centre-left.

This may suggest a pattern similar to that emerging in Australia in which the parties of the centre-right are losing support among younger voters. Polling suggests that they are seen as have nothing to offer on the issues of most concern to young people. Younger voters appear to be judging the mainstream conservative parties as having nothing positive to say about issues like climate change and the environment or their housing concerns. It may be that a long-term change is under way, but it is too soon to be definitive.

 Following this complex pattern of results in 2022 the coming year will certainly see some interesting elections.

In Africa the big one is the Nigerian Presidential election, in which the incumbent is term-limited and a maverick outsider has a serious chance. In Latin America the key election will be in Argentina where the left of centre President has very low approval ratings but it does not appear that any consensus alternative candidate has emerged.

 In Asia I think the most important election will be in Thailand, where democracy is struggling to revive. In Europe there are major elections in Greece, Spain, Poland and possibly the UK.

The Presidential election in Turkey will be important as challengers to Erdogan struggle to get a hearing .

Of course, in our part of the world there are scheduled elections due in New Zealand as well as the NSW state election and the very important Voice to Parliament referendum.

I don’t expect a sweeping global pattern to emerge, local factors tend to be too strong, but it will be interesting to see whether any of the centre-right parties can buck the 2022 trend.

Cindy Lou eats out at casual cafes in Canberra

Divine Cafe and Bar

Although our favourite Tinker, Tailor at Jameson was open, it is clearly so many others’ favourite too. It was so busy we returned to our new find in the same shopping centre. There was one table in the sun, and we quickly sat down. This cafe provides table service, which is rather pleasant, so we were provided with a breakfast menu and water and glasses immediately. One meal was delicious scrambled eggs, toast (2 pieces) and a generous serve of tomatoes with a coffee. The other, a panini with haloumi, mushrooms and an egg, again with good coffee, was so large that some had to remain on the plate.

With its table service (very efficient and pleasant) and some outside tables that are in the sun, Divine Cafe, together with Tinker, Tailor, with its good undercover outdoor seating for people with dogs when it is raining, offer excellent breakfast, lunch and coffee and cake options at Jameson.

Praga Cafe

Praga is a new find for Cindy Lou, providing an excellent specials menu for breakfast and lunch, really friendly and efficient service, and a leafy respite in a pleasant environment at the Dickson shopping centre. The breakfast a few weeks ago was marginally more successful than today’s lunch. However, both are good options for a casual meal out.

Calamari and salad, and zucchini fritters and salad with coffees were light meals suitable for lunch time on a sunny day in Canberra.