Australian Public Intellectual [API] Network

Network Scholars

It’s a Fair Cop, Guv: Australian Fans of The Bill

Margaret Rogers
The British serial The Bill holds a special position within the television police genre, not only because of its longevity in Britain and Australia but also due to its ability to adapt to the changing demands of industry and audience. Since its inception The Bill has continually renegotiated the boundaries of the television police genre through innovative production techniques, characterisation and the creation of an active fandom. First broadcast in Britain in 1984 as an example of the police procedural category of the television police genre, it was hailed by critics and audience for its ...
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Network Review of Books

Zombies, Lilliputians and Sadists: The Power of the Living Dead and the Future of Australia (2004)

Reviewed by Kris Brankovic in the May 2005 issue.
'Zombies, Lilliputians and Sadists: The Power of the Living Dead and the Future of Australia' is the final instalment in Boris Frankel's long-running critique of 'contemporary Australia'. It began in 1992 with the (similarly) imaginatively titled 'From the Prophets Deserts Come' and continued in 2001 with 'When the Boat Comes in: Transforming Australia in the Age of Globalisation'. Boris Frankel is a former university professor and radio, newspaper and television commentator who describes his work as 'an updated version of classical political economy which attempts to synthesise cultural and ... read more.

The Wings of Angels: A Memoir of Madness (2004)

Reviewed by Bianca Ferguson in the March 2005 issue.
The Wings of Angels is a remarkable collection of poetry, the fifth from award-winning Sandy Jeffs. At once lyrical, satirical, serious and light it encompasses a broad range of themes from madness to materialism to God's body odour. It is remarkable for it functions on many levels, it is deeply profound, wonderfully glib, and hilariously witty all at once without being pretentious or over-written. It is, as a whole, what I can only describe as 'chaste' poetry. It is virginal, real frank. The blurb reads 'Not since Sylvia Plath and Anne Sexton has anyone written so candidly about madness'. ... read more.

Heart of the Matter: An Introduction to Eighteen South Australian Poets (2004)

Reviewed by Debra Zott in the September 2004 issue.
South Australian poetry is, by some, considered insular. It has been criticised, at least verbally, for its supposedly limited perspective and its failure to break into interstate markets. It has often been said, in literary circles, that only other poets read it, attend performances and book launches, and only other poets buy collections of poetry published by South Australian poets. There is also the oft aired complaint that it is impossible to get poetry reviewed or published in The Advertiser. Such comments give the impression that things are rather bleak for the poetry scene in Adelaide. ... read more.

Reports from a Wild Country: Ethics for Decolonisation (2004)

Reviewed by Ravi De Costa in the April 2005 issue.
Deborah Bird Rose's latest work is the product of extended reflections on the ways by which Australians have hitherto understood and engaged with Indigenous cultures, those cultures themselves and what they might tell all Australians about the impending ecological crises the country is facing. In particular, she urges us to work on a new ethics that centres a concern about Indigenous suffering and colonial violence. Rose develops her 'ethics of decolonisation' as a critique of European philosophical commitments. She sees these embedded in such language as 'wildlife' or 'emancipation' and on ... read more.

Rehearsals for Change (2004)

Reviewed by James Walter in the June 2004 issue.
Dennis Altman's Rehearsals for Change was first published in 1980. It reappears now as one of the first fruits of the decision by the API at the Australian Research Institute, Curtin University, to 'bring back into print the books of some of Australia's most important and inspirational public intellectuals'. It has a new foreword by Carmen Lawrence, asserting the current need for the sort of alternative vision Altman offered, and a modest afterword by Altman himself, reflecting on the limitations of what was a 'young man's book' over twenty years later. What can it offer to us now? ... read more.

Imagining Australia: Ideas for our Future (2004)

Reviewed by Kris Brankovic in the September 2004 issue.
Imagining Australia is a wide-ranging, ambitious and fascinating critique of Australian public policy and a manifesto of reform proposals to transform Australia into 'the quintessential twenty-first century nation'. It arrives at an interesting time in politics, when eight years of Coalition rule have entrenched conservatives in the most influential public positions in Australia and where there is a good chance that the country will see a change of government in the coming months. The contemporary political climate is dominated by divisive views on foreign affairs, immigration, the ... read more.

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