Parenting by numbers
The day their son was born, Monica Rogati and her husband began obsessively plotting his life via thousands of bits of data they punched into the smartphone app Baby Connect.
Whatever happened to the US Senate?
Harking back to the glory years when the Senate was still great.
Liberated and loveless
In April 400 years ago, an unwed man and woman stood before magistrates in Westminster. They’d had sex together, it was alleged. He denied it; she, having given birth to a bastard child, confessed.
Has Labor lost Gen Y?
Bejamin Law says Labor’s poor media performance and conservatism have alienated younger voters, but there’s still time for the disaffected to make a difference.
Why the IPO model is broken
The imminent and massive Facebook float throws up questions about the value of a float for a company. And it seems that for most high-tech ventures, going public does not compute.
Right place for retro thing
Iconic band Kraftwerk’s eight-night retrospective at the Museum of Modern Art was just the thing for a place like New York.
Not so black and white
In Wanted Women, journalist Deborah Scroggins uses the biographies of Hirsi Ali, a former Muslim, and Aafia Siddiqui, alleged to be one of the few female members of al-Qaeda, to tell a larger story about the war on terror.
No time for play
Having the Adelaide Festival reject The Ham Funeral in 1962 contributed to Patrick White becoming the novelist that he did.
Wartime too good to be true
In an extract from a new book, a US writer challenges the usual image of life for soldiers in the Vietnam War – at least for those living at the well-equipped, leisure-loving Long Binh Post
Float or swim: How long will Facebook rule?
Facebook is undoubtedly a phenomenon – but is it a good investment? And as its IPO roadshow gets under way, many are asking whether we’ve already had too much of a good thing.
Books | Tudor portrait drawn in cold blood
Hilary Mantel has made another foray into British history through the opaque figure of Thomas Cromwell.
Film | Tess in India still ends badly
Director Michael Winterbottom has set Thomas Hardy’s Tess of the D’Urbervilles in contemporary India.
Film | Slick production fails to pass trash test
Why is it that filmmakers think the Nazis are funny? There may have been something inherently absurd about the Third Reich, with its fetish for uniforms, racial purity and Wagner, but it was no laughing matter for those obliged to share the planet with Hitler’s minions.
The stark beauty of suburbia
Shaun Tan is best known for his children’s book illustrations ... oh, and for winning an Oscar. But his first love, the thing that underpins all his work, is painting – and his muse is suburbia.
Europe’s extremists gain oxygen
The sudden emergence of Golden Dawn – an obscure extreme-right fringe party only a year ago but which won 21 seats in Greece’s general election – is stoking fears for the future.
Leonardo the scientist
To explore the world around him, the artist came up with ingenious techniques
Mexican migration wave to US slips in reverse
America is not the lure it once was, even for the poor people of a close neighbour.
Satisfaction in sunny Athens
From a distance, it may appear as if Greek voters have plunged the country into pandemonium. But Athenians say they are proud of what they have achieved at the ballot box on Sunday.
Migration in reverse
Growing numbers of young Americans who are children of immigrants are returning to their homelands for career opportunities.
On a whim and a prayer
Offbeat American-Jewish author Jonathan Safran Foer brings his own ritual to reading the Haggadah.
Wages have to rise
Higher wages in Germany would stimulate demand and help avoid recession in the eurozone.
How the left betrayed the Jews
Conventional wisdom does not regard Communism with the same abhorrence as fascism. It will surprise many to see how left-wing movements of the last century fostered anti-Semitism.
Book | A winning read on failure
Two respected authors have produced a big book that looks beyond traditional views on why some nations fail. Readers will hope it can make a big difference.
Film | Boys of the bleak stuff
The King of Devil’s Island, by Norwegian director Marius Holst, is an outstanding addition to the ranks of prison films.
Film | A subtle touch proves rather delicious
Audrey Tatou and Francois Damiens play an unlikely duo in a comedy demonstrating that indefinable cinematic subtlety known as “the Lubitsch touch”.
Books | British farce trips up
Michael Frayn has somehow found the time and the talent to be a very fine comic novelist.
Exhibitions | Engaging with home
An exhibition in south-western Sydney will showcase Australian Muslim women artists and their cultural traditions as well as their relationship with their adopted land.
