Robert Murray

Beatrice and Sydney Webb are still alive, though failing. At least, that is the impression one gets from these five pamphlets, which mark the resurrection of the Victorian Fabian Society since 1980, after temporarily shaking off the mortal after coil. Fabian socialism has not been without mockers in its home land and it has exported somewhat less vigorously than the blackberry and rabbit. The ima ... (read more)

Those who have hopes or fears of a Reagan–Thatcher hardline conservatism arising in Australia can forget it, if this newest attempt by the local ‘right’ to define itself is any guide. For a major topic, it is a listless, sickly growth from Australia’s whiggish soil that struggles – mostly unsuccessfully – for anything new to say. Familiar old war-horses are trotted out saying predicta ... (read more)