Stephen Wright
@mycommunistcat.bsky.social
Writer, idler, anarchist on unceded Anaiwan country. He/Him
Can be found at Overland literary journal
overland.org.au
Novel ‘A Second Life’ still available around the place
Currently asleep on a verandah
Can be found at Overland literary journal
overland.org.au
Novel ‘A Second Life’ still available around the place
Currently asleep on a verandah
...Which is how you get to be a privileged member of that overpaid class: be an ideologically malleable, careerist lackey who likes power & money.
November 16, 2025 at 4:29 AM
...Which is how you get to be a privileged member of that overpaid class: be an ideologically malleable, careerist lackey who likes power & money.
Baked into the paternalist racism is base incompetence. Australian institutions are often run by a managerial class who are just *not very good at their jobs*. Someone like Antoun is a threat to a hierarchy's self-congratulatory structure. 'Threats' get managed out til only lackeys remain...
November 16, 2025 at 4:29 AM
Baked into the paternalist racism is base incompetence. Australian institutions are often run by a managerial class who are just *not very good at their jobs*. Someone like Antoun is a threat to a hierarchy's self-congratulatory structure. 'Threats' get managed out til only lackeys remain...
Yeah, the Shot's really starting to power along. The G's history of transphobia won't have helped them to retain people either.
November 16, 2025 at 3:03 AM
Yeah, the Shot's really starting to power along. The G's history of transphobia won't have helped them to retain people either.
No problems comrade. Doing the lords work there Dave & carrying the burden of speaking basic truth.
November 16, 2025 at 1:53 AM
No problems comrade. Doing the lords work there Dave & carrying the burden of speaking basic truth.
"Bond" (waves pipe & blows cloud of acrid blue smoke) "James Bond" (belches slightly).
November 13, 2025 at 7:45 AM
"Bond" (waves pipe & blows cloud of acrid blue smoke) "James Bond" (belches slightly).
Opens up some possibilities. I look forward to James Bond portrayed as a fat, rumpled, middle-aged guy with a pipe.
November 13, 2025 at 1:56 AM
Opens up some possibilities. I look forward to James Bond portrayed as a fat, rumpled, middle-aged guy with a pipe.
Fwiw, I think it's really good stuff doc. You're exploring something really cool. I suspect your chances of being pretentious in your writing are about zero.
November 13, 2025 at 1:22 AM
Fwiw, I think it's really good stuff doc. You're exploring something really cool. I suspect your chances of being pretentious in your writing are about zero.
I can see. It is infectious. But the prose style is great too. Really fresh & unpretentious. I hope you can keep the newsletter going.
November 13, 2025 at 1:04 AM
I can see. It is infectious. But the prose style is great too. Really fresh & unpretentious. I hope you can keep the newsletter going.
It is an excellent newsletter and I have enjoyed both the two offerings to date very much.
November 13, 2025 at 12:51 AM
It is an excellent newsletter and I have enjoyed both the two offerings to date very much.
All the best people are Clash obsessives.
November 12, 2025 at 11:33 AM
All the best people are Clash obsessives.
15 years later: 'The shooter's mother Katherine Boyle said she couldn't understand why....'
November 11, 2025 at 10:35 PM
15 years later: 'The shooter's mother Katherine Boyle said she couldn't understand why....'
Utterly clueless & amoral is my take. Nothing else makes sense. Trying to explain something to Starmer would be a very disconcerting experience I think, cos I suspect there'd be so much he wouldn't understand, but he'd pretend otherwise.
November 11, 2025 at 10:28 PM
Utterly clueless & amoral is my take. Nothing else makes sense. Trying to explain something to Starmer would be a very disconcerting experience I think, cos I suspect there'd be so much he wouldn't understand, but he'd pretend otherwise.
No, probably not! Shame they Uren papers aren't digitised, but if your photos ever turn up, by all means, please share. I've got the Whitlam-Uren thing on my radar now though, so thanks heaps.
November 11, 2025 at 3:49 AM
No, probably not! Shame they Uren papers aren't digitised, but if your photos ever turn up, by all means, please share. I've got the Whitlam-Uren thing on my radar now though, so thanks heaps.
Thank you very much. Really fascinating. Yes, there's a big emotional subtext there: written at 4am!; the sign off about Uren & Jones being 'good mates' etc.
And would love to know what Gough said to the public service heads in Committee Room 2.
And would love to know what Gough said to the public service heads in Committee Room 2.
November 11, 2025 at 3:30 AM
Thank you very much. Really fascinating. Yes, there's a big emotional subtext there: written at 4am!; the sign off about Uren & Jones being 'good mates' etc.
And would love to know what Gough said to the public service heads in Committee Room 2.
And would love to know what Gough said to the public service heads in Committee Room 2.
I need to know more.
November 11, 2025 at 3:13 AM
I need to know more.
Is the intermediary & intermezzo etc, similar to Ogden's 'analytic third'?
November 11, 2025 at 12:07 AM
Is the intermediary & intermezzo etc, similar to Ogden's 'analytic third'?
I find Fisher the same. It's interesting that he seems to be quoted uncritically so much on the left. I remember hitting his rant about his students not being interested in Nietzsche & and thinking,'That's on you man', but also seeing his irritation as symptomatic.
November 10, 2025 at 9:56 PM
I find Fisher the same. It's interesting that he seems to be quoted uncritically so much on the left. I remember hitting his rant about his students not being interested in Nietzsche & and thinking,'That's on you man', but also seeing his irritation as symptomatic.
Really enlightening & useful article. Thanks heaps.
November 10, 2025 at 1:23 AM
Really enlightening & useful article. Thanks heaps.
Makes it obvious how reactionary the current govt is, how uninterested they are in the issues of social & personal well-being Whitlam put front & centre. Big emphasis on children's happiness & welfare & how Australians have to stop demonising them.
November 10, 2025 at 12:02 AM
Makes it obvious how reactionary the current govt is, how uninterested they are in the issues of social & personal well-being Whitlam put front & centre. Big emphasis on children's happiness & welfare & how Australians have to stop demonising them.
It's quite a list & doesn't include later policy implementations, including no-fault divorce & establishment of women's refuge centres.
November 9, 2025 at 11:29 PM
It's quite a list & doesn't include later policy implementations, including no-fault divorce & establishment of women's refuge centres.