The Weekend Read

Today, author Don Watson will be reading his piece from the June issue of The Monthly, reflecting on WW2 ace pilot Sir Douglas Bader.

Bader was a remarkable Royal Air Force pilot in the second world war. Brazen and courageous, he managed to escape death countless times, scored dozens of victories, and was even redeployed as a pilot after having both legs amputated.

However, in the words of Don Watson, Sir Douglas Bader was also a bit of a ‘stinker’, and an ‘unreconstructed racist’. Yes, it turns out Bader is a classic 20th century hero, who is ripe for a classic 21st century cancellation. 

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Guest: Author Don Watson

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Today on the show, writer and filmmaker John Safran, with his piece from the latest edition of The Monthly. 

Father Bob Maguire was an icon in his own right, but for many, they knew him through his years of conversation with John Safran on TV and their Sunday Night radio show.

Father Bob passed away earlier this year and received a state funeral in Melbourne and today we feature John’s writing about his friend.

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Guest: Writer and filmaker, John Safran

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Today on the show, author Carrie Tiffany, with her piece from the Monthly. 

After the death of her mother, Carrie reflects on the hold of sugar upon her family’s health and history.

Carrie will read her piece, ‘Sweet Regret’ after a short conversation with the Editor of the 7am podcast, Scott Mitchell. 

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Guest: Author, Carrie Tiffany

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Today, journalist Esther Linder will be reading her piece from the May issue of The Monthly.

While Australians often can’t skip a rent payment, they can skip a meal. And as the cost of living soars, more and more Australians are going hungry.

Through the lens of hunger, Linder looks at economic inequality, Australia’s failure to perceive the growing gaps in wealth

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Guest: Journalist Esther Linder

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To mark the 200th edition of The Monthly, the editor of the magazine, Michael Williams, joins us – to read a piece by the late-Mungo Maccallum from the debut issue nearly 20 years ago.

Mungo was a totally unique character of Australian journalism – once described by Gough Whitlam a "tall, bearded descendant of lunatic aristocrats" – he could deftly bounce from the funny and odd to the great stories and issues of our times.

We very much hope you enjoy us revisiting his first essay for The Monthly: ‘From nation to now’

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Today on the show, Sasha Gattermayr, with her piece on the fascination with carnivorous plants from The Monthly magazine. 

Sasha takes us inside a band of collectors whose obsession with plants such as the venus fly trap turned into a lifelong devotion to plants that devour their prey.

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Guest: Writer Sasha Gattermayr

Background reading: Little club of horrors

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Today, writer Quentin Sprague, with his piece from The Monthly. 

He examines the recent revelations of “white hands on black art” – reports of White gallery figures instructing and even working on the canvases of Indigenous artists – and examines how white Australia applies the idea of ‘authenticity’ onto the work of Indigenous artists.

Quentin will read his story, ‘White privilege and black disadvantage in the Aboriginal art industry’ after a short conversation.

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Guest: Writer, Quentin Sprague

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Today on the show, writer Richard King, with his piece ‘Machine Learning’ about the AI chatbot ChatGPT.

He begins his story with discourse sweeping a university campus as AI reaches the hands of ordinary students and teachers.

How will this technology – still only a few months old – change not only teaching and marking, but the very nature of the transfer of knowledge?

This is the question he sets out to answer, and it’s a compelling one as we stand on the precipice of a new age of technology.

Richard will read his story from the latest edition of The Monthly after a short conversation.

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Guest: Writer Richard King.

Background Reading: Machine learning

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Today on the show, author of ‘Sundressed’ and fashion editor for The Saturday Paper Lucianne Tonti reads her piece on confronting the hundreds of thousands of tonnes of clothing condemned to landfill every year. 

The Australian fashion industry is a major cause of the 227,000 tonnes of waste clothing generated each year — much of it never worn before being discarded.

Non-profits are attempting to curb the issue, redirecting and recycling the waste clothing – but the problem lies at the source: overproduction.

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Guest: Fashion editor for The Saturday Paper and author of ‘Sundressed’, Lucianne Tonti

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Today on the show, author Sophie Cunningham on why we’re still logging native forests.

She begins her story with the last sheafs of white office paper to ever be produced in Australia – the final sheet rolled off the mill in January of this year before it closed for good.

What follows is her reporting on how and why native forests are still being cut down, despite our knowledge that this is not the best or most efficient way for us to source timber in this country.

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Guest: Author Sophie Cunningham

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