In the ’70s, the tobacco heavyweight partnered with the National Gallery of Australia to buy a collection of “aggressive” art by emerging talent. mnth.ly/nEeSNq6

In response to a question from the emergency services operator, I overheard someone on the phone say, “Late 20s, I guess?” And I thought, ‘Christ, I really have done something to my face.’ (I’m 42.) mnth.ly/hi41PT4

In response to a question from the emergency services operator, I overheard someone on the phone say, “Late 20s, I guess?” And I thought, ‘Christ, I really have done something to my face.’ (I’m 42.) mnth.ly/6EswYkp

Some would argue that in the dissolution of the so-called legacy media lies significant opportunity for new voices to find new audiences, but I’m not convinced. A great deal can be smuggled in under an assumption like this. mnth.ly/jRyzLIe

Some would argue that in the dissolution of the so-called legacy media lies significant opportunity for new voices to find new audiences, but I’m not convinced. A great deal can be smuggled in under an assumption like this. mnth.ly/SxOX7Ah

Might the acclaimed architect’s compact apartment buildings in 1940s Melbourne be a model for addressing housing problems with single-occupancy dwellings? | David Neustein mnth.ly/RSTSTbU

Might the acclaimed architect’s compact apartment buildings in 1940s Melbourne be a model for addressing housing problems with single-occupancy dwellings? | David Neustein mnth.ly/AUJVdnM

Just as the Taliban was turning off Afghanistan’s fibre-optic internet network to isolate the country from the rest of the world, exiled diplomats at the Afghan consulate in Bonn conceded defeat in a months-long tussle with the German government. mnth.ly/OcQCmyi

Since the Taliban retook Afghanistan in August 2021, its embassy in Canberra has stayed open, operating in exile with a skeleton staff of diplomats from the former administration. mnth.ly/Y92Pnqf

As Taliban consular officers are permitted to enter Germany, attention turns to Afghanistan’s embassies-in-exile around the world | Karen Middleton mnth.ly/xb5NhDz

It’s unclear whether other Western governments will follow Germany in officially cooperating with the Taliban regime by accepting its representatives on their soil. mnth.ly/Goexwdj

What is perhaps most surprising and provocative is his use of the word “Australia”. In this, he (just) predates Governor Macquarie and Matthew Flinders. mnth.ly/vF2xlvZ

He’ll gently play with the paradoxes of writing to X in Oxford and to Y in Wagga, almost as if he was answering the old John Forbes slur that Venice was more real to him than Wagga. mnth.ly/KeBXlW3

He’ll gently play with the paradoxes of writing to X in Oxford and to Y in Wagga, almost as if he was answering the old John Forbes slur that Venice was more real to him than Wagga. mnth.ly/uHlkWl3

What is perhaps most surprising and provocative is his use of the word “Australia”. In this, he (just) predates Governor Macquarie and Matthew Flinders. mnth.ly/LPV5dSl

By the time the war ended, the housing market had shifted from single city-dwellers (and returning service men and women) to suburban nuclear families, and new volume-builders such as AV Jennings began to deliver the project-home model that persists today. mnth.ly/sX5I0J6

By the time the war ended, the housing market had shifted from single city-dwellers (and returning service men and women) to suburban nuclear families, and new volume-builders such as AV Jennings began to deliver the project-home model that persists today. mnth.ly/mLhWVZB

Robert Rooney’s criticism, which is punctuated as often by the now-unfamiliar names of one-time wunderkinds as by those who managed to build sustainable careers, makes the difficulty of maintaining a steady practice in the Australian art world palpable. mnth.ly/1GOGxCC

Michael Nolan’s best of culture 2025: Netflix’s ‘Devo’ directed by Chris Smith and the Common People Dance Eisteddfod mnth.ly/wMsYzYg

A layered study of women artists from Paula Modersohn-Becker to Julie Rrap, considering their influence on contemporary art and the obstacles they faced | Vanessa Francesca mnth.ly/HcBYtqj

Those trembling, quavering opening chords, with the two old-timers having it large, hugging, patting each other’s backs, arms around shoulders, touching hands, the spirit of rave right there, the spirit of togetherness in spite of it all. mnth.ly/2u0zgMa

The auditorium heaves with classic hits as well as some the kids must have picked, there’s enough leotards to give ’80s Jamie Lee Curtis pause, and local Spotlight stores surely do well at this time of year. mnth.ly/6UymSRW

As the flood of online content diverts and dissolves our attention, have we seen the end of meaningful, career-long art criticism? | Quentin Sprague mnth.ly/EbaAmx0

I wasn’t in the fucking mood: not for children or chewing or chatter. And then the warm-up began: strings running scales, brass snatching at fanfares. Tuba farts. Piccolo twitter. The ever-anxious oboe. mnth.ly/OEnSglf

‘Innocence’ was riveting from start to finish. It forcefully proved that opera need not be moribund: in the right hands it remains a powerful and necessary contemporary artform. mnth.ly/QACEjTC

Sebastian Smee’s best of culture 2025: ‘Emily Kam Kngwarray’ and ‘Leigh Bowery!’ at Tate Modern mnth.ly/g4s1vMv

Marcia Langton’s best of culture 2025: ‘Ngangkari Ngura’ by Betty Muffler and Maringka Burton, and ‘Life on the River’ Naomi Hobson mnth.ly/LkiZ6y0

Marcia Langton’s best of culture 2025: ‘Ngangkari Ngura’ by Betty Muffler and Maringka Burton, and ‘Life on the River’ Naomi Hobson mnth.ly/iZvc4XW

When he gets the paintings home he allows himself time to covertly bask in his spoils, before depositing them in the beautifully crafted wooden cases he’s made. For a moment, it’s possible to believe that it’s all in aid of something more than his ego. mnth.ly/jhChoqJ

“There is something that haunts this world,” Terence McKenna told a workshop audience in San Francisco in November 1988, “that can take apart and reduce every single one of us to a mixture of terror and ecstasy, fear and trembling.” mnth.ly/jH5vXLv

The Monthly Awards 2025: Ten critics nominate their cultural highlights of the year, taking in visual art, theatre, books, film & TV, dance and opera mnth.ly/3gVeYzK

A long-time admirer of Reichardt’s filmography, I’d never quite been able to put into words the sensibility that imbues her richly drawn but often cool character portraits, besides insipid adjectives such as “humanistic” and “authentic”. mnth.ly/9XtwrQ0

I was thrown face-first into the road. Luckily, my body was unscathed, because my face took everything. My friend later described it as headbutting the world. mnth.ly/wljNfVl

The algorithm is a poor substitute for editorial oversight: it cares nothing for quality, nor originality, nor for an overarching vision. It only cares for views. mnth.ly/iUrtAEw

As the days turned into weeks on board with no phones or internet, I began noticing that the strangeness of the continent was onboard too. People were unravelling. mnth.ly/6swsvwL

The algorithm is a poor substitute for editorial oversight: it cares nothing for quality, nor originality, nor for an overarching vision. It only cares for views. mnth.ly/LTXXqTh

I love paramedics. I think that, culturally, Australians are particularly well suited to the job. We are not great visionaries or planners, but what we lack in those departments we make up for with improvisational skill. mnth.ly/QRZpTpL

I love paramedics. I think that, culturally, Australians are particularly well suited to the job. We are not great visionaries or planners, but what we lack in those departments we make up for with improvisational skill. mnth.ly/Wiqfnyu

Imagine if the housing target was set not at 1.2 million dwellings, but 1.2 million single-occupant dwellings, with the generosity and amenity of Grounds’ designs? mnth.ly/w6Hus3P

Salinger never wrote directly about his war experience – “For Esmé” is as close as it gets, I think – and we can only make an educated guess as to whether he returned with all his faculties intact. mnth.ly/BhBR9jC

Salinger spoke both German and French, but at the time was also writing ‘The Catcher in the Rye’ and thus finessing his ear for American vernacular. mnth.ly/KjYZqKN

I’m not suggesting that good or even great criticism no longer exists. It does – there are arguably better writers working in the discipline today than ever before. mnth.ly/ulkG5xb

Imagine if the housing target was set not at 1.2 million dwellings, but 1.2 million single-occupant dwellings, with the generosity and amenity of Grounds’ designs? mnth.ly/NqigPTw

I’m not suggesting that good or even great criticism no longer exists. It does – there are arguably better writers working in the discipline today than ever before. mnth.ly/aMxxKG2

No one was content any longer with just having customers, tenants, members, audiences. They wanted an exchange, call and response, a feedback loop of engagement with a capital E. mnth.ly/se8OqUv

In one of the documentaries I watched about life at McMurdo Station, a tradie talked with relief about getting away from the rest of society. A researcher described a manifesto he was writing. Weirdos. mnth.ly/DI3XsRZ

No one was content any longer with just having customers, tenants, members, audiences. They wanted an exchange, call and response, a feedback loop of engagement with a capital E. mnth.ly/fG0dd9V

Even for such a momentous decision, only 37 per cent of eligible Britons voted to leave the European Union. #auspol mnth.ly/gFTDj8K

Even for such a momentous decision, only 37 per cent of eligible Britons voted to leave the European Union. #auspol mnth.ly/QPjUhJv

A few hours after the first assault forces landed upon Normandy’s “Utah Beach”, Salinger and the 4th Infantry Division arrived too, and he stayed with the unit until, and including, the Battle of the Bulge. mnth.ly/h3nMdel