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Binoy Kampmark
Dr. Binoy Kampmark was a Commonwealth Scholar at Selwyn College, Cambridge. He lectures at RMIT University, Melbourne.
Binoy Kampmark - Latest News [Page 127]
Lambasting Australia: Cricket and National sentiment
Wednesday, 14 December 2011, 2:55 pm | Binoy Kampmark
The game was fabulous, the outcome stunning – the first victory for New Zealand on Australian soil in 26 years. When one should be seeing cricket as a game that bucks criticism each and every time it faces it, we are seeing panic, concern and ... More >>
Freezing out Britain: Europe’s New Accord
Monday, 12 December 2011, 12:54 pm | Binoy Kampmark
There is much more in the way of European chatter taking place in that troubled part of the world. Discussions held at the Brussels summit on Friday saw the 27 countries of the EU attempting to forge an agreement in an effort to create what would effectively ... More >>
Going Populist: Obama’s New Platform
Sunday, 11 December 2011, 12:54 pm | Binoy Kampmark
After a period of seemingly quiet dithering, it seems that President Barack Obama has moved into seizing the populist moment in his stance against the fat cat contingent of American society. The theme is ‘togetherness’ – a country can only progress ... More >>
The Postmodern Theatre: Russia, the Elections and Putin
Friday, 9 December 2011, 5:32 pm | Binoy Kampmark
The protest pedigree of the Putin-generation Russian is a small one. With a police state mentality well and truly in position, taking to the streets is bound to land the individual a period of true, heartfelt police inhospitality. More >>
Eco-Terrorists & Biomass Plants: Lies at Montana University
Friday, 9 December 2011, 10:14 am | Binoy Kampmark
‘We all need to remember is that what we are constructing is a public relations story, not a scientific analysis. We need to be straight with the facts but tilt the story towards our perspective. Small words, short sentences, no jargon is what ... More >>
Johnny Depp, Jesus and Blasphemy
Wednesday, 7 December 2011, 11:34 am | Binoy Kampmark
In that rather well minted British comedy Blackadder, an altered version of the Scrooge legend is offered. Baldrick, Ebenezer’s life long and putrid dogsbody, describes a nativity scene where, because of a short supply of infants, a dog has had to sit ... More >>
Herman’s Antics: Going Belly Up in the Cain Campaign
Monday, 5 December 2011, 11:39 am | Binoy Kampmark
America’s political labelers always get busy during campaigns. The ‘Black Reagan’, however complimentary one might take it, has been used to describe the rapid rise of Republican contender Herman Cain. ‘In the firmness and cheerfulness of his conservatism, ... More >>
The Two Million Strike: Eating Public Pensions in Blighty
Monday, 5 December 2011, 11:14 am | Binoy Kampmark
The pension is under global attack by the austerity, welfare allergic fraternity, and the United Kingdom is one of the countries at the forefront of the cost cutting experiment. The Prime Minister himself explained with crystal clarity why two million ... More >>
Breaking Backs: NATO and Pakistan
Thursday, 1 December 2011, 10:12 am | Binoy Kampmark
It was the affirmation, and for Pakistan, surely a confirmation about their rump status as a sovereign state before the military interventions of NATO. Twenty four slain Pakistani soldiers over the weekend speak of that, and the response from the ... More >>
Grooming the Customer: Cyber Monday
Thursday, 1 December 2011, 10:02 am | Binoy Kampmark
Are we talking about Pavlov’s dogs? Consider the language being used to describe what has become ‘Cyber Monday’, the greatest of online shopping binges that grips American consumers every year and is fast proving to be an e-commerce contagion. More >>
Time Capsule: Marjorie Pollard’s Cricket for Women and Girls
Monday, 28 November 2011, 9:40 am | Binoy Kampmark
In the Occupy London protest site just outside St. Paul’s, a list of anti-capitalist books dominates with stern attention, demanding to be leafed through for the cognoscenti of revolt. A quick donation secreted into a rather dirty bucket, and the book is ... More >>
Halting the Execution Machine: Oregon and the Death Penalty
Thursday, 24 November 2011, 10:05 am | Binoy Kampmark
Oregon Governor John Kitzhaber made a decision on Tuesday to impose a moratorium on the death penalty for the duration of his term in office. The state under his previous stewardship has used it twice in the 1990s (Douglas Wright in 1996 and Harry ... More >>
The 'D’Oliveira Affair': When Sport and Politics Mix
Wednesday, 23 November 2011, 1:39 pm | Binoy Kampmark
There is a rather wishful school of thinking that presumes that sport and politics do not mix. That view was held with pious dedication by the former Australian Prime Minister John Howard, long time opponent of sporting boycotts against South Africa’s ... More >>
Down and about with Occupy London
Tuesday, 22 November 2011, 9:40 am | Binoy Kampmark
When crossing the bridge and heading to St. Paul’s, one is struck by the clumsiness and astonishing lack of symmetry of the side buildings. Instead of a superb front that leads up to the majestic building, one finds brutalist architecture hugging ... More >>
Death, Cricket and Peter Roebuck
Wednesday, 16 November 2011, 3:18 pm | Binoy Kampmark
Death and cricket are constant companions. In March 2007 in the West Indies, it was suggested that murder had taken place when Pakistan’s cricket coach Bob Woolmer was strangled. A Jamaican jury’s open verdict made matters more enigmatic than ... More >>
Assassins of Memory: The problem with Targeting Bin Laden
Tuesday, 15 November 2011, 1:21 pm | Binoy Kampmark
A Democratic president stooped to it. His entire administration, with its vapid policy wonks participated with a gormless, idiotic enthusiasm. It was riddled with more omissions than a Japanese text book on the rape of Nanking. But here was a documentary ... More >>
Bringing Okinawa to Australia: An American Base Down-under?
Tuesday, 15 November 2011, 1:17 pm | Binoy Kampmark
‘How do you deal toughly with one’s banker?’ asked US secretary of State Hillary Clinton of that mistakenly labeled China darling, the current Australian foreign minister Kevin Rudd. The answer, as it developed, was quite straight forward. More >>
Cricketing Sorrows and the Art of Cheating
Monday, 14 November 2011, 1:45 pm | Binoy Kampmark
The cricket world, with its factions, boards and rivalries, is not necessarily as united as we would like to think. But when it comes to the recent trial of three Pakistani cricketers Salman Butt, Mohammad Asif and Mohammad Amir, there is one common ... More >>
Assange and Extradition: The Next Phase
Thursday, 10 November 2011, 10:00 am | Binoy Kampmark
Another loss, and another round of debates. The Assange saga now moves to its next phase after the loss in the High Court that seemingly propels him closer to Sweden. The technicalities of the cases remain as they always have been, but they merely ... More >>
Filming the Metaphor: Fred Schepisi’s The Eye of the Storm
Sunday, 6 November 2011, 1:27 pm | Binoy Kampmark
The Eye of the Storm was published in 1973, the year Patrick White won the Nobel Prize for Literature. It enabled White to bring Lear to Australia in the form of the novel, the bruising, all consuming Elizabeth Hunter, who presides, like Lear, ... More >>
