Australian critic, journalist, broadcaster, writer and lyricist Clive James, who died in November 2019, aged 80, left a huge legacy with his writing of five memoirs, several novels, countless essays, and poems and poetry collections.
I thought I had read them all until I stumbed over this PICADOR edition of his "Reliable Essays", including such classic pieces as "Postcard from Rome", his observations on Margaret Thatcher, Seamus Heaney, George Orwell and Philip Larkin, and funny examinations of characters like Barry Humphries, while also displaying James's more reflective and analytical style. From Germaine Greer to Marilyn Monroe, from the nature of celebrity to German culpability for the Holocaust, "Reliable Essays" is a cultural index of the 20th century.
And it comes with an introduction by no other than Julian Barnes, another favourite author of mine. The flyleaf is inscribed with the handwritten words "Patricia Bav, Room 228". Whoever Patricia Bav was and wherever Room 228 was, I am ever so grateful that this little gem found its way into Vinnies where I picked it up for a goldcoin.
I shall read it, not in Room 228 but in "Melbourne", far away from the topsy-turvy world of finances created by a man who has run six companies into bankruptcy and wasn’t even able to make money out of a casino. This self-described business genius sent stock markets crashing after announcing a range of insane tariffs that anyone with even the most basic understanding of economics knew were a terrible idea.
And if this whole madness wasn't so serious, it'd be funny, what with Norfolk Island, a tiny tranquil island home to an estimated 2,188 people, despite forming an external Australian territory, was singled out by US President Donald Trump during his "Liberation Day", with a tariff hit 19 percentage points higher than the rest of Australia. One island resident said when he first heard of the tariffs, he originally had to double-check the date to make sure it wasn't an April Fool's prank. Other small Australian territories bizarrely singled out included the uninhabited, penguin-laden Heard and McDonald Islands, Christmas Island and the Cocos Keeling Islands. Oh, and before I forget: Russia, Belarus, and North Korea were exempt from Trump's tariffs.
Observers say it is hardly surprising that a man whose wealth was mainly generated by playing a TV-character who pretended to be a successful businessman, does not actually know how to run an economy. In the meantime, Chinese-produced "Made in USA" stickers are now 34% more expensive. "Turns out making stickers is not something US companies can do affordably, so we're going to have to continue buying the stickers from China, just with a 34% price premium, which is fantastic. Happy Liberation Day!" a spokesperson for one US manufacturer said.
