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The August 20 Edition

Film director George Miller on playing Hollywood hardball | Eating disorders during lockdown | A tree-change reality check | Muslim senator Fatima Payman on meeting Pauline Hanson

15 stories

‘Simmering beneath the surface’: The awful spike in eating disorders during lockdown

Designed to protect at-risk sectors of the community, lockdowns also created vulnerabilities – particularly among young people.

  • Chip Le Grand
Known for his calm demeanour, George Miller says that having actors clash on set is “just something you have to deal with. You hope there’s enough resilience within everything that surrounds them that can compensate.”

Setbacks, star wars, sackings: How director George Miller plays Hollywood hardball

The legendary director of the Mad Max and Happy Feet films has learnt many lessons during his acclaimed career – including how to handle LA from Down Under.

  • Garry Maddox
Nicola Harvey thought her inner-city ambition would survive a move to rural NZ. “I was out of my depth,” she says.

‘I was naive’: When the call of farm life doesn’t go quite as planned

After a personal tragedy, quitting city life to work on the land sounded like the ideal solution. But a shift between fantasy and reality was also required.

  • Nicola Harvey
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The piece is characterised by sharp, stylised and free-flowing movements in a departure from classical ballet.

Good Weekend Talks: ‘It’s lonelier’: The transition from top dancer to artistic director

Australian Ballet artistic director David Hallberg talks dancing versus directing, tradition versus innovation, and how he survived Melbourne’s lockdowns. 

Why our first hijab-wearing Muslim senator wants a cuppa with Pauline Hanson

Fatima Payman, the newly sworn-in Western Australian Labor senator, talks about fleeing the Taliban, dealing with Islamophobia, and why she picks her battles.

  • Benjamin Law

‘If we insult you, we like you’: Two unsung 9/11 heroes on the art of mateship

On September 11, 2001, 38 planes landed in a small Canadian town, stranding thousands for days. Helping them out were Brian Mosher and best friend Oswald Fudge.

  • Konrad Marshall

My friend’s peacocks scratched my car: Who’s at fault?

This week, our Modern Guru offers advice on how to be prepared during peacock mating season.

  • Danny Katz

I finally found a bed I didn’t lose any sleep over

I thought I’d experienced my perfect sleep years ago, but a recent night in a London hotel proved otherwise.

  • Amelia Lester
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Are blended wines better than unblended?

It depends on what you want as a wine-lover: a wine that is indicative of a place or variety, a certain winemaker’s hand – or a wine that just tastes good.

  • Huon Hooke

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Paul Connolly’s Kitchen Sink Drama is a slice of domestic life, captured masterfully in only 100 words. This week: An unexpected turn of events at a dinner

  • Paul Connolly
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Good Weekend Quiz

Trivia buffs: test your knowledge.

Italian-style stuffed cabbage in tomato sauce.

Julia Busuttil Nishimura’s Italian stuffed cabbage rolls

These parcels are comforting, nourishing and such a lovely way to make use of the humble savoy cabbage.

  • 1-2 hrs
  • Julia Busuttil Nishimura
Beetroot red velvet muffins with lime cream cheese icing.

Karen Martini’s gluten-fee red velvet and barberry muffins with cream cheese icing

These muffins are moist and delicious. The beetroot adds a pink hue which goes perfectly with the chocolate flavour and sour zing of the barberries.

  • 1-2 hrs
  • Karen Martini
Jeow.
Good Food hat15.5/20

Melbourne: Jeow

Besha Rodell can taste the passion at Thi Le’s new Laotian-Australian-inspired restaurant in Richmond (formerly Anchovy).

  • Besha Rodell
Hotel Centennial.
Good Food hat15.5/20

Sydney: Hotel Centennial

In terms of tone, not much has changed since Merivale bought Woollahra's Hotel Centennial in 2017 – but there has been a shift in the kitchen.

  • David Matthews

Other editions

The March 21 edition

Stephanie Alexander and The Cook’s Companion at 30 | Free-diver Ant Williams | Debra Adelaide and Gabrielle Carey | How to deliver a baby on a plane

  • 11 stories

The March 14 edition

The high-strung, low-key world champ who could become our most-capped swimmer | Ukraine’s world-leading robotics work | Filmmaking at -50C | Consoling a friend

  • 13 stories