CEO Of Arts Centre Melbourne Resigns Following $7.2M Deficit

“[Judith] Isherwood has been a controversial figure during her tenure, with numerous current and former staff speaking critically of her tough, at times confrontational, management style and determination to launch costly initiatives such as … [presenting] Einstein on the Beach.” Others praise her artistic ambitions for the Centre as well as her stewardship of the recent renovations of concert venue Hamer Hall.

How Could We Fall For Those Bad Fake Paintings?

“How could anyone ever, for a minute, have mistaken those howlers for Vermeers? That’s easy. Connoisseurs are products of their times as much as anyone else, subject to the same unexamined assumptions. But it’s usually a connoisseur who soonest smells a rat. He or she does so not by being wary but by becoming puzzled in a normal pursuit of pleasure.”

The Dutch Grapple With “Black Pete”

The black-faced, red-lipped servant of Sinterklaas – often more beloved by regular folks than the goody-goody St. Nick himself, it must be said – has been the subject of controversy in the Netherlands off and on for decades. But this year, following the suggestion by a black UNESCO official that the character should be abolished, the issue has become “an existential revolt not seen in Dutch society since the murder of Pim Fortuyn.”