There It is Again

I picked up this 2018 collection of Don Watson's writing, There It Is Again, from an op shop about a year ago and finally got around to reading it. I am a huge admirer of Watson's writing and his politics, but it wasn't until I opened the collection that I realised that I had probably read most of these pieces before. Many of these essays first appeared in The Monthly, to which I have subscribed for many years and which probably turned me into a Don Watson fan in the first place (or maybe not, I loved Recollections of a Bleeding Heart way back in 2002 when it was first published, while The Monthly only started in 2005).

Don Watson is a wonderful writer and he writes with extraordinary vividness and insight about current affairs. The downside of focusing on this subject matter is that the political pieces date quite quickly; do I really want to read about Tony Abbott or John Howard now that that particular nightmare is over? Mind you, he was incredibly prescient about Australia's position as dutiful deputy to the US, and the dangers this might pose if, for example, a lunatic was elected to the White House... and we all know how that's worked out.

It's not just politics in this volume, though. There are sharp pieces about the degradation of language, a recurring bugbear of Watson's; there are book and radio reviews; there are extracts from other books of Watson's like The Bush and American Journeys. He is only 76, so I hope we can look forward to much more writing from Don Watson to come.