Jewish American columnist Thomas Friedman says he was uninvited from 2024 Adelaide writers’ week over ‘timing’
A New York Times columnist at the centre of a second controversy engulfing Adelaide writers’ week has said he was uninvited from the event in 2024.Thomas Friedman, who is Jewish, confirmed to Nine newspapers on Thursday that after he agreed to appear in a video link session, he was subsequently notified “that the timing would not work out”.Earlier this week, former festival board member Tony Berg, who is of Jewish heritage, made an extraordinary accusation of “hypocrisy” against the director of Adelaide writers’ week, Louise Adler, saying she had lobbied for the removal of Friedman from the festival lineup.Sign up: AU Breaking News emailAt the time, a group of 10 academics had signed a petition demanding Friedman’s removal due to a controversial column he had written in the New York Times days earlier, which compared the Middle East conflict to the animal kingdom.The Palestinian author and academic Randa Abdel-Fattah, who was uninvited from this year’s writers’ week, was among the group.
When Friedman was notified, the academics were sent a letter by the board saying that requesting the cancellation of an artist or writer was an “extremely serious” issue.“We have an international reputation for supporting artistic freedom of expression,” the letter signed by the board’s chair, Tracey Whiting, said.“Thomas L Friedman was programmed to contribute online from New York.However, I have been advised that due to last-minute scheduling issues, he is no longer participating in this year’s program.”Whiting resigned as the chair of the festival board on Saturday.
Guardian Australia has been unable to reach her for comment.The inconsistency between the way the board handled the cases of Friedman and Abdel-Fattah was brought to light earlier his week when Berg’s previously confidential letter of resignation from the board began circulating.Berg’s letter was tendered on 22 October to Whiting, South Australian arts minister Andrea Michaels and the Adelaide festival’s executive director, Julian Hobba.“I cannot serve on a board which employs a director of Adelaide Writers Week (AWW) … who programs writers who have a vendetta against Israel and Zionism,” Berg wrote in his resignation email.“That the director programs pro-Palestinians and anti-Zionists is well known.
The Board has encouraged her to program writers who might have a different perspective,She resolutely fails to do so,”He accused Adler of lobbying for the cancellation of one such person who held a different perspective to her “on the grounds of alleged inappropriate description of Middle East countries and organisations even when many of the pro-Palestinian writers she has programmed have said and posted much worse things about Israel and Zionists”,Earlier this week, Berg sent a statement to media confirming it was Friedman he was referring to in his resignation email,“In 2024, Louise Adler led a demand to the board to retract an invitation to Tom Friedman to participate in the 2024 Adelaide Writers Week,” Berg’s statement said.
“After Tom Friedman … was invited to speak, Randa Abdel-Fattah had led a group of academics demanding that Tom Friedman be de-platformed.Then Louise Adler, [Adelaide festival artistic director] Ruth MacKenzie and [festival chief executive] Kath Mainland put an ultimatum to the board that they would resign if it did not endorse their recommendation to disinvite Friedman.In the face of that threat, the Board felt it had no alternative but to allow withdraw [sic] the invitation to Friedman.”Berg accused Adler and Abdel-Fatah of being “utterly hypocritical” in accusing the board of repressing freedom of speech when they had both actively sought to deny it to Friedman.“They both exhibit hypocrisy in defending free speech for some, when I observed them both to stridently oppose free speech during my time on the board,” he said.
Adler resigned on Tuesday over Abdel-Fattah’s cancellation, and later that day, the Adelaide Festival Corporation announced the cancellation of the 2026 writers’ festival.Adler responded to Berg’s allegations by accusing the former board member of breaching board confidentiality.“I consider discussions of the board table to be confidential,” she said in a prepared statement.“I’m rather surprised that a former CEO of Macquarie Bank has breached those confidences.It’s indicative of the way the former board operated, and I believe will make for a rich case study for future management students.
”Abdel-Fattah disputed Berg’s claims that she, along with Adler, led the charge to cancel Friedman.“I was one of 10 Indigenous and academics of colour who wrote a researched letter with references and footnotes about the harm of racial tropes,” she said in a statement to Guardian Australia.“What is missing in this is the question of power.We write letters on Google Docs to boards.The people who want to cancel us have premiers intervening.
”Since last Thursday, the South Australian premier, Peter Malinauskas, has denied any direct interference, insisting the board acted independently.Adelaide festival has been approached for comment.
Treachery and stupidity to the fore as Robert Jenrick defects to Reform | John Crace
One is too many and 1,000 never enough. Addiction is a tricky business. What starts as fun inevitably, insidiously, tears away the soul. And there are signs that Nigel Farage’s press conference habit is getting out of control. He started off at one a week
Robert Jenrick: from remainer to rightwinger with ruthless reputation
For a long time, Robert Jenrick’s transformation from a David Cameron-supporting remainer to an anti-immigration rightwinger did not convince many of his political peers – least of all Nigel Farage.Only last year, the Reform UK leader was describing him as a “fraud” and saying he was sceptical that Jenrick was genuine, dubbing him “Robert the Generic, Robert the Remainer and Robert the I Don’t Stand Particularly for Anything at all”.“There are people in politics who are there through conviction and there are people in politics who are there because they want to reach rank, position and all that comes with that,” he said at the time.“I’m really still not sure about Jenrick, to be honest with you, I’m really not sure.”Now, the verdicts of some of Jenrick’s Tory colleagues on his political behaviour are similarly damning and centre on his unbridled ambitions
Tory defectors: who has already joined Reform UK and who may follow?
With Robert Jenrick’s defection, the number of current or former parliamentarians to have joined Reform from the Conservatives has risen to 18. Some of the best known are likely to be prominent voices for Nigel Farage’s party in the run-up to the next election.There are others within the Conservative party thought to have considered their position in recent months. But Farage has claimed that the value of such additions to his ranks is dropping – and said he would accept no further defectors from the Tories after the May elections, arguing that by then his party’s strength would be so clear that they would have little to add.Here are some of the most prominent figures on both sides of that divide
‘The mask has slipped’: What have Jenrick and Farage said about each other in the past?
Like other Conservative recruits to Reform UK, Robert Jenrick’s defection has come with no shortage of lacerating past comments about Nigel Farage and his other new colleagues.When Nadhim Zahawi defected to Reform on Monday, Conservative headquarters were quick to unload the former chancellor’s previous comments about Farage on to social media.In the case of Jenrick, below is just some of the ammunition they have been drawing on once again.Today I took forward a bill to stop the two-tier sentencing rules that come into force in just 18 days. While Nigel Farage swanned off to Cheltenham to forget his troubles
More than 20 England council elections likely to be delayed until 2027
More than a third of local authorities in England have asked to postpone their elections in May, saying they are unable to deliver them effectively during an overhaul of local government, according to administrators.The requested postponements have sparked unrest and fierce criticism in some councils, with police being called to a council meeting in Redditch this week after insults were traded and members of the public decried a delay as “arrogant”.Sixty-three council areas could opt to postpone elections until 2027, after some were already delayed until May 2026, as two-tier authorities are being combined into single unitary councils.According to data compiled by the Association of Electoral Administrators, 27 of the 63 eligible local authorities – more than a third – have sought a postponement to either district or county council votes this year.Others were yet to make a decision on whether to ask for a delay before the request deadline at midnight on Thursday
Multimillionaire leader of Reform in Scotland refuses to reveal net worth
The multimillionaire financier who has been made leader of Reform UK in Scotland has refused to say how wealthy he is, claiming that is a private matter.Malcolm Offord, formerly a Conservative party life peer, was announced by Reform’s leader, Nigel Farage, as the party’s first Scottish leader, 10 weeks before a Scottish parliament election in which Reform is expected to win up to 18 seats.Offord is a yachting enthusiast who wins races at Cowes, collects classic cars and recently bought a mansion on the banks of Loch Lomond for £1.6m without a mortgage. He previously endorsed suggestions the public could be charged to use the NHS
ADHD care needs better regulation and fewer pills | Letters
Religious tradition, child safety and the law on circumcision | Letters
Woman pulled out of UK ultramarathon after death threats over Afghanistan fundraising
Circumcision kits found on sale on Amazon UK as concerns grow over harm to baby boys
One in four UK teenagers in care have attempted to end their lives, study says
Five minutes more exercise and 30 minutes less sitting could help millions live longer