Get On Your Bike And Win!

Dear Readers,

To say a big thanks to our loyal supporters we are giving away some great prizes this month. Particularly coveted by NM staff is a stylish pair of Dutch panniers from design boutique Scally and Trombone.

We also have some political reading to get your teeth stuck into with Left Turn, a collection of essays on the Left, and the latest Quarterly Essay on the Australian "culture of complaint" in The Big Whinge. David Nyuol Vincent tells his story in a gripping and inspiring autobiography, The Boy Who Wouldn’t Die. For royal fetishists and lovers of romance we have 10 double passes to Danish film A Royal Affair. Lastly there are tickets to see the upcoming IQ2 debates in Sydney on a nuclear future, and in Melbourne on foreign aid.

See below for more details on the prizes and follow the links to enter the competitions.

If you’re not a paid subscriber yet, get on your bike, sign up now to enter and win!

The NM team.

• WIN: Funky Dutch panniers to ride in style

Scally and Trombone is proud to present the latest waterproof vinyl bike bags made in Holland. These smart and colourful bags are a must have for any cyclist with style and can be used either as touring pannier or for commuting around town. These panniers easily detach from the bike to carry with you and are excellent shopping bags.

The double pannier is valued at $95.

Go here to enter.

• WIN: Five copies of Left Turn

The 2008 financial crisis opened the door for a bold, progressive social movement. But despite widespread revulsion at economic inequity and political opportunism, after the crash very little has changed. Has the Left failed? What agenda should progressives pursue? And what alternatives do they dare to imagine?

Left Turn includes passionate and challenging contributions by a diverse range of writers, thinkers and politicians, from Larissa Berendht and Christos Tsiolkas to Guy Rundle and Lee Rhiannon. These essays offer perspectives largely excluded from the mainstream.

Edited by Jeff Sparrow and Antony Loewenstein

Click here to enter the competition.

• WIN: Five copies of The Big Whinge: Politics, Affluence and an Angry Nation

Why are Australians so disenchanted and angry when it comes to politics? Given how well the country is going, by all rights we should be delighted with our political leadership. In Quarterly Essay 46, Laura Tingle argues that something deep in the culture now amplifies antagonism and complaint. When we were prosperous in times past, we did things like form a federation. What has changed? What would a different politics look like? And, Tingle asks, can a leader surf the wave of anger all the way to power?

Click here to enter the competition.

• WIN: A copy of The Boy Who Wouldn’t Die

The autobiography is a powerful account of a young man’s incredible resilience, told with frankness and humour by David Nyuol Vincent and Carol Nader. David was a little boy when he fled southern Sudan with his father as war raged in their country. He left behind his distraught mother and sisters, his village and his childhood, and he would never return. They survived the perilous Sahara Desert crossing into Ethiopia only to be separated. At 12 years of age, David was trained as a child soldier and fought to survive the next 17 years of his life alone in refugee camps. In 2004, David was offered a humanitarian visa as one of the ‘Lost Boys of Sudan’ and was resettled in Australia.

Click here to enter the competition.

• WIN: 10 double passes to Danish historical romance A Royal Affair

The film tells the epic 18th century tale of a passionate romance between Queen Caroline and the royal physician assigned to her husband, King Christian VII of Denmark. The forbidden affair would not only have serious consequences for those involved, but it would ultimately change Denmark forever. It is a beautifully shot film and a fascinating story of how modern Denmark was ultimately shaped. The film releases 21 June and was the winner of the Best Actor and Best Screenplay awards at the Berlin Film Festival.

Click here to enter the competition.

• WIN: 20 double passes to Melbourne IQ2 debate on Australian foreign aid

Foreign aid is a waste of money
4 July 2012
6:30pm to 8:30pm
Melbourne Town Hall

From child soldiers in Sudan to gang violence in Papua New Guinea; tsunamis in the Pacific to earthquakes in New Zealand, we’re confronted with communities in need every day.

Who should we help? How can we be sure our aid dollars reach their destination? Some believe that aid traps communities in a cycle of dependence, holding them back from developing their own systems and managing their own issues. So on balance, do those dollars hurt more than they help?

And with endemic poverty in Australia’s indigenous communities and natural disaster breaking Queensland’s budget should we "take care of our own" first?

Click here to enter the competition.

• WIN: 2 double passes to the next Sydney IQ2 debate on nuclear energy

We’ve seen the energy future and it’s nuclear
26 June 2012
6:45 to 8:30pm
City Recital Hall Angel Place, Sydney

The unfolding nuclear disaster at Fukushima has seen Germany abandon nuclear energy. Other countries are rethinking their options. Proponents of nuclear energy claim that a new generation of reactors are safe. Opponents say that the residual risks are just too great – especially when contrasted with those of increasingly affordable technologies for renewable energy.

Are fears about nuclear power misinformed, misguided or even relevant when indexed to the unfolding reality of adverse climate change? Given our vast reserves of uranium, our stable political economy and isolation does Australia have an obligation to embrace nuclear power?

Click here to enter the competition.