The Battler

This week the imp*rial ret*nue mourn the passing of Sam Neill, Liberal Party Corruption (Catholic Schools edition), the great book production debate, Melvillean Marxism and the terrors of Left irony, making prisons safe spaces, Lindsey Graham queer lore, Mamdani Italian erasure, the racial profile of New York couples, Shakespeare, and Iran 2: Lindsey’s Revenge.
Song as always is No Strain by the Southend Rainbows.
Thanks to Diktator Dan Dare for production.
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Battlers, we have a question for you…Shag - Date - Marry: Pat - Tim - Drew.This week, The Battler Lads discuss The Beijing of the North (Brisbane), Pat’s (receding) hairbrained scheme to sell OzLit to the Chinese market, contemporary Chinese cinema, the mercurial definition of ‘The Battler’ in 2026, and, as usual, the state and fate of the current Australian left. + the Prime Minister said he’d k*ll Kylie Minogue or something? And more!Thanks as always to Producer Dan ‘Danni Minogue’ Dare for all his hard work!


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With Tim up in the great Pearl River City of Brisbane, this week the Battler brings you a conversation between friends of the pod Michael Winkler and Giacomo Bianchino. They launched the book Griefdogg together at Better Read than Dead, in Sydney, back on the 15th of June. They chat about metaphor, the resistance of landscape to art, grief and the sentence. There are also some great questions from the civs in the audience.
Thanks to “Dictator” Dan Dare as always for production Back to regular programming next week.


This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit thebattler.substack.com

This week, the extended M*rlborough-Sh*a-C*llectual clan chat for ages with James.haha.nice: the “alternative comedian from Melbourne” responsible for the Harold Holt Swim Centre series on Instagram Tiktok. They talk about “Puss” Holt, the general mean-ness of the Australian political class; the misogyny at the heart of conspiracy theories; The Butter Wars and international trade policy; modern documentary culture; Australian history’s terminal dullness; defamation and the chilling of critical culture. It’s a huge and important yarn; all-time Battler areas.
Before that, the r*de mechanicals talk Starmxit, the Race Around the World; Shakespeare (gay); and the HUGE REVEAL of the CHARLIE PICKERING BB KING.
Note: Watteau was not really a landscape painter, but certainly bordered on genre!
Thanks as always to “Dictator” Dan Dare for production.
Song as always is “No Strain” by The Southend Rainbows.
Subscribe to Straying for the Morsel and The Yeah Nah Review.


This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit thebattler.substack.com

This week, the gr*nks are talking to Shane Jesse Christmass, author of Xerox Over Manhattan; Latex, Texas; Meth DTF and a bunch of other indie gems. They talk prose style, the global indie publishing orbit, Amerikkka as theory and practice; collaboration across continents and defining Ozlit. It’s a ripping chat, particularly for fans of the truncated sentence (I know there are a few of youse getting around!)
Before that, they talk over each other about cinema, a McManus Merkin Mime, Segal World, Lesbian barfights, the ELECTION OF DREW PAVLOU AS CHAOS CORRESPONDENT FOR KARL STEFANOVIC, America250 and DJT80; woodchopping lore; Murnane’s Order of Australia speech; and Tim sets Pat off like a Beyblade about the changing world of CGI in movies lol.
Thanks as always to “Dictator” Dan Dare for Production.
Song as always is “No Strain” by the Southend Rainbows.
Subscribe to Straying for the Morsel and Patrick Marlborough


This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit thebattler.substack.com