In due course, air travel became cheaper and quicker, and the tyranny of distance over Australian life slackened. In the 1960s, visits to the United States became less rare. When anyone from the Quadrant circle made it to New York, the preferred way of coping with the initial overwhelming impact of the city was to ring Irving Kristol. It must have become tiresome for him after a while, but he bore it with good grace, and some lucky Australians enjoyed lunch in the agreeable setting of the Century Club as one of their first meals in the city. (When he lived in New York, Irving was a clubman; in Washington, he is not. I have forgotten to ask him why.)