Scandinavian nuclear – not put off by cost blowouts
The first new nuclear plant built in Europe for many years, Finland’s Olkiluoto-3 nuclear reactor, is going to be a financial disaster for somebody. Originally scheduled for completion this year, the latest estimates are that it’ll be finished in 2012. [...]
Playing politics with fire(?)
There’s been a bit of a kerfuffle about the Government supposedly tying assistance flowing from the Victorian fire disaster to the passage through parliament of the economic stimulus package. From the ABC site: Coalition MPs have lashed out at the [...]
Senate scrutiny or posturing?
Xenophon watch: TALK to resolve a Senate deadlock on the $42 billion economic stimulus package have hit a snag with independent senator Nick Xenophon demanding it include water reforms. Xenophon says that he can’t support the economic stimulus package without [...]
Ruddism. Define. Two words.
Overland has a great competition going. Entries are open only to subscribers (who can win a prize). We, of course, totally encourage subscriptions to Overland, but in a “temper democratic” and with a “bias Australian”, LP readers might like to [...]
Quadrant's economic recovery program
From the Quadrant blog: The world’s economies are not suffering from a lack of demand, and the right policy response is not a demand stimulus. Increased public sector spending will only add to the market confusions that already exist… There’s [...]
Turnbull's tough stand against the government
…didn’t last long. Bernard Keane has the details on Turnbull’s backdown on the stimulus package over at Crikey.
Israel votes
An open thread for discussion of the Israeli election… As a brief discussion starter, it seems to me that commentary which suggests that Likud, Kadima and Labour have all been vying with each other to prove how “tough” they are [...]
Borgism
A taste of what’s to come in the Queensland election campaign has been airing on the telly over the last few nights. One of the advantages for Labor of the early election speculation is that almost anything they do that’s [...]
Fire disaster appeal fundraiser
John Quiggin is initiating a blog based fundraising drive for victims of the Victorian bushfires. Details (and of how to make a donation) are here.
Vale Val Vallis
Last week via an obituary in the Courier Mail I became aware that Val Vallis, poet, university teacher and opera critic, passed away on 14 January, 2009. He is perhaps not the most famous literary figure in Australia, but for [...]
Fire stuff
Unsurprisingly, the Victorian fires are news around the world, but it’s mostly rehashes of domestic media put together by correspondents in Sydney. But the Los Angeles Times had a link to an earlier piece of theirs which neatly summarises a [...]




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