On banning the Burqa
Nicolas Sarkozy wants to ban the Burqa. The French National Assembly looks set to agree. Despite all the blah about ‘Western values’, women in the West also have issues with compulsory sexualised visibility. The claim that this regulation of dress [...]
Tony Abbott the self confessed wimp
Shaun Carney begins his latest column thus: TONY Abbott the unlikely leader has done a terrific job in the 5½ months in which he has been at the helm of the Liberal Party. I doubt that, somehow. It’s clear from [...]
Facebook, privacy and social utility
The biggest story in social media over the last couple of months has been the rapid decline in trust between Facebook and its users. Far from being a phenomenon restricted to techie activists, Facebook’s campaign to push an ever increasing [...]
Guest post by Mr Denmore: The Failed Estate
Regular LP commenter, Mr Denmore, is contributing a series of posts about shifts in the media and journospheres in the context of this year’s federal election. Mr Denmore has extensive professional experience in the media, and we trust you will [...]
Saturday Salon
An open thread, where at your weekend leisure, you can discuss anything you like.
Protests and bullets in Bangkok
We’ve been asked to put up a thread to discuss the violence and political uncertainty currently destabilising life in Bangkok and the economy of Thailand as a whole.
Abbott harsher on the public sector than Howard
There’ll be oodles of commentary tomorrow about Tony Abbott’s Budget Reply speech, and I’ve already added some of my own [see also Bernard Keane for a potted summary, and the full text of the address in reply here]. But I’d [...]
Shorter Abbott budget reply: Bring back John Howard
Tony Abbott really squibbed his moment in the spotlight tonight. According to the government, he needed to identify at least $15 billion in spending cuts to fund the promises he’s already made. According to just about everyone, he needed to [...]
David Cameron's Broken Britain
I have an article at the ABC’s The Drum today about the British election and its aftermath, focusing on how much change the eventual deal implies. NB: Previous LP British election coverage here. Update: Interesting piece from Seumas Milne.
The reforming conservative – sports edition
Lindy Edwards neatly encapsulates some of the current conventional wisdom about Kevin Rudd and his government: Repeatedly over the past two years, Rudd has demonstrated that he aspires to be a great reformer who will leave a mark on history. [...]
Budget reply predictions
Thankfully, this ridiculous beat-up about Kevin Rudd’s supposed “firing-up” (watch the interview here – it’s a forceful defence of the government’s record, nothing more, nothing less) will almost certainly disappear when Tony Abbott delivers his budget reply tonight. Anybody like [...]
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