Lazy Sunday
Since we don’t live by politics alone (I sincerely hope), what did people get up to this weekend? Join in, share some tales, regulars and lurkers all!
Climate clippings 52
7 billion and counting With the world’s population passing 7 billion there have been reports and analysis all over the media. George Monbiot, clear-headed as usual, says the real problem is consumption. He also takes a look at the UN [...]
Guest post by Jim McDonald: An open letter to Alan Joyce
Dear Mr Joyce, I have just received your Frequent Flyer message in which you “apologise” and then present the media spin and special pleading you have promulgated during the enterprise bargaining period. The fact is that your desire to break [...]
Quick link: IEEE Spectrum’s account of the Fukushima accident
While comprehensive accounts have apparently appeared in the Japanese media, this IEEE Spectrum article is the best attempt I’ve seen to present an English-language timeline of initial events at Fukushima Dai-chi in the wake of the tsunami.
Living in Paul Keating’s Australia, and loving it!
Tonight I went to Paul Keating’s book tour at the Brisbane Powerhouse. There’s a real sense, as I argued recently at The Drum, that we still live in the John Howard era. But only because the evil angels of this country are continually conjured up by [...]
Democracy v. EU Plutocracy: Links post
A number of important posts worth noting about the decision of Greek Prime Minister Georges Papandreou to submit the EU’s latest “rescue”/austerity package to a referendum: Yves Smith: …no one anticipated that a long suffering debtor would revolt, which is [...]
Tone
I really wanted to write a good review of this book, but this was not the book to do it. Abbott is a conviction politician, no matter how angry certain commenter may be when I say that. He wants power, yes, and he is ruthless in his pursuit of it. But he wants power for a reason, not just for its own sake. I just hope that the debate this book sparked gets people talking about what those reasons are.
Weekly Whimsy
This week’s whimsy is brought to you by the young Marlon Brando typing at home. Please share any bits and pieces you have come across recently that have surprised, delighted, intrigued or otherwise positively engaged you.
Joyce makes enemies with long memories
The Gillard Government has been accused of siding with Qantas to the disadvantage of the unions. This has been argued in relation to Government’s support for the termination of industrial action by Fair Work Australia. But there is more than [...]
Julian Assange, Andrew Bolt: political celebrity and the ‘free speech’ of privilege
Julian Assange, a little late to the party, penned an op/ed for Fairfax last week defending Andrew Bolt’s ‘right to free speech’. It’s an odd piece of writing. Assange asserts, all John Stuart Mill-like, that: The best policy decisions result [...]
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