One of the things that has me most bemused about the Coalition this year is their continued opposition to and belittling of any initiative to make the retail grocery market more transparent - whether it’s web based price comparison or unit pricing. In concluding a comprehensive post on the ACCC’s report into competition in the sector, Tim Dunlop observes:
One final point for now: on what I’ve read so far in the report, and in the media, too much is made of the conclusion that the market is “workably competitive”. The implication is being drawn is that there isn’t much we can do to improve things and that measures that the government wants to introduce like GroceryChoice, unit pricing, relaxation of some zoning rules etc are therefore pointless. Again with my retailers hat on I would say that the increased transparency provided by some of these measures is precisely the sort of thing that will keep the buggers (like me in a former life) honest.
I can see perfectly clearly that the Liberals are trying to turn food prices into Kevin Rudd’s version of John Howard’s interest rates deception - implying that Labor promised that prices would be lower under a Rudd government. They’re also trying to imply that Rudd and co are “out of touch” - another reversal of the tactics of the ALP last year. But, speaking as someone who does his own shopping and would be very interested in comparing unit pricing on say, instant coffee, and in whether milk and bread are cheaper at the local Coles or the IGA up the road, I can’t for the life of me see how anyone who actually shops is going to think these measures aren’t, well, good things even if they’re not earth shattering. Nor can I figure out why anyone who purports to be in favour of market transparency - as opposed to the self interest of large retailers - could find all this to be some sort of evil and intrusive government action. But maybe Malcolm Turnbull has a different view?
Update: Bernard Keane in Crikey explains why the measures proposed aren’t a stunt.
Since we don’t live by politix alone (I sincerely hope), what did people get up to this weekend? Join in, share some tales, regulars and lurkers all!
I spent Friday night on an art gallery opening crawl - at two of the three galleries that were featuring works in the Brisbane Artist Run Initiatives Festival - Kiln in Paddington (which has the most steampunky art website in the world, I would venture to wager) and Jugglers in the Valley. Danielle O’Brien’s prints and paintings started an octopus theme, which continued on at Jugglers. Later on, I enjoyed the Five Spice Tofu and a Shanghai Beer at the fabulous Super Bowl in Wickham Street - so a really pleasant evening.
I didn’t have my camera with, but here are some photos of Kiln from an opening last year. It’s a transformed former tram substation, so a wonderful example of post-industrial architecture, and you can see why it sits nicely with a steampunk theme.
I was watching Skins on SBS just now - for the first time. I suspect I’ve been missing something I’d have liked, and I’m not sure why I never tuned in before. Anyway, Cass and the crew were having a dinner party and someone (I don’t know all the characters’ names) remarked - “just like adults”.
I can remember when I was at uni in the early 90s, and a sudden dinner party craze hit certain circles I moved in. I don’t think it was that anyone was a stellar cook, and the cooking wasn’t necessarily the point of attraction, but more the sort of enactment of an “adult” ritual. If there was any generation that really did the whole postmodern performative irony thing, it was us Gen X kids. We were caught on the cusp of a transition between fairly fixed social patterns - of our parents’ generation - and complete fluidity and the decay of practices and traditions to the extent where they don’t even have sufficient force for (affectionate) parody to have much meaning. When does “adulthood” begin now, and what marks the transition? Are there bourgeois signifiers like joining service clubs, and dressing for dinner? It’s pretty hard to grasp the force of some of Bunuel’s movies from the sixties which parallel a culture which now seems aeons distant in terms of its purchase on living tradition and lived experience.
Anyway, it was all kinda fun, and I have fond memories of some of these nights, including the notorious naked dinner party on Hawken Drive (which I’ll write about one day, maybe, in pursuing my argument that Gen X was more nekkid than Gen Y). One day, we still have to do the Edwardian dinner party, and indeed the Mrs Beeton’s dinner party. They’ll be about wine and dressing up more than food, I think.
Since we don’t live by politix alone (I sincerely hope), what did people get up to this weekend? Join in, share some tales, regulars and lurkers all!
I’m still a bit pressed for time, what with the phd thesis - second draft now under construction - and the first week of semester, but I did manage to sample a bit of the Brisbane Festival goodness last week, going to two gigs on Tuesday night. Deborah Conway and Willy Zygier were, as expected, totally brilliant, and Feasting on Flesh was a fine piece of burlesque cabaret. (It’s on til Saturday if anyone wants to go.)
There are a lot of really neat ideas in the planning of the festival this year - including quite a few free events in the burbs, and the rather interesting idea of hosting bands in people’s backyards. That’s a nice way - along with the Spiegeltent in Queens Park - to make it a bit more of a genuine festival than just having people traipse off to headline theatre and dance performances at QPAC. I wish I had more time to enjoy more of it.
Since we don’t live by politix alone (I sincerely hope), what did people get up to this weekend? Join in, share some tales, regulars and lurkers all!
As for me, I’m over-writing “Lazy Sunday” as it’s anything but for me. I expect to be up to the early am hours tomorrow getting the first draft of my thesis into a shape I’m happy to submit to my supervisor. So while everyone else is more than welcome to post on their weekend doings, I thought I’d share some photographic insights for the benefit of any other research students out there - Mark’s tips on how to finish a PhD dissertation!
#1: Use the tried and true yellow post-it note method for the citations and references you need.
#2: The dietetics of thesis completion are as important as the dialectics. Stock up on a nutritionally varied range of stimulants.
#3: While prayer and/or meditation may be important aids to writing, ensure that candles are not lit next to piles of books but remain symbols only.
In an attempt to further clog my arteries, I had McDonalds for breakfast this morning. At McDonalds, I had a McAmerica….err, thing, alleged foodstuff, which I think featured bacon, egg, cheese, a bagel and ketchup. Yes, in honour of the Olympic Games, McDonalds is serving up special breakfast items with a continent theme (is America a continent?). This amazing initiative also includes the McAsia, the McAfrica, the McAustralia and the McEurope. While I can’t confirm it, I suspect the McAsia is a bagel with bacon, egg, cheese and the blood of a Chinese sweatshop worker on it. So if you want to show your support for the home team, help induce a heart attack with a McAustralia (perhaps featuring bacon, egg, cheese, bagel and, err, tomato sauce). Incidentally, the McAmerica’s more tasteless than that video featuring Madonna and Justin Timberlake. It was truly awful tucker.
… the media, big retail interests and the opposition, that’s who.
Economist Peter Martin reports on why the upcoming PriceWatch scheme for grocery prices should strike fear into the hearts of retailers sitting on padded profit margins, and why consumers’ hearts will be gladdened.
Kevin Rudd was back on message yesterday in Question Time making exactly this point - the Coalition are aligning themselves with big business and against consumers. After all, what manner of Liberal party is it that opposes more transparent pricing information for consumers? And a more rigorous consumer protection regime working against anti-competitive behaviour? One that supports imbalances in market power (well, there was WorkChoices…)? One which is about to find its pseudo-populist emoting backfiring? We’ll see.
Since we don’t live by politix alone (I sincerely hope), what did people get up to this weekend? Join in, share some tales, regulars and lurkers all!
I had dinner in town on Friday night with a friend - we went to Pane e Vino, where I think the quality of the food isn’t what it once was. We were reflecting later that our continuing to patronise this establishment was probably an artefact of habit more than anything else - back in the mid 90s, it was one of the few places to eat in Brisbane town at a price point between Hungry Jacks and the really posh silver service joints. Now there are bistros all over the place, but we haven’t tried any. So any recommendations of good CBD eateries where you can get a meal and a glass of wine for about thirty bucks are much welcomed!
I was back in town yesterday - going to the QUT Gardens Point library for books for the thesis. When I emerged from the library, the weather had changed from being a beautiful sunny day to cold and grey - and it felt like a storm was building up. By the time I got to the bus stop on Adelaide Street to go home, the sky had gone a very odd shade of yellow - just minutes before the storm hit. Fortunately I had my camera with. It was a doozy of a storm - the bus stop crowd had to move back about half the width of the sidewalk to avoid getting drenched, and heralded the coming of some very cold winds. So we were all rugging up last night!
Since we don’t live by politix alone (I sincerely hope), what did people get up to this weekend? Join in, share some tales, regulars and lurkers all!
Unfortunately, I forgot to recharge my camera battery, so no pics this week. We’ll have to content ourselves with an image from Keating! The Musical, which I took my mum to see last night for Mothers’ Day (she’s a big PJK fan). Apparently, I’m not alone, as Paul Keating also took his mum to see it. I’d be really interested to know what non-Labor folks would think about it. They’d have been lonely in the audience at the QPAC Playhouse last night, surrounded by a gallery of Labor luminaries from Anna Bligh down. It’s also interesting to speculate whether a hypothetical Howard! The Musical would get much of a run - and I’m not sure Terry Serio would be cast in the eponymous role - his portrayal of Howard was cruel in its verisimilitude. Alexander Downer, in Rocky Horror style fishnets and corset, came off much better.
I also enjoyed catching up with a couple of friends who’d been at the matinee for a drink at The Point on Grey Street at Southbank first, always a good spot for a glass of wine or a cocktail, and while I’m doing recommendations, I went round to some other friends’ place for dinner on their back deck on Friday night and ate a very scrumptious lasagne concocted out of the pages of the Veganomicon - best. cookbook. eva! Today? Well, it’s been a lazy Sunday!
As discussed in this post, that was the name of the event I went to on Monday night at Bar Alto at the Powerhouse. I’ve just seen some very spiffy photos of the night posted on Facebook by my friend Rachel C, who’s an excellent photographer among many other accomplishments, so I thought I might post some (with her very kind permission) and do the Lazy Sunday thing of asking people what they got up to - so join in, share some tales, regulars and lurkers all!
I think the photos capture beautifully the celebratory nature of the evening and the theatricality of it all… Speaking of which, if you get the chance to go and see Polytoxic perform, don’t miss them.
Thanks once again to General Zed for organising the free tix.
Last night, if you were out and about in Sydney, you may have just heard at various pubs (under the constant dissonance of doof doof music and pokies) members of the Australian Hotels Association (AHA) crying in the beers. The reason is that the Iemma government have proposed major changes to NSW licensing laws. The main one being liquor licence fees dropping to between 500 and 2000 dollars. A victory for the people of NSW as well as for Sydney Lord Mayor Clover Moore who has been pushing for the changes.
A move away from the pokie supported beer barns and to smaller boutique bars is to be welcomed. Of course the AHA are unhappy as they now have some competition. They are already claiming that it will lead to a rise in alcohol related violence. David Elliott, the deputy chief executive of the AHA also has concerns regarding Responsible Service of Alcohol (RSA) provisions What the AHA forgets is they have been the main culprits in promoting and supporting a drinking culture that facilitates alcohol related problems. And anyone who has been to a busy pub on a Friday or Saturday will note how difficult it is to enforce RSA regulations in large venues.
To belabour a point, what the AHA and others (such as Adam Shand as noted by tigtog), fail to understand is that not everyone who wants a drink needs to also puke, get into a fight in between a flutter on the pokies. The target clientele for the smaller boutique bars will tend towards those that want to avoid such a scene.
Don’t expect an outbreak of peace and love in the streets of Sydney from this one. At least the NSW Government has stood up to the right ogres (the AHA lobby) but for the wrong reasons.
Someone who is remaining byline-less Adam Shand thinks it will all end in tears. (only just found the byline - geez their formatting sucks).
Cross-posted at LP in Exile, where you can comment while LP waits for an end to its server woes!
Meat: The World Cancer Research Fund report, to be released later this week, reviews all available science relating to cancer prevention. The results are no surprise and are pretty unequivocal - consumption of red meat is implicated in development of bowel cancer, which is the most common cancer to affect both men and woman in Australia (and the second most common, after prostate cancer).
Wine: The recommended red wine isn’t going to come cheap for Australians: “Many of the big-brand Aussies, while overly rich in alcohol, are generally poor for polyphenols - though some of their cabernet sauvignon-based wines are better.”Polyphenols are the compounds found in some red wines which might inhibit the development of cancers. So Australians with angina/heart disease or who are serious about reducing their possibility of developing same might be shelling out more for the good French (or Argentinian) stuff.
While the nation wonders how it is going to survive another four weeks of election campaigning, Sydneysiders are focusing on more important issues such as Clover Moore’s Small Bar bill. As previouslydiscussed on LP, the aim of the bill is to overturn NSW’s archaic licensing regulations.
There is some good news. Firstly the coalition, with some provisions, will support the bill. Secondly Alison Megarrity, the Labor member for Menai, has told caucus that they risk being seen as stooges of the AHA if they oppose or make concession in regards to the Small Bars bill. Thirdly the SMH ran an op-ed today by the AHA president John Thorpe that confirms he is an out of touch dinosaur who thinks Bob Askin is still premier.
Sophie says: “If you are going to take your clothes off for something, it better be a good cause”.
I think most blokes will think Sophie getting naked is enough of a good cause in itself.
The above quote comes from The Sun’s, err, thoughtful article about Sophie Monk’s decision to get her kit off in the interests of promoting animal rights. Being naked and promoting a political cause makes so much sense, doesn’t it? It’d be interesting to see The Sun’s reaction if Ms Monk’s non-meat eating boyfriend dropped his duds (after all he’s a rock star or something) for the same cause. It’d probably go something like this:
I think most blokes will think Benji getting naked is enough to put them off a bloody good steak.
Of course, The Sun is The Sun, but what justification does PETA have for resorting to such images?
Larvatus Prodeo is an Australian group blog which discusses politics, sociology, culture, life, religion and science from a left of centre perspective. more»
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