Category: Uncategorized

THE Paris climate conference should give us greater cause for optimism about preventing catastrophic climate change than all the talks and conferences before it. Continue reading “Paris — economics makes climate pledges easy”

THE word “kludge” has been around since the 1960s. Then, in 2013, political scientist Steven Teles introduced the word “kludgeocracy” – rule by “kludges”. A kludge is a collection of parts that clumsily but effectively provides a temporary solution to a fault or problem, especially in computer systems. Continue reading “Super way to fix a kludge, or should a kludge fix super?”

WHAT else is there to say? Continue reading “Half measures no good against ISIS”

THIS week, the 40th anniversary of the dismissal, was an interesting one for Opposition Leader Bill Shorten to renew his call for an Australian Republic. In the same week, Prime Minister and former Australian Republican Movement leader Malcolm Turnbull was in Canberra meeting Charles Windsor, who if nothing changes will become Australia’s next monarch, by dint of birth alone. Continue reading “No reserve powers needed in a democracy”

YES there is a trickle down effect in the field of tax. Not in the Ronald Reagan sense whereby tax breaks for the rich allegedly result in more employment. That effect was often likened to a trickle down from the bladder whereby those at the bottom got worse than nothing. Continue reading “Trickle down of ideas, not money”

By CRISPIN HULL

Not since 1975 – 40 years ago – has a Governor-General performed so poorly at the Melbourne Cup. Continue reading “Dismal GG fails to met the historic moment”

NOW that Joe Hockey is on his way to be Australian Ambassador to the United States and that the appeal period has run out, it might be a time for some sober reflection on his defamation action against Fairfax publications, including this newspaper. Continue reading “Hockey’s reputation: lessons for all”

TIME flies. It is now a tad over a year since I went on the 5-2 diet.

It resulted from watching a BBC program that did a thorough expose on the diet industry and another program by Michael Mosely, a medical doctor and journalist, who quickly summarised all that was wrong with the diet industry and then went in search of the best medical advice to see what was the best way to loose weight. Continue reading “Waist not want not — the 5-2 diet works”

WITH all the talk about cities over the past fortnight, we should do something about Australia’s woeful approach to cycling. Continue reading “Improving cycling and city life”

YVONNE D’Arcy’s win in the High Court against a pharmaceutical giant has been widely applauded. But it may not be such a victory for the underdog as first portrayed. It would be unfortunate if the case resulted in pharmaceutical companies contracting their gene-research programs. It would mean cures and treatments for sufferers of a great range of genetic disorders would be unnecessarily delayed. Continue reading “Reward needed for medical research”