Category: Uncategorized

YESTERDAY was the 10th anniversary of the defeat of the referendum on the republic. If successful, the referendum would have ended the last vestige of legal discrimination against Catholics and women in the Australian political system. Continue reading “Objections to monarchy still powerful 10 years on”

THE media does not mean to distort. The vast bulk of journalists honestly try to get it right.

Indeed, when you look convictions for dishonesty and corruption, journalists do not feature much. But the media does distort. And the distortion costs Australian society dearly in the way of poor policy making by politicians who cannot help but keep a warier eye on the ballot box than the overall long-term public good. Continue reading “Rudd’s trouble with people”

‘WERE’S the money coming from?” is the theme of the mammal v dinosaur stoush between ABC managing director Mark Scott and News Ltd’s Rupert Murdoch. It is a battle of survival because without money there is no survival. Continue reading “Dinosaur News Ltd v Mammal ABC”

SO THOSE those right-wing ideologues have their noses out of joint because they do not think that Barack Obama deserved the Nobel Peace Prize. But imagine how far further their noses would be out of joint if he actually did the things that would make him truly worth it. Continue reading “What Obama should have done for his prize”

WE KNOW that history does not repeat itself, but, gee, it comes close to it at times.

This week President Barack Obama is deciding whether to increase US troops in Afghanistan. He is being advised by the usual suspects from what Republican President Dwight Eisenhower warned against — the “military-industrial complex”. Continue reading “Vietnam again, ask Galbraith”

JOURNALISTS are a fairly innumerate lot. Many are, bizarrely, quite proud of it.

It is a dangerous state of affairs because it means they swallow virtually any set of figures without question. Continue reading “Population projection not so simple”

WE ARE blessed by five short words that appear twice in the Constitution: “directly chosen by the people”. Continue reading “Beware MPs rigging electoral systems”

THE cry for compensation for shareholders went out almost immediately the wicked socialist Rudd government announced it would cut the Telstra Gordian knot. Continue reading “Telstra compo claims misguided”

Operation Enduring Freedom which began eight years ago next month looks as silly, though not as bloody, now as the US foray into Vietnam. Continue reading “Operation enduring war”

AT last. Australia is out of recession. “What?” I hear you ask, “I thought Australia had escaped the recession.” Continue reading “Population consumes growth performance”