PR and journalism merges into one at writers’ festivalWhat are the UTS and Sydney Writers’ Festival, supposed bastions of intelligent and unfettered debate, doing colluding? asks Elizabeth Farrelly in this tale for our times.
May, 2009
Luxury yoga mats defy recession
At a time when consumers are in a serious saving mode, why are sales of $US100 yoga mats soaring? Time explores a GFC conundrum.
The murky world of pro-bono charity advertising
It’s hard not to be cynical about pro-bono charity ads. Some of them – particularly those involving children – are creative for creativity’s sake.
Russian girl with ‘Mowgli’ syndrome discovered in Siberia
A feral girl who has spent her entire life shut up in a flat in the company of cats and dogs has been taken into care by police in Siberia.
A song for Rupert
US singer-songwriter Jill Sobule met Rupert Murdoch at a conference. When she came back the next year, she relived the moment, in song.
weird 
Man without fingerprints confounds US customs
An estimated one in 50 people around the world lack matchable fingerprints. One cancer patient’s fingerprints were so eroded by the medication he was taking that the US authorities couldn’t let him into the country.
Hearing the picture: movies for the blind
There’s a community of film buffs who go to the cinema despite being vision impaired and, in some cases, totally blind, writes Luke Buckmaster. A new initiative in Australia is helping them see.
Why America loves Dan Brown
Polls reveal the growth of do-it-yourself spirituality in the US, says Ross Douthat. It’s a sentiment that Dan Brown taps brilliantly in Angels & Demons and The DaVinci Code.
Bristol Palin’s other half
In GQ’s upcoming funny, sympathetic story on Levi Johnston, we learn a lot more about the young father we’ve come to know as Sex on Skates.
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Quick links for the Crikey Daily Mail subscriber.
Your Say: Daily Mail readers' feedback: Banks respond to Crikey’s article
Will Rayner, Head of Investor Relations, Bendigo and Adelaide Bank Limited, responds to Crikey article: Bendigo and Adelaide should come clean on MIS.
Will ‘Marinergate’ be the last straw that breaks Belinda Neal?
Crikey understands a bitter row, annoyingly dubbed “Marinergate” by insiders, is brewing between Central Coast ratepayers and two cash-strapped local councils.
Tips and rumours: ABC Radio stays mono
One tipster questions if ABC Radio will actually go digital, and what’s going on between Julie Bishop and Dennis Jensen?
Convicted rapists Bilal and Mohammed Skaf caught with mobiles in cell
Two mobile phones have been found in the prison cell of convicted NSW rapists Bilal and Mohammed Skaf, causing a major security scare at Goulburn Jail, writes Alex Mitchell.
Financial Planning Week superannuation special
There is another way, though, to increase the capacity of superannuation to provide for a retirement that is not dependent on the aged pension.
BRW’s rich listers lose $25b; still way richer than you
As a group, it seems that the members of the Rich 200 have outperformed the ordinary investor to an impressive degree, writes James Thomson.
Crikey Clarifier: North Korea’s nuclear threat explained
How does North Korea’s threat to the world compare to say, Iran’s? How great is the threat towards South Korea? Craig Snyder answers these questions and more.
Westfield economic suicide by greed?
The uncontrolled greed of local council and multi national shopping centre magnates has merged to screw the very customers — and ratepayers — that have funded their empires, writes Lionel Elmore.
Roxon faces public health wrath over blocked report
Health Minister Nicola Roxon and her office are about to feel the reverberations of a serious dummy spit by a senior academic over the delayed release of a major review of public health research, says Melissa Sweet.
Political snippets: Interest rates to stay unchanged
Richard Farmer on the possibility of an interest rate change, and stimulating the dead.
Turnbull v Rudd: pecuniary interest smackdown
Thanks to the hard working scanner at Open Australia, we can flesh out yesterday’s oo ah reporting of opposition leader Malcolm Turnbull’s apparent net worth.
What we can learn from … the wreck of the Batavia
The shipwreck of the Batavia and the perils of hiring Gen Yers: a cautionary tale by Mike Stuchbery.
Parliamentary sin-bin: who makes the Tuckey hall of fame?
In what’s shaping up as a fascinating race between youth and experience, Peter Dutton and Wilson Tuckey share the lead for the most number of times booted out of the House of Representatives Chamber.
