In Malcolm Turnbull and Barnaby Joyce we have two alpha males in full political rut. And they have one key quality in common: they are both fairly new, outsiders and have an urgent need to prove themselves to their followers.
August, 2009
England wins Ashes, 16 months of barmy humour ahead
For the next 16 months we have to endure open-top buses, MBEs for scratchy batsman and all the jokes about how rubbish we are, writes Jarrod Kimber.
Tips and rumours: No Bandidos clubhouse in Bligh’s backyard?
Anna Bligh worries about new Bandidos clubhouses and further Fairfax subscription woes. Plus, who is rumoured to play Steve Irwin in the new telemovie titled Crikey?
We’re not homebirth wingnuts, we just want equal treatment
The issue of homebirth is up there with abortion — it divides the community into those who think it is OK, and those who don’t, writes Homebirth Australia’s Justine Caines.
Abortion in Queensland: an illegal ambiguity
Abortion is still technically a crime in Queensland. The longer Premier Anna Bligh hesitates to decriminalise abortion, the more she loses support from Queensland women, writes Professor Caroline de Costa.
Fairfax print earnings slump 66%
“Fairfax Media well positioned for recovery in advertising markets”, said the headline on the company’s press release today — but it was all about spin, not discussion and explanation for what was a very, very bad six months.
Video of the Day: Pixel perfect: 8-bit trip
This great stop-motion clip apparently took 1500 hours of moving Lego bricks around for four glorious minutes of footage. It was worth it.
2009: The Summer of Death
Forget the deaths of Kim Dae-jung or Baitullah Mehsud. So many celebrities have died lately — think Michael Jackson and Farrah Fawcett — that New York Magazine is dubbing it the ‘Summer of Death’.
Malaysia’s image takes a hit over caning
32-year-old Malaysian mother of two Kartika Sari Dewi Shukarno is soon set to face six lashes with a cane for drinking beer in a bar, as mandated by the country’s Islamic laws. The case calls Malaysia’s reputation as “moderate” Muslims into question, says the WSJ.
Salute to The Sun: masters of errors and corrections
Craig Silverman, editor of the Regret The Error blog, which tracks newspaper errors and retractions, pays tribute to the frequent and farcical mistakes made by UK’s The Sun, offending gypsies, bus drivers and Sharon Osbourne.
VIDEO: Krugman: The US is in economic purgatory
Commentators must stop trying to view the economy in black and white terms, says Paul Krugman: the US is in neither economic heaven nor hell — it is in purgatory, with both the GDP and unemployment rising.
Rudd should have sold ETS like Howard sold GST
PM Kevin Rudd never spent adequate time promoting and educating the public about the ETS. It’s a complicated scheme, only understood by those with a vested interest in it, writes Phillip Coorey.
How the free market can save the free press
In order for news organisations to survive, the US government must grant them exemption from antitrust and price-fixing laws so that they can essentially “collude for survival”, argues Tim Rutten.
newspaper death watch 
Is the writing on the wall for mX?
With the closure of News Corp’s London free newspaper The London Paper, could its Australian counterpart mX be facing a similar fate? Lovers of wacky stories about animals and inane vox pops want to know.
Twitter cuts through Hollywood hype
Twitter speeds up word of mouth so quickly, it is out-pacing Hollywood’s PR machine, reports Michael Sragow: if a movie stinks, everybody knows within hours of the premiere.
Students: take a year off, miss out on Youth Allowance
Students are to meet today with Education Minister Julia Gillard to discuss proposed Youth Allowance reforms. The changes will make it difficult for gap year students to qualify for assistance.
Measuring the National Party’s decline
Possum Comitatus charts decline in National Party seats from 1996 to 2007 and finds it’s not as big as most are making out.
The Taliban: the real winner in Afghanistan
Both sides may be claiming victory in Afghanistan’s recent elections, but the real winner is the Taliban, who successfully suppressed voter turnout and garnered international media attention, says Leslie H. Gelb.
Do we really need to work 5 days a week?
What effect would a four day working week have on Australians? For starters: reduced emissions, better quality of life and increased efficiency, writes John Davidson.
Ain’t no party like a National Party
The National Party ran its national conference over the weekend, and The Oz appears to have caught party fever, running across the board coverage from this important national event this morning.
Country voters miss out on blogging PM
PM Kevin Rudd may be in a tweeting and live-blogging frenzy, but it’s alienating regional voters who don’t have access to the fast speed internet required to interact, writes North Coast Voices.
Libs in a twist over China
The Coalition just can’t decide what their stand is on China/Australia relations. The only thing they can agree on: all the diplomatic problems are thanks to PM Kevin Rudd, writes Lenore Taylor.
