How Iran sanction fears awakened the sleeping China has only recently come back into the UN’s good books. So why doesn’t it support sanctions against Iran in light of its secret nuclear facility? What is the nature of China and Iran’s relationship?
September, 2009
More of the same from Gordon Brown
The British PM’s re-election speech didn’t offer anything new, just more childcare, incomprehensible fiddling about with constitutional reform and a sudden concern about police response times, says John Rentoul.
Gittins: Pollies pander to grey power
Single age pensioners received a pension increase and concessions on their rent. Is it because they are the most ‘worthy’ pensioners? No. It’s because their votes are critical, writes Ross Gittins.
Colebatch: Even economists can’t agree on GFC
Was it too much debt? Too much saving? The Australian Conference of Economists can’t agree on what caused the global recession, or what we should learn from it, says Tim Colebatch. Reassuring…
Grattan: Fielding calls for conscience vote
Senator Steve Fielding is calling for a conscience vote for Coalition MPs on the ETS, saying that they ”should not capitulate to the Government’s demands simply because it is afraid of giving … a double dissolution trigger”.
Gordon Brown’s stump speech: we must “fight to win”
Nine months out from a general election, British PM Gordon Brown has addressed the Labour Party’s autumn conference with his tactics for getting the nation back on side. And boy was it long, says Simon Carr.
Did Polanski goad his prosecutors?
Many are asking: why would Roman Polanski be extradited now? Apparently his lawyers were pushing for the charges to be dropped, arguing the LA County district attorney’s office had stopped hunting him down. Bad idea.
Death of the Polaroid
The last roll of Polaroid film will pass its use-by date next month, marking the end of a photographic era. The Telegraph looks back at 60 years of romance and alchemy.
Queensland clerk: political culture is sick
In a scathing 17,500-word call for reform, Neil Laurie, Clerk of the only legislative chamber in Queensland’s Parliament, has suggested the current political culture is in some ways worse than the pre-Fitzgerald era, says Andrew Bartlett. Full submission can be found here.
Why do France Telecom employees keep killing themselves?
24 employees of France’s largest telephone operator, France Telecom, have committed suicide in less than two years. Is the company to blame, or is it all just a freak coincidence?
Just in time for Christmas: the Sarah Palin memoirs
Good news: Sarah Palin (or her ghostwriter) has finished writing her new 400-page book, Going Roque, earlier than expected — just in time to land in Christmas stockings everywhere.
Starbucks goes instant
In the recession-racked US, knocking back $5 Venti Peppermint Mocha Twist Frappuccinos isn’t as popular as it once was. So Starbucks is now entering a more GFC-friendly market: instant coffee. One problem: it’s awful.
Nestlé suckles from the teat of Mugabe’s dirty dairy
Robert Mugabe has built a secret farming empire with land seized from white farmers. Their biggest customer? Swiss food giant Nestlé, which has been lapping up 1 million litres of Mugabe’s milk a year.
Breakfast Media Wrap: Wave of death across the Pacific as tsunami strikes
The pick of the morning’s media
Even the GFC can’t reverse the Left’s decline
When the GFC hit, the neo-liberal consensus seemed shaky. There was a return to Keynesian approaches. But German election results suggest any hoped-for social democratic revival will be short-lived, says Trevor Cook
Should readers click the online ads?
Should you support your favourite news websites by clicking on their ads — and does it even help? Derek Thompson takes a look.
The patriarchy is bad for men too!
Hair dryers, manscaping and eating tofu? That’s no real man. Except, ads focused on a false idea of manhood are just as damaging as the “real women” concept is for females, writes Clem Bastow.
The modern-day meaning of Mao
As they practise their precision marching and ground their pigeons in anticipation of the upcoming 60th anniversary of the People’s Republic of China, Al Jazeera examines Chairman Mao’s irrelevancy for today’s Chinese youth. Will Mao’s mistakes ever be debated?
That icky little thing called sex
Oh no, our children are wearing “shag bands”?! Further proof of child sexualisation. Except… those bands have been popular for generations. Rachel Hills writes on teenage sex hysteria.
Influenza vaccination: the case for
Dr Michael Wooldridgeresponds to Peter Collignon in the debate about swine flu vaccination: “vaccination will stop this epidemic in its tracks”.
Fighting for a fair deal from Centrelink
Dealing with Centrelink is a full-time job for someone applying for a Disability Support Pension, getting punted from payment to payment, filling out forms and going to pointless reviews and assessments, writes an anonymous disability carer.
Crikey Says: The tongue twisting tales of the RBA
What the Reserve Bank of Australia Governor Glenn Stevens said yesterday about interest rates and the economy and what others heard him say are two very different things.
When will News expose the Evans/Fairfax conflict, Terry?
With a Murdoch associate on the Fairfax board, the hands of News Limited commentators are tied, which is why commentary on Ron Walker leaving has been particularly quiet.
