Like many politicians, Mike Rann has been perfectly happy to exploit his private life when it suited him. Yet the moment there’s a hint of sex, he suddenly demands silence.
November, 2009
Crikey Clarifier: Crikey clarifier: what is wrong with out airlines?
The sense of dread in the airports and lounges is oppressive. Seats and services are getting meaner and tighter. So why are these airlines treating us like dirt? And how are they allowed to get away with it? asks Ben Sandilands.
Morning Market Report: A turkey rally on Wall St
The Dow is up. Let’s talk turkey…
Crikey Says: The CPRS and political hypocrisy
Veiled Coalition threats to delay a vote on the CPRS through filibuster and procrastination in the Senate are the worst sort of political hypocrisy.
Tips and rumours: A Rudd government ministerial smackdown?
Who’s challenging who for their Federal portfolio?
What’s really in your sushi?
An undercover DNA investigation by scientists in the US has found many sushi restaurants are lying about the type of fish they’re serving up as sushi — if they even know in the first place.
Bartlett: Omissions trading
The collective short-term memory loss amongst members of the Coalition is remarkable, says Andrew Bartlett: this is the mob who, less than three years ago, were pushing entire pieces of legislation through the Senate in the space of a week.
Who will become the world’s chocolate king?
Kraft, Ferrero and Hershey would all love to get their sugar-coated fingers on piece of the sweet Cadbury pie — and whichever does will rule the world’s confectionery market.
Economists unite against Anna Bligh
A who’s-who of Australian economists, from all across the ideological spectrum, have sent an open letter to the Bligh government, criticising its proposed asset sales as “economically unsound” and “based on spurious claims”.
Twitter goes commercial in 2010
Twitter will start selling ads in early 2010, company founder Biz Stone says, in what he promises will be a “very non- traditional” advertising model. Pfft, it used to be about the music.
CIA outsources its dirty work in Pakistan
The US is paying controversial private military contractor Blackwater to plan targeted drone-strike assassinations and run “snatch and grab” operations on key Taliban and Al Qaeda operatives in Pakistan, according to an investigation by The Nation.
Bad fashion shoot concepts #253: The Holocaust
The publisher of airline EasyJet’s inflight magazine has been forced to apologise after the mag staged a fashion photoshoot at Berlin’s Holocaust memorial. Maybe red flags aren’t “in” this season…
Howzat?! AP, Reuters, FP boycott Aussie cricket
News agencies the Associated Press, Reuters and Agence France-Presse are refusing to cover Australia’s three-test series against the West Indies in protest over Cricket Australia’s attempts to restrict their coverage of the event.
Who will be the next Oprah?
Now that Oprah Winfrey has announced she’s ending her show, who will emerge as the heir to her TV throne? Ellen? Dr Phil? Glenn Beck? The NYT weighs up the contenders.
How the press got it wrong on Obama in China
The flood of stories on Obama’s adventures in the Far East — painting him as a meek, kowtowing debator who got nothing achieved — show the Western media’s fundamental misunderstanding of Chinese press and politics, explains Howard French.
The 12 C’s of climate alarmism
Paul Chesser’s report about the latest in the global warming debate is brought to you by the letter “C”: condoms, cattle, consensus and corruption.
VIDEO: Inside the Indonesia-Australia people smuggling trade
Al Jazeera goes inside a network of people smugglers taking asylum seekers from Indonesia to Australia, revealing some closely-guarded secrets of the human trafficking trade.
A long and bloody history of Phillipines elections
At least 30 politicians and journalists have been found shot and beheaded in the southern Philippines. But murder and clan warfare are just par for the course in Filipino elections, explains Robert Mackey.
leaked 
The real cost of Afghanistan
Documents leaked to the LA Times show the Pentagon calculate the 40,000-troop surge in Afghanistan being pushed for by military commanders would cost $30-35 billion — at least $750,000 a person.
Grattan: Libs eat each other alive
The Coalition’s climate change conflict is far more about Malcolm Turnbull’s leadership than it is about emissions trading, says Michelle Grattan.
Taylor: D-Day for Turnbull
It’s do-or-die for embattled Coalition leader Malcolm Turnbull today. Can he hold his increasingly fractured party room together and deliver a deal on emissions trading? asks Lenore Taylor
Poll: It’s still the economy, stupid
This week’s Essential Report shows the ALP staying strong at 55-45, and finds, despite all the CPRS brawling, only 14% of Australians plan to vote around the issue of climate change — as opposed to 48% on the economy.
Has Murdoch just saved the newspaper industry?
The newspaper industry is desperate for cash, and Microsoft — and its search engine Bing — has bucketloads of it to spend. Can newspapers save themselves by selling the tech giant exclusive rights to their content?
Murdoch puts a gun to Google’s head, Microsoft helps pull the trigger
Rupert Murdoch has been threatening to pull all News Corp content from Google, and Microsoft is willing to pay him to do it. But Bing can’t buy all the news — and it might just sell its credibility in the process.
