Many world events have happened in late December, like Israel invading Gaza in ‘08 and the Asian tsunami of ‘04. Yet the media make fools of themselves every year with their early December end-of-year summaries, writes Charles Richardson.
January, 2010
Brand Kristina: Fluro vests and some sweet apple pie charm
It may be 15 months before the battered NSW electorate heads to the polls, but Premier Kristina Keneally has already begun her campaign, armed in a fluro vest and hard hat. Stop patronising voters, warns Adam Walters.
2010 resolution: beat the Saffa gameplan
It’s undeniable, 2009 rugby was the year of the Saffas; Super 14, Tri-Nations and the Lions. What’s also undeniable was the extreme game-plan that the Springboks employed along the way. How can it be beat in 2010? asks Matt Gagger.
Just because a woman wrote it, doesn’t make it ‘Chick Lit’
Why is it that any book written by a woman about a contemporary, single woman is automatically dubbed ‘chick lit’ and dismissed by the literary world? asks author Tara Moss.
First Dog on the Moon: What I’m doing on my holiday…
Stuck working in the city during the summer holidays? Take a quick trip to the beach with First Dog on the Moon, with highlights including Bateman’s Bay Bowling Club, Sulphur Crested Cockatoos and Phillip Adams.
Whatever Rudd is, Abbott is the opposite
Kevin Rudd isn’t quite sure how to handle new Opposition leader Tony Abbott yet. From refugees to climate change, Abbott’s been out on the Rudd offensive and Kevin is right to be worried, says Paul Daley.
Garrett: Abbott’s half-baked magic pudding policies
It’s bullshit that Tony Abbott can dramatically cut carbon emissions without any significant cost, says Peter Garrett. The CPRS won’t cost a fortune, makes polluters not taxpayers pay and makes environment sense.
You earn how much? Time for plain English pay
Remuneration reports are usually confusing and complicated reports, and are particularly difficult for shareholders to understand exactly what pay conditions executives are entitled to. Time to clean them up, says Paul Quinn
Executive pay: the scam that never was
A two-strike policy wasn’t needed to protect obscene salaries because shareholders already had options available to them and our economy was doing ok anyway, writes Andrew Main.
Two strikes and you’re…ok
The controversial ‘two strikes’ policy — giving shareholders a chance to vote down pay rises and force a board to re-election — has been severely watered down in the final report from the Productivity Commission on executive pay released today.
New Year election simulation
Possum Comitatus takes quarterly Newspoll and Neilsen data and runs a stimulated federal election for the Oct-Dec period. It’s quite a win for the ALP, with 107 seats to the Coalition’s 40.
Feeling warm? It was just the hottest decade ever
And so the hottest decade on record — yep, it’s official, the noughties were 0.2 degrees celsius hotter than the nineties — has come to an end. Will the teenties, or whatever witty moniker it’s known as, prove to be even warmer? Thanks to major polluters like China and the US, it seems inevitable.
30 years on and how much has changed?
It’s that time of the year again, when all of the government papers from 30 years ago get revealed to the public. The Oz have dedicated a whole section to it, from the Fraser government’s fear of refugees dividing the nation to new plans to the establishment of Australia’s first counter-terrorism squad.
What it’s really like to be a dissident in Iran
An Iranian dissident gives a first-hand account of the latest violence on the streets of Tehran since Ashura: how members of the Green Movement are capturing militiamen, the battles between police and protesters and their disappointment in the actions of Barack Obama.
PHOTO GALLERY: A nerdy collection of geek sub-genres
Not all geeks are obsessed with the internet (ok, most are). Gizmodo present their “Socially-Acceptable Geek Subgenre Scale Gallery”, including such classics as ‘music geeks’, ‘cosplayers’ (those costumed nerds at ComicCon) and ‘gadget nerds’. Which one are you?
Limbaugh hospitalised and internet explodes
Rush Limbaugh, the notorious conservative US shock jock, is recovering after an emergency hospital visit in Hawaii hospital. The Atlantic Wire reports on the bitter internet battle between Limbaugh’s supporters and detractors.
Europe still screwed by GFC
The worst may not yet be over for European economies, with the possibility of Greece, or another debt-ridden country, defaulting on their soverign debt obligations and needing to be bailed out by the European Union still high. How will the euro survive the strain?
Terrorists, nukes and war: the tumultuous 12 months ahead
How will the US battle terrorist forces in Yemen? Will Iran’s nuclear program be halted? Can the war in Iraq end in a peaceful democracy? David Ignatius puts in his predictions for the biggest global political issues of the year ahead.
Best tech ideas of 2009
David Pogue announces his Pogie Awards for the best technology ideas from 2009, including Apple’s Find My iPhone feature, where you can search for your iPhone remotely, and Readability, a toolbar that deletes everything from a website except the text and photos. No blinking links or banners!
PHOTO GALLERY: New Year celebrations around the world
From Lahore, Pakistan to Tokyo, Japan, The Guardian examines how the world celebrated the start of 2010. With lots of novelty glasses, balloons, sparklers, fireworks and booze it seems. Happy New Year!
What odds an Australian airline going broke?
The notion of betting on business failures is up there in terms of taste and sensitivity with framing the odds on which celebrity will die next, yet Paddy Power’s betting odds of airlines going broke is still interesting, says Ben Sandilands. What are the real odds of Qantas going bust?
revealed 
Palin’s banned blogger list
Finally, the official list of bloggers banned from attending an event for Sarah Palin’s Going Rogue have been revealed by Talking Points Memor. And husband Todd Palin was chief enforcer, responsible for bloggers including Dennis Zaki and Jesse Griffin being ejected from the venue.
Film Review: The Lovely Bones — strong atmosphere, barebones performances
The new Peter Jackson film, The Lovely Bones, an adapation of the novel of the same name, has been long awaited. But can Peter Jackson pull off a sensitive, human-orientated drama after his The Lord of the Rings blockbusters? Perhaps not as well as hoped, says Luke Buckmaster.
