Premier Mike Rann’s personal approval rating is now below 50%, and everyone who’s sat an exam knows bitterly that less than half marks is a fail, writes Hendrik Gout.
March, 2010
Richardson: Where to now for Tassie’s Greens?
As was widely expected, the opinion polls before Saturday’s election overstated the Greens vote. Even so, their 21.5% is a striking achievement. The question now is, what do they do with it?
Political snippets: Rising interest rates should force Rudd to an early election
The Reserve Bank has joined with the commercial banks in giving the Prime Minister the best possible reason to get his re-election bid over with as soon as possible. Plus, Stern Hu and the state elections are over in today’s political snippets.
Guy Rundle: Rundle’s UK: The last budget of the first (and possibly only) Brown government
Alistair Darling has delivered the last budget of the first Gordon Brown government. There was fiddling with stamp duty, fags and booze taxes and other bits and bobs — but a startling lack of change or reform.
Abbott says conservatives must embrace gay unions
Six or seven out of 10: that’s what Tony Abbott gets for his conciliation session with the gay community on radio this morning, where he gave “in principle” support to anti-discrimination legislation.
This day in Crikey: March 25, 2008
March 25, 2008, Crikey says.
Daily Proposition: Experience the glitz and ear-shattering glamour of F1
Melburnians haven’t taken to the colour, the cash, the guttural roar of the F1 Grand Prix. But in global sport it doesn’t get much more exciting than the multizillion dollar F1 circus. So get along. You might even enjoy it.
Tips and rumours: Tips and rumours: Why is Nick Minchin really quitting?
People close to the Senator Nick Minchin, who announced yesterday that he would be quitting, say that the decision to retire was decided long ago.
Crikey Says: Climate change, brought to you by dumb and dumber
Earth Hour was never much more than a branding exercise concocted by a major ad agency to make corporations look good. We get that. But does it have to be a reds vs. greens issue?
Voters love negativity!
All this talk about voters — and the worm — loving Rudd’s positive Obamaesque language during the health debate is absolute rubbish. It’s just that Rudd is better at wrapping his negativity in positive vibes.
What elections? Berlusconi silences the Italian media
Significant regional elections are coming up in Italy, yet thanks to PM Silvio Berlusconi’s control over Italian TV — and the expectation that results won’t be kind to Berlusconi — they will hardly rate a mention.
The Somali Pirate business model
The Atlantic outlines the surprisingly sophisticated business model employed by bands of Somali pirates — they even use employee encouragement awards!
Did Bush wipe his hands after shaking with a Haitian?
Right now the interwebs are going mad at the footageof George W. Bush wiping his hands on Bill Clinton’s shirt after shaking the hand of a man in Haiti. But is that the real story or is Bush being unfairly mocked for being punctual? You be the judge.
The evolution of four fables
A beautiful and brillians data visualisation of how four classic stories — Pygmalion, Faust, Oedipus and Leviathan — have been written and rewritten in different countries and eras.
Defeat terrorism with good old fashioned family values
Young men with strong social and family supports are far more likely to drop-out of terrorist organisations, says Michael Jacobson… before less-helpfully suggesting Israel should therefore recruit terrorists from good homes as spies.
The Last Supper gets super-sized
It isn’t just fat 21st century Westerners whose meals are getting bigger: scientists have found that depictions of the food being eaten by Jesus and his disciples in paintings of the Last Supper have gotten progressively larger over the past century, too.
Hey ACA…! Did you have to live up to stereotype?
A Current Affair has been running hard all week on allegations of child sex abuse in Hey Dad…!. But did they have to play the ‘ambush the alleged’ card? It turned a serious issue into a tabloid beat up, says Dan Barrett.
Google’s daily log of what China is blocking
Google is keeping track of which of its services are currently being blocked in mainland China. Gmail and News are still accessible, but Blogger and YouTube are no-go zones.
Health care ain’t just hospitals
When will we move on from the simplistic focus on hospitals when discussing health reform? asks Trevor Carr from the Victorian Healthcare Association. Instead, let’s focus on industrial relations, primary care and prevention.
Is the social media bubble about to burst?
The social mediasphere is a lot like the subprime mortgage market, warns Umair Haque: “social inflation” is cheapening the value of relationships, and it won’t be long until we’re all foreclosing on our FarmVille farms.
Meet Kenya’s Chuck Norris
Kenya has its first internet meme — a kung-fu fighting Blaxploitation spoof superhero and bad-ass named Makmende, created by funk band Just a Band.
Birmingham: Death to Telstra’s Robocallers!
Reminiscent of First Dog on the Moon’s personal vendetta cartoon against Optus, John Birmingham has declared war on Telstra and its Robocallers. Ah, the advantages of having your own column.
Foxtel boss: ABC wasting money? Must be Thursday
Yes, your ABC is pissing money down the drain by creating a 24-hour news channel. But what’s new? says Foxtel chief Kim Williams: Auntie has been squandering taxpayers’ money for decades.
PHOTO GALLERY: 70 days after Haiti’s quake
With 230,000 Haitians killed after the 7.0 magnitude earthquake, this unbelievable photo gallery shows a society still in disbelief and rubble but playing soccer, dominoes and attending church.
