Labor’s claims that Tony Abbott “gouged $1b out of health” are rubbish. But Abbott’s response shows why his instincts are at odds with his party’s. It’s the nearest thing to kabuki in Parliament.
March, 2010
Tips and rumours: Tips and rumours: Matty Johns punched the gift horse in the mouth
Was Nine still paying Matthew Johns even when he was “taken off the air”?
Crikey Says: Accountability seems to be a one-way street
It’s no coincidence that the only editor prepared to engage in the debate around Spinning the Media happens to run the only truly vibrant, intelligent newspaper in the country.
If China throws out Google, let’s throw out their computers
The free market cuts both ways, says international trade expert Gilbert Kaplan: If China won’t give free access to Google, we shouldn’t give them free access to our consumer markets.
What makes a book “bad”?
Academics name their top 40 “bad” books and grapple with the question of what exactly makes a crap piece of fiction. The Da Vinci Code gets a predictable nod, but so does The Great Gatsby.
America: the fall of the Empire
It’s the ‘Age of Angst’ in the States, with growing concern in the US that the GFC is making them lose their world leader top spot. Is the media freak out valid? asks Andrew Nagorski.
A tale of two Taliban leaders
Abdullah Ghulam Rasoul and Mullah Abdul Salam Zaeef were both former Taliban commanders who were held in Guantanamo. But after they were released, one immediately took up arms and rejoined the insurgency to enact revenge, while the other became a politician and author.
Can a 30-something DJ save the NYT?
NYT publisher Arthur Sulzberger Jr is keen to get his offspring involved in the family business, and really, who better to help steer one of the world’s leading papers through the media’s current treacherous climate than his 33-year-old nephew?
The secrets of the Swiss
Switzerland: it’s an odd country of neutrality mixed with camo dressed teenagers and nude hiking but fanatical privacy, says Crikey reader Tristan.
PHOTO GALLERY: The blood washing down Thailand’s streets
A rather gruesome but fascinating photo gallery of the anti-government demonstrators in Bangkok donating their blood on mass and then literally spilling their blood at the gates of Government House in protest.
Tasmania ’10: new lows in vacousness, lies and sheer gutlessness
Election campaigns are always full of dirty tactics, but this year’s Tasmanian battle has sunk to new lows of grubbiness, says Greg Barns
Film review: Cirque du Freak: The Vampire’s Assistant — vampiric mishmash
Cirque du Freak: The Vampire’s Assistant is the latest in a recent resurgence of vampire stories to sink their fangs into popular culture, but this one has a definite been-there-done-that feel, writes Luke Buckmaster.
The sad rot of food critics
With news that the WSJ has lost its restaurant critic of 25 years, Josh Ozersky laments the loss of authoritative and knowledgeable restaurant critics amongst a sea of food fad bloggers.
PHOTO GALLERY: Babies dressed as dictators
It’s the axis of adorable, with a Danish artist dressing up her baby as the most famous dictators of the 20th century, from Adolf Hitler to Saddam Hussein. Even Stalin started off as an innocent baby.
Who cares if BA goes on strike, or disappears?
For a text book case study in how to screw a brand into oblivion, British Airways in Australia is irresistible. It has shrunk to triviality thresholds in this country, writes Ben Sandilands.
Kohler: The NBN hangs up on Telstra
With the government offering billions less compensation than what Telstra wants for the NBN, any chance of a deal between them seems dead. But this might be the best outcome for both, writes Alan Kohler.
Honeymoon is over but we’re not planning a divorce
Kevin Rudd’s enjoyed an astronomical level of popularity from the moment he took the top job, thanks an Opposition in shambles and an excited Australian public. Things have changed, but Rudd’s job is safe, writes Kerry J O’Brien.
Abbott’s a good sport with political games
This week’s Four Corners offered a fascinating profile on Tony Abbott’s life before he became Opposition leader. But what about since then? Is he just Howard 2.0? asks The Piping Shrike.
Defending the indefensible: overspending and government stuff-ups
Australia’s Defence Department spends $26 billion and the shambolic waste and mismanagement in that department is worse than perhaps any other. Ben Eltham investigates the mistakes.
Poet Laureate Carol Ann Duffy pens an ode to David Beckham
Britain’s Poet Laureate, Carol Ann Duffy, was apparently so saddened by news that footballer David Beckham has snapped his Achilles tendon, she has written an entire poem about it: Achilles (for David Beckham).
Van Onselen: Rudd is dragging the ALP down
Kevin Rudd’s colleagues must be getting worried as his personal popularity rates plunge, writes Peter van Onselen. But the major threat to Rudd’s leadership comes not from Tony Abbott, but from inside his own party.
Seat by seat through Tassie: Bass
If the Tasmanian Liberals are to somehow put together a majority in their own right, it could only be by winning a third seat in places like Bass, but I can’t see it happening, writes Charles Richardson.
