Sex, swearing and support: the modern political wifeMP wives are no longer well-dressed doormats there to look after the house and support the husband. As the UK election heats up, The Guardian takes a look at the swearing, affairs having, debaucherous new UK political wives.
March, 2010
Will US healthcare reform pass?
Reminiscent of the infamous Aussie election worm, Slate has created a fancy ‘whipometer’ with a quivering arrow to judge how likely it is that Barack Obama can get US health care reform passed.
Megalogenis: Anything you can spend, I can spend better
This mini-spendathon by both the PM and the Opposition leader is cause for concern, says George Megalogenis. Announcing new expensive policies every week is about playing politics, not good financial management.
Facebook now the biggest site in the US
Facebook has overtaken Google — by a whisker — as the most visited site in America, according to the latest HitWise data. Can social gaming take all the credit?
Savva: Our sexually repressed PM
Tony Abbott may be constantly running around half naked talking about his sex life to anyone who will listen, but at least he’s better at dealing with women than the awkward Kevin Rudd, writes former political insider Nikka Savva.
exposed 
US running off-the-record private spies in AfPak
A US Defence Dept official has been running an “off-the-books” spy operation in Afghanistan and Pakistan, the NYT reveals, paying former CIA and Special Forces soldiers to track down and kill militants.
Newspoll: Labor’s worst all year
This week’s Newspoll has the ALP’s lead steady on 52-48, but Kevin Rudd’s satisfaction ratings have hit a new low. Is the tide turning on the ALP, or did he just pull an unlucky survey sample? Possum Comitatus looks at the figures.
A polling puzzle for Rudd
The two latest election polls may leave Kevin Rudd puzzling over which way the voters are leaning: yesterday, Essential Report gave the ALP its best result this year, but today, Newspoll rains on his parade with his worst results yet. William Bowe has the figures
Essential Report: Labor’s best all year
This week’s Essential Report has a two party preferred vote of 56-44 — a two point gain to the ALP and the party’s best Essential result all year by far. Possum Comitatus has all the numbers.
Slumming it not always a bad thing
The latest travel issue for people to growl about is slum tourism: tourists heading into slums in Mumbai, a la Slumdog Millionaire. But, says Intrepid CEO Darrell Wade, people need to be educated on world poverty. Just don’t be a jerk.
How Texas is — literally — rewriting history
The Texas Board of Education is rewriting the State’s history textbooks with a decidedly more conservative bent: replacing Thomas Jefferson with John Calvin, defending McCarthyism, including the Moral Majority and the NRA, while excluding ideas like freedom of religion.
Salt restrictions leave a bad taste
Following the soda wars and calorie-counting menus, New York’s next big food-industry target is salt. The government should keep its mitts out of our cracker boxes, says Windsor Mann.
The latest from the Tassie campaign trail
William Bowe wraps the latest info trickling in from the upcoming Tassie election, including a EMRS poll which has Liberal at 39%, Labor at 30% and the Greens at 29%.
Emergency checks ordered on ‘suspect’ Qantas, Virgin Blue 737s
Emergency checks are being made worldwide for “suspect components” in the tail of the widely flown latest or NG models of the Boeing 737, but no rush to check the more than 100 Qantas and Virgin Blue jets.
Over half your news is spin
Crikey reveals the results of a six-month investigation into the role PR plays in the Australian media, finding that 55% of newspaper stories analysed were driven by PR.
Housing — the real arena for federal takeover
While health gets all the attention, housing policy is a critical Commonwealth-state issue that we must get right in the face of a growing population.
Who’s really controlling the media message?
Our Spinning the Media investigation strongly confirms that journalism in Australia today is heavily influenced by commercial interests, and is constrained and blocked by politicians, police and others who control the media message, write Wendy Bacon and Sasha Pavey.
Fairfax shudders as Catalano fires up new property glossy
One of Fairfax Media’s last remaining footholds in the Melbourne real estate advertising market is on the verge of collapse with The Age turncoat Antony Catalano set to launch a new glossy magazine.
Video of the Day: Classical works of art as told by rock and roll
The band Hold Your Horses recreate well-known historical paintings, from da Vinci’s The Last Supper to Warhol’s Marilyn, in its amazing 70 million film clip.
Media briefs: Aunty on a diet? … rip-and-read science journalism … Google’s ‘arrogance’
Is the ABC’s management shake-up the first example of trimming the fat? And which science magazine has been caught putting bylines on press releases? That, and more, in today’s media briefs.
Your Say: Daily Mail readers' feedback: The Scientology inquisition
Crikey readers weigh in to the Senate debate over Scientology, whether Michael Atkinson’s driver really does iron all his garments and the Crikey climate change cage-match fights on.
Lehman con makes Ponzi master look like an amateur
The $US138 billion con pulled by Lehman Brothers makes New York Ponzi scheme master Bernie Madoff’s swindle look like pocket change.
Business As Usual: US banks still falling over … News Corp ready to unload Jamba …
More US banks fall off the coil, rising food costs are driving up China’s consumer price index, News Corp is ready to unload its mobile content business Jamba, and more business briefs from around the world.
Morning Market Report: US interest rates to hold
The market is up 14. The SFE Futures were up 1 this morning. There is an FOMC meeting this week — interest rates are likely to stay unchanged.
Washington Post / Tuesday, 16 March 2010
Controversial conservative commentator Glenn Beck may pull huge ratings for Fox News, but behind his back, not everyone at the network is a fan.