There may be plenty of policy options on the shelves in the Australian politics aisle, but in the end they all turn out to have the same basic ingredient: unhealthy doses of spin.
April, 2010
Crikey Says: Shoppers beware — spin is on sale
The most valuable brands in the world
BrandZ has released its annual list of the 100 most valuable brand names in the world, with Google, IBM and Apple all holding on to the top three spots. Check out the full list here [PDF].
Media briefs: The Post confuses X and O … Bec backs away from No Idea
Did The Washington Post confuse Barack Obama with Malcolm X because they’re both black? Plus: Rupert Murdoch fixing the British election and Google’s reign continues in today’s media briefs.
Hitchens: Dickens was a bit of a dickhead
Charles Dickens was a great writer, but a fairly awful human being, says Christopher Hitchens. Still: who better to write about lives of misery and misfortune than someone who knew it so well?
graph pr0n 
Who holds the most Greek debt?
Reuters graphs which countries’ banks are holding the most Greek debt: France, Switzerland and Germany have the most to lose.
Do plain cigarette packs stop people from smoking?
Yep, according to this 2008 study from the British Medical Journal’s Tobacco Control journal. Smokers presume cigarettes in plain packs will be “less rich in tobacco, less satisfying and of lower quality tobacco.”
Game on, Google: Apple enters the search business
Apple has just bought out mobile app maker Siri. But this isn’t just another business acquisition, says Business Insider: it heralds the company’s entrance into the search market.
Why the internet is not all it’s cracked up to be
Internet and politics expert Evgeny Morozov lays out a few home truths: the internet is not a force for good, Twitter will not undermine dictators, Google does not defend freedom, and it isn’t all bringing us closer together.
Twitter’s grammar gestapo
Meet Twitter’s self-appointed word police: sad, sad pedants picking up on every typo and grammatical error in an effort to enforce proper “Twetiquette”. FAIL.
Can we really save the whales by killing them?
The International Whaling Commission is proposing to allow commercial whaling in Japan if it adheres to strict quotas. Has it sold out, or is it worth sacrificing a few whales to kill off the black market?
CNN: WTF?
WTF CNN? is a delightfully simple site highlighting the tabloid headlines topping CNN’s homepage by comparing it to the far more news-focused Al-Jazeera front-page.
Has MasterChef turned into The Apprentice?
Take one Big Brother house, one Apprentice board room, a dash of celebrity cameos and stir… Are too many reality TV cliches spoiling the MasterChef broth? asks David Knox.
How the press fell out of love with Obama
Barack Obama used to be the darling of the American media, but the honeymoon is over, says Politico: the White House has become too thin-skinned and tight-lipped.
Google picks on Australian start-up
Google has sent a cease and desist letter to Australian alcohol price comparison website Groggle.com.au, telling it to hand over the domain name.
Cheers TV episode #2: Be seduced by subtle Shiraz
Today, independent sommeliers Ben Edwards and Dan Sims introduce three medium-bodied Shirazes that won’t hit you over the head with a sledgehammer.
Plain tobacco packs: “draconian” or a massive win for public health?
The Oz has labelled Rudd’s plans for plain packaging of tobacco products as “draconian”, but public health experts are wildly enthusiastic, reports Melissa Sweet.
John Prescott: Brown’s “bigot” gaffe is a Murdoch beat-up
News that British PM Gordon Brown called a voter a “bigot” has exploded in the UK press. But it’s all just part of the Mudoch media’s attempt to decide the election, writes former Deputy PM John Prescott.
Garrett: Save the whales
Peter Garrett hits out against the International Whaling Commission’s proposal [PDF] to allow Japan, Norway and Iceland to permit commercial whaling under quotas: “it would set whale conservation back by decades.”
The domino effect: how Europe’s economies could fall
With the debt crisis in Greece, Spain and Portugal worsening, the Guardian uses dominoes to explain how the knock-on effect could ripple through the entire EU.
Has Indigenous health reform been dropped?
A “radical change” in the organisation of health care for Indigenous Australians was one of the highest priority recommendations from the National Health and Hospitals Reform Commission, but the government appears intent on ignoring it, reports Melissa Sweet.
exposed 
Detainee torture at secret Iraqi prison
Human Rights Watch has a shocking investigation into the torture of detainees at a secret Iraqi prison in Baghdad recently: inmates were handcuffed, blindfolded, hung upside down, kicked, whipped, beaten, and once they’d passed out from pain, woken with electric shocks to the genitals.
Will Rudd’s ETS woes go up in smoke?
Daily Media Wrap: Less than two days after Rudd’s ETS backflip, the government has pulled a sleight of hand: announcing it will introduce tough new laws for cigarette packets. Ta-da! Health is back on the national agenda.
First Dog draws the 2010 AFL season: Round 5
First Dog on the Moon draws the winning Round 5 game of the Western Bulldogs. It was a bumper of a game, even if the cartoonist was cruelly forced to drink his beer outside Nandos.
What’s left for the Left?
What exactly is the progressive movement fighting for these days? It’s time for a new, clear vision for the Left and what it wants to rally for. What substantive changes are needed? asks Robert Merkel.
