Former Liberal Prime Minister Malcolm Fraser has resigned from the party, saying he no longer supports the way the Coalition is operating.
May, 2010
Google vs. Stephen Conroy
Stephen Conroy is taking on internet giants Google and Facebook over their recent privacy breaches. But is he just capitalising on the public sentiment against the two companies to take the heat off his widely-panned internet filter plans?
How embarrassment, Julie
Daily Media Wrap: Julie Bishop let it slip yesterday that local intelligence agencies are involved in passport forgery, and now Kevin Rudd is accusing her of breaching national security. Did Julie really stuff it?
The CIA plot to depict Saddam and bin Laden as pedophiles
The CIA created a fake video showing Osama bin Laden and his crew sitting around a campfire drinking and bragging about their “conquests with boys” — and had plans to “flood Iraq” with fake videos of Saddam Hussein having sex with a teenage boy, the Washington Post reveals.
How to drive green
Living without a car is not always a viable option, but there are still ways of driving and being green. Like, turn off your car rather than leaving it idle when you drop the DVDs off.
The tasteful art of food snobbery
Yes, food snobs are irritating wankers, but you too can learn to taste the difference between toasted and roasted. A tongue doctor, some chefs, a sommelier and a flavor chemist show you how.
The Age’s leaked ALP emails don’t stack up
The Age’s state political editor Paul Austin missed an interesting email last Thursday that might have shed some light on the latest ALP branch stacking allegations. Andrew Crook explains.
Hotmail: no longer crap!
Hotmail was an instant 90s hit, with nearly nine million users in the first 18 months. But it’s the slow, fuddy duddy email system of the web. Can the new Hotmail redesign beat Gmail as the best email service?
The illegal photos that may send a photographer to jail
Photographer Umida Akhmedova is charged with “slander and outrage against the Uzbek people” by the Uzbekistan government for her seemingly innocent photos of rural life.
MAP: Tourist traps of the world
A clever use of Google maps, showing a colour coded world map with the top tourist hot spots. Hot tip: if you want to avoid the crowds, skip everywhere in Western Europe.
Has Apple lost its bite?
It’s nearly time for Steve Jobs to don the skivvy and deliver the Apple keynote address. But with all the recent leaks — from the iPhone 4 to the iPod touch — can Jobs still wow the crowd?
Leaders attributes and the vote
What words do voters associate with Kevin Rudd and Tony Abbott? And do they change depending on the party’s popularity at the time? Possum Comitatus investigates.
How far has myth making outflown the realities of plastic jets?
The age of lightweight breakthrough composite airlines is still a long way away. That’s the problem of letting myth making run ahead of an investment in new designs and their supporting engineering and technology, writes Ben Sandilands.
Conroy: We’ll block 50,000 sites
Stephen Conroy last night warned the Government would consider blocking up to 50,000 websites, before launching an attack on euthanasia websites and Facebook, reports Bernard Keane.
“This is cool” vs. “smells funny” science stories
Are “news you can use” science stories the best way to engage the masses on otherwise nerdy topics? Or just cheap populism at the expense of “serious” science journalism? A defense of popular science.
Spy games: Mossad agent ousting
pre-arranged?
A former top-level spy says the Rudd Government’s ousting of a Mossad agent from Canberra was almost certainly brokered behind the scenes by top-level Israeli and Australian officials.
The Israel lobby treats us like fools — and Israel will pay the price
The reflexive criticism of the Government from the Israel lobby over Mossad’s identity theft shows exactly the sort of double standard they complain of in the West.
ABC #budgies tweets — left-wing conspiracy or just going with the flow?
What’s in a Twitter hashtag? An example of institutional ABC bias when the ABC used #budgies, according to one Liberal Party senator, sparking a new debate on news and social media.
Ask the Economists: What impact will the RSPT have on the Australian economy?
Australia’s leading economists cut through the confused commentary and politics of the Resources Super Profits Tax, with some simple questions from Crikey intern Matt De Neef.
iPad the newspaper saviour? Nah, it’s just a fun diversion
The hype around the iPad as the savior of newspapers is fun — but it’s wrong. But iPad newspaper apps make a fascinating diversion from the real, continuing dilemma for publishers, writes Tony Faure.
Diary of a Surgeon: How to set a world standard for health care
Surgical checklists cost almost nothing, yet have been shown to almost halve mortality and mortality in hospitals in which they are used, writes Professor Guy Maddern.
Economics 101 on the rise and fall of the Aussie dollar
The Coalition and some commentators would have you believe the RSPT debate is affecting the dollar. It’s a fairy story. Glenn Dyer and Bernard Keane explain why.
ABC gets into bed with Fairfax … and news is the winner
Once, journalists guarded their stories fiercely, and the idea of competing with another media outlet, let alone doing a joint operation, would have been anathema. Things have changed.
Property bubble: let’s get the facts straight, please
The misreporting of Australia’s residential property market continues unabated, while the body in charge of Australia’s money supply continues to deny the existence of a debt-fuelled housing bubble.
Business As Usual: Austerity the new cool in UK … and in Italy, too … Brazil waxes lyrical about big oil find …
It’s hair shirts all around in London … Italy cuts public sector hiring and pay … Changes in the wind for US bank ratings … Car sales figures here are up on last year … Brazil waxes lyrical about another big oil find …
