What makes an accent sound good, bad or ugly? When it comes to the many accents of people speaking English around the globe, some are infinitely more pleasant to the English ear than others. Aung Si explains.
June, 2010
Westpoll: 62-38 to federal Coalition in WA
The latest Westpoll has Labor’s primary vote at just 26%, compared with the 36.8% that won them four state seats in 2007 and 43% of voters say the mining tax will strongly influence their vote, reports William Bowe.
Film review: The A-Team — competent action-spangled no-brainer
The big screen A-Team reboot is not nearly as awful as some cinematic soothsayers may have predicted, and so far as junky action no-brainers go it ranks somewhere in the meaty part of the curve, says Luke Buckmaster.
Is it not true that the minerals are owned by the people of the State?
Australia’s not the only country fretting over how a country’s resources should be taxed, with questions being raised in India about how much mining companies should pay when mining in areas of immense poverty, writes Shakira Hussein.
Margaret Simons fights The Oz
Margaret Simons came back from a relaxing weekend away to find herself the subject of an attack in The Media section of The Australian today about the case. She gives her response to the inaccurate comments made about her.
Theatre review: Boston Marriage, very funny farce
Love and marriage, Frank Sinatra crooned, go together like a horse and carriage. Melbourne Theatre Company’s Boston Marriage captures the argument splendidly, says Jason Whittaker.
Election season in a drug war
Mexico’s drug war ravages on, with even a candidate in the race for a state Governor sitting in a federal prison on drug charges. With political candidates embroiled in drug crime, how does the country hold elections?
PODCAST: How to uncover a scandal
Journos Richard Baker and Nick McKenzie uncovered a big international scandal involving a company half-owned by the Reserve Bank. They spill on how the story came about.
Lethal’s AFL wrap: Round 11 preview
Which political party is the best party for AFL? Leigh Josey examines the AFL games of the weekend. Can St Kilda manage to rise and beat Fremantle? Don’t ask Leigh, he goes for Freo.
graph pr0n Where to dig for gold
Gold has become the stock of choice lately. Check out this impressive info-graphic that shows where in the world has the most amount of gold. The US owns 68% of gold shares.
Will the US always suffer high unemployment?
Massive technological changes have made many jobs redundant in the last few years. Technology won’t destroy employment rates forever, but it will make economic recovery more difficult.
The government is watching what you read on the internet
Internet Service Providers may soon be obliged to provide law enforcement agencies with the browsing history of their customers. It’s to help prevent terrorism and paedophilia, but is it a step too far?
RSPT rumour file
Here we go again — more rumours that the government is about to cave-in on the RSPT. Too bad they’re not true.
World Cup: Crikey’s guide to football’s showcase
Technology is set to add a more interactive and multidimensional experience for punters following the 2010 FIFA World Cup, which kicks off in Johannesburg tonight (Australian time).
Australia says no to people-smuggling — via YouTube
The Government is running a new round of ads to try to deter asylum seekers coming to Australia by boat. But the target audience is local, not overseas.
Patenting: why is it left to advocacy groups to take up the fight?
The awarding of monopoly power is an expensive gift that should not be reduced to simply following key intellectual property rich countries, writesAnna George.
The Australian’s grand obsession: itself
Not only is The Australian’s entrenched narcissism deeply embarrassing, it regularly undermines the paper’s otherwise legitimate credentials as a purveyor of serious journalism.
Marr to Oldfield: “you’re a disgusting human being…”
David Marr was clearly unimpressed with David Oldfield’s contribution to the asylum seeker discussion on Sky News’ The Nation, at one stage describing him as “a disgusting human being”, writes Anthony Stavrinos.
The paywall: will good writing save Murdoch?
It is yet another sign of his abject inability to understand this new medium that Murdoch has promoted wit and style to an important place in his internet strategy, writes Newser’s Michael Wolff.
World Cup: Soccer in the supermarket: undies selling fast
Leading supermarket brands are going head-to-head for extra sales that comes from love of the Socceroos. But just ‘cause its green and gold, doesn’t mean it’s official merchandise.
Hedley Thomas defends Overland story: ‘… the facts speak for themselves’
Hedley Thomas responds to Margaret Simons’ story Vendetta journalism? The murky story behind The Oz, the OPI and Overland published in yesterday’s edition.
Geoengineering does not remove the need to decarbonise
Bio-sequestration has enormous potential in the form of iron seeding of oceans and charcoal in soils.
Business As Usual: Chinese economy slowing although leaks save the day … America’s household wealth up … Japan growth looking bright …
World markets rose because of leaks out of China, but world prices for oil, metals and grains were lower , thanks to China importing less and other business news of the day.
Turks hack Israeli Facebook accounts over Gaza blockade incident
Individual Facebook users have become targets of political hacking — presumably by two Turkish hackers — over the Gaza blockade incident.
Wankley Awards: Gerry Harvey, the master salesman
Tabloid TV is in bed with Gerry Harvey, the affable billionaire who can self-interestedly rattle off at length on anything to do with furniture at very low prices. Like bedding bargains in his own store!
