Swan to banks: this time it’s personalFollowing the RBA’s decision to raise the official interest rate Treasurer Wayne Swan has picked up the phone and vented his spleen directly at bank bosses, while publicly making noises about competition strengthening reforms, writes Phillip Coorey.
November, 2010
Bob Gosford’s Bird of the Week: the Pilatus PC-9/A
The latest installment in Bob Gosford’s Bird of the Week series is a tad different this time around - it’s not a bird, per se, but the Pilatus PC-9/A certainly has wings. Gosford was treated to a great show without walking further than his front door.
Gareth Bale couldn’t leave Tottenham could he?
Tottenham striker Gareth Bale has been in incredible form in 2010 — thus stirs the rumours mill that he is leaving. Is is true? And can the Spurs capitalise on the Welshman whilst they still have him?
travel Visit exquisite Tuscany. Location: an hour north of Hobart
W H Chong travelled to Hobart in Tasmania and photographed this “lovely little extension of classic Italy.”
Is Twitter the new talkback radio?
The Department of Human Services has found success in the Twitterverse by applying the same broad strategy it uses for talkback radio, closely monitoring mentions of government services and interacting when possible with audiences.
NBA in a jam, though on the court the action excels
The 2010-2011 season is hugely important for the future of the NBA, and Crikey Sports’ Sean Ross takes a look to the season ahead.
What did America think about our Afghan debate?
Plenty of Australians were skeptical of the “furious agreement” espoused by both major parties during parliament’s debate on the war in Afghanistan, but United States Ambassador to Australia Jeff Bleich was glued to the screen and chuffed with the results, writes Leo Shanahan.
Huffington: It all came down to jobs and the economy
Now that the US midterm elections are over, the postmortems begin. There will be innumerable different opinions about what went wrong for the Democrats but it all boils down to one truth: they took a beating because of jobs and the economy, writes Arianna Huffington.
Now the butchering has ended, the blame game begins
It will take some time for the Democrats to compile a list of scapegoats, but for the interim Christopher Beam points his finger at those most likely to cop a fair whack of the blame for the party’s poor midterm results - including Nancy Pelosi, Chris Van Hollen and, of course, Barack Obama.
Theatre review: Becky Shaw — enigmatically awful
The new Melbourne season of the Pulitzer Prize nominated Becky Shaw carries with it considerable expectation, but director Indira Carmichael delivers a charmless production featuring performances that veer teeth-grittingly into caricature, writes Jason Whittaker.
book reviews The Philanthropist — a fine example of contemporary literary fiction
John Tesarsch’s accomplished first novel The Philanthropist is a book about parents and children. It is multifaceted without being convoluted and its structure is elegantly poetic, writes Alice Robinson.
Why isn’t Hilary Clinton’s Q&A an episode of Q&A?
Hilary Clinton’s upcoming televised discussion with Leigh Sales in Melbourne sounds a lot like an episode of Q&A, so why wasn’t it branded as such? It will certainly provide a good trial to see how Sales handles a Q&A style environment, writes Dan Barrett.
US mid-terms: away from Congress, a new breed of governors emerge
Voters in 37 states marked their ballot for gubernatorial candidates on Tuesday. Democrats currently hold 26 out of 50 but look likely to lose perhaps a dozen, offset by pickups in mostly obscure places like Hawaii, as good a place to be dumped by a wave as any.
US mid-terms: Republicans on track, but won’t be a wipeout
This is not going to be a good night for the Democrats, but it’s also not going to be a wipeout on the scale of 1994.
Sweet and sour: why our love of Krispy Kreme faded
In today’s health-conscious society, donuts such as Krispy Kreme’s were never going to become part of anyone’s regular diet, at least not in the way donuts are loved in the US. The company quickly went from novelty to normality, writes Smart Company’s James Thompson.
The Fairfax wage war even the Herald Sun refuses to profit from
Journos’ union the Media Entertainment and Arts Alliance is alleging collusion between Australia’s two leading newspaper proprietors after an advertisement spruiking a rally in defence of striking Fairfax hacks was pulled from top-selling Melbourne tabloid the Herald Sun in the shadow of its deadline last night.
Alison Anderson’s ‘greatest gift’ to NT: a citizen’s right of reply
The introduction of a right of reply may, in a supreme irony, be seen as the most enduring legacy of Alison Anderson’s political career.
Rundle's America The failure of Obama to take people with him
Whatever difficulties the Democrats have had to bear through ill-luck, controversial policies or the like, one whole dimension of this loss is due to the political failure of Obama and his team to take people with him, writes Guy Rundle.
The Brumby Dump: explosion of dodgy rooming houses, but few prosecutions
Despite an “explosion” in unregistered rooming houses and a promised crackdown on dodgy operators, the Victorian Department of Consumer Affairs has prosecuted only three landlords, writes Swinburne University journalism student Frida Rudolfsson
Indigenous jobs: there’s no such thing as a free lunch
Imagining that corporate Australia would employ Aboriginal people out of the goodness of boardroom hearts is as wrong-headed as thinking that all those burgers are actually cooked by a cheery red-headed bloke called Ronald, writes David Ritter, an author and blogger.
UNSW board backs naming decision, students want backdown
The University of NSW academic board have overwhelmingly voted to endorse a decision to bestow the naming rights of a College of Fine Arts school to Dr Gene and Brian Sherman. But students are now calling for the Shermans to personally reject the university’s decision.
Yemen: al-Qaeda affiliate rising
Last weekend’s foiled bombing attempt emanating from Yemen highlights again the resilience and persistence of al-Qaeda and the difficulties the Yemeni and US governments face in addressing the threat, writes Dr Rodger Shanahan, a non-resident Lowy Institute fellow.
Labor doesn’t have the guts to take on the banking cartel
Right on cue, the gouging bastards of the banking cartel are demonstrating exactly what Joe Hockey has been saying. Labor needs to get creative on banking regulation.
Westfield holds its hand out again to investors
You can certainly rely on the Lowy family’s Westfield Holdings to do two things in the stockmarket.
