First Dog on the Moon tells it like it is yearwise…
December, 2010
Crikey Says: Crunching the numbers on our refugee intake
42 million (more than): the number of people forcibly displaced at the end of 2008.
Book mulchings 2010: e-asy reading
The book industry has suddenly entered its own strange zone, a state of imminent crisis as it slips from brute pulp to the ethereal electronic. As Malcolm Fraser predicted, Life wasn’t meant to be e-asy. W H Chong presents some books that have found long term storage in his biosoftware in 2010.
Still buffering: bad reviews delay Google TV
Google is no stranger to delaying the release of software and operating systems, and Google TV - which promises to be a major step forward for internet television - is the latest project to get pushed back after early versions generated a spate of mixed reviews.
Kris Kringle for the Oz pollies
The office Kris Kringle is typically a kringe-worthy affair — but if you think you’ve got it tough, spare a thought for the poor bastards at Capital Hill. But never fear, Crikey intern Alexandra Patrikios is here, armed with gift suggestions for the a few parliamentarian pressies:
theatre reviews Wish I’d Said That – Ensemble Theatre, Sydney
Australian actor Henri Szeps takes us on a somewhat haphazard, if lively, autobiographical journey to explore the contours of the human soul. It doesn’t all work seamlessly but nether is the life he describes, writes Lloyd Bradford Skye.
film reviews Somewhere — modest but rewarding
Writer/director Sofia Coppola’s slow moving slice of life drama Somewhere, about the day-to-day routine of a Hollywood star, is a modest and nuanced film that gets progressively more interesting as it grows, writes Luke Buckmaster.
Foxtel gets a lifestyle channel makeover
Foxtel are launching yet another new Lifestyle Channel. The new channel, set to replace the woefully named How To Channel, will launch on March 1, 2011. Does every lifestyle show need to be about property valuations, home improvements, and cooking? asks Dan Barrett.
Jetstar reinstates fired whistleblower pilot
Joe Eakins, the whistleblower pilot fired by Jetstar last month for expressing his concerns about the carrier’s safety standards, has been reinstated by the Qantas low cost subsidiary, reports Ben Sandilands.
Newspoll: 61-39 to Coalition in NSW
The latest bi-monthly Newspoll shows the executioner’s axe continuing to hang over the head of the Labor government in New South Wales, with the Coalition leading the two-party preferred vote 61-39, writes William Bowe.
WikiLeaks update: Pope supports biotechnologies, Colombia fears war from Chavez
The latest of the WikiLeaks cables, including startling news that the Vaitcan is “quietly supportive” of biotechnologies such as GM good as a solution to world hunger, the Panama Canal expansion project was a “disaster” according to the Vice President of Panama and news that Colombia fears a Falklands Islands-style war from Hugo Chavez’s Venezuela.
Guy Rundle: Rundle: police procedures ignored in Assange interviews
A Swedish legal activist has told Crikey that police interviewing the two women accusing WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange of r-pe and s-xual misconduct did not follow the recommended procedure for s-x crime investigation.
Policy change, but cloud still hangs over gay US soldiers
US Senator John McCain, once a centrist “maverick” before his presidential run, went apoplectic in the minutes leading up to congress’s historic vote to overturn Don’t Ask Don’t Tell, writes Harley Dennett in Washington DC.
Essential: voters support WikiLeaks and Assange, attack Gillard’s stance
Most Australians support the release of the WikiLeaks diplomatic cables, say Julian Assange should receive legal support and are critical of the federal government’s rhetoric on the issue, new polling reveals.
Wilkie’s ‘disruption operation’ solution: sugar in the fuel tank?
Intelligence sharing, sugar in the fuel tank or drilling holes in boats — just what did Andrew Wilkie mean when he called for re-energised “disruption operations” as a way of halting the people smuggling trade?
Carbon capture: a lost cause?
With the Bligh Government at least temporarily pulling the plug, the question begs: does carbon capture technology have a viable future? Crikey intern Alexandra Patrikios asks the experts.
Murray-Darling plan hits more rough waters
It’s rough waters for the Murray-Darling Basin plan right now, with news that the federal and state water ministers have pushed the plan back to early 2012.
WikiLeaks tug of war: News Ltd v Fairfax
There’s nothing more demeaning for a journalist than a public accusation of getting your facts wrong, but that’s exactly what Fairfax’s Philip Dorling had to cop on Saturday courtesy of the front-page of the Weekend Australian.
Westpac stays ‘mum’ on emergency $1b loan from US Fed
Sometimes important corporate news is ignored. Shareholders miss it, companies hide it and governments fail to publicise it.
Maley: China’s waning appetite for inflation
You know that something extremely fishy is happening when top Chinese banking authorities start downplaying the risk of inflation, writes Karen Maley.
Christmas Island tragedy … PM’s reason irrelevant to radar system
I am disturbed at the information the media are getting from senior ministers, and from unnamed or non-official sources, claiming great difficulties in detecting wooden boats moving in stormy weather across large areas of ocean.
Pobjie’s year in review: perfect ’10 for ruction, discord and Hey Hey’s demise
I don’t think it would be hyperbolic to say that 2010 has been the most momentous and exciting year since the dawn of time, writes Ben Pobjie.
