Following the recent cancellation of Hadley Sky News is launching the weekly political chat show Richo, featuring Graham Richardson, reports Dan Barrett.
February, 2011
theatre reviews 
In The Next Room — Drama Theatre, Sydney
Jacqueline McKenzie makes a welcome return to the stage as a needy doctor’s wife in this costume drama from writer Sarah Ruhl, who effectively probes the strange way humans rationalise behaviour, writes Lloyd Bradford Skye.
RIP Len Lesser
Actor Len Lesser, best known to most as Uncle Leo in the series Seinfeld, has passed away aged 88. Lesser reportedly died from cancer-related pneumonia. Dan Barrett pays tribute.
Changing the UK voting system
The UK will have a referendum on whether the first-past-the-post voting system should be changed to an alternative vote system with preferences, reports Richard Farmer.
A win for Sea Shepherd and the anti-whaling activists?
It seems there is a limit to the price the Japanese Government is prepared to pay to have more and more whale meat put into cold storage. The anti-whaling activists might just have made harpooning too difficult, writes Richard Farmer.
Is war reporting ever safe?
In light of the horrific attack on CBS journo Lara Logan in Egypt last week, Hamilton Nolan talks about the tricky business of balancing good journalism in dangerous areas with the safety of those reporting it.
Colvin: How Berlusconi bought his way to power
Back in the early 90s, Italy’s political institutions were in ruin and power was there fore the taking. Mark Colvin, an ABC journo in Italy during that time, explains how bad boy Berlusconi took control.
Qantas profits soar to $241 million
Qantas kept its dividends grounded today while profits soared fourfold in the six months to December 31, 2010 to a net $241 million.
Paul Barry: it’s Kim Jong Il’s birthday, they’ll swim if he makes them
Kim Jong Il, founding member of the Axis of Evil and surely the world’s worst dictator, was 69 yesterday. I feel terrible forgetting his birthday, but luckily the Chinese and Serbians remembered, as did the Syrians.
Bartholomeusz: MRRT shortfalls aren’t BHP’s problem
It was inevitable that BHP Billiton’s extraordinary interim profit performance would lead to calls for the Gillard government to rethink its proposed mineral resource rent tax.
The ideology dividing both parties
Ideology and personalities are usually the stumbling blocks to political unity. But they work in quite different ways in the Liberal and Labor parties.
Yes, floods and Yasi will push up the price of some foods
Sometimes you wonder if some journalists read very much, especially the speeches and reports issued by the Reserve Bank.
Former NRMA director: insurance industry hiring “a conga line of spin doctors”
A former NRMA Insurance director has accused his old firm of engaging in secretive government lobbying efforts, telling Crikey a “conga line of very expensive spin doctors” had been descending on Canberra and Brisbane in recent weeks to bend politicians’ ears in the wake of the Queensland floods.
How to read the Middle Eastern dominoes
Bahrian is looking like a smaller version of Egypt, further evidence of the “domino effect” that has already seen protests in Yemen, Algeria, Iran, Jordan and Libya — with official responses that have ranged from hurried concessions to brutal repression.
WikiLeaks isn’t cyber war, but maybe it’s piracy
The consensus is in. Stuxnet, the malicious software that inflicted physical damage on Iran’s nuclear program, is cyber war. But China’s attacks on Google a year ago and the whole WikiLeaks thing are not. WikiLeaks, in fact, is more like piracy.
Did News Corp shareholders pay a $77m Murdoch family tax bill?
So, the Murdoch interests have shelled out $77 million in a remarkable tax avoidance settlement with the ACT government and the Murdoch press is still yet to report a word of it.
Lucky break for Eddy Groves
Last month former ABC Learning Centres CEO and BRW Rich List member Eddy Groves appeared before a court to face criminal charges resulting from a breach of directors’ duties.
Fixing Defence once and for all
Richard Farmer’s Chunky Bits, Item 15, yesterday, makes a good point in principle about the need to reconstruct the Department of Defence in detail, writes Neil James, executive director, Australia Defence Association.
Logan attack perpetuates vicious circle of misogyny, racism
According to media watchdog group The Committee to Protect Journalists, at least 52 journalists were attacked during the recent revolution in Egypt, writes filmmaker and writer Ruby Hamad.
The extraordinary hypocrisy of Hillary Clinton
The speech on internet freedom by Secretary of State Hilary Clinton overnight Australian time contains some thoughtful observations about the connection between online communication, politics and freedom. It’s also a display of the most remarkable hypocrisy from the government at the centre of attempts to destroy WikiLeaks. Clinton, or her State Department staffers, are smart […]
Abbott should have known better — the Brasillach affair
Tony Abbott is i an intellectual — although for political reasons he hides it as carefully as Harold Macmillan did — and that is the standard by which he should be judged, writes Noel Turnbull.
Your Say: Daily Mail readers' feedback: Golf club poll: Morrison’s a d*ckhead
Crikey readers have their say.
Take Marilyn Monroe’s dog for a walk
I’m a huge Marilyn fan but was at first skeptical of the book, The Life and Opinions of Maf the Dog and of His Friend Marilyn Monroe. A book from the point of view of Mafia Honey, the dog Marilyn owned in the last years of her life? Luckily I was surprised.
