Nobody much liked Queensland Premier Anna Bligh, until her stoic performance handling the state’s natural disasters. Yet still, through hell and high water, they liked Liberal-National Party leader John-Paul Langbroek even less.
March, 2011
Crikey Says: Can Do and the desperate Libs
Just another brick in the paywall
Last week the NY Times announced its paywall, the publication’s second attempt to charge for online content (the last time was back in 2005). This article examines how — and why — it chose the distinctive model it’s gone for, with a complicated array of free and paid content.
Monbiot: Japan’s nuclear disaster made me a nuclear power fan
The Fukushima plant in Japan was aging, lacking in safety features, hit by a gigantic earthquake and tsunami and still didn’t kill anyone with radiation poisoning. Rather than discouraging George Monbiot from nuclear power, it’s suddenly a far more attractive option.
IT expert Andrew Bolt messes up the wireless vs NBN debate
Andrew Bolt has dived back into his “wireless means we don’t need the NBN” nonsense by quoting a release from Cisco. Here’s why he’s wrong, writes Dave Gaukroger.
healthcare How to tackle scabies in Indigenous communities: the debate continues
In order to address an issue as significant as scabies in remote Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities, one cannot look at this problem in isolation, writes Selwyn Button.
The NY grid turns 200
Two hundred years ago New York street commissioners certified the city’s famous street matrix, its blueprint for unprecedented - and ultra orderly - development. Debate still rages about the grid but its impact is indisputable, writes Sam Roberts.
A.A. Gill: Dine at the worst restaurant in the world
There’s one little bistro in Paris that inspires English businessman to whisper sweet nothings about the fine French cuisine. But A. A. Gill found a restaurant with lazy waiters, overcooked broiled kidneys and very little charm.
Dear Aunty ABC: we need you now more than ever
It is now obvious that the ABC is pandering to the corporate and cultural Right, but the need for a staunchly independent public broadcaster has never been greater, writes Mr Denmore.
cooking Eating Aunt June’s clitoria cake
It’s always an appealing past time to ignore the bad news in the world and whip up a tasty treat in the kitchen. W H Chong explains how to make his Aunty June’s bizarrely named “clitoria cake.”
Code blue: a Bahrain hospital in need of help
Tanks at the hospital gate , protesters being shot in the eyes and civilians fleeing to hide in the hospital: an anonymous doctor in Bahrain writes of the difficult situation for one hospital in Manama.
Maley: Buffett’s still big on Japan
In punting on the Japanese recovery, investors are taking on some big risks, writes Karen Maley, of Business Spectator.
Guy Rundle: Libya … US move really a police intervention
It’s the Libyan rebels who’ve shown a capacity to be reflexive, risk-taking, and radically oriented to the future and its possibilities — including the possibility that it may go terribly wrong.
The strange case of Q&A and the Christopher Pyne homophobic gibe
On last night’s episode of Q&A the ABC broadcast a bizarre homophobic gibe about Christopher Pyne’s alleged affection for men in uniform. What the…? writes Jeremy Sear.
travel How to light a gas stove and other Chilean dilemmas
Laura Burgoine left Melbourne bound for Chile with no contacts, zero Spanish skills and no real accommodation at the other end, armed only with a Macbook and the foolish delusion that this might just work.
Encouragement for the French far right
The far-right National Front (FN) has gained ground in French local elections which suggests there really might be a national rise in support now that Marine Le Pen has succeeded her father Jean-Marie as the party leader, writes Richard Farmer.
Newspoll: 51-49 to Labor
The latest Newspoll result shows a big surprise rebound for Labor after a string of poor polls. A 54-46 deficit recorded in the wake of the carbon tax announcement has been reversed to a 51-49 two-party preferred Labor lead, reports William Bowe.
The Long View: climate change and the search for balanced reporting
Climate change adviser Ross Garnaut recently suggested the media treatment of the issue has undermined support for action by giving equal weight to mainstream peer-reviewed science and sceptical views not backed by published evidence.
Twitter v the MSM: covering Gaddafi’s war against reality
Twitter is supposed to lack credibility as a news source compared to the mainstream media. But not, it seems, when it comes to rehashing propaganda from Gaddafi.
Nuclear crisis: ‘we are getting closer to bringing the situation under control’
The crisis isn’t over at Japan’s crippled Daiichi nuclear plant, but the situation is still improving. One Japanese official said: “We are getting closer to bringing the situation under control.”
Guy Rundle: Rundle: In Libya, ‘solidarity’ revealed as a form of parasitism
The whole Libya operation — largely involving the US, with smaller roles played by the British, French and Lebanese air forces — quickly became mired in confusion.
Clegg back to Fairfax bosom and Gill falls on his sword: all the comings and goings at the Fin Review
In a wholesale shakeup at The Australian Financial Review, News Limited defector Brett Clegg has been formally anointed as incoming CEO of the ailing Financial Review Group less than a year after leaving Fairfax for The Australian. And the paper’s editor, Glenn Burge, has been offered a job elsewhere in the Fairfax empire.
Essential: shock — support drops for nuclear
Unsurprisingly, support for nuclear power has plunged following Fukushima, according to today’s Essential Poll. And Tony Abbott’s inconsistency on climate change has left voters confused.
