Mexican drug cartels declare war on ‘internet snitches’Mexican drug cartels appear to no longer make a distinction between old and new media, declaring the beginning of a violent war against ‘internet snitches,’ reports Robert Beckhusen.
September, 2011
Sex, according to Chinese youth
A Chinese not-for-profit organisation has kicked off a project in which youth record their views about sex on large pieces of paper. Translated into English, they become unexpectedly amusing.
Canberra fire: an Emergency Services SMS so badly worded it was interpreted as a hoax
Canberra this morning was a little smoky, with a chemical fire in the northern suburb of Mitchell. A text message sent by Emergency Services was so badly spelt many residents thought it was a fake, writes William Steed.
Reflecting on Sucker Punch: the uber masturbatory epic
Insultingly obvious and terribly convoluted, Zack Snyder’s blockbuster turkey Sucker Punch is pornography without the money shot, says Nathan Rabin in the latest installment of My Year of Flops.
Malcolm Fraser: High Court offers govt chance to seize high ground
Former prime minister Malcolm Fraser sent the following letter to Immigration Minister Chris Bowen last week …
What Tw(i)tt(e)r looked like as a wee bub
When Twitter was born five years ago it was known as the vowel-less ‘twttr’ and looked rather green, and more than a little ugly. Marshall Kirkpatrick rewinds the clock.
Get tough road policies kill ‘em older
A recent study of car crash data in America argues that get-tough regulations haven’t made any real difference in road fatalities other than changing the age of those killed, reports Richard Farmer.
The rising star of Elizabeth Warren
Republicans attempt to paint her as an out of touch Harvard intellectual, but Democrat Elizabeth Warren’s stocks are rising in Ted Kennedy’s old seat, reports Jill Lawrence.
theatre reviews Macbeth — Opera Theatre, Sydney
You’d think that anything Shakespearean would be a shoo-in for an operatic makeover. The music in this new Opera Australia production is too lyrical and sweet to capture the power of the Bard, writes Lloyd Bradford Skye.
linguistics Gillard, grammar and the language of politics
Crikey’s language blog Fully (sic) applies the linguistic scalpel to Julia Gillard’s famous voice, in a response from Lauren Gawne to a recent SMH op-ed by Jacqueline Maley.
Media inquiry: big winner is the Press Council
The new inquiry is certainly messy in conception, and nobody really has any idea as to how it will do its work.
Gottliebsen: how the market buy was triggered
In previous market turmoil, it was London and New York that set the pattern around the globe, but in the last few months it has been the German DAX index that has led the world down, writes Robert Gottliebsen.
The logic of an inquiry into a media model under siege
The media inquiry is less an attack on freedom of speech than a search a solution to the basic problem of the newspaper model. Good luck fixing it.
Why political strangulation of Sydney Airport is a farce
At Sydney Airport, jets are being told to stay on the ground, ready to take off, waiting 20 minutes or more, because the airport has exceeded its politically imposed capacity for airliner movements.
Palestinians, Israelis targets of settler violence in lead-up to UN vote
In the lead-up to the United Nations vote on the recognition of Palestinian statehood, there is an overwhelming sense, in Israel and Palestine, of uncertainty, writes freelancer Nigel O’Connor.
Guy Rundle: The lifts and falls (and falls) of an Orwell Prize winner
Disgraced UK columnist Johann Hari has returned his “Orwell Prize”, the highest award for journalism in the country, and published a long personal letter in The Independent, apologising for a string of offences.
How to check for cracks in egg labelling
This week poultry related labelling has come under fire, with the Australian Egg Corporation drafting new egg labelling standards and legal action from the ACCC against KFC’s chicken supplier Steggles. Jess Gregory sorts the yolk from the white.
DFAT’s new passport regs a win for trans and inters-x people
Transs-xual and inters-x Australians will now only have to provide a medical certificate from their regular physician in order to change the s-x on their passport, writes Kate Doak, a writer and postgraduate student
The Power Index: money movers, young and restless Clyne at #7
One of the first things Cameron Clyne did when arriving at NAB was pull down the partitions separating workers. And there’s no glassed-in corner office with city views for the youngest-ever head of the big four bank — Clyne likes to tell people he works at a desk, just like everyone else. It’s this kind of approach […]
Your Say: Daily Mail readers' feedback: The Australian Literary Review
Crikey readers have their say.
Mayne: the killer question for James Murdoch
After tipping everyone else overboard, James and Rupert Murdoch are the last two people left to take responsibility for the corruption, criminality, abuse of power and huge multi-year cover-up.
Cameron goes to Russia to break four-year ice
The issue of Russian participation in Europe has been thrown into sharper relief this week by the visit of British Prime Minister David Cameron to Moscow.
Fight against pipeline the new ‘normal’ in climate change politics
In Washington, the epic effort to prevent the construction of the Keystone XL tar sands pipeline from the US to Canada is reaching a crescendo, writes David Ritter in London.
