Tony Martin and Ed Kavalee’s new show The Joy of Sets will run against Packed to the Rafters and NCIS. Bad timeslot, or the best timeslot? asks TV blogger Dan Barrett.
September, 2011
Top 25 Australian business blogs
Corporate blogs are few and far between, and good ones are even scarcer. Smart Company lists 25 of the best Australian business blogs.
Film as a tool for examining city transformation
1940s footage of Los Angeles contrasted with Google Maps provides a perfect tool for examining how the city has transformed. Film nerd and town planner Stephen Rowley unites his twin areas of expertise.
Why Gillard can survive and Labor can win the next election
The common word is that Julia Gillard’s political fortunes are dead in the water and Labor cannot win the next federal election. Not so, says Ben Eltham. Here’s why.
theatre reviews 
Africa — Wharf 2, Sydney
In the fabulously entertaining Africa, puppets and people interact almost as if there were no difference between the two. And the inspiration for the work is amazing in itself, writes Lloyd Bradford Skye.
comedy Review: At Home With Julia — Episode One
At Home With Julia is not a political comedy. It’s as slight and inconsequential as an episode of Mad About You, writes Dan Barrett.
Alan Jones: The talkback titan who’s stood the test of time
Alan Jones is not a man; he’s a force of nature. Cyclone Alan has been written off as a spent force many times, but he keeps spinning, wreaking havoc and destroying anyone who stands in his way, writes Matthew Knott.
film reviews Red State — Kevin Smith breaks bad
Writer/director Kevin Smith delivers a late career bolt from the blue with Red State, a shockingly sacrilegious scary movie about an extreme right wing church’s nefarious practices, writes Luke Buckmaster
The Victorian Premier’s Literary Awards 2011
This week the 2011 Victorian Premier’s Literary Awards took place in Melbourne’s spiffy Regent Theatre. Crikey book blogger Angela Meyer was there, listening to speeches, sipping champagne and wine and chowing down on fancy food.
comedy First impressions of At Home With Julia
ABC’s At Home With Julia takes your average storyline lifted from Bewitched, gives it some political overlay and reduces all the characters to a single exaggerated attribute, writes Matt Smith.
Jeff had better keep his golligwogs hidden
A woman in Suffolk has has been charged with racially aggravated harassment after a neighbour complained about a golliwog displayed in her window. Golliwog lover Jeff Kennett might want to leave his beloved dolls behind next time he travels to Britain, writes Richard Farmer.
Australia’s green groups fight everything but criticism against them
Throughout 2011, Australia’s best-funded environment organisations have been united in support of the Labor government’s push to establish a carbon price. Not everyone thinks this is a good thing, writes Leigh Ewbank.
Poetry Week day three: Channeling Buddha
For day three of National Poetry Week, W H Chong dug up and reread Judith Beveridge’s spectacular Wolf Notes. Centering its three sections is a suite of 38 poems.
Media briefs: Another NotW inquiry … NY Times historic edition …
In today’s Media Briefs: James Murdoch faces second grilling by MPs … Evidence ‘unclear and contradictory’, says News International and more …
Mayne: who will last longer — Julia Gillard or Rupert Murdoch?
Rupert Murdoch’s leadership could be over in just a few weeks. He’s suddenly out of tricks and out of time, writes Andrew Stephen Mayne-Bolt.
No, the sky’s not falling — the economy is in rude health
The Australian economy isn’t dying, it isn’t in need of a rate cut to halt a slide towards a recession, it isn’t suffering from a lack of spending or demand: in fact it’s in rude health.
NSW budget: razor gang takes to grassroots arts funding
The NSW budget papers contain a $2.8 million cut to small arts grants. In the small-scale end of the sector that is proverbially impoverished, these budget cuts will be felt keenly.
Ghosts of climate policy past haunt our Clean Energy Future
It’s an old refrain, but the closer we get to the Clean Energy Future legislation ducking and weaving its way through parliament, the more we are reminded of the ghosts of the current proposal’s stepmother, the Carbon Pollution Reduction Scheme, writes Giles Parkinson of Climate Spectator.
The quality journalism project: the trusted man with the mo, George Negus
George Negus has written a pile of books, interviewed world leaders and pop stars and hosted a swag of shows — including 6.30 with George Negus. But what does he like to read and watch?
Virtual (economic) reality: Microsoft Points to future
Microsoft has become the first technology firm to weigh into the debate on innovation in the Australian payments system, calling for the payments infrastructure to be modified to facilitate virtual currencies, writes Technology Spectator’s Charis Palmer.
Gottliebsen: blowing up a Swiss safe haven
The decision by the Swiss to defend their currency and the consequent rise in the gold price (it later eased) has the potential to be a time bomb for the Australian dollar, writes Robert Gottliebsen of Business Spectator.
The Power Index: meet the megaphones, Ray Hadley at #3
Ray Hadley’s rabble-rousing radio show is networked to about 700,000 people across Australia. That’s not so say that everybody loves Raymond, but he couldn’t care less. The taxi driver turned self-made sultan of the airwaves says: “Mad as I sometimes appear, I firmly believe in what I’m saying.” Hadley tops the Sydney radio ratings with […]
Guy Rundle: James Murdoch and his 15 minutes of …?
That story has always been unbelievable, but an absence of evidence allowed the News hierarchy to tell the story with a straight face — as Rupert and James Murdoch did appearing before the committee earlier.
Searching for truth on productivity
For journalists willing to do some work, it’s easy to check whether the link being made between IR deregulation and labour productivity stands up.
