Herman Cain: this is more than a two person raceHerman Cain, the GOP presidential candidate who scored an upset win in Florida, is mad as hell at media coverage and the assumption that Rick Perry and Mitt Romney are the only credible Republican choices, reports Patricia Murphy.
September, 2011
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Stephen King reads excerpt from sequel to The Shining
Three and a half decades after writing his best selling horror novel The Shining, Stephen King is close to finishing a sequel and read an excerpt from it at an American university last weekend.
Review: Al’s Music Rant — Melbourne Fringe Festival
Several people in the audience for Al’s Music Rant, by Al Newsread, were wondering how on earth he knows so much about music, and Siobhan Argent quickly became one of them.
travel Only fools stay connected while travelling: the luddites fight back
In response to a piece published on Crikey’s travel blog Back in a Bit about the benefits of using smartphones while travelling, Troy Wilkinson, who prefers travelling the old fashioned way, fights back.
Going after News Corp in the USA
An expert on anti-bribery law believes US federal authorities will “go after” News Corporation under the the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act, reports Richard Farmer.
Women on the front line
Crikey media wrap: In the battle for equality, women have had an historic win, with the Defence Force finally opening up combat roles for females.
The Australian calls for a media (ABC) inquiry
In its editorial today The Australian has called for a for a media inquiry. Or, to be more specific, an ABC inquiry, which somewhat contrasts with New Ltd CEO John Hartigan’s view of the government’s media inquiry, writes Dave Gaukroger.
Newspoll: Liberal National Party’s overwhelming lead in Queensland
Career opportunities for aspiring Queensland Labor politicians are clearly going to be thin on the ground for a few years to come. The Liberal National Party are polling 61-39 two-party preferred, writes William Bowe.
GOP university cake stall: $2 cupcakes for whites, $1 for Latinos
A cake stall sponsored by the Republican Party, where customers were to pay different prices based on their skin colour, to help protest against a Senate bill of affirmative action, has caused a scandal at a university in California.
David Karoly: our planet has a fever — is geoengineering a safe treatment?
Geoengineering involves the deliberate manipulation of physical, chemical, or biological aspects of the Earth system to reduce human-caused climate change. Should we do it? Climate scientist David Karoly explains the issues.
Interview with Bright and Distant Shores author Dominic Smith
Bright and Distant Shores is hugely imaginative historical fiction set just before the dawn of the 20th century in Chicago and the South Pacific. Angela Meyer sat down for a chat with its author Dominic Smith.
Media debate on boats doesn’t hold water
One of the most curious arguments over the past decade of refugee madness has been the idea that treating refugees humanely and according to our international treaty obligations is to encourage people smugglers.
album reviews Kasabian’s Velociraptor!
Often touted as heirs to Oasis’s lad rock constituency, Kasabian have always been weirder than but their latest album Velociraptor! obviously aspires for greater commercial success. Sadly, it’s at the cost of experimentation, writes Neil Walker.
Dead set, fair dinkum: Rabs, Gus join Canberra pokies bunfight
When more than a million people tuned in to watch Nine’s coverage of the NRL preliminary final at Sydney Football Stadium last Friday night, it’s doubtful they were expecting to be drawn into a Canberra bunfight.
Compare and contrast: Yemen and Saudi Arabia
Promises of reform in two neighbouring mid-east countries: in Yemen, president Ali Abdullah Saleh calls for early elections and says he is committed to a peaceful transfer of power. In Saudi Arabia, king Abdullah has announced that from 2015 women will be allowed to stand and vote in local elections.
Flagging labour productivity is understandable: report
The National Australia Bank has, with its paper The Productivity Puzzle, entered the productivity debate and its contribution won’t be much liked by conservative economists, columnists and perhaps even sections of the Reserve Bank and Federal Treasury.
Will Australia miss the global solar boom?
Ferguson has mostly been interested in protecting the supply of fossil fuels or export or use at home, although he has shown an increasing interest in solar of late, writes Giles Parkinson from Climate Spectator.
Young Labor backs gays on Richo’s advice
The Australian Young Labor national conference has backed progressive resolutions on gay marriage and asylum seekers while simultaneously electing arch social conservative Ben Maxfield as its next president.
Transparency please! Why the tax breaks for pokies clubs?
Has there ever been a more self-serving public campaign than the one being mounted by Clubs Australia? It’s time for a closer look at the alleged benefits of clubs to the Australian community.
The conflicts of interest muddying the anti-pokies campaign
As with any public debate, the challenge in the pokies reform will be getting participants to put all their cards on the table and declare these conflicts as they arise. Stephen Mayne declares their interests on the public’s behalf.
Mapping ethics of Aboriginal genome research
New research mapping the Aboriginal genome garnered international attention last week and is re-writing the history books on human migration, but scientists fear the news raises an ethical quagmire here in Australia.
Crikey Clarifier: Crikey Clarifier: what is a ‘superbug’ and how does penicillin destroy them?
Last week drug company CSL wrote to hospitals, advising them to start rationing an intravenous form of penicillin. But will it increase superbugs and what are they anyway? Crikey intern Greg Foyster investigates.
Maley: a frenzy of blind market optimism
Financial markets were swept up in a frenzy of optimism overnight, as rumours swirled that the eurozone was preparing to radically boost the powers of its bailout fund, writes Karen Maley of Business Spectator.
Nothing complementary about Pharmacy Guild’s corporate deal
The recent deal between the Pharmacy Guild and complementary medicine manufacturer Blackmores has raised the ire of doctors and consumer groups, writes Jennifer Doggett of Crikey health blog Croakey.
The Power Index: law enforcers, John Lawler at #9
John Lawler runs an organisation with extraordinary powers, but he’s not an extraordinarily powerful man. Lawler’s critics say the silver-haired Australian Federal Police veteran has fallen short of expectations since taking the reins at the Australian Crime Commission two and a half years ago. “John Lawler does some good things but he’s part of what I regard […]
