Sport Power list: David Attenborough at #8. If you’re going to talk power in sport, you’ve got to talk gambling. And if you’re going to talk gambling, then you needn’t look much further than Tabcorp, the 800-pound gorilla in the gaming room, and its British-born CEO David Attenborough. It’s no secret that Australians love a […]
October, 2011
Political snippets: All key inflation indicators point downwards
The inflationary crisis seems to have passed Australia by with the key measurements that influence the Reserve Bank when it comes to fixing interest rates all pointing downwards.
Video of the Day: A touch of badminton with Putin
Russian President Dmitry Medvedev posted a rather bizarre video on the official Kremlin website showing him talking about badminton and then having a hit with president-in-waiting Vladimir Putin. While they obviously aren’t a direct translation, the subtitles done by Deadspin are rather amusing … The video isn’t embeddable, so click here to view it.
Tips and rumours: Tips and rumours
Department at war with IBM. The Department of Health and Ageing has had a few IT issues of late. “Catastrophic”, in fact. The secretary reassures staff: Colleagues, As you are no doubt painfully aware, changes made by IBM to the department’s IT storage environment over the weekend has resulted in a catastrophic failure in our […]
Come in Spinner: why do we believe so much that’s wrong?
One of the great conundrums of modern life is how so many people have come to believe so much that is just plain wrong.
Vulnerable Kenya on the brink of collapse
Kenya is facing very testing multifaceted challenges to national unity, writes Robert Johnson, a UN adviser/consultant in Nairobi.
Crikey Says: Crikey says: try some rollback reality
Tony Abbott’s latest rollback pledge? The mandatory pokies pre-commitment scheme. Here he is at an RSL club in Western Sydney last night…
Why do we pee when we’re scared?
“I was so petrified, I nearly wet myself” is a fairly common line when recanting a terrifying tale, but Slate explains the actual biological reasons of why stress makes us urinate.
The latest marketing buzzword? ‘Artisan’
Once upon a time the word “artisan” meant something had been carefully hand made. Now you can buy Domino’s Artisan pizza and artisan sandwiches from Starbucks. Bruce Horovitz opines on the newest marking cliché.
What’s non-strategic about saving a river?
Federal government water buyback is paying dividends for our river systems — since 2009 the government has delivered almost 600 GL of water back to the Murray-Darling Basin. So why are they now being called into question? asks Juliet Le Feuvre.
Secret CIA operations in Iraq
US president Barack Obama announced that the US military will leave Iraq by December 31 this year. But the CIA has a number of covert programs and counter-terrorism operations in Iraq that will continue, writes Eli Lake.
The tale of a convicted Mexican drug cartel murderer
From a dirty prison cell in Juarez, Mexico, UK journalist Ioan Grillo interviews Gonzalo, a former drug cartel leader — responsible for kidnappings, torture and numerous murders — now turned born-again Christian.
The Power Index 
Meet Australia’s gambling goliath
If you’re going to talk power in sport, you’ve got to talk gambling. And if you’re going to talk gambling, then you need to address the 800-pound gorilla in the gaming room, Tabcorp. Tom Cowie profiles its CEO David Attenborough.
Review: QI Live with Stephen Fry
Funny, educational, and always what it says on the packaging — quite interesting — QI Live brings the BBC comedy show to the stages of Australia, hosted by the international treasure Stephen Fry. Matt Smith headed along to the Melbourne show.
Euro bailout deal in doubt
Crikey media wrap: The cancellation of a much-hyped meeting between European Union finance ministers in Brussels today, where it was hoped leaders would finally bang out a clear plan to solve the debt crisis, sent share markets tumbling.
film reviews Contagion — cold, clinical and compelling
Matt Damon heads an impressive cast in director Steven Soderbergh’s disaster pic Contagion, which attempts to realistically explore the consequences — political and otherwise — of a global-wide super disease, writes Luke Buckmaster.
Who wins when it comes to mandatory detention?
The idea that the indefinite detention of people in privately run prison-style facilities could ever be any other than antithetical good mental heath outcomes is highly problematic, writes Robin Cameron.
Manne and The Oz: revisiting a time when Iraq had WMD
One of the most salient yet overlooked aspects of Robert Manne’s Quarterly Essay Bad News is its assessment of The Australian’s coverage of the Iraq war and its aftermath. NAJ Taylor fills this gap, discussing the debate’s many factors in this essay for This Blog Harms.
The Age goes to Bali: the worst travel article ever published?
There’s a nauseating article all over the Fairfax press today titled “Bali: why bother?”, where the journalist complained of the touts in Ubud ruining her tropical holiday. What absolute, elitist rubbish, declares Amber Jamieson.
Cristina Fernandez landslide … Gillard, eat your heart out
Argentinians rapidly restored Cristina Fernandez’s approval ratings to how they were before her conflict with the agro sector, something Julia Gillard could only dream of, writes Leo Codutti, a freelance journalist in Buenos Aires.
NT govt gets real on remote service delivery … maybe
The most challenging part of Olga Havnen’s new job will be to renew the faith and trust in governments as service providers of choice among the NT’s Aboriginal communities.
Record protests as News Corp shareholders get rankings dead right
The News Corporation votes are in and the record protest votes have duly been delivered. Records were smashed with as much as 80% of the independent shareholders voting to remove the Murdoch boys.
Public deserves better information on complementary medicines
Anything less than full disclosure about lack of testing compromises the capacity of health consumers to appropriately purchase and use complementary medicines, writes Carol Bennett, chief executive officer, Consumers Health Forum of Australia.
