Kim Williams is the new boss of Rupert Murdoch’s News Limited, which publishes two-thirds of Australia’s metropolitan newspapers and more than 120 suburban or regional titles. And we don’t need to tell you how powerful that makes him. But we reckon playing second fiddle to Murdoch will be a tough gig for the one-time composer — whatever […]
December, 2011
How could you sack this great man, Sydney University?
If a wealthy sandstone institution such as Sydney University cannot find a way to retain exceptional talent, who will step into the breach?, writes Catriona Menzies-Pike, an English PhD, teacher and editor.
Your Say: Daily Mail readers' feedback: Hot air and Durban
Crikey reads have their say.
Media briefs: IPA and shekels … Leveson latest … David Speers talks the talk
In today’s Media Briefs: If I had a shekel for every time I’d heard … Front page of the Day … NotW editor to blame for using Mosley story, reporter tells Leveson inquiry and more …
Power Shots: Power Shots: media power couple … PM picks winners, losers … Gates in Sydney …
Power couple: journo stars Jones and Ferguson. She’s the Four Corners star who exposed mistreatment in Australia’s live export trade; he’s the interviewer that politicians fear most. Tony “silverfox” Jones and Sarah “the duchess” Ferguson are Australia’s pre-eminent journalistic power couple — and 2011 has seen their influence soar to even greater heights. Both took out gongs at last month’s […]
Political snippets: A dangerous time for a reshuffle
Australia now has the largest sized Cabinet in history while Miss Gillard has a couple more colleagues she cannot count on if and when there is a leadership challenge.
Video of the Day: Next stop — Miniatur Wunderland
Cities are bustling, mountains reach a magnificent six metres high, each day lasts 15 minutes and a control room with 40 computers constantly monitors the world. Welcome to Miniatur Wunderland, the largest miniature railway on earth.
Tips and rumours: Tips and rumours
Hunt, Price and the press connection. Shadow climate minister Greg Hunt always seems to be doing interviews with Steve Price on the ailing MTR. Could the fact his press secretary Wendy Black is Steve Price’s wife have anything to do with it? Jones was singing at the ABC. We’ve solved the mystery of why radio hothead Alan Jones was spending so […]
Crikey Says: Attorney-General Roxon’s to-do list
Nicola Roxon’s appointment as Australia’s first female Attorney-General presents several opportunities to address issues handled poorly by Robert McClelland.
Julie Bishop’s compulsory Asian language education: are we too monolingual for our own good?
Julie Bishop recently announced her ambition to have Asian languages compulsorily taught in school. For one thing, it would be certain be a master stroke in soft diplomacy, writes Aidan Wilson.
A portrait of David Malouf
The latest in W H Chong’s series of great portraits of great writers is a picture of David Malouf, drawn at a talk for the ABR. Malouf’s response: “ah, um, mm…”
Missing the message: Facebook’s ‘other’ folder controversy
Hundreds of thousands of Facebook users are missing messages dumped in their “other” messages folder, says Slate, which received a windfall of responses from outraged readers, reports Sonia Tsuruoka.
Why Howard flunks the test on teachers and schools
Teachers are not people, per se, but politically Left chalk outlines madly cooking up hysteria about climate change. At least that seems to be the opinion of John Howard, who needs to take a chill pill and cop a dose of reality, writes Mike Stuchbery.
Boeing gets twin engine long range limitations removed
Boeing has been given design type approval to offer airlines flying its 777 models up to 330 minutes extended range or ETOPS operations, meaning Qantas could fly non-stop between Sydney and Buenos Aires or Johannesburg in a 777, writes Ben Sandilands.
Kim Williams: News Ltd’s new head honcho
Kim Williams is the new boss of News Ltd, which publishes two-thirds of Australia’s metropolitan newspapers and more than 120 suburban or regional titles. We don’t need to tell you how powerful that makes him, writes Paul Barry.
Russian billionaire set to run against Putin
News that Russian billionaire Mikhail D. Prokhorov will challenge Prime Minister Vladimir Putin is the latest threat to the political status quo in Russia, reports Ellen Barry and David M Herszenhorn.
Antony Loewenstein: Supporting BDS and Palestinian rights as a Jew
With Israel a state that even more brazenly boasts a fundamentalist Jewish minority as representing true Zionism, BDS is an essential tool to harm Israel’s economic and moral fibre, writes Antony Loewenstein.
Reshuffle promotes Gillard’s
‘warlords’
Crikey media wrap: A ministerial reshuffle yesterday resulted in promotions for the architects of Julia Gillard’s prime ministerial coup, a demotion for a Kevin Rudd supporter and a record number of female ministers in Australian politics.
The politics of playing against type
John Howard advocating the leftist cause of Timor Leste, Julia Gillard campaigning against gay marriage — sometimes politicians can surprise us by defying our expectations, writes Politically Homeless.
The boycott, divestment and sanction of Israel
Human Rights are universal, yet it is patently obvious that their implementation is very selective. Israel claims to be a democracy but more closely resembles apartheid, argues Moammar Mashni.
The Talkley Award – a word nerd’s night of nights
The Talkey Award acknowledges the contributions of Australian linguists who promote language awareness in the public arena. The recipient of the inaugural Award went to celebrity linguist Kate Burridge, writes Piers Kelly.
album reviews Amy Winehouse’s Lioness: Hidden Treasures — artistically dead
Vale Amy Winehouse. She died in July this year but it’s hard to shake the feeling that she’d been artistically dead for quite some time, writes Neil Walker.
The politics of cricket: forget a reshuffle, it’s time to bring out the axe
It’s fitting that on the day Gillard announced a cabinet reshuffle, a devastating loss to New Zealand in the Second Test at Hobart may be the catalyst for the axe to be applied to the Australian cricket team, writes Leigh Josey.
