Common sense has finally prevailed, with the contract to provide Australia’s government financed international television service finally being awarded to the ABC, writes Richard Farmer.
December, 2011
OECD finds inequality increasing in Australia
Income inequality among working-age people in Australia has been rising since 2000 and is today above the OECD average, reports Richard Farmer.
Embargo imbroglio c/o The New Yorker
The New Yorker film critic David Denby is in the middle of a self-created hullaballoo after breaking the embargo date for Girl With the Dragon Tattoo. The fact that his review was positive was “immaterial,” according to the film’s livid producer.
Merkozy bands together to save the euro
Crikey media wrap: German Chancellor Angela Merkel and French President Nicolas Sarkozy unveiled their joint plan for strict debt discipline guidelines to help save the troubled currency.
Wired’s top 5 toys of all time
Wired’s selection of the top five toys in history isn’t exactly a crop of techno delights. Coming it at number one: a good ol’ fashioned stick, writes Jonathan Liu.
Youtube redesign sets the stage for Google TV
Youtube’s newly unveiled redesign emphasises channels over random video programming, with users guided towards subscribing to content providers. It sets the stage for a revamped Google TV, which will revolutionise television, writes Dan Barrett.
Romeo and Juliet — Opera Theatre, Sydney
The genius of dance artists ‘Team Murphy’ — Graeme Murphy and collaborators — is employed to full impact in this triumphant rehash of Romeo and Juliet, writes Lloyd Bradford Skye.
film reviews The Adventures of Tintin — faithful but strangely soulless
Steven Spielberg’s Boxing Day blockbuster-to-be The Adventures of Tintin — the first in a trilogy — is faithful to Hergé’s graphic novels, but suffers from eerily artificial performance capture animation, writes Luke Buckmaster.
ALP Left hang tight to reforms as they step up numbers drive
The ALP’s Left say they will not give up on key reforms trashed by the Right at national conference and will urgently move to recruit multiple members to force Labor to democratise.
Simons: my unredacted submission to the media inquiry
The submission, with many others, was posted to the inquiry’s website, but the section on the Ozleaks case was redacted by me at the request of inquiry staff, due to matters being before the courts.
Do the Liberals have a conscience on gay marriage?
The media narrative is overwhelmingly obsessed with Labor’s position on the same-s-x marriage issue and the Coalition’s much larger anti-gay contingent has mostly been given a free pass.
Hard word on developing nations for a Durban climate deal
Canada seems to be enjoying its status as the pariah of the Durban climate change talks, reportedly registering a louder cheer in its parliament each time it is awarded a “fossil of the day” award, writes Giles Parkinson of Climate Spectator.
Gottliebsen: downgrade a wake-up call for our banks
Standard & Poor’s ratings downgrade is delivering to Australian banks a much needed wake-up call which bank CEOs will ignore at their peril, writes Robert Gottliebsen of Business Spectator.
New kid on the block: Wendy Harmer talks all things Hoopla
The Hoopla is the brain child of well-known comedian and journalist Wendy Harmer and marketer Jane Waterhouse. Founded in July this year, the site is already enjoying modest success.
Essential: early election out, but Labor brand still toxic
There’s been a marked fall in support for an early election in the wake of the Gillard government shoring up its parliamentary numbers as the political year draws to a close.
Gender parity an electoral albatross around the ALP’s neck
As long as the participation of women lurks below 50%, prospects of reform or reinvention in the Australian Labor Party are limited, writes Tanja Kovac.
A bad conference for Gillard, and maybe worse for her party
The ALP national conference did nothing to dispel perceptions about Julia Gillard’s judgment - or the party’s inability to renew itself.
Commercial TV groaning under weight of email complaints system
The first full year of the new email-based complaint-making process has seen an explosion on moans and groans and worse from viewers.
Still no evidence for Macklin’s NT intervention
The Labor government’s legislation continues to concentrate power in the hands of government and vilify Aboriginal people, write Dr Hilary Tyler and Paddy Gibson, NT indigenous workers.
Women pose in bikinis to ‘own’ their bodies. Something’s not right here
We don’t make men believe that “strength”, “pride”, “empowerment” and “inspiration” require them to strip in public, so why do women continue to believe it of themselves?
Just what the hell is happening in our universities?
Over the past month there have been several completely contradictory statements about the financial health of Australia’s universities, writes Paul Kniest, NTEU policy and research co-ordinator.
Your Say: Daily Mail readers' feedback: Sock puppets are not real people
Crikey readers have their say.
Morning Market Report: Markets respond to a great week in the US
The Dow recorded its biggest weekly rise last week since 2009, up 7%. The early gains came on news of a fall in the US unemployment rate.
