Drugs, sex and deception from Mr AppleOld FBI documents about Steve Jobs, recently posted online, dredge up juicy details of the Apple co-founder’s life — including pointed observations of his personality and ethics and his use of psychedelic drugs, writes Dan Lyons.
Archives
Arts life after money: has the Australia Council ‘lost the plot’?
What happens when an arts organisation suddenly loses funding? For two small arts organisations that have recently lost their cash, after the crisis comes resilience.
When classic literature is literally swept away
Andrew Stafford lost a treasured collection of children’s books in the Queensland floods. But in this guest post for Liticism, he explains why he isn’t crying a river.
The pomp of Slippery Pete
New Speaker of the House Peter Slipper has been mocked donning a gown and bow-tie and demanding the ye olde grand Speaker entry. He’s just embracing traditions, a rarity in Australian politics, notes Mike Seccombe.
TV reviews ABC1′s Woodley — the next Australian classic
In his new ABC1 show, comedian Frank Woodley has delivered something that adds heart and depth to his signature slapstick, writes Matt Smith.
NotW: the latest from the Levenson Inquiry
Heather Mills, the editor of the Daily Mail and a PR veteran all fronted up to the Levenson Inquiry on its 40th day of investigating phone hacking at the now-defunct News of the World tabloid.
travel Why your guidebook is ruining your holiday
Vietnam is an extremely popular holiday destination for Australian tourists, but once they hit the city it all goes downhill. Why? One word: guidebooks, writes Tabitha Carvan.
film reviews The Grey — early contender for best American film of the year
Based in remote Alaskan wilderness, The Grey, starring Liam Neeson, is a brilliant survival in the wilderness film that makes recent additions to the genre feel like stories about getting lost in the supermarket, writes Luke Buckmaster.
Morgan phone poll: 55-45 to Coalition
Despite its modest sample of 543 and high margin of error, Morgan’s phone poll conducted over the past two nights shows similar results from other pollsters, although slightly at the Coalition end of the scale, writes William Bowe.
theatre reviews A Chorus Line — Her Majesty’s Theatre, Melbourne
Almost four decades after it began its 15 year run, A Chorus Line is still a strikingly ambitious work. Glee has bred familiarity (and perhaps contempt) of this show, a master template for crafting contemporary musical theatre, writes Jason Whittaker.
Possum: Labor’s problem is an immovable 2PP vote
As we all get reacquainted with the madness of the new political season, the time is ripe to do a bit of a comprehensive rundown about the actual state of play of our political polling, writes Possum Comitatus.
How to get off scot-free after a massacre — the playbook
Stolen emails again demonstrate how the defence and political establishments do business in the US.
Liberals wimp out on another byelection
Democracy requires choice, and a party that gets into the habit of denying the voters a choice is failing in its primary duty, however convenient that might be for its elected representatives.
Weak prices, outlook pressure Alcoa — not the dollar
Blaming the value of the Australian dollar for all the problems and ills in manufacturing has become the easy option, write Glenn Dyer and Bernard Keane.
Tweeting Rupert skips earnings grilling from analysts, hacks
For the second straight quarter, News Corp’s executive chairman and controlling shareholder Rupert skipped the quarterly earnings call with analysts and journalists this morning.
Our banks are too big to fail, too few to be competitive
Mark Bouris and Christopher Joye of Property Observer say policymaking around Australia’s banking system has been predicated on a flawed and risky paradigm.
What would a second Sydney airport cost?
To cut straight to the chase, the “correct” answer is $15 billion. Or at least that’s the widely accepted estimate. It’s cited in this 2010 story quoting the chairman of Infrastructure Partnerships Australia, Mark Birrell; in this 2011 interview with former deputy PM and rail enthusiast Tim Fischer; and more recently in this submission by the Australian Airports Association to the […]
Possum: Labor’s problem is an immovable 2PP vote
As we all get reacquainted with the madness that is the first week of the new political season, the time is ripe to do a bit of a comprehensive rundown about the actual state of play of our political polling. We’ll start off looking at the trends and finish with an election simulation for the […]
Why we need a big green bank for low carbon transition
One of the arguments that has been thrown forward against the proposed Clean Energy Finance Corporation is that it will be good money thrown after bad, writes Giles Parkinson at RenewEconomy.
What do we mean by ‘s-xist’ when we refer to criticisms of Gillard?
The lack of agreement on the question of whether undue criticism of Julia Gillard is s-xist boils down to how we think about s-xism, writes Robin Cameron on This Blog Harms.
OurSay challenges MPs on intervention, banking and personal wealth
Questions on the NT intervention, a people’s bank, MPs’ tax and uranium-based munitions returns have emerged in Our Say’s People’s Question project
The Power Index: spinners, ‘appalling’ Toby Ralph at #8
Toby Ralph has no office, no job title and no qualms about spinning for the forces of darkness. He’s a “mercenary” and a “bounty hunter” one PR veteran tells us; he’s “to the right of Ghengis Khan” says another. Tobacco companies, the nuclear waste industry and banks wanting to kill off the four pillars policy […]
Wind farms, the Waubra Foundation and a post-office box
Senator John Madigan is due to call for a total moratorium on all wind farm development while the rest of the world reached a record level of output, with wind now contributing 3% of the world’s electricity generation.
Indigenous community pleads with minister on NT nuclear dump
The federal government is pushing ahead with plans for a nuclear waste dump in the NT. But traditional owners of the site say claims they support the dump are false, writes Freya Cole.
Letter from: Beijing … reading China like reading tea leaves
The Communist Party only has one option: it has to avoid a bust at all costs, and continue to make like the fireworks and boom, writes Matthew Clayfield, a freelance correspondent, in Beijing.
