Australians aren't very good at donating their organs. A comparison ORGAN DONATION RATE FOR SELECTED COUNTRIES with other countries puts us at the bottom of the list. Why this is so is uncertain. I don't think that we shy away from giving our body parts on moral grounds, indee...
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I hope all Troppo writers and readers have a wonderful 2005. May all your resolutions be kept and all your hopes be fulfilled. No doubt it will be a good year for the Australian blogosphere. It's nice to be able to welcome back Georg , formerly of Psephite , who's returned wit...
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The Currency Lad challenges "Laborite bloggers and columnists" to discuss the AWU's opposition to Chinese workers as guest workers in the fruit picking industry . I'm happy to take him up on it. The Labor Party was rightly condemned for some marginal seat campaigning in the el...
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2004 has been a political year par excellence , with elections in the US and Australia. As the turning of the year is always a good time to reflect, it's interesting to note some thoughtful posts appearing in the blogosphere of late. Don has posted a stimulating piece on the p...
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They've always been an entrepreneurial lot in the West, especially gifted at separating the fool and his money. This perception has been reinforced by Pierpont's dubious distinction awards for 2004. Following in the footsteps of the fellow who successfully claimed the stolen p...
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Charly Harpole went to Andaman Island to pursue his hobby. He found himself in the middle of a crisis. The Andaman and Nicobar Islands are among the most sought after contacts for amateur radio operators. So when the National Institute of Amateur Radio-sponsored DXpedition to...
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In the comments to this post , Geoff Honnor got a bit cranky, and it provoked the following exchange: At this time of year, I think the probable deaths of upwards of 50,000 people in an horrific natural disaster might rank higher than what Gerald Henderson - or even someone ot...
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John Quiggin's left wing conservatism Environmentalism has changed the way leftists think about government led social change. Like the natural environment, the social environment is complex and poorly understood. With their oversimplified models, reformers accept serious risk...
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'The Soothsayer', Giovanni Batista Piazetta (1683-1754) Or, The Tiny Hendo Hendo doesn't seem to have taken a break for the Christmas season, turning his talents rather in an increasingly mystical direction . In other media news, I've already complained about the tired trope o...
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I concur wholeheartedly with Scott's condolences for those affected by the terrible tsunamis. I've posted the links for readers in Scott's thread, but I'll repeat the post here of some links to bloggers advising of appeals which can be accessed online as well, as it's easier t...
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Via Suzoz at Personal Political , I've just discovered and read this interesting column about raising kids without any religion by Adele Horin in the SMH . Some time ago, the British sociologist Anthony Giddens , until recently Director of the LSE, noted that one marker of a p...
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Terrible earthquake in Indonesia has claimed an estimated 14,000 lives although it is quite possible that this number could climb much higher. See Tim Blair for many links about what is going on. There are estimated to be close to 6,000 Australians in the affected areas. If yo...
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Revellers on a Hot Hill End Night That's me in the middle. I don't normally wear Hawaiian shirts but it's a good troppo look. Well, all the presents are bought and only the grog remains (though I made a start on the bubbles on my partner's back deck last night relaxing with a...
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Just popped by to wish everyone a Merry Christmas etc. Jen and I have been doing battle with swimming pool installation and assorted other home establishment tasks, while Telstra finally informed me the other day that we can't get ADSL at our new home because it's on a "rim" a...
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The trouble began when Denis Diderot received a new dressing gown as a gift from a friend. It was far more luxurious than his old gown and he took to it at once. But next to the new dressing gown the furnishings of his study looked shabby. One by one Diderot replaced them. Soo...
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Tim Blair has put together some of the quotes of 2004. The year's nearly over. But the Currency Lad is writing some fine stuff as well. Me? I'm stuffing my face, and drinking lots of beer etc. Writing? Pfft.. I'll be back sometime after Christmas, but before New Year. Merry Ch...
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Or, Keep the Wolfe from the Door lest Western Civilisation fall... Shocking news from a US survey that college students are having casual sex. Chris McGillion writes: Research into the sexual practices of American college students has identified a new phenomenon known as "hook...
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At last, some insight into why John Quiggin is a Professor (I mean apart from all those publications, research projects etc...). New research has shown that academic promotions often go to the hirsute . ELSEWHERE : I missed my daily dose of Prof. Quiggin for a week or so, due...
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Via Saint , we learn that the Government has broken (or at least significantly tweaked) one of its big spending promises for the election. The "unlimited" child care rebate is now limited to $4000, you'll need to keep your receipts, and you won't see anything til 2006. Ross Gi...
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I've been keeping an eye on the nominations for the 2005 Australian Blog Awards . Good thing too. Courtesy of one of the nominations for Troppo (thanks everyone!), I discovered a fellow Brisvegas Blogger, Observant Little... , and one with good music taste and a shared fondnes...
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Tim Dunlop is reviewing Keith Windschuttle's latest potboiler, The White Australia Policy over at Road to Surfdom . So far Tim's got through the first two paragraphs. If he's going to review it paragraph by paragraph, I don't envy him the task!
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Just in case you were wondering if there was a "Single Girl's Guide to Dating Donald Rumsfeld" available on the Internet, Troppo can help you out. Read it here . It's worth the click.
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Continuing a much loved blogosphere tradition , Saintinastraightjacket and Sedge provide the minimalist deconstruction of Hendo this week ... I note that Hendo has a swing at the "Keating haters" and at "conservative inspired alienation". Maybe he's following the Governator in...
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Julia Baird asks : If God was a DJ, as smooth-bellied songstress Pink has claimed, would the disco version of the national anthem be four-to-the-floor? Would crowds swell and sway on the dance floor to a revved-up Advance Australia Fair, as they did some time ago to the disco...
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I've been looking for work. It is one of the things that keep me busy, busier then I like to be. I find the job-hunting task to be an exceptionally frustrating and difficult experience. It brings out the total 'procrastinator' in me. Applying for jobs requires an individual to...
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If my reckoning is correct, I've missed Gaudate Sunday. I was horribly late this year in purchasing Advent candles. I'm normally a very observant cultural Catholic . It should be the third Sunday of Advent, that is to say, a week ago. The great thing about Advent candles (a bi...
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Some of us were wondering in the thread about the SBS Movie Show what Zoe was on about when she compared Fenella Kernebone to Roger Waters. She's now provided a case for Ms Kernebone to answer at her blog Crazybrave . Go see for yourself and decide if Zoe's onto something here...
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I was a law student once. There's a fair bit of tedium in reading case reports, but I always enjoyed reading judgements by Lord Denning MR. Tim Dunlop over at Road to Surfdom thinks a citation from a recent judgement by Lord Hoffman is the quote of the year. Lord Hoffman think...
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"Angelus Novus" - Paul Klee Mein Fl¼gel ist zum Schwung bereit, ich kehrte gern zur¼ck, denn blieb ich auch lebendige Zeit, ich h¤tte wenig Gl¼ck. - Gerherd Scholem, 'Gruss vom Angelus' The Currency Lad has been busy ranking Australia's Prime Ministers . Gary Sauer-Thompson ov...
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Head down in heavy revisions of a forthcoming novel of mine (Malvolio's Revenge, a supernatural/mystery/melodrama of a story, set in 1910's New Orleans, with a cameo appearance by one of my favourite artists and cultural heroes, the great Louis Armstrong) I'm afraid blogging's...
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Australian film might be in strife but Oz Music is in good form. I'm taking a break from the thesifying to clean the ap't up in time for Christmas. That requires music! I'm listening to Beth Gibbons' Out of Season , the wonderful Sia (originally from Adelaide)... and something...
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There's been some lively debate, including a contribution from Rowan Atkinson , over planned British government moves to criminalise religious vilification. You can read about it here at Crooked Timber . It looks like we might soon be having an antipodean version of this debat...
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I am shocked and horrified. Clover Moore is not Scrooge, the Howard Government is! The parliamentary Christmas tree is no more. It's been sold to the ACT government and is now somewhere in Civic (alert Canberra readers, please tell us where!). It seems it was too expensive to...
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I wasn't going to bother with Hendo this week . In any case, Rowen at Sailing Close to the Wind has already posted 'The Smaller Hendo'. The Currency Lad has been on the case , or maybe at the awards ceremony, as well... But basically, Hendo was right about everything and all o...
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Having given up on wrestling with Leo Strauss' esoteric and exoteric meditations on the question of What is Political Philosophy? for the night and having exhausted the pleasures available from Letterman , it's a relief for this tired sociologist to read something in the paper...
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Andrew Norton has always been cynical about public displays of compassion. He can't bring himself to accept that the ' luvvies ' and ' worthies ' are motivated by empathic concern or moral principle. Like many classical liberals he's convinced it must be some kind of self-inte...
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Troppo Contest of the Week! Continuing the TV theme , I think I watched the worst ever American reality tv show set in Australia last night. Outback Jack . The host is called J. D. Roberto. The premise is that twelve "uptown girls" think they're going to a mansion to pick a ba...
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I caught SBS' Movie Show last night. I've only occasionally watched it since the departure of David and Margaret to ABC. I was half curious because the distinguished Mr Stratton has attracted some negative press in the right wing corners of the blogosphere of late . But the Da...
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Via Kick & Scream , I've just learned that the home-grown 2005 Australian Blog Awards have called for nominations. Interesting to note that Evil Pundit has already been nominated... I'm still wondering why he hates Sweden so much...
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Lately, we've heard an enormous amount about elites, (aka latte sippers) . A project for the future might be a post to put to rest this tenacious fallacy forever (I live in hope generally...). Often these dreaded elites are associated with universities. As the news breaks that...
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Rob Corr continues his excellent coverage of Indigenous issues at Kick & Scream . Rob picks up on Pat Dodson and Noel Pearson's critique of the Mulan 'agreement' : The Government had a role to play in increasing expectations in indigenous communities, but "more careful thought...
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Long before I started blogging, most of my online interaction with people was through chat-rooms. The first room that I made myself home in was a room dedicated to cricket fans, and through that room I met a lot of interesting people. It was great- we even did a get-together i...
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Writing in the SMH today , Edith Cowan Uni politics lecturer Peter Van Onselen and consultant Phil Senior call for Labor to focus on the bush. There are more rural/regional seats than outer metropolitan seats and Labor holds fewer of them. But Labor can't do that while the par...
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It's almost trite to point out that if you read the Latin poets of classical Rome, one thing you will come across again and again are laments about the moral standards of youth... and any readers of Robert Graves should be equally aware of Augustus' concern that sexual morals...
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Banning Santa is a great way to attract publicity With only 13 days left to Christmas it's time for newspapers and TV stations to track down politically correct kill-joys who want to ban Santa . If you're getting impatient for your 15 minutes of fame it's time to make your mov...
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In The Weekend Australian Magazine , Paul Kelly interviews the Prime Minister, in an interesting portrait of the very ordinary/extraordinary man who has dominated the political landscape of Australia since 1996. There is a online preview that can be read here . Left-wing reade...
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As promised, here are the awards for Mark's movie homage contest and my micro-story competition . Mark has passed me 3 envelopes. Here are the awards and the winners: Phil K. Dick Award (First Prize): Tie between Big Bob and Alan Dr Bloodmoney Award for the Commenter Who Alway...
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by commyxtion and mellyng, furst with Danes and afterward with Normans, in menye the contray longage ys apeyred, and som useth strange wlaffying, chyteryng, harryng, and garryng grisbittyng. That's Ranulph Higden, writing in 1352, and complaining in his Polychronicon about the...
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For as long as I can remember, I've been an aficionado of the spooky and supernatural in literature and film. Note, not horror exactly, or not as it's been interpreted in modern times, with altogether too much grue and gore, but the kind of spooky that evokes the strangeness o...
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It has been a long time since I wrote a serious post; many troubles have beset me, both in keeping this blog empire functioning, and away from the screen as well. Be that as it may, a serious post is in order lest this blog become known as the Daily Mark Bahnisch . The Left mi...
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Proponents claim that the precautionary principle is harmless but introducing it into public policy making may have dangerous unforeseen consequences Where an activity raises threats of harm to the environment or human health, precautionary measures should be taken even if som...
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Internet quizzes are always fun. Except for those pesky iq tests... Via internet quizzes, I first found out that I was 47% slutty , and that there was an 80% probability that I was a woman. Courtesy of Alex in a comment on a Catallaxy thread , here's a more serious internet qu...
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On the way home the other evening I was stopped at the round-about near home when a beautifully restored canary-yellow LJ Torana accelerated out of the corner and, with a delightful burble of the tweaked RED 273 cu inch six, carried it's pasengers off to enjoy life. Why does t...
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Coming up for air after an exhausting week in Sydney.. I was asked earlier if I had a list of recommended books for Christmas, so I thought I'd just talk about a few books I've enjoyed recently, suggest also some lesser-known classics, --and also note some books I hope I might...
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I told the story of Second Lieutenant Melissa Stockwell who lost her leg in Iraq because her Humvee had no doors. US Secretary of Defence Donald Rumsfeld was yesterday subjected to unexpected and critical questioning on a visit to US soldiers in Kuwait. One key point was that...
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Bloggers, of course! Commenter harry wrote a while back , in answer to my question, "To what degree do blogs represent a source of news or commentary on politics for you?": Great source of useful links to news. Good for breaking news but often this is surrounded by a lot of sp...
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Or, Yet Another Troppo Contest At Fafblog , the Medium Lobster has a post which begins: You're in a desert, walking along in the sand, when you look down and see a tortoise. This is standard procedure, designed and developed to protect you and the homeland. Do not be alarmed:...
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Since his death on the 8th of October, I've been planning to write something about Jacques Derrida . In particular, I want to write on his thought on politics, which has been key to my own work for some years now. But the time has not yet arrived. For the moment, The Nation ha...
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Geoff Clark, still Chair of ATSIC, asks today with reference to a new mutual obligation plan at the forefront of the Government's approach to Indigenous policy (aka the 'fuel for hygeine' plan ): "Who is going to stand at the gate and see whose kid has the cleanest face?" he s...
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Courtesy of the Sydney Morning Herald's new blog, Radar (note to SMH: if you're going to have a blog, please link to it on the front page!), some thoughts about why younger Australians are often working a 70 hour week. In Australia, contrary to a long secular trend (and in def...
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Posh and Becks feature in a nativity scene at Madame Tussaud's. Photo: Reuters. Continuing my musings on fame and its contemporary cultural significance, what's going on when our Nic is named UN Citizen of the World alongside Hans Blix and Lakhdar Brahimi, Angelina Jolie saves...
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Ross Gittins asks : Which do you think is more common: murder or suicide? If you think it's murder, congratulations - most people agree with you. But you - and they - are quite mistaken. Suicide outnumbers murder by far. That question is a cognitive psychologists' party trick....
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Brett Whiteley's ghost haunts BackPages In the week that a ghost fetched $65000 on Ebay , something spooky is also happening in the Australian blogosphere. It's not quite the face of ET in a piece of breakfast cereal, or the Virgin Mary on a piece of toast, but it's definitely...
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I agree with Hendo! Well, at least in part! Maybe it's because Hendo is trying to ward Chris Sheil off from a potential move back into the blogosphere by learning from Chris' frequent demolition of his logic to actually supply some, but last week I felt that Hendo made a bit o...
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Comments boxes not working? You might be using crap software. Thanks to ace technical consultant boynton , I learn that the cause of the comments box thing being forbidden is that users are using Internet Explorer! Oh, the shame! Get Real. Get Firefox! Of course, if you MUST u...
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I was chuffed today to discover that there is a tribute show to Leonard Cohen in Sydney headlined by Nick Cave and my absolute favourite songstress of all times, the wonderful Beth Orton . It's on over Australia Day weekend next year. I am so there. ESSENTIAL READING : Reading...
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Poor old Latho. In the wake of weeks of overwhelmingly negative press coverage , he's slumped in the polls and the party's slumped to lows not seen since Simon's leadership began to enter its terminal phase. But I don't think Ruddy's cause is going to be helped by an endorseme...
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Louise Dodson, writing in today's SMH , claims that the battle for the Catholic vote is not over. Bishop Kevin Manning, Catholic Bishop of Parramatta , had some acerbic and pointed remarks to make about the possibility of changes to the Industrial Relations laws by a coalition...
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Dresden after its WWII bombing. Thus, nuclear physicist Robert J. Oppenheimer after witnessing a nuclear explosion. In Ken's post on literature and world events, Stephen astutely cited the work of W. G. Sebald . A novelist, academic and critic, Sebald was born in Wertach im Al...
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"In our time, political speech and writing are largely the defense of the indefensible." - George Orwell. Ken poses the question of why there seem to be so few writers tackling big issues of the stature of George Orwell . Maybe Orwell himself had the answer in his 1946 essay P...
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Where are the great popular novels, plays and films that grapple with today's major political and ideological issues? It's a question that occurred to me while watching a talkfest on ABC TV last night, where assorted pundits mused about a list of the ten most influential books...
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Is history really about psychological profiling? According to John Quiggin "There is only one real instance of political correctness in Australia today and that is that you are never, ever allowed to call anyone a racist." Why is this? For many people racism is a kind of psych...
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Many readers will have noticed that pressing the comments button will produce a 'forbidden' message. This is happening across the domain. I do not know why this is happening (it is not happening for me- everything seems fine here.) However, if this is happening for you, a way...
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Peter Beattie pictured in today's Sunday Mail . Taking photos is fun. I've recently bought a new mobile and being a nice boy, unlike some Coogee beach regulars , am avidly asking friends if I can have permission to take their photo. Being a newspaper photographer or an editor...
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Courtesy of Melbourne blogger Alex at Psephological Catechism (whose honours thesis on St Augustine looks to be really interesting), this news just in for Troppo readers. A Google search for the string fetishised armadillo only yields two results. And one is a link to a post b...
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Spectator Editor and former Tory Shadow Minister for the Arts, Alexander Boris de Pfeffel Johnson MP (pictured above with unnamed friends), provided the Oz blogosphere with some light entertainment recently with a juicy sex scandal , in the finest traditions of British politic...
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P. J. Harvey sings live... I'd been planning to write on the truly appalling line of questioning NSW Bar Association President and barrister for Tara Anglican School for Girls, Ian Harrison SC, launched during a recent court case where an 18 year old woman alleged that she had...
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An unfinished micro-story Gran says that putting sleeping pills in Santa's milk was wrong. But I still think it was a good plan. If mummy hadn't drunk the milk that I left beside the tree for Santa and if she hadn't fed the carrots and celery to the rabbits, then everything wo...
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This is only a quick word as I'm in Sydney at Literature Board meetings and other literary business, but thought some of you might like to read my profile at Norm Geras' wonderful blog, here It was very interesting answering the questions--and one I'd like to throw open for ge...
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Stephen posted recently on some laughably bad coverage of the Ukrainian elections aftermath by John Laughland . Writing in the Guardian , Timothy Garton Ash thinks European commentators have a problem with democracy in the Ukraine because of their distaste for Eastern European...
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So what exactly gets up employers' goat about union officials visiting workplaces ? When this issue is raised, stories are often told about intimidatory behaviour on building sites. But, no such justification has been offered this time. The only actual incident I can recall as...
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Brisvegas residents or visitors might like to note that the Straight Out of Brisbane Festival has an event on tonight which could appeal to anyone with a predilection to (occasional) ranting: 6-8pm :: The great ideas rant-off :: Venue :: Festival Club Speakers OUT, Ranters IN....
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The Finn brothers have been touring Australia . So I'm currently listening to Split Enz' excellent Moving Pictures (now playing - 'Poor Boy'...). Being a teenager of the 80s, (and one whose lp collection succumbed to a flood under a Queenslander), my first listen for yonks is...
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Brendan Nelson has announced the composition of his literacy enquiry. The establishment of this review was a response to the heated (and over-politicised) debate over the relative merits of whole language and phonics as methods of teaching children to read. A surprise inclusio...
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I recently posted on the imbroglio swirling around St. Mary's Catholic Community in South Brisbane. Today, Father Peter Kennedy of St. Mary's takes Archbishop Bathersby to task in the Courier-Mail . Fr Peter accuses the Church of being out of step with a democratic society. Th...
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According to the US publishers of the Merriam-Webster Dictionary , the most frequently searched word on their online site this year has been "blog" ... It's interesting to note that in an election year, five of the other nine words were political terms (eg "electoral", "sovere...
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Celebrity Capital: Rebecca Loos Writing in the online Fairfax publication Radar , Ben Cubby asks : Is Casey Donovan really Australia's most promising young singer? Possibly. But for every enraptured viewer loosing off votes for Australian Idol there was someone watching the pa...
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Published in both of Fairfax broadsheets this morning are Op-Ed articles by John Laughland , which attempt to provide the most generous spin possible for the Yanukovich government in Ukraine. Surprisingly this article was sourced from the Guardian , the same newspaper that pub...
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