If beer isn't good for you why are they selling it in chemist shops Germans are drinking less beer . Part of the reason is that beer isn't cool anymore but perhaps the major cause is the country's ageing population. Older consumers are becoming more health conscious and are tu...
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'Economic reform' gets blamed for many things. I heard someone complaining about growth at all costs, they then segued into its costs on the environment. Then we had the greenhouse effect and the poor person couldn't help themselves and went on to wonder about the tsunami. Dea...
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That old boy scout joke about the person looking for his shilling where the light was best, rather than where he'd lost it, is so funny (partly) because it's such a good take on human psychology. And any good joke about a the psychological foibles of someone acting alone is li...
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Francis Wheen Francis Wheen was fun to listen to on LNL, though his targets are pretty easy ones. Targets are more fun when shared. I posted on Demos a while back and here is Wheen on one of its most prominent alumni on whose book I also commented. Thin air is solid Charles Le...
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I love my beer. I don't think this is inherently funny. And it doesn't mean I like getting drunk (just the early stages). Though I'm in no great danger of becoming an alco, I would not find it easy to go without my one (and occasionally two) stubbies of Coopers or sometimes mo...
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Brian Penton (1904-1951) would surely have achieved the status of the most memorable journalist and commentator in postwar Australia but he died in his prime and left too many enemies to achieve the reputation that he deserved. This article by his biographher Patrick Buckridge...
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I wonder if I'm just being naive in imagining that there was once a time when newspaper editors, at least on the quality broadsheets, maintained a clear distinction between news and opinion, and attempted as far as possible to report the news in a reasonably straight, unbiased...
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I was swimming around the website of Queensland Education and came across a report with an interesting title "Promoting Positive Gender Relationships: A report of a study into the feasibility of developing and delivering curriculum through Queensland state schools to promote p...
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It is an odd fact that practitioners of the dismal science - or some of us - really are a humorous lot. Robert Solow is probably the funniest - but then he's got a Nobel Prize so he's a clever fellow. I was reminded of this receiving Chris Caton's report on the US economy toda...
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One of the posts that I've had in the back of my mind since I started at Troppo is a ranking of the PMs of my (adult) lifetime. Readers of this column will not be surprised to learn that I think that Hawkie was the only really good PM in my lifetime. In any event as I say in t...
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Some recent converts to blog reading might not yet have stumbled across the delights of Gummo Trotsky's blog "Tugboat Potemkin". Gummo took a long break from blogging not so long ago (a dark blogging night of the soul not unlike my own), but is well and truly back and blogging...
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I pointed to the dilemma Microsoft faced in considering whether or not to open up the specifications of its .DOC, .XLS and .PPT standards here . Well, (courtesy of Slashdot) according to the London Financial Times , Microsoft will be announcing the opening up of these standard...
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Today's AFR column. Losing is sometimes better than winning. That might be the case for the Australian business community which supports the Commonwealth's new wages setting policy. Of course, the Government could eventually lose. Although no government Senator will want to in...
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I told Alexander pictured above (he's the good looking one), that I'd write a post on Troppo when he got his first cricket wicket. Well he got his first cricket wicket, so here is the post! Alexander is besotted with cricket and he's a good bowler. You have been Warned!
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Verily I say unto you, who knows if this will amount to much but it is nevertheless a heavy scene. Via Slashdot . You heard it first on Troppo - well second actually (maybe third). Google's Secret Plans For All That Dark Fiber? Robert X. Cringely details the plan for all the d...
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Most Americans leave high school knowing little about their nation's history . The latest Zorro film isn't going to help. According to Eric Cox in The American Enterprise , the latest Zorro sequel -- The Legend of Zorro attempts "to reconcile Latino identity politics with Amer...
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Taking up the theme of limited government that I dropped in a comment the other day, Gerard Radnitzky wrote a fascinating paper on the "European miracle" of scientific progress, freedom and prosperity that marched together over the last few centuries. The bottom line of this l...
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I've not bumped into John Armstrong before, which presumably says more about me than him. He's been a busy bee in the new burgeoning field of popularising philosophy having published The Secret Power of Beauty (2004) and Conditions of Love (2002) and is about to publish Love,...
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When Coca Cola distributors in Mexico City tried to persuade Raquel Ch¡vez to stop selling a rival brand of cola the shopkeeper complained to Mexico's Federal Competition Commission. The result was $15 million fine for the distributors, a moral victory for Ch¡vez , and an unex...
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Hugh Pavletich e-mailed me this article arguing that " Bicultural Europe is doomed ". Very dramatic. Also I must admit that the hostility in some quarters mainly on the right - to multi-culturalism surprised me when it surfaced and even now surprises me. I'm afraid I'm with P...
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Ross Gittins' column in today's SMH takes up a topic sure to get RWDBs foaming with apoplectic rage: FORGIVE me if I'm not shaking in my shoes over the risk of terrorism on our shores. There is a risk, of course, but it's being greatly exaggerated. My scepticism comes after 30...
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On Late Night Live tonight. Should be fascinating and great fun. Paul K sat at Lang's feet when young drawing the big fella out. I'm not a big fan of Paul Keating as PM. But he was a great Treasurer, and he's great to listen to. He'll discuss Lang with Phillip Adams and histor...
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I had a go at this topic here but wanted to just make the note here that, rather late in the day, going through old Slashdot newsletters, I found this link to the BBC Open Source project. A Good Thing methinks. There should be more of it. I particularly liked this para. For th...
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Here is the 'op ed' of a presentation I made to the National Policy Conference of the Australian Fabians. Naturally the Fabians were extremely keen to have troppodillian representation and so invited me and Tony Harris to give papers. Tony's session - on accountability - was m...
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Readers of this blog will know that I am an admirer of the way in which New Zealand seems to be innovating in economic policy . I've drawn attention to the way in which they've been the first country in the world to build the ideas about 'potent defaults' into savings policy,...
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Courtesy of Slashdot, this report does come from a biased source, but with that warning and the declaration of my own antipathy to the extent to which intellectual property has been extended (though I'll be happy if someone can show me that it is all for the best), this simila...
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Sometime Troppodillian commenter and source of large quantities of high quality analysis, Andrew Leigh has a section on his website called "Frivolous Stuff" . Alas, all it says is "Watch this space....". I thought this was disappointing. But immediately donning my trusty and p...
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A great steer from Matt McIntosh (in a comment) to a long interview with Jeremy Shearmur . He is now living in the vicinity of Canberra. Britain's loss.... This is some stuff about Adam Smith that should appeal to Nicholas Gruen. Interviewer You've spoken about Adam Smith. How...
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Suppose you're at a rollicking pub. An obviously very-drunk man is staggering about, brandishing his car-keys. From what you can understand from his slurred speech, his intention is to shortly drive home. Do you: (a) try to gently talk him out of it? (even at the risk of fruit...
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Former Queensland rugby coach John Connolly comprehensively demonstrated yesterday why it's lucky he was never made Wallabies coach. Connolly reckons the Australian rugby team and/or its coach shouldn't be criticised for the current record run of test losses: But Connolly, now...
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This week's column is about the politics of IR. I think it will be OK for the Government if the economy stays healthy. But if it doesn't I think there'll be hell to pay. Tim Colebatch has published on this issue before and had another go in the paper today . I took the opportu...
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Well Troppodilians, you heard it first - well read it first - on Troppo. A week or so ago having received the link from a friend, Mike Waller, I referred Troppo readers to the story of David Mery , who was held as a terror suspect in Britain under their new laws. It was a fair...
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From the Australian Financial Review, 8th November, 2005 Thank goodness for the counter terrorism guards on Sydney's Harbour Bridge: they can stop pedestrians who use the bicycle path to cross the harbour. However, some people ignore instructions and continue their stroll. If...
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I was looking through the second book of Leunig cartoons in which this image appears. In preparing my column for Wednesday, I was looking for his cartoon on how Vasco Pajama meets the scapegoat who teaches him the art of 'copping it sweet' - the opposite of self defence. When...
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Magnificent n'est pas? (Though I have to admit that circle in the foreground is a bit of a worry. I wonder what it is?)
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The Dunera News is a photocopied magazine of news and reminiscences of the Dunera boys who were shipped to Australia in World War Two (and who included my father). The latest edition contains a reproduction of an Age story that I missed at the time about Captain Broughton his...
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The Howard Anti-Terrorism Bill (No. 2) 2005 (no. 1 being the one rushed through both Houses yesterday with bipartisan support) is a considerable improvement on the original draft leaked by ACT Chief Minister John Stanhope. But it still has major problems in my view. Sedition p...
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Regulatory Impact Statements are supposed to function as a 'gatekeeping' mechanism for regulation. They are supposed to be rigorous assessments of the economic costs and benefits of various options. The Government is so concerned about regulation that it has just announced a r...
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I've just done a biography of my dear old Dad for Wikipedia. He may or may not be resting in peace, but he's now reposing in Wikipedia. For those readers of this blog knew him they might like to refine the entry and others may find it of some interest. He had a more exciting l...
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Catallaxy is running a bit of November 11 nostalgia , so I thought I'd join in. Here's a reedit of my comment on the thread, and an invitation to others to tell us where they were. I go back as far as JFK. I was about 6 and my dad was trying to listen to a crackling radio and...
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Inflation dodging bullets There's an old story about former Federal Industry Minister John Button. It refers to his (diminutive) size, to his political dexterity and maybe his luck. Several Labor ministers were caught and drenched in a downpour. Having scrambled to cover they...
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