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Buzzity buzz

Posted by Jacques Chester on Tuesday, January 19, 2010

A lot of folks on Facebook have been sending me links for a new website called “Menzies House”. According to the blurb, it’s the “leading Australian blog for conservative, centre-right and libertarian thinkers and activists”, which must come as news to the mob at Catallaxy (which is still in technical exile).

A perfunctory investigation reveals that the domain name is registered to one Henry Marsh on behalf of the Dallan Investment Trust. Who they are, Google doesn’t know. The Australian Business Register says they’re in SA.

I don’t want to sound like I’m putting down a good initiative, but nevertheless I will wait to see how it pans out. I dislike inorganic ventures, website-wise, and pre-emptively declaring yourself “the leading” anything before you even launch is suspiciously marketer-esque. Not my favourite profession.

Update: Tim Andrew spills the beans.



 This entry was posted on Tuesday, January 19th, 2010 at 9:45 AM and filed under Metablogging. Follow comments here with the RSS 2.0 feed. Post a comment or leave a trackback.

10 Responses to “Buzzity buzz”

  1. Andrew Norton said:

    Jacques – I have never heard of this or Henry Marsh. Can you post the link?

    Posted on 19-Jan-10 at 1:04 pm | Permalink
  2. Jacques Chester said:

    The site itself is at menzieshouse.com.au.

    Whois domain record:

    Registrant: The Trustee for DALLAN INVESTMENT TRUST
    Registrant ID: ABN 55751468905
    Eligibility Type: Other
    Eligibility Name: DALLAN INVESTMENT TRUST

    Registrant Contact ID: ID00318767-PR
    Registrant Contact Name: Henry Marsh

    The ABR entry gives pretty much the same details plus the postcode in SA where it’s registered.

    Posted on 19-Jan-10 at 1:16 pm | Permalink
  3. Andrew Norton said:

    Thanks. You are right that marketing spin isn’t the way to start, but I’ll take a look when it starts at the end of the month.

    Posted on 19-Jan-10 at 2:58 pm | Permalink
  4. Alphonse said:

    “conservative, centre-right and libertarian thinkers and activists”

    If these are to be bedfellows, it will end in tears (unless the libs are the usual pseuds).

    Posted on 20-Jan-10 at 12:24 pm | Permalink
  5. j.quiggin said:

    They started following me on Twitter just now

    Posted on 20-Jan-10 at 1:31 pm | Permalink
  6. rog said:

    The only ASIC ref is for a company in SA which may have links to Senator Bernardi

    Posted on 21-Jan-10 at 6:45 pm | Permalink
  7. Yobbo said:

    I think they are setting themselves up to be the conservative opposition to Larvatus Prodeo. I doubt many libertarians will post there since there are already quite a few blogs catering to libertarians.

    Conservatives though really don’t have much representation in the OZ blogosphere apart from Tim Blair, who is mostly just in it for the jokes.

    Posted on 22-Jan-10 at 7:01 am | Permalink
  8. Patrick said:

    Given how terrible Larva Rodeo is, I don’t think I want a conservative opposition to it – not if it led to conservatives looking as silly as the larva rodents often do. Sometimes discretion really is the better part of valor – imagine a blog full of comments like this one!

    Posted on 22-Jan-10 at 9:43 am | Permalink
  9. D W Griffiths said:

    Today’s Australian confirms that the project is linked to Cory Bernardi; he has provided a domain name and Web hosting. Link

    Posted on 25-Jan-10 at 9:35 am | Permalink
  10. Jacques Chester said:

    Well that was fun. Silly of them to shack up with a politician, now they’ll never get out from under the shadow.

    Posted on 25-Jan-10 at 11:18 am | Permalink

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