Monthly Archives: April 2010

Anand, Topalov and me

Posted on April 30, 2010 by Nicholas Gruen

Troppodillians will want to know – OK, some will want to know that the chess world championship is currently underway. Topalov, swashbuckling, highly strung, nasty piece of work is challenger to Anand who is a calmer, probably nicer and a tad … Continue reading →

Posted in Chess | 2 Comments

Productivity Commission backs world’s most draconian cigarette packaging regulation.

Posted on April 30, 2010 by Nicholas Gruen

Here’s my article for yesterday’s Crikey. The media inform us that the Rudd Government is adopting the world’s most draconian cigarette packaging regulation and requiring cigarettes to be sold in plain packages from January 2012. Good on it. When I … Continue reading →

Posted in Economics and public policy | 5 Comments

A General Theory of History – A bleg

Posted on April 29, 2010 by Richard Tsukamasa Green

Doctor Labyrinth, like most people who read a great deal and who have too much time on their hands, had become convinced that our civilization was going the way of Rome. He saw, I think , the same cracks forming … Continue reading →

Posted in Economics and public policy, Geeky Musings, History, Political theory, Science | 3 Comments

Information: low hanging reform fruit

Posted on April 28, 2010 by Nicholas Gruen

My article for yesterday’s Crikey! It’s been clear for a long while that we’ve picked a lot of the low hanging fruit available in traditional economic reform. Once tariffs get down below 10% not only are the gains from cutting … Continue reading →

Posted in Economics and public policy | 22 Comments

A bit of information gets out there – life gets a little bit better (and skinnier)

Posted on April 28, 2010 by Nicholas Gruen

From the NBER Digest: Calorie Posting in Chain Restaurants, Bryan Bollinger, Phillip Leslie, and Alan Sorensen “Mandatory calorie posting influenced consumer behavior at Starbucks in New York City, causing average calories per transaction to drop by 6 percent.” Nutrition labeling on packaged … Continue reading →

Posted in Economics and public policy | 1 Comment

Bob Geldof to talk to mortgage broking convention

Posted on April 28, 2010 by Nicholas Gruen

And why not? I wonder what his golf handicap is.

Posted in Bargains, Life, Music | Comments Off on Bob Geldof to talk to mortgage broking convention

Who are the latte sippers? Attempts at authenticity

Posted on April 27, 2010 by Richard Tsukamasa Green

Political commentary and pseudo demography speaks of a class called the latte sippers. This is a class of noisy, isolated, out of touch and elitist people; enemies of common sense and the common man. Apart from these traits they are … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | 27 Comments