Monthly Archives: September 2010

The life you could be leading: the threats and extraordinary possibilities of Web 2.0

Posted on September 30, 2010 by Nicholas Gruen

A while ago, I was rung by Richard Letts of the Music Council of Australia, a kind of peak body of music organisations asking – to my amazement – if I would give the Annual address at their annual conference. … Continue reading →

Posted in Humour, IT and Internet, Music, Web and Government 2.0 | 24 Comments

Ron Barassi, Rhodes Scholar?

Posted on September 28, 2010 by Rafe Champion

Contemplating recent nominations for the Prestigious Critical Rationalist Scholar award. Terence Kealey, Barry Smith, the late Sir Donald Bradman and Ronald Dale Barassi. The criteria for the PCR Scholar are identical to the four that are  used for the Rhodes … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | 4 Comments

Life for LobbyLens?

Posted on September 26, 2010 by Nicholas Gruen

This is a guest post from Julia Thornton an occasional commenter on Troppo. Nicholas Gruen’s Government 2.0 taskforce left us a treasure trove of a report, but when the nerds, hackers and policy wonks had gone home, in amongst the … Continue reading →

Posted in Economics and public policy, IT and Internet, Politics - national | 18 Comments

Why is the individual talent premium so much higher in the AFL than the NRL?

Posted on September 26, 2010 by Richard Tsukamasa Green

After a year of reading about relative salaries in different sports, salary cap breaches, player unrest and defections in the NSW press, I only just learned that the salary cap in the AFL is $7950000 compared to the NRL’s $4100000. This set … Continue reading →

Posted in Economics and public policy, Sport - Rugby League, Sport-general | 14 Comments

Getting the begging bowl out again

Posted on September 25, 2010 by Nicholas Gruen

I was a bit disappointed when we were in front and looked like winning by a point – at around the 25 minute mark? Why? Because my son was overseas on a school trip and he would have loved to … Continue reading →

Posted in Blegs | 3 Comments

Colliwobbles to win

Posted on September 24, 2010 by Nicholas Gruen

Well whether they win or not the ‘Colliwobbles’ come from another time, long, long ago in the late sixties and early seventies when the Collies used to finish first and then not win, either through some bad luck (64, 66, … Continue reading →

Posted in Sport-general | 4 Comments

Commitment and other fantasies

Posted on September 24, 2010 by Nicholas Gruen

When I hear that anything is ‘committed’ to something I reach for my gun. It’s an almost certain signifier of insincerity. As a donor I receive bumph from the Brotherhood of St Laurence. The latest newsletter I got told me that … Continue reading →

Posted in Political theory | 7 Comments