Monthly Archives: March 2014

Chart of the week: routine skills are on the way out

Posted on March 31, 2014 by Nicholas Gruen

From the soon to be published “PISA 2012 Results: Creative Problem Solving”, OECD  

Posted in Economics and public policy, Education | 4 Comments

What’s wrong with TED talks – hint: quite a lot

Posted on March 30, 2014 by Nicholas Gruen

I have almost certainly fulminated in various asides against TED talks on this blog, and even one full on cri de coeur against retail profundification. (I promised one on business class profundification but I haven’t managed to do it yet. … Continue reading →

Posted in Cultural Critique, Economics and public policy, Education, Literature, Media, Philosophy, Political theory | 11 Comments

Could the press gallery please score Bronwyn Bishop?

Posted on March 30, 2014 by David Walker

Much of the time, the public can make up its own mind on public events once it get a decent helping of facts; the theatre commentary from the parliamentary press gallery – a little of which I used to write – … Continue reading →

Posted in Journalism, Politics - national | 8 Comments

German Film Festival

Posted on March 29, 2014 by Nicholas Gruen

Here are the top picks from the German Film Festival in Melbourne, with the full schedule below. The Phantom|Das Phantom 06.00pm Friday 28 March @ Palace Cinema Como | 06.15pm Tuesday 8 April @ Palace Cinema Como After the partner of … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | Comments Off on German Film Festival

The Pell Principle: Mission will trump morality

Posted on March 26, 2014 by David Walker

The current inquiry into institutional child abuse holds some interesting lessons about the nature of religion, which I’ll stay clear of here. But it also holds a larger lesson about the ability of organisations to act morally and to act … Continue reading →

Posted in regulation, Religion, Society | 20 Comments

Think tanks – Influence isn’t always about offering practical solutions

Posted on March 23, 2014 by Don Arthur

Many people say the best way to influence government is to give policymakers practical solutions to problems they care about. According to this perspective, academics and think tanks scholars can get it wrong by spending too much time analysing problems … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | 3 Comments

1954: The no-spin zone

Posted on March 23, 2014 by Nicholas Gruen

This doco is worth watching for its own sake. (Why are media organisations so dumb and unprepared to allow embedding of their videos – given that the vids themselves come with ads that are hard to avoid – but I … Continue reading →

Posted in Cultural Critique, History, Life, Philosophy | 19 Comments