Mini blog race-around

Needing a break from endless administrative and student support tasks generated by CDU’s embarrassingly successful external law degree program, but lacking the energy to write anything original. Here’s a mini-race-around of the blogs:

• Tim Dunlop has a long post setting out just about everything you need to know about the Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme in the context of the AUSFTA and the current Mexican stand-off between Howard and Latham.
• Professor Bunyip (cringes in fear of another LWDB assault) has an amusing post about Brendan Nelson’s attempts to persuade universities to implement competency tests for graduating students. Jen is sorely tempted to email the Bunyip as my “doxie” (whatever that is) and enquire as to what Mrs Bunyip thinks of his frequent blog fantasies about bonking “the young, firm lecturer in womyn’s studies” (and similar).
• Al Bundy is on the second instalment of a stylish “Sherlock Bundy” serial that my own Conan Doyle instincts tell me is going to end up with the faux detective worshipping at the feet of faux history detective Keith Windschuttle. Worth reading for a chuckle even if (like just about everyone) you’re heartily sick of the History Wars.
• Sam “Yobbo” Ward has finally managed to restore his old archives (something I was too lazy to do after the old Troppo bit the dust a year or so ago). That means his memorable classic blogbile rant against Qantas is again available for readers who prize splenetic blogging.
• As notified by The Man himself in the comment box below, Scott Wickstein has started political blogging again. Not before time. He even has a post about electronic media policy, a topic I’ve also been blogging about lately.

Update – By contrast with Bunyip’s elegant puff piece on the graduate skills testing proposal, Paul Watson posts a well-argued (and equally well-written) substantive analysis of it. BTW my own view is that there may be at least some merit in graduate skills testing, especially with some of the less vocationally or professionally-oriented disciplines, where Bunyip’s caricatures of semi-literate graduates are not completely divorced from reality. Professional disciplines like law, accounting, engineering and medicine, are already adequately focused on developing skills as well as minds.