Club Troppo

I knew Neil Bessell at Burgmann College in the 1970s though I was not a good friend. I was shocked to hear that he'd died and asked Hugh Borrowman who is a friend of mine and who was also a good friend of Neil to send me the speech he gave at Neil's funeral. For those who knew...

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http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LU8DDYz68kM No doubt some have already seen this vid. I only just discovered it. Pretty gripping I think you'll agree.

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A nice story available in this article. HT: Serge Soudoplatoff A tramp passes by a restaurant, but does not enter, as he has too little money. The cook is furious to see a tramp in front of his place, rushes him, starts fighting with him, and eventually asks him for some money...

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No time to say much right now, but I was intrigued to see the People's Chamber. Why wouldn't I be? And disappointed it was scorned so instantly by various operatives around the traps. Of course the atmospherics for its introduction might have been better - this is a rescue ope...

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The editorial in the Herald hit the nail on the head this morning. Julia Gillard's population comments are purely symbolic. She advocates a 'sustainable population' but won't say what she means by that, and in any case has ruled out both avenues by which population growth migh...

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Following the efforts of James Farrell as to the many different things meant by lay folk and professionals by the word ‘belief’, I wanted to try to tackle the question from an economics points of view. Given that the methods and mindsets of economists are an amalgam of other s...

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One of the things I'd like to do in this election campaign is to draw attention to all the (most egregious) cases where the press engage in the mindlessness of "he said - she said" journalism. That is where they report various sides accusations of the other as if that then fin...

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I got this email from someone with whom I've been having an enjoyable correspondence for the last few months (though I've never physically met him). He's an Australian, living overseas, in his twenties or perhaps early thirties (I'm guessing) and is ideologically predisposed r...

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Tony Abbott and Joe Hockey must be hoping that very few voters have any understanding of the basic principles of statutory interpretation. Any who did would instantly realise that the Coalition's promise to amend the Electoral Act to force unions to repay the Australian Electo...

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Economist Paul Frijters reflects on the controversial Super Profits tax and the lessons the public and the government can take from the circus that surrounded the issue.

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http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J0_avwKo4S0&feature=youtu.be&a

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I recall when on the Cutler Panel into innovation being presented with lots of 'sentiment analysis' on the content of submissions - all 700 of them! I was rather sceptical of what could be got out of them. But I expect this is a more legitimate use of such techniques - which i...

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An honours student approached me to interview me on an interesting thesis she is writing currently entitled "The conceptualization of political participation by advocates of Government 2.0". Naturally enough I agreed to what turned out to be an excellent interview (I do like i...

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HT Michael Neilsen Tweet via one of my favourite websites .

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Ghana's New Patriotic Party went to the 2008 presidential election with a new slogan : "Moving Forward". Christiana Love's song ' Moving forward ' was played at party events and there was a dance that might be oddly familiar to Australians: Look at the way the New Patriotic Pa...

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The publication of Peter Coleman's collection of essays with some memories and reflections is a reminder of his remarkably productive career as a public intellectual. Those who do not share his politics should note that his first book in 1974 was a scathing critique of Austral...

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Here's a chart that appeared recently on the net - so you may be able to go find it or have already seen it. If you haven't, can you figure out what it might be of? The prize for winning is the usual (a Mercedes Sports).

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Hi all, I'm occasionally after people to help me make diagrams look flasher or more compelling than I have the talent, tools or time to do. I have one such task right now. It's probably not more than an hour's work right now but if you can do a good job of it I'm bound to have...

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Having visited the OECD and observed the strange way in which views are arrived at and prosecuted, I read all OECD commentary with a grain of salt. The OECD staff spotted my stuff for the BCA on independent fiscal policy in 1999 and flew me to Paris to present to a Senior Fina...

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Pretty interesting . . . Going Soft: How the Rise of Software Based Innovation Led to the Decline of Japan's IT Industry and the Resurgence of Silicon Valle y by Ashish Arora, Lee G. Branstetter, Matej Drev - #16156 (ITI PR) Abstract: This paper documents a shift in the nature...

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