Club Troppo

If you've ever despaired at what passes for political debate in this country, Senator George Brandis' Greens-as-Nazis speech would surely have confirmed your cynicism. I suspect that his attempt to explain himself on last Friday's Lateline will not exactly fill you with hope f...

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So.....it's Una's Restaurant, 340 Victoria St, Darlinghurst on Tuesday 4 November at 6.30pm. Troppo bloggers past and present are invited to join Great Armadillo Ken Parish, and I, for dinner. You don't have to be a Troppo blogger to join us - after all, most people who'll be...

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I've been mean I know, leaving poor wen to bear the load all by herself, a newly hatched armadillo no doubt wondering what she's let herself in for; me, I'm more interested in watching the rugby than blogging. But I have more excuses. For nearly a week my computer has lain idl...

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I like Bob Brown. I especially like how he manages to drive those who dislike his politics into paroxysms of rage. So yesterday, we learnt from Liberal Senator George Brandis that Bob Brown is objectively pro-fascist [excerpted from yesterday's Hansard ]: I think until fairly...

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I've just now finished unavoidable university work prior to flying out to Sydney on the "red eye" flight just after midnight tonight. In my case it really will be red eyes, because I've had about an hour's sleep in the last 2 days while completing urgent tasks. We had the offi...

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I don't often agree with Alison Broinowski, and indeed much of her article in today's Australian is just her standard kneejerk anti-western cringe that we sensitive New Age Right Wing Death Beasts have come to know and detest. ( Update - I couldn't be bothered dealing with mos...

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Jason Soon links to an excellent historical summary of public choice theory by its founder James Buchanan . As one of the principal components of the group of ideas usually called "neo-liberalism" or "economic rationalism", public choice theory remains an important influence o...

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Last Christmas I attended a farewell function in Manly for my brother Gordon's best mate, a Welshman named David, and his wife Bridget and their 2 kids. They'd decided to go back to Britain to live after 8 years in Sydney. The kids were reaching high school age, and David thou...

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Nicholas Kristof in the NYT muses on the findings from a recent study showing that many lesbians - like most men - will have a ring finger that is longer than their index finger whilst women generally, have an index and ring finger roughly the same in length. A quick, albeit u...

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The National Trust is running low on Australian Living Treasures and would like public assistance in replacing the 11 Treasures who have gone to Immortality since the program was initiated in 1997. All you have to do is zap off your nomination to the National Trust. They don't...

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At about the point that Hu Jin-Tao was subtly making his House of Representatives case for Captain Cook being a Johnny come lately, news came through that the formidable Madame Chiang Kai-Shek had passed away. It was a timely interruption because I'd just started daydreaming a...

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Here he is , wondering why those pesky Kurds don't want Turkish troops in Iraq: My old buddies the Kurds, a long-mistreated people we freed from Saddam, are now looking a gift horse in the mouth. I hope somebody explains that American expression about shortsighted suspicion to...

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I'll try and shut up for the rest of the day after this, and let other armadillos have a go, but I can't let the opportunity slip to point out some excellent news for anyone with an interest in Australian law. AustLII , already the world's premier free access online legal reso...

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If I was Wendy I'd be right chuffed by Sophie Masson's compliment about her "lovely, limpid" prose style (an evaluation which I share, for what it's worth). Sophie should know, being no mean exponent of the art of lovely, limpid prose herself. I find that immersion in turgid l...

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Every Thursday night at around 8pm the same questions occur to me. Was John Clark actually as funny as I remember when he was Fred Dagg? Or were those sketches just as utterly devoid of humour as his 7.30 Report stuff with Brian Daw? Or do comedians lose their bite when they'r...

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Suzy Kruhse's son Dan and his wife Tarun are presently backpacking in South America. Their timing might have been improved, because right now they're in Bolivia, which hasn't been the most peaceful country in recent weeks. Here's an email from Dan and Tarun that might interest...

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The visits of Presidents Bush and Hu may be big news elsewhere but, interestingly, the brouhaha du jour in Sydney appears to be the Sydney Peace Foundation's award of it's annual Peace Prize to Dr Hanan Ashrawi - noted christian Palestinian academic and politician. As I write,...

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As others have noted , if that " imminence " business shows anything, it's that George Bush is incredibly careful with what he says. With that in mind, here's some week-old news : Mr Bush rejected claims that torture is being used in the terrorist detention centre at Guantanam...

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Being rather unfamiliar with the whole History Wars imbroglio , it's maybe a little stupid of me to enter the fray, but what the hell. I'm going to make a few observations about the Quadrant article by Keith Windschuttle that Ken Parish linked to below . I should make clear th...

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My post earlier today about Margo Kingston's SIEV X ramblings generated numerous comments, including one by the esteemed Jozef Imrich which approvingly linked an article by refugee advocate Julian Burnside QC . Now I don't share Professor Bunyip's typically jaundiced doubts ab...

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