Club Troppo

Robert Manne has an op-ed piece on equality and George Orwell in this morning's SMH. He ends with this observation: Orwell wrote a brief review of the most important anti-socialist manifesto of the 20th century, F.A.Hayek's Road to Serfdom. Orwell was honest enough to admit th...

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My sister Sue's husband Adam is a knockabout sort of bloke. A carpenter by trade, mostly doing heritage-style renovations around Sydney's north shore and inner west. Great husband and father, likes a few beers and the occasional joint. Loves nothing better than a good chin-wag...

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The stirring injunction that adorns the pediment of the US Supreme Court has a new resonance today - and Andrew Sullivan is ecstatic. In a 6/3 majority decision the Court yesterday struck down the gay-specific anti sodomy laws of Texas thereby implicitly invalidating all remai...

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Jason Soon's employer Henry Ergas in today's Australian newspaper: SENATOR Richard Alston's announcement that legislation will be introduced to sell off the 50.1 per cent of Telstra that is government-owned could create a more dynamic and competitive telecommunications market....

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The Senate voted to reject the Howard government's media law "reforms", with all 4 Independents as well as Labor, Democrats and Greens voting against. Margo Kingston (link via Tim Dunlop) has an excellent article on the saga. As Margo points out, no other print media are givin...

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You wouldn't think the murder of a Melbourne gangster and notorious hitman would have anything to do with constitutional law, would you? Actually, you'd be right. But there is a connection of sorts, however indirect. Jason Moran was gunned down the other day while watching his...

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HG and Roy's immortal saying " when too much sport is just barely enough " has never been truer than tonight. The Blues over Queensland in thugby league by 27 - 4, followed by Wimbledon tennis action. And in Darwin, the V8 Supercars are in town for the annual round at the Hidd...

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Sydney's new Lord Mayor, the glamorous Lucy Turnbull, has just announced the 1,458th go at cleaning-up "The Cross," since 1962. Lucy's ideal of Kings Cross seems to shape as the kind of place where a go-getting squattocratic Darling Point girl can shut her eyes and imagine her...

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I hadn't realised until now just how many crims are keen ballet fans. Bravura performances of the Dying Swan are now more common among gangsters (not to mention white collar crims) than imitations of Al Pacino in The Godfather a few years ago. Bernard Slattery , for instance,...

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Last night's ABC 7.30 Report contained a depressingly predictable story suggesting that the Catholic Church has learned little or nothing about how to handle child sexual abuse by its clergy and teachers, and remains frozen into a lawyer-driven stance of dishonesty, denial and...

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General Mike Jeffery's appointment to Yarralumla has had a curious Papal tone to it, given his stated commitment to emulating the Papacy...I mean, Governor-Generalship of Sir Zelman Cowen. Just like John Paul I emulating Popes John XXIII and Paul VI. Or John Paul II emulating...

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This morning a caller to Sally Loane's ABC Radio show raised the vexed question of the "unfair advantage" accruing to the NZ All Blacks from their pre-game Haka - 'Ka Mate! Ka Mate!' or 'Te Rauparaha's Haka.' With the World Cup looming, the caller was concerned that our nation...

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This interesting feature from the Washington Post canvasses the emergent academic field of - yes - "White Studies." Before you're overwhelmed with images of white sheet wearers, burning crosses and rousing choruses of the Horst Wessel Lied , I should offer some reassurance: Wh...

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I'll leave the detailed rugby post-mortem to Christopher Sheil or Wayne Wood. However my own immediate reaction is that, although England had a decisive victory over the Wallabies (25-14), things weren't as bad as I feared. Australia clearly needs to improve in numerous areas,...

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According to the Sydney Morning Herald (link via Tim Blair ), Communications Minister Richard Alston is on the verge of clinching a deal with the 4 Independent Senators which would see the effective abolition of Australia's current foreign and cross-media ownership laws, albei...

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It's a shame Tim Blair (blog cactus at present) is still successfully ignoring the amazing Margo Kingston. Yesterday's Web Diary piece was a monumental achievement in journalistic vacuity even by her stellar standards. Someone apparently gave Margo one of those "can do" Americ...

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I don't think I've ever until now linked a story from Channel 9's A Current Affair . Tonight, however, they had a story on an idea that's been a hobbyhorse of mine for a long time: DIY real estate sales . Having spent nearly 20 years running a private legal firm which involved...

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Bailz has a truly inspired take on Channel 9's The National Driving Test 2003 , aired earlier this week. I confess I didn't bother watching it, because it was compered by Eddie McGuire, who I find about as talented as a brick wall. As it turned out, I suspect Bailz's take on t...

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The elegant and erudite Gianna is the latest (and second last, I'm told) blogger to be granted refuge by that great blogospherical philanthropist Scott Wickstein . What with Boynton et al , the Ubersportingpundit empire may well be the only part of the blogosphere to achieve s...

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On Tuesday night I swallowed a lump of exquisitely prepared Beef Ragu and that was it. It failed to move anywhere other than my oesophagus. Given that it was still firmly lodged there at 4am, my partner, Lance, decided it was high time to get me to our local hospital emergency...

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