Goodbye George, Tony and John - posted by peter

Until recently I taught a unit in Futures Studies. One of the things you learn in such a ‘discipline’ is never to predict. So here is my prediction: before the year is out, George Bush Jr, Tony Blair and John... More

Latham as leader (so far) - posted by peter

The ALP national Conference was always going to be a major test for Mark Latham as new leader. What we have seen so far is Latham the Labor leader as opposed to Latham the ‘Third Way’ theorist. Like many others,... More

Here Comes the Global Society - posted by peter

Bird flu – it doesn’t have the apocalyptic sound of SARS or AIDS or any of the other acronyms that made you wonder if this is what Nostradamus was on about, but it might just be the disease that makes... More

Australia Day and Hookesy - posted by peter

I live near the Swan River where each Australia Day there is a 'sky-show’ of fireworks at night. It is mostly an advertising stunt by various Perth media, but it regularly attracts some 300,000 plus people on the night. Nothing... More

'Electability’, the US Democrats and Labor - posted by peter

It looks increasingly likely that Senator John Kerry will win the Democrat nomination for President of the US. Senator Joseph Lieberman and General Wesley Clark will test their chances in New Hampshire, and Senator John Edwards is still around the... More

PC and the Culture Wars - posted by peter

PC stands for political correctness, but in the culture wars now hotting up in the western world, and particularly in the US and Australia, it is taking on a much wider meaning. Increasingly it means, or signifies, anything that does... More

The Unquiet Suburbs - posted by peter

For years now the pundits have been predicting the end of office work and a migration of work to the suburbs. The advent of high-capacity computers and the Internet has supposedly made it possible for information workers to work at... More

Christians and secularists ought to take up the cause of the hijab - posted by Graham

Muslim women the world over are marching in protest against the decision of the French Government to ban the wearing of the hijab in schools. Why aren’t Christians marching as well? The French government decision doesn’t just ban Muslim headscarves,... More

A Contest, Please. - posted by peter

After a brilliant start, the current one day cricket series is heading south (or is it north in the southern hemisphere?). Zimbabwe have been crushed in the last three games, putting up as much of a fight as my local... More

A White Whitney Houston? What not to do on holidays. - posted by Mark

M S Lawson What madness drives us to have holidays? Why was I dragged away from my computer games and made to sit in the sun on a beach and be semi-drowned in the surf? As for theme park rides,... More

Latham and Moral Leadership - posted by peter

I’ve been reading about the transformation of the US military under pressure from ‘digitisation’, and what impresses me most about this discussion is the way actual military participants (as opposed to civilian commentators) continue to stress morale as the key... More

Media coverage Day 3 - Confusion - posted by Graham

Merri Rose dominates today’s media coverage, as she was always going to do. The question is – who gets the advantage from this? Peter Beattie has been trying to use it for expectations management. The ABC says “he [Beattie] is... More

Round-up of election coverage Day 2 - posted by Graham

The Courier Mail sprang quickly into action with a four page wrap around, but most of its coverage missed the mark. It appeared to readily accept that the “Foster-Care reforms” were the real reason for calling the election this week... More

How prepared were they? - posted by Graham

I thought the fact that Lawrence Springborg had to fly down to Brisbane meant that he was taken by surprise, but today I was told that the Nationals were actually running ads on TV in the morning, so maybe not.... More

Merri Rose – Opposition chewing the wrong bone - posted by Graham

My life is full of essays I was going to write, and last week I was going to write an essay saying that if the Opposition couldn’t handle the Families Department Child Abuse Scandal more effectively then they had no... More

On WA Politics - posted by peter

I see that Greg Barns has written a piece in ‘Online Opinion’ praising WA Liberal leader Colin Barnett. I have to say this visionary leader Barns refers to is not the fellow we generally experience in WA politics. That Barnett... More

On the 'net Greens handle election announcement the best - posted by Graham

Last post on the use of the ’net and Queensland politics I was awarding points to the National Party for their www.governmentwaste.com.au site. This post when I look at the official sites of the major parties they aren’t doing so... More

Springborg knocks-on - posted by Graham

After listening to Lawrence Springborg’s press conference responding to Peter Beattie’s election announcement I’m almost ready to call the election to the government by an even larger margin than the one they have now. It was tentative, nervous and with... More

Queensland election kick-off – the blame game - posted by Graham

Peter Beattie has kicked-off the Queensland election and we now have a sketch of the first phase of play. At this moment there are four visible prongs to his strategy. Expect a few more tines on the pitchfork to appear... More

Dead Culture and Virtual Life - posted by peter

I recently wrote a piece in 'Online Opinion' about the way modern popular culture is stagnating, and what that means. I pointed out that in popular writing, music, TV, films and just about anything else that could be called culture,... More

Stop Press! Queensland to go to polls on 7th February. - posted by Graham

Beattie will give a press conference at 12:00 noon Eastern Standard Time. I’ll do a post after I’ve heard it with some preliminary analysis. Will be interesting to see how the public wears an election being called right in the... More

Liberal State President admits party doesn’t comply. - posted by Graham

As I announced here , BCC Councillor Margaret de Wit withdrew as a candidate in the Ryan preselection. It was reported in the Courier Mail this morning. The interesting part of the Courier Mail report was its second last paragraph... More

Rumble in Ryan becomes a rattle - posted by Graham

Michael Johnson can enjoy his holidays a little more this Christmas. Councillor Margaret de Wit has today announced that she is withdrawing from the preselection contest for Ryan. As per my previous post that means that Steven Huang is the... More

Does America Actually Have a Two-Party Political System? - posted by peter

The outstanding success so far of Democrat presidential hopeful and Governor of Vermont Howard Dean has been the biggest story in US politics since the rise of the new conservative push that put Ronald Reagan into office. Indeed, in a... More

Swan bowls wrong pace. - posted by Graham

Every government and opposition needs its Lilleys and Thompsons. Hawke had men like Keating and Walsh, Howard had Reith and now Abbott, Latham has Wayne Swan. These are people who can create mayhem by the way they bowl issues up... More

The Peace Marchers Were Right - posted by peter

Let us be unequivocal about this: the millions of people who marched against the war in Iraq were right. There probably never were any weapons of mass destruction in Iraq after Gulf War II, Iraq did not threaten the US... More

Real Cricket and Real Ads - posted by peter

At last some real cricket again! I mean, what kind of game goes on uninterrupted for a whole working week without a result? And what a great contest it was at the MCG last night. These are two well-matched sides... More

Don't try this in Australia - posted by Graham

This direct email (Word Doc 80 kb) from the Clark 04 Campaign came across my email intray today. It's Madonna "rooting" (caution, US English language usage here) for General Wesley Clark, who is one of the front-runners in the Democratic... More

The Rumble in Ryan - posted by Graham

This is the same Michael Johnson who mounted a preselection challenge to the former member for this seat, John Moore, at the time when Moore was Defence Minister and overseeing the Army’s engagement in East Timor. As it turned out, Moore resigned before the preselection eventuated, forcing a byelection, but Johnson didn’t appear too worried about the effects of his endeavours on the Howard Government at the time. More

Life in the Fast Lane - posted by peter

The Christmas road toll was one of the worst in years. I have commented before about how glibly we accept this price for automotive mobility, especially as it tends to kill and maim a disproportionate number of young people. Apparently... More

How much oil? - posted by Graham

On Line Opinion has just published an article by Mark Lawson querying estimates that said the world was about to imminently run out of oil. He didn’t dispute that it would run out some day, but he particularly instanced David... More

Are the High Priests of the free market really atheists? - posted by Graham

This article in today’s Australian tends to reinforce my view that the housing boom was starting to slow under its own weight without the need for an interest rate rise. Supply of investor stock apparently peaked in March last year.... More

What is national sovereignty worth, anyway? - posted by peter

If we were told that from now on all major decisions by our government had to be vetted and okayed by the US Congress there would be national uproar. After all, haven’t we fought in two world wars to maintain... More

Goodbye, Steve. - posted by peter

Goodbye to Steve Waugh, and a nicely timed exit at that. Still near the top of his game, not keeping some deserving young batsman out of the team, and as canny a captain as ever. But his batting was going... More

Xxxx it…Just say it! - posted by Graham

On my way into work every day I am confronted by a billboard. This morning it carried an ad, quite a clever one, from Castlemaine Perkins, the brewers of Fourex Beer. Ray Weekes, the Chair of the Brisbane Institute (one... More

Bob and Croc affair owes something to politics - posted by Graham

Steve Irwin, the world famous “Croc Hunter”, is in trouble. He held his one month son Bob in the crook of his arm while he fed a whole chicken to a four metre crocodile named Murray as part of a... More

Climate Change and Economics - posted by peter

Without question, the biggest issue facing humanity in this century is how to deal with global climate change. Anyone who does not acknowledge this stark fact is simply in denial. If the moderate predictions are correct and we see temperature... More

World Idol needs political and polling consultants - posted by Graham

Does the international public really think that Kurt Nilsen was the best singer in the World Idol competition? I suspect not. The real winner in terms of being the best singer and performer is probably Kelly Clarkson. In my previous... More

Looking Back at the Whitlam Years - posted by peter

The release of cabinet papers from 1973 gives us a chance to review those dramatic years of the Whitlam government. It is hard to overestimate the importance of that first Labor government after 23 years of stultifying conservative rule. Australia... More