Sumo targets "Big Muck" - posted by Graham

Cancer NSW recently complained that there was too much advertising for unhealthy food on Australian TV, as I discussed in my previous post. The balance is about to be redressed, at least partially. A new company called SumoSalad is to... More

Children not the target of junk food ads - posted by Graham

The lates push to ban junk food advertising appears to be at least partly based on an unsustainable interpretation of fairly mundane research by the Cancer Council NSW. I can't be quite sure of this, because incredibly in this day... More

Hillary Clinton raiding Latham larder? - posted by Graham

Mark Latham adopted a strategy borrowed from US political guru Dick Morris, called "triangulation". The basis of the strategy is to distance yourself from both the left and the right. Latham's version of this strategy saw him reading to kids.... More

Classic Beattie gambit - posted by Graham

Peter Beattie's "threat" to hold an election on recycling sewage for drinking water is a classic Beattie gambit. Take a problem for which you are responsible, or at least share the guilt, pick an aspect of the issue that your... More

Beazley bombs on uranium - posted by Graham

Just when Labor appeared to be getting its act together Beazley decides to run off on an extraneous excursion on uranium mining. John Howard must be happy. Howard has elevated the debate on nuclear power for a number of reasons,... More

The last successful prime ministerial transition - posted by Jeff Wall

Observing the shambolic, some would say comical, efforts by the parliamentary, and media, supporters of Peter Costello to extricate John Howard from the Prime Ministership took my mind back to the last genuinely successful transition of Prime Ministers during the... More

"Bomber" gives Beattie an each-way bet - posted by Graham

"Bomber" could present a problem for the Queensland Coalition. Not "Bomber" Beazley, but affable Queensland TV sports commentator Chris Bombolas. He has nominated for, and will receive, ALP preselection for the marginal Liberal seat of Chatsworth, slimly held by Liberal... More

History will be unkind to those who do not write it - posted by Tom

Winston Churchill is supposed to have said: "History will be kind to me for I intend to write it.". But when and where did he say it? Without knowing that, do we really know he said it? This is a... More

Is leadership speculation helping Howard? - posted by Graham

"Disunity is death" - like all cliches it's just as likely to be wrong if applied in the wrong context. Today's Newspoll provides arguable proof that the Liberal Party leadership tussle might actually be helping the government. There are a... More

Trust trumps truth again - posted by Graham

According to the AC Nielsen survey in today's Sydney Morning Herald, 46% of Australians believe Peter Costello's story on the leadership deal compared to 35%who believe Howard, yet 63% prefer Howard as prime minister compared to only 25% for Costello.... More

Cui bono? - posted by Graham

Still trying to come to grips with the Costello Follies, which he appears to be determined to keep alive. I'm having trouble working out who wins out of all of this. John Howard doesn't, because he always had Costello where... More

Costello move pre-meditated and self-defeating - posted by Graham

When will Peter Costello resign? This afternoon's press stories make this necessary, but difficult for him to achieve with dignity or credibility. You cannot effectively say that the Prime Minister lied, as Costello does in this report and this one,... More

Wallets and Diaries - posted by Graham

What a classic quote: "Well it makes you wonder, doesn't it, why a person like McLachlan would carry around some notes in a diary for 12 years and then produce them. I mean Ian McLachlan is not known for opening... More

Big Brother convergence - posted by Graham

Everyone seems to be talking about that "turkey slap" (what a wonderfully evocative term, and I must be getting old because I'd never heard it before) but no-one seems to be getting the point. There's nothing really to be scandalised... More

The Differing Economic Policies of Menzies and Howard Government - posted by Tom

I wrote: The Australian Historical Association is holding its 2006 Conference at the Australian National University on July 3-7. ... One item of note is the session 11 am to 12:30 pm, Thursday "Comparing Menzies and Howard", with: Professor Stuart... More

Foreign Policies in the Menzies and Howard Years - posted by Tom

I wrote: The Australian Historical Association is holding its 2006 Conference at the Australian National University on July 3-7. ... One item of note is the session 11 am to 12:30 pm, Thursday "Comparing Menzies and Howard", with: Richard Broinowski,... More

Differing uses of ASIO Comparing in the Menzies and Howard Years - posted by Tom

The Australian Historical Association is holding its 2006 Conference at the Australian National University on July 3-7. One item of note is the session 11 am to 12:30 pm, Thursday "Comparing Menzies and Howard": Frank Cain ADFA: Ninety years ago... More

Comparison of the Menzies and Howard Electoral Strategies - posted by Tom

I wrote: The Australian Historical Association is holding its 2006 Conference at the Australian National University on July 3-7. ... One item of note is the session 11 am to 12:30 pm, Thursday "Comparing Menzies and Howard", with: MACKERRAS: Comparison... More

Comparing Menzies and Howard, Canberra, 6 July - posted by Tom

The Australian Historical Association is holding its 2006 Conference at the Australian National University on July 3-7 The program includes items such as "Pool Politics: the emergence of a distinctive swimming pool culture in suburban Sydney" and "The early Chinese... More

It officially is a war on terror now - posted by Graham

This morning we published a very interesting article by Ted Lapkin on the US Supreme Court decision invalidating the military commissions set-up to try prisoners in Guantanamo Bay. Not having read the judgement I was rapidly gaining the misapprehension from... More