George Pell at the Brisbane Institute - posted by Graham

I heard Cardinal George Pell speak at the Brisbane Institute last night and Jack Waterford in the Canberra Times has a pretty good precis of what he said. The Brisbane Institute billed it as: Cardinal Pell considers questions such as:... More

Brickbats to Queensland Rail and Citizen Journalism - posted by Graham

I've just walked back to the office from Central Station after standing on a train for 15 minutes and deciding it was more likely that I would arrive at Brunswick Street Station than it would. During the 15 minutes that... More

The Australian takes up Williams' comments - posted by Graham

Robyn Williams' misuse of a Spectator review gets a run in today's Australian - Cut and Paste. They also add some cautionary remarks about peer review from Terence Kealey who is VC of The University of Buckingham. The full text... More

More crony capitalism - posted by Graham

Last July the Queensland Government instituted the "Urban Land Development Authority" which amongst other things would have the right to compulsorily acquire land from private land holders and sell it to developers who could then make a profit from it.... More

Robyn Williams misrepresents The Spectator - posted by Graham

In my previous post I referred to an introduction that the ABC's Robyn Williams gave to an Ockham's Razor presentation by Don Aitkin. He used a quote from a piece in The Spectator to suggest that Aitkin's view should be... More

Who the hell is Robyn Williams? Can anyone help? - posted by Graham

This morning's Ockham's Razor broadcast was by Don Aitkin on global warming. Presenter Robyn Williams introduced him in these terms: It is one of the disappointments of my life as a broadcaster that I've never managed to interview Nigella Lawson.... More

Under the Moruya Moon (4) - posted by Ronda Jambe

A continuing saga of a coastal adventure. Or: how to convert a goat-shearing shed into a semi-sustainable habitable space. In any case, today is a good time to divert attention from the circus of the Olympic torch run in Canberra.... More

At last - reliable evidence on the "booze epidemic" - posted by Graham

I'm sceptical of the "booze epidemic", particularly as I've been unable to find anything justifying the claim. But now something authoritative has come to light. According to AAP: The NSW auditor-general's report found there were 20,475 alcohol-related assaults (ARAs) statewide... More

Open for foreign supermarkets, but not foreign ships - posted by Graham

Every government, no matter how honest its intentions, ends up shaving the common good for sectional interest. It's unavoidable, but spotting the inconsistencies can be fun. With increased food prices the government is desperate to be seen to do something... More

Lin Hatfield Dodds - posted by Graham

The Hatfield Dodds, Lin and Steve, were about the only power couple that I could spot who both got a guernsey to the 2020 Summit. Lin's now topped that to make herself a household name by withdrawing from the Olympic... More

Guns don't kill people, and people don't do it as much. - posted by Graham

John Howard told a joke against himself at a Liberal Party function in Brisbane (as reported by the SMH). "The other was that his diplomacy needed work. Asked at a function at the George H. W. Bush presidential library in... More

One of the biggest ideas is ours! - posted by Graham

Despite my pessimism, it appears that the Governance stream came up with a worthwhile eDemocracy Big Idea - a government portal to be called www.your.gov.au (or maybe www.yourgov.gov.au, but that looks clumsy when you write it down). According to Kate... More

Not going to the summit - posted by Graham

You really can't ignore the 2020 Summit, so here goes. But first a declaration. Not only did I nominate for the summit, but we also tendered to provide an online collaborative workspace for it, as well as lobbying for a... More

Is JK Rowling a witch? - posted by Graham

Is JK Rowling a witch? It would appear to be a reasonable question given her performance in prosecuting a case against Steven Vander Ark for daring to have compiled The Harry Potter Lexicon. The judge is urging both sides to... More

Fuel fools - posted by Graham

The federal government's new FuelWatch is likely to be as effective in lowering prices as those proposals contained in nuisance emails that still circulate the Internet. The ones that say we can force petrol companies to lower prices by boycotting... More

What could be better than sliced bread? - posted by Ronda Jambe

It is not trivial that 'earning our daily bread' is synonymous, even in the 21st century, with the most fundamental economic elements: do something so that you can eat. The only societies that don't measure their success in terms of... More

What goes down will go up even higher - posted by Graham

House prices are falling and interest rates are rising, which is bad news for existing home buyers, and new home buyers too. Doesn't sound right, but it is unfortunately true. Unless we fix the underlying supply and demand problems in... More

Quick! Kill the Moggie! Save the Planet! - posted by Ronda Jambe

Visiting friends from Wellington informed me last weekend that they won't be having a pet when they move to their 'intentional community' near Nelson. (That's an evolved form of the kibbutz, think Nimbin with broadband. ) They brought to my... More

Program on mortgage stress missing a corner - posted by Ronda Jambe

A balanced look it was not: the 4 Corners (ABC) program last Monday showed 3 sides of the figure, but left off a big corner. They did a good job of showing that a) the banks are predatory and irresponsible... More