Norman Lindsay probably didn’t waste too much time studying economics in his young turn-of-20th century days, as the ‘dismal science’ hadn’t yet occupied our collective imagination. Although he may have read something of Adam Smith, its erstwhile 18th century godfather, who gave economists lots to chew on for the next three hundred years; and his contemporary Keynes, formulating soon-to-be influential economic growth theories; or even [...]
Archive for the ‘Editorial’ Category
The Magic Pudding
Posted in Culture, Economy, Editorial, Environment, Society, tagged dismal science, economic growth, Norman Lindsay, The Magic Pudding on May 25, 2012 | 1 Comment »
Pollies & Crackers
Posted in Editorial, Politics, Society, tagged Bob Brown, Federal parliamentary salaries, Remuneration Tribunal on May 11, 2012 | Leave a Comment »
Last year the Remuneration Tribunal gave our Federal parliamentarians a serious Christmas present in the form of huge pay increases. The PM copped $90K more, taking her annual salary to $470,000 – try benchmarking that with the US President’s $400,000 and UK PM’s paltry $221,000. Huh? The Deputy PM managed to scoop an even bigger increase [...]
Real World: Germany 20 v Australia 5
Posted in Economy, Editorial, Environment, Society, World, tagged ABC Radio 702 Rear Vision 'Germany and Renewable Energy', Beyond Zero Emissions, renewable energy, What Matters to Australians on May 1, 2012 | Leave a Comment »
Just after Anzac Day is a good time to reflect on our collective failure to meet the challenge of altering Australia’s energy mix. We all know coal is plentiful in the wide brown (oh yeah!) land, and that our polluting power stations produce cheap electricity, but that’s just the problem: it pollutes, to use an old-fashioned word. And [...]
Ruddy Farago of Foreign Affairs
Posted in Diplomacy, Editorial, Politics, tagged Australian Foreign Affairs, Kevin Rudd on March 1, 2012 | 1 Comment »
Terrible Tony Abbott’s assessment of our bumptious and erstwhile Foreign Affairs Minister was mostly spot-on. KRudd liked parading his intelligence and posturing on the world stage, way beyond Australia’s remit as a ‘middle’ (or middling, or indeed muddling) power, neglecting our vital interests in the Asia-Pacific region. Ubiquitous and prolix, Rudd grandstanded on Libya, nuclear proliferation, climate change action (while dropping his [...]
Wikileaks, Julian & Wilfred
Posted in Diplomacy, Editorial, World, tagged Jennifer Robinson, Julian Assange, Wikileaks, Wilfred Burchett on February 26, 2012 | 2 Comments »
As Julian Assange awaits the UK Supreme Court’s decision on his extradition to Sweden, to answer questions about dubious sexual assault charges, Australians should be questioning our own government’s lamentable conduct in this affair. European Arrest Warrants and Swedish law are fraught with numerous legal difficulties – outlined by Jennifer Robinson, one of Assange’s lawyers, [...]
Summer Survival in Sydney & Beyond
Posted in Editorial, Society, tagged sharks, snakes, Survival strategies on January 6, 2012 | Leave a Comment »
Wow, so many stories of survival and non-survival to chew on during this festive season, along with left-over ham – and lessons to be learnt. Firstly, if your boat suddenly sinks 8 kms off the Heads, don’t forget to throw the esky into the water as your lifesaving flotation device. Of course, make sure there’s [...]
Angrier over Afghanistan
Posted in Editorial, World, tagged Afghanistan war on November 3, 2011 | 1 Comment »
I am very angry about our ridiculous war in Afghanistan. What is wrong with us (Australians)? We get outraged when our cattle are not slaughtered properly in Indonesia, and yet we meekly accept another three Australian soldiers killed this week in Afghanistan in that useless military adventure. Total death toll: 32. What’s worse is that this latest [...]
Pokies & Porkies
Posted in Editorial, Society, tagged Andrew Wilkie, gambling addiction, Nick Xenophon, poker machine reforms, pubs and clubs on October 14, 2011 | Leave a Comment »
The unedifying spectacle of clubs and pubs going the biff over gaming (aka poker) machines reforms proposed by those brave parliamentarians Andrew Wilkie and Nick Xenophon has been downright ugly. Playing the man and not the ball has been the modus operandi against these two, and scare campaigns run by clubs in marginal Labor-held seats against [...]
Getting Fracked
Posted in Economy, Editorial, Environment, tagged Apex Energy, Australian Petroleum Production & Exploration Association, Beyond Zero Emissions, coal seam gas, Dart Energy, fracking, Gasland, George Wilkenfeld, NSW Coal Seam Gas Enquiry, Sydney water catchment on October 8, 2011 | Leave a Comment »
Sometimes you get a really disturbing feeling that our governments have stupidly declared war on the environment and the people who are an integral part of it, which in this case means not only farmers but all the rest of us who need food and fresh water. A new mining ‘gold rush’ is on for [...]
Shark Season
Posted in Editorial on October 5, 2011 | 4 Comments »
Well, actually it’s shark season all year round because the ocean is where sharks live. But as most of us humans don’t venture into the water much in winter, we can consider the mass onslaught, so to speak, of the summer months as shark season. As regular KC readers know, despite its inland location Kookynie has [...]
