Brian Burdekin, author of the 1989 Our Homeless Children, Report of the National Inquiry into Homeless Children, claimed yesterday on AM that youth homelessness leads to an increase in mental breakdown and substance abuse. This assertion was not questioned by the interviewer, and contradicts what I would have thought […] Continue Reading…
March 08, 2007 | Graham
Brisbane Times
Fairfax Digital Media has launched a new online newspaper in Brisbane, the Brisbane Times – that’s the sort of exciting name that you get when you poach most of your staff from the Queensland Times. In fact, that’s not all they’re poaching – do a Google search on “Queensland […] Continue Reading…
March 07, 2007 | Graham
Putting the “story” into history
I wasn’t so much shocked by Manning Clark’s exaggeration of his experience of Kristallnacht by claiming to be there when he wasn’t, as his biographer’s view that you don’t go to Clark for facts.
So the question is, what do you go to Clark for? Do you go to Clark […] Continue Reading…
March 03, 2007 | Graham
Howard springs trap
Not often I do a post and events over-take it immediately, but that’s what happened to the previous one. Ian Campbell has resigned from cabinet. Howard’s not noted for sacking ministers, and this is probably a record for the speed with which it occurred, which means that Howard smells […] Continue Reading…
March 03, 2007 | Graham
Oops he did it again
Kevin Rudd is my local member. He ought to drop in for coffee with me sometime – the advice would be a lot better than he’s getting at the moment. Ian Campbell having a meeting with a number of people, including Brian Burke, isn’t a “gottcha” opportunity for Labor, […] Continue Reading…
March 02, 2007 | Graham
Harry Potter does lunch with Voldemort
Rudd’s fall to earth couldn’t have been more sudden than if he’d lost his broom while over-reaching for the snitch in the Quidditch stadium. And rather than Gryffindore he’s looking at worst Slytherin, and at best Huff and Puff.
If he’d met Brian Burke for a meal once, it could […] Continue Reading…
February 27, 2007 | Graham
No blood for oil part 2
“No blood for oil” – the defining chant of the anti-Iraq war protestors. Let’s assume for a second that they were right, that the US action was all based on access to oil. Why should that preoccupation only apply to Americans? What if it applied to Iraqis too? What […] Continue Reading…
February 26, 2007 | Graham
McsKewered – Labor fixes Howard’s expectations management
The preselection of Maxine McKew by Labor for Bennelong could be just what the PM ordered. The biggest risk to Howard this election was a protest vote. It was probably the only way that Beazley was going to win. One also suspects that the size of the vote for […] Continue Reading…
February 22, 2007 | Graham
Why Howard and Blair are at odds on Iraq
There is a simple reason why John Howard is sending extra troops to Iraq and Tony Blair is withdrawing them. There are votes for Howard on Iraq, but none for Blair.
Blair’s constituency is by-and-large anti-war. While there are some left-of-centre hawks, like Nick Cohen, they are significantly outnumbered by […] Continue Reading…
February 13, 2007 | Graham
Deputy Sheriff shoots the Marshall
Vladimir Putin steps onto German soil and almost immediately throws the gauntlet down to the US, raising the spectre of another Cold War and what is the Australian commentariat and Opposition obsessed with? John Howard’s comments about a junior senator’s bid for the White House and his policies on […] Continue Reading…