On behalf of the Pure Poison team, I hope everyone enjoys the festive season – have a pleasant Christmas and a Happy New Year. This open thread is here for anything you would like to talk about during the holidays – we’ll be spending time with family and relaxing, so don’t be surprised if moderation [...]
READ MOREDecember, 2009
And a merry silly season to all
Many of the journalists and other writers we usually cover on Pure Poison will be taking holidays over the next few weeks. And you know what that means… SILLY SEASON! Yes, they still have to publish newspapers. The online news sites have to keep producing content. And what do they do when their “talent” is [...]
READ MOREThe Concern Police
A laughably flimsy column from Malcolm Colless today. It’s the latest example of what seems to be common practise now at The Australian – assert that they know what Australians are thinking and feeling, without bothering to muster any evidence to support their cause. It seems that The Australian’s political opinion team have been appointed [...]
READ MOREPlanet saved by Dr Pachauri’s “interests”
The Australian‘s editorial today attempts to sum up where we as a country stand, post-Copenhagen. It makes four sophisticated and entirely rational arguments. We’re better on “anti-pollution” than developing nations so we don’t really need to do anything until they do; The chairman of the IPCC has “business interests” in various companies, so, you know, [...]
READ MOREOpen thread December 21-24
Here is this week’s open thread where you can feel free to discuss anything that doesn’t fit in with the other posts on the blog. This post, along with last weekend’s open thread, are linked in the sidebar so you can find them once they’re off the front page. I spent the weekend visiting family [...]
READ MOREWeekend talk thread December 18-21
Let’s kick off the weekend early with a thread to discuss anything you like – Copenhagen, local politics, etc. Leigh Sales says: Final episode of Lateline for the year tonight. It’ll be focused on Copenhagen, but the interviewee/s are a movable feast. And if you’re looking for music ideas (whether for yourself or Christmas gifts), [...]
READ MOREHero worship as analysis
In trying to strengthen the Liberal Party’s prospects for the coming election, there’s a common technique being used by some of the conservative opinion-makers. They’re writing columns that project an image of the candidate as a hero. But are these public love letters capable of winning over anyone?
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Whither monarchy?
The constitutional head of Australia and her, and her heirs, place in the future of our nation is one that has been a discussion point for some time. The conventional wisdom held by many Australians is that the 1999 referendum on becoming a republic was lost mostly due to fragmentation in the pro-republic camp, and [...]
READ MORE#99 because we say so
The Daily Express in the UK claims on its front page to have “100 REASONS WHY… CLIMATE CHANGE IS NATURAL”. These “reasons” include: it just is (#1) some scientists agree with us (#12) the other side “does not make sense” (#26) Tony Abbott replaced Malcolm Turnbull as leader of the Australian conservatives (#95) And much [...]
READ MOREConroy releases dog of an internet policy – where are the ALP’s usual media critics on the right?
Bow that Stephen Conroy and Kevin Rudd have confirmed that they’ll be proceeding with an absolute dog of an internet censorship policy, an expensive waste of money that, far from stopping child pornography, will likely make things easier for paedophiles, and cynically waited until the Christmas period to release the unimpressive results of their very [...]
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