June, 2009

Yes peas. That’s what a hand-written sign held by a US mourner, and featured prominently on Channel Ten’s news coverage, said. Did wacko have a thing for small green vegetables?

As widely reported, but over-shadowed by other scandals and fiascos, was Stephen Conroy’s decision to censor the internet more extensively than previously thought. This decision is likely to alienate a large swag of voters who are otherwise favourable to Labor. Inquisitr: “The Australian Minister for Censorship has today confirmed what I’ve been reporting for nearly [...]

A great day to bury bad news, as Mark Colvin (@colvinus) observed: On a day when news of Michael Jackson’s death was dominating people’s attention, the Federal Government has announced that it’s killing off its controversial Grocery Choice website. In PR, it’s an ill-wind etc

Apparently, there are calls for Phil ‘ Gus’  Gould to coach NSW again. But he says things would have to change before he would even consider it (the guy’s ego has been out of control for a long time), including this gem: “There would also have to be massive improvement in the relationships between players [...]

As Ben Eltham has pointed out in New Matilda the Ozcar saga is about nothing more than political tactics.  Turnbull’s tactics blew up in his face when it was found that the email he relied on was a fake. At that point, he should have done what many politicians do in similiar circumstances and plead [...]

While a hopeful digerati (still waiting for the revolution) look hopefully towards the Australian Government’s government 2.0 project, a much more powerful message has been sent by the government’s heavy-handed approach to the Grech affair. That message is that we, the politicians, control who gets told what and how. The heavy-handed use of the federal [...]

Godwin Grech, a hard-working and intelligent bureaucrat, has fallen foul of the gap between myth and reality in the senior echelons of Australia’s public service. The myth, fondly recounted by the mostly faceless senior bureacrats in Canberra, speaks of independence, impartiality and fearless advice. The reality is that your career only progresses if you do [...]

Think the NRL is fading under a welter of controversy? Think again: The NRL is trumpeting an increase in crowds and television ratings for 2009. The league says crowds are up five per cent on the same time last year and have totalled 1,688,948 so far in 2009. It says game one of the State [...]

No kidding, but is this another sign of a post-GFC academic trend. This article from a London Business School professor published by the Harvard Business School caught my attention: The economist Jovanovic wrote, about a quarter of a century ago, “efficient firms grow and survive; inefficient firms decline and fail”. What he meant is that [...]

Keen, an academic from UWS, became a media darling last year by predicting the economic equivalent of the end of the world as we know it in the midst of the worst days of the GFC. The media lapped up his “its much worse than you think” message. Just how responsible it is to pour [...]