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Showing posts from August, 2012

The sniping about Gillard's past continues

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It takes a long time for political mud slinging to register with most voters. So nothing surprising to me that this morning's Newspoll in The Australian  shows little change in how it expects people would vote if they were asked to do so now. Labor would be soundly beaten at an election but perhaps do slightly better than predicted a fortnight ago. The stories about Prime Minister's relationship years ago woith a trade union official allegedly tickling the workers' funds have done no apparent harm.to her and her Labor Party. But the drip, drip, drip of stories continue with the Sydney Daily Telegraph having this contribution on page five this morning after a pointer on page one. As I keep writing, this is a story that will not go away.

Steve Gibbons - Labor's biggest fool?

Politicians might not like journalists. They might, in fact, despite them - think they are regular publishers of "blatant untruths." But threatening to fine journalists when they publish misleading or incorrect stories is hardly a way of turning publicity back in your favour. That policy would guarantee nothing more than a renewed expression of bias without any punishable factual errors. Yet fines are exactly what the Labor member for Bendigo Steve Gibbons advocated in the House of Representatives today. The ABC reported : Mr Gibbons, the Member for Bendigo, told Parliament that people were losing faith in journalism and voiced concerns about the lack of accountability in the sector. He said recommendations from the Finkelstein independent review of the media did not go far enough and journalists should be fined for their errors. "Fines such as these for publishing blatant untruths or misleading news reports, or temporary suspensions of the right to publish or br

Greece Austerity Plan Short by 2.5 Billion Euros as Crisis Intensifies

Greece Austerity Plan Short by 2.5 Billion Euros as Crisis Intensifies - SPIEGEL ONLINE : "Greek Shortfall Growing Ever Larger" The news of the  potentially greater financing needs  comes at a sensitive time for the country. Many in Europe, particularly in Germany, are  losing their patience  and there has been increased talk of the country leaving the common currency zone. Over the weekend, German Finance Minister Wolfgang Schäuble reiterated his skepticism of additional aid to Greece. "We can't put together yet another program," he said on Saturday, adding that it was irresponsible to "throw money into a bottomless pit." 'via Blog this'

The Aussie Tim hitting the top of British Labour

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Julia Gillard hired a Pom and in Britain Ed Miliband has gone for an Aussie. Albeit an Aussie with some Pommy credentials. Tim Soutphommasane, drafted into the office of the UK Opposition Leader, might have served some brief time with Bob Carr when he was a Premier and Kevin Rudd during his successful election campaign but he did complete his  Doctor of Philosophy in political theory at the University of Oxford, from where he also holds a Master of Philosophy degree (with distinction). Now he  has been drafted in to UK Labour's policy review. Of Chinese and Lao extraction, and a first-generation Australian, Tim was raised in the southwest suburbs of Sydney. On his website the explains f or those curious about the correct pronunciation of his surname, that the phonetic spelling of it is Soot-pom-ma-sarn. A recent interview for the New Statesman explained  Soutphommasane's thesis, elaborated in his book  Reclaiming Patriotism: Nation-Building for Australian Progressives ,

Record low Arctic ice looming.

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With four weeks to go before the normal low point for Arctic ice coverage is reached, data from the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency shows a new record low is likely. Click on graph for larger image

A story that keeps getting more attention

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I've drawn attention a couple of times in my writings this year to how t he dealings of Julia Gillard back in the 1990s with a former Australian Workers Union official accused of financial impropriety keep bubbling along as an embarrassment for the government. This weekend the story has left the realms of social media, blogging and email and gone mainstream. It was picked up by a couple of the Sunday morning political talks shows after receiving yet another run in The Australian  and coverage in Sydney's Herald Sun . And now the Liberal Party attack dog Christopher Pyne has made the subject one of open party political debate. He told Sky News   there were very serious questions about the prime minister's integrity and she should make a personal explanation to parliament. Files held by Slater Gordon should also be released detailing the circumstances surrounding Ms Gillard's resignation. 'In the interest of clearing the prime minister's name, those files