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Showing posts from December, 2014

With a friend like Tony Blair who would need an enemy?

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Hardly cheerful New Year’s eve reading for the UK Labour leader Ed Milliband on page one of London’s  Daily Telegraph . Tony Blair, his party’s last election winning leader, and the most electorally successful politician in Labour history, declares that Mr Miliband risked taking his party back to the dark days of the Eighties and early Nineties, when it suffered a series of heavy defeats to the Tories. May’s general election risked becoming one in which a “traditional Left-wing party competes with a traditional Right-wing party, with the traditional result”. Asked by  The Economist  if he meant that the Conservatives would win in those circumstances, Mr Blair replied: “Yes, that is what happens.” Mr Miliband has repeatedly attempted to distance himself from New Labour, but has faced criticism for Left-wing policies, which some have argued are anti-business. In a thinly veiled condemnation of Mr Miliband’s leadership, Mr Blair said that Labour “succeeds best when it is in the ce

Fox the clear US cable news winner again

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“The O’Reilly Factor,” was again top dog among all cable news programs Fox News Dominates Cable News Ratings in 2014; MSNBC Tumbles  – In a generally overall down year for the cable news genre, Fox News remained the dominant ratings force in 2014, while CNN made some meaningful demo strides relative to a sagging MSNBC. Behind the highest-rated programs in cable news — including “The O’Reilly Factor,” which was again top dog among all programs — Fox News finished on top in both total viewers and the adults 25-54 news demo for a 13th straight year, according to Nielsen’s “most current” estimates through Dec. 26. Greece’s election: The euro’s next crisis  – Why an early election spells big dangers for Greece—and for the euro A Greek Crisis, but not a Euro Crisis  - Pot Pie, Redefined? Chefs Start to Experiment With Cannabis  – Recreational marijuana is both illegal and controversial in most of the country, and its relationship to food does not rise much above a joke about brownies

Try the latest Danish delight - compressed watermelon, smoked cheese and marijuana-oil vinaigrette

Pot Pie, Redefined? Chefs Start to Experiment With Cannabis - NYTimes.com : "Recreational marijuana is both illegal and controversial in most of the country, and its relationship to food does not rise much above a joke about brownies or a stoner chef’s late-night pork belly poutine. But cooking with cannabis is emerging as a legitimate and very lucrative culinary pursuit. In Colorado, which has issued more than 160 edible marijuana licenses, skilled line cooks are leaving respected restaurants to take more lucrative jobs infusing cannabis into food and drinks. In Washington, one of four states that allow recreational marijuana sales, a large cannabis bakery dedicated to affluent customers with good palates will soon open in Seattle." 'via Blog this'

There’s never been a safer time to fly

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Despite high-profile tragedies, 2014 was the safest year on record for flying The Fleeting Obsessions Of The White House Press Corps  – “From the VA and Secret Service scandals to Ebola, each week brought another hot issue into the White House briefing room. Here’s a look at just how short the press corps’ attention span was in 2014.” Access to higher education and the value of a university degree  – “Governments sometimes promote reforms that increase access to education for a large share of the population. These reforms may lower the returns to education by altering returns to skills, education quality, and peer effects. This column examines a 1961 Italian reform that increased enrolment in university STEM majors among students who had previously been denied access. The reform ultimately failed to raise their incomes.” ‘A Ground Invasion of the Capital Is Imminent’  – “All-out war is coming to Libya, as rebel militias and a government-in-hiding begin a battle for control of the

In cricket two neutral umpires are better than one and certainly better than none

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Not really cricket: Home bias in officiating  - "There has been interest among both sports fans and academics in whether pressure from home crowds affects decision making of officials. This column investigates this problem using new data from cricket matches. The authors find that neutral umpires decrease the bias against away teams, making neutral officials very important for a fair contest. " Chronicle of a papacy foretold  - The ideological roots of Latin America’s Jesuit pontiff, Pope Francis - "The pope also shows more sign than his predecessors of understanding the human dilemmas posed by abortion and assisted suicide, but still hews to the church’s teaching on the sanctity of life. Even among people who disagree with all those views, Francis commands sympathy. For his part, he has acknowledged the integrity of people, including atheists and Marxists, whose beliefs differ from his own; and the respect is often mutual. His idiosyncratic humanism, forged in a land

The quality of your grade three teachers matter throughout life

The Importance of Teacher Quality  – From an interview with he John Bates Clark medal winning economist Raj Chetty: “Much to our surprise, it immediately became evident that students who were assigned to high value-added teachers showed substantially larger gains in terms of earnings, college attendance rates, significantly lower teenage birth rates; they lived in better neighborhoods as adults; they had higher levels of retirement savings. Across a broad spectrum of outcomes, there were quite substantial and meaningful impacts on children’s long-term success, despite seeing the same fade-out pattern for test scores.” Politicians ought to have a pint with their opponents more often  – Politics without blind tribal dogma? I’ll drink to that. The more things shuffle, more they stay the same  – “Reshuffling the cabinet is like changing who wears which colour skivvy in the Wiggles: it doesn’t make any difference, and they all end up singing the same old tunes, writes Tim Dunlop.” Franc

The reaction to cabinet and leadership changes? Support falls

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The Federal Coalition does a few ministerial sackings and a little of Cabinet reshuffling. NSW forces out its parliamentary leader. And the immediate reaction is a general yawn of indifference and a market that marks down the election chances. Not big moves admittedly. But a warning for both the Federal Coalition and NSW Labor nevertheless. The slides of both will not easily be turned around.

Basic rights for an orangutan

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A court in Argentina  has ruled that a shy orangutan who spent the last 20 years in a zoo can be granted some legal rights enjoyed by humans. Lawyers had appealed to free Sandra from the Buenos Aires zoo by arguing that although not human, she should be given legal rights. Peter Singer on The Ransom Dilemma  – “Governments that pay ransoms are saving the lives of some of their citizens, but putting the remainder of their citizens – and others – at greater risk. The refusal to pay ransoms to terrorists can seem callous, but in truth it is the only ethical policy. Every government should adhere to it.” A change is gonna come  – “The great civil rights song turns 50 – the political made personal, and heartbreak transmuted into fiery action” Army of Spin  – “Following in Putin’s footsteps, the Turkish government is gearing up for full-fledged information warfare.” Japan: ‘Solo weddings’ for single women  – “A travel agency in one of Japan’s most beautiful cities, Kyoto, has started

NSW Labor searching for another sacrificial leader?

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New South Wales Labor seems to be back playing its familiar game of throwing another good person after bad. From this morning’s tabloid terror: Opposition Leader John Robertson meets the definition of a bad leader if the ability to win an election is the principal criterion. Under his stewardship Labor is heading for near certain defeat. The latest  Newspoll in  The Australian  had the gap at 10 percentage points. Hence this new round of change the leader. But what would be the point of changing with three months to go? Perhaps a new man might salvage a point or two but more likely the sacrificial leader would just remind voters of the side-show during the years before the Liberals and Nationals were given such a resounding victory next time. Better to let Robbo roll on to inglorious defeat without destroying one of the few remaining Labor members with talent.

Tony Abbott now has a dangerous duo of spurned colleagues in the Senate

Now there will be little argument about David Johnston not really having the gift of the political gab. As Defence Minister he suffered by actually saying what he thought and that will never do when the political contest is about avoiding unwanted controversy. Fancy a politician saying that he would not trust the Adelaide based submarine corporation to build a canoe? Leave aside the truth that the feather-bedding of ship building in South Australia has cost taxpayers unnecessary billions. Surely the man realised that honesty would put thousands of votes at risk? Breaking an election promise to hand the next submarine construction contract to such a wasteful contractor needs finesse not brutal honesty. So off to the backbench with the one Liberal and National Party member of parliament who actually made a keen study of defence matters during those long years in opposition. The Tony Abbott government wants safe hands ijn charge of our armed forces not sensible ones. So David Johnsto

An editorial in "The Australian" that should be read by all political journalists

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Forget you prejudices. This morning The Australian  has an editorial that deserves to be read; an editorial that puts the political adventure of Clive Palmer into a proper perspective. The conclusion from the well argued  Media can’t see story for dinosaurs and twerking : Mr Palmer is our very own Silvio Berlusconi; a cashed-up bully willing to use his lawyers, money and, apparently, his business partner’s funds to get his way, even at the expense of our country’s future. But to what end? To settle scores, sure, and, perhaps, to advance his business interests, but certainly not to assist the national fiscal challenge. In fact, he does great harm. The only eventuality more humiliating for our national political discourse than Mr Palmer’s ability to win seats and hold sway in our national parliament is the parallel willingness of the bulk of our journalists to indulge his antics, ignore his failings and refuse to report or investigate his business affairs. I, for one, plead guilt

Please send Tony Abbott to the beach with a novel – he looks and sounds like a tired and troubled man

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When the morning television hosts turn on you a politician knows he is in trouble. Last week for Tony Abbott it was  Karl Stefanovic on  Today   treating him with scant respect. This morning it was  Sunrise’s  David Koch  out to prove that a Port Adelaide man can be tougher than a friend of that rugby loving Alan Jones like Karl. Both interviews would make Liberals squirm as their leader made a botch of trying to appear like an honest man. The Prime Minister looked and sounded tired and troubled. Surely it is time to get him out of sight and into his Speedos for rest and recuperation and a little contemplation about what to do and say in the year ahead.

A slowing growth in China, the myth of the American dream and other news and views for Monday 8 December 2014

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China trade data well below expectations  - “Trade data from the world’s second largest economy, China, came in well below expectations on Monday, heightening fears of a sharper slowdown. China’s exports rose 4.7% in November from a year ago, compared to market forecasts of a 8.2% jump. Imports fell 6.7% in the same period against predictions of a 3.9% rise.” David Murray has gone rogue  – “David Murray, and panel members Craig Dunn, former CEO of AMP, and Carolyn Hewson, former director of Schroders and BT Investment management, seem to have had a late life conversion, realising that the system they’ve been part of has failed. Consumers, it says, have not been getting fair treatment and the current regulatory framework ‘is not sufficient’. This is directly contrary to what the government, and the banks and retail super funds such as AMP, have been saying.” It’s Brown, It’s Barrel-Aged, It’s … Gin?  – “While many know gin for its light, bright and dry characteristics — citrusy, herb

Force me to bet on the Australian election and I’d back the Coalition

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The opinion polls showing Labor with a comfortable lead over the Coalition keep coming. At the weekend there was Galaxy putting the twp party shares at 45% for the Coalition and 55% for Labor. This morning Fairfax-Ipsos had it 48% Coalition 52% Labor. It is an uncommon thing to have a government so consistently behind the opposition for such a lengthy period in its first year or so in office but would you really like to put your own hard earned on Labor winning? I certainly wouldn’t and if you forced me to have a wager I’d be backing the Coalition. To me the Owl’s federal election indicator considerably overstates Labor’s chances of being the majority party come polling day. Now don’t get me wrong. Tony Abbott is an unpopular Prime Minister. It’s just that with almost two years to go one of two things will most likely happen. Abbott will change his ways or his party will dump him. In both cases the voting public will start to look more closely at Labor’s Bill Shorten. To my mi

A big story with little coverage – Nick Xenophon and his NXT

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The stultifying impact of the group think that dominates the federal press gallery was never more obvious than at the weekend when the announcement of a new political party went virtually unreported. In my opinion, Nick Xenophon’s announcement that he is taking his independent  ideas national is the most significant political event of 2014. The NXT – the Nick Xenophon Team – should rock the major parties to their very foundations as it boosts the already strong movement by voters away from Liberal, Labor and National. Yet the launch by Senator Xenophon of his new Team was ignored at the weekend and again this morning by the so-called movers and shakers of political journalism. Such reports as you will find are based on an orthodox straight report from AAP with this, stuck away at the bottom of the Sydney  Sunday Telegraph,  being typical: Only the Senator’s home town  Sunday Mail  gave the Xenophon statement the prominence it deserved: Not that being so stupidly ignored by mos

The future looks incredibly bleak for social democrats

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Surfers Without Waves – Is Social Democracy Dead In The Water?  - “No social democratic party anywhere in the world is on the front foot. Sure, parties may find themselves in government – as they do in Denmark, Sweden, Germany and France, in their own right or as part of a coalition – but this happens by accident and tends to be down to the failures of the right. And in office, social democrats tend to follow austerity or austerity-lite measures. No social democratic party has a strident and confident set of intellectual and organisational ideas that propel a meaningful alternative political project. The future looks incredibly bleak. Why? … The brief upturn in the electoral fortunes of social democrats in the mid 1990s around the third way, the new middle and Clintonism was won at the expense of the further erosion of an increasingly ignored electoral base. In the mistaken belief it had nowhere else to go, core support was traded for core values and reliance pinned on a dysfunctional