No Crap App: w/b 9 Feb 2015

Letch, SMH 13 Feb 2015

Abbott / leadership

• Rodney Tiffen: Thinking of dumping a prime minister? History isn’t encouraging
• Dominic Knight: Abbott’s ironic reversal of political fortune
• Piping Shrike: Implosion
• Paul Kelly: Tony Abbott crippled by his own backbench
• David Crowe: Base politics is at the heart of Liberals’ power struggle
• Mark Skulley: Emperor’s new clothes only part of the Coalition’s problems
• Jack Waterford: Will the public come to Tony Abbott’s party?
• Niki Savva: Down periscope: Abbott torpedoes himself
• David Crowe: Abbott’s pleading calls can’t be made again
• Peter Brent: The trouble with friends
• Peter Hartcher: Tony Abbott ripe for knockout blow
• Lenore Taylor: Tony Abbott’s authoritarian need to attack just leaves him looking weak
• Norman Abjorensen: Can Abbott change?
• Paul Kelly: Dangerous quest for survival
• Michael Gordon: Tony Abbott’s leadership is going backwards
• Chris Wallace: The press gallery’s leadership thrills and spills

Budget/economy

• Peter Martin: Why the government is a brake on the economy
• Greg Jericho: The truth about ‘bludgers’: welfare dependency in Australia is falling
• Greg Jericho: We want the whole budget story, not just half

Other thinkiness

• Patricia Karvelas: Closing the Gap: how are we getting it so wrong?

By request, my posts for the week

• The Liberal rebellion is far from over
• Abbott’s leadership still on the line

No Crap App: w/b 2 Jun 2014

Pope, Canberra Times 6 Jun 2014

Turnbull

• Dominic Kelly: Malcolm Turnbull is right: we need to stand up to the shock jock bullies
• Lenore Taylor: Malcolm Turnbull’s dinner companions are none of Alan Jones’s business
• Jonathan Green: Turnbull: above the fray of student politics
• James Massola: How they coalesce in the Coalition

Palmer

• Lenore Taylor: Clive Palmer not the only one to shoot from the hip
• Laura Tingle: Stakes high in Clive Palmer’s game
• Peter van Onselen: Abbott agenda at mercy of loose canon
• Peter Hartcher: Clive Palmer, a man of healthy appetites, feasts on political leftovers

Senate voting reform

• Phil Hudson: Call time on the Star Wars cantina in the Upper House
• Malcolm Mackerras: New Senate a fair reflection of voter intent
• Kevin Bonham: Optional Senate Preferencing: Not An ALP/Liberal/Green Stitch-Up

Labor

• Stephen Mills: Labor’s history wars roll on
• Tom Bentley: Nostalgia for the Hawke-Keating years is holding Labor back

Coalition

• Simon Copland: The Left and Tony Abbott’s ‘inevitable downfall’
• Rodney Tiffen: The Abbott government’s war on transparency 
• Peter Brent: Will Abbott be Gillard or Keating?
• Tim Dunlop: You don’t know what you’ve got til its gone

Budget

• Phil Hudson: No respect and no thank you
• David Crowe: Frustration is no solution
• El Gibbs: Welfare reform without the welfare sector
• Ross Gittins: HECS debt will soar, but it remains the best loan
• Lenore Taylor: Point scoring and talking points miss the point
• Greg Jericho: Six facts that show the health of Australia’s economy
• Laura Tingle: Why budget reforms are now in intensive care

Credlin

• Julia Baird: Peta Credlin victim of a disturbing prejudice directed at powerful women

And my posts for the week

• The second coming of Malcolm Turnbull
• Does Abbott know what he’s doing?
• ‘Canny Clive’ takes credibility hit
• Hawke and Howard: Those were the days
• Turnbull is playing the long game

 

 

 

No Crap App: w/b 20 Aug 2012

Lobbecke, Aust 25 Aug 2012

The week that was…

In a scene reminiscent of a scifi movie, the entire Canberra Press Gallery shook themselves awake this week and “realised” that Tony Abbott has been playing fast and loose with the facts.Today’s papers are full of it (and yes, there have been exceptions). Meanwhile the Rudd camp continued its campaign using compliant journalists to blow on the embers of the 17 year-old Slatergate story.

Matters of import were also considered. Ben Eltham pondered the nexus between what the electorate wants and what it’s willing to pay for; Tiffin and Gittens previewed their book on PM Howard’s economic record, and Grog also pondered the the Howard “Golden Years”. Yet again, Jonathan Green made us think about the media that we consume daily. Lastly, I’ve included a link to an excerpt from Greg Jericho’s excellent Rise of the Fifth Estate.

Abbott lies and the campaign against Gillard

• Mark Latham: Lunar right crusades against Gillard
• Barrie Cassidy: Mistakes and missteps in 18 hours of madness
• Jenna Price: Misogynists and nut jobs – Gillard stares down blogosphere
• David Penberthy: Abbott mines a rich vein of rank opportunism
• Laura Tingle: Move forward – there’s no going back
• Michelle Grattan: Is Abbott on thin ice? Absolutely
• Dennis Atkins: Rhetoric rides unbridled as Tony Abbott is obsessed with polls
• Lenore Taylor: Lack of carnage Abbott’s inconvenient fiscal truth
• Geoff Kitney: Gillard must impose her own agenda
• Laurie Oakes: Have you heard the one about the politician who lies?

Economic issues

• Ben Eltham: How will we pay for it all?
• Rodney Tiffen and Ross Gittins: The Howard impact
• GrogsGamut / Greg Jericho: Who can claim the economic gold medal?

Thinky pieces

• Jonathan Green: An allegory of journalistic decline
• Misha Schubert: Politicians are people too
• An excerpt of Greg Jericho’s new book, Rise of the Fifth Estate, and my review

No Crap App: w/b 25 Jun 2012

Pope, Canberra Times 28 Jun 2012

The week that was…

The main political events this week had a common underlying theme: craven politics barely hidden behind a tattered moral veil. Whether it was the Slipper/ Ashby saga (no links provided), asylum seekers or the future of Fairfax, those who made the loudest claims to integrity were often the ones most blatantly pursuing political ends.

The links provided this week on asylum seekers cover a broad range of considered pieces exploring the dilemma, while other links explore why Fairfax matters, the tricky concept called public interest, and a media owner’s right to set editorial policy.

Finally, there’s a preview from George Megalogenis on the carbon price, which comes into force on Sunday.

Asylum seekers

• Ben Eltham: Asylum seekers a wicked problem
• Leanne Weber: Why asylum seekers come by boat
• Beachdair: The compact of deceit
• Michael Gordon: Sound-bite diplomacy no solution to asylum seeker quandary
• Peter Brent: Boats fuel Greens
• Louise Dodson: Raw emotions fail to stem brinksmanship
• Barrie Cassidy: In this policy vacuum surely Malaysia is worth a try
• Laurie Oakes: Giving new meaning to the term Rats in the Ranks

Future of Fairfax

• Rodney Tiffen: Why Fairfax matters
• Richard Ackland: The obscure world of public interest
• Christopher Joye: Editorial stance a right of media owners

Carbon price

George Megalogenis: Gillard’s stab in the dark

Sunday addition

• David Penberthy: Orgy of nothingness enough to make you cry
• Michelle Grattan: Greens are as stubborn as Abbott
• Paul Daley: Politics sinks us to new lows