May 10, 2014

Michael Kelly SJ. A powerful minority or an elected majority!

In a process that shows no sign of ending soon, Thailand’s unstable governance has reached another crisis.

The Acting Prime Minister has been tipped out only to be replaced by an Acting Acting Prime Minister who is himself to face judgment for his part in the failed scheme to stabilize the price of rice.

These judicial decisions - seen by many to be actions of courts tainted by their association with the anti – Shinawatra, Royal establishment - are now the trigger needed to bring the opposition back onto the streets of Bangkok. However, more prosecutions to come will now follow these latest incidents. Ousted Acting Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra is to face proceedings over up to another dozen alleged misdeeds.

September 16, 2019

MACK WILLIAMS. Attacks on Saudi Oil Facilities: Trump “Locked and Loaded”?

Whatever the real story behind the damaging attacks on the Saudi oil facilities, tensions in the Gulf and Middle East more widely have been significantly elevated. US attempts to engage the Iranians in direct and secret dialogue to try to wind back the US “extreme pressures” on Iran which Trump had claimed were underway when questioned about French President Macron’s attempt at mediation are clearly in jeopardy. Whether Trump’s tweeted threat that the US was “locked and loaded” to respond militarily to the attacks heightens concerns about further escalation in the Gulf area have yet to be seen.

October 31, 2015

John Menadue. Malcolm Turnbull and rebuilding the ABC

Our new prime minister, Malcolm Turnbull has a chance to repair the damage that was done to the ABC when he was the minister in charge. Malcolm Turnbull was unable to stop Tony Abbott’s cultural war on the ABC which was aided and abetted by Rupert Murdoch.

Today, Friends of the ABC published an advertisement in The Age and the Sydney Morning Herald calling on the public to ‘support the rebuilding of the ABC (and protect SBS)’. This advertisement highlights the recent damage that has been done to the ABC

June 16, 2019

Sunday environmental round up, 16 June 2019

A strong emphasis on economic, ethical and equity issues associated with climate change this week. Global warming has increased inequalities between rich and poor nations; tackling climate change and reducing inequalities must occur simultaneously but only rich and powerful nations and individuals have the resources required to do it; even low emitting nations have a responsibility to contribute to global efforts to fight climate change; and action on climate change makes economic sense but we should do it even if it didn’t. Is Theresa May’s commitment to reach zero emissions in Britain by 2050 all it seems? And to lighten the load, watch nesting White-bellied Sea Eagles live.

March 7, 2016

John Menadue. Japanese royal family resists war revisionism.

After WWII many people, including me, believed that Emperor Hirohito should bear considerable blame for his complicity in Japan’s wars of the 1930s in China and in the Pacific in the 1940s.

There is no doubt that the late Emperor Hirohito was traumatized, as was his nation, by the disasters of WWII. But perhaps that experience of war is the reason why Emperor Hirohito, his son the current Emperor Akihito and his grandson, Crown Prince Naruhito are standing as firm bulwarks against the revisionist tide of history in Japan.

August 17, 2014

Jennifer Chesters. Private schools, fees and longer term payoffs.

In a recent article published by The__Conversation, Barbara Preston examined the link between type of school attended and progress at university. Barbara concluded that after controlling for tertiary entrance score, university students from government schools outperformed students from private schools. This finding suggests that paying for an expensive private school education may not be the best preparation for university study. If this is the case, perhaps parents paying private school fees are looking for longer term pay-offs for their investment.

January 30, 2025

A five-minute scroll

The West Bank attacks continue since the Gaza ceasefire. In India, poor Muslim’s shops are being bulldozed. In the US, Caroline Kennedy speaks of her concerns about Robert F. Kennedy Jr leading the HHS.

May 20, 2016

WAYNE McMILLAN. Is there any difference between Labor or Liberal coalition governments when it comes to economic management?

There is much political rhetoric spouted by both sides of Australian politics when it comes to economic management and the truth generally lies somewhere in between the myths and the half-truths. To make matters even worse, so-called economic experts from the financial and business sectors, shock jocks and news media outlets tend to centre discussion narrowly on surpluses, deficits and government debt taken out of any meaningful, economic context. The language or terms used in the news and in political debate, often gives an inaccurate or incorrect picture of what is really happening. The political pundits and the commentariat tend to give the impression that the process of preparing budgets and guiding an economy to prosperity is a simple, straightforward process and only requires a good measure of common sense.

March 1, 2016

John Menadue. Canada's response puts us to shame.

In this blog on 4 February, I mentioned the failure of the Australian government to adequately respond to the Syrian refugee crisis. I pointed out that at that time only ten refugees had arrived from Syria out of a promised intake of 12,000. I mentioned three factors for this delay. The first was political will. The second was the failure of the Department of Immigration and Border Protection which has become focused on control and border protection at the expense of settlement. The third was the inordinate delays resulting from ASIO security checks.

November 19, 2015

Peter Day. Hatred won't stop me patting the dog.

Hatred won’t stop me patting the dog

By Peter Day

New York, London, Bali, Madrid, Israel, Beirut, Egypt, Nigeria, Sydney, Paris: on and on it goes, the list of nations and cities left bereft after yet another act of terror.

It puts one’s inner-being out of whack; could even threaten to derail one’s sense of humanity.

Where to from here in the face of such deep seated hatred and barbarity?

March 8, 2015

Michael Keating. The 2015 Intergenerational Report

Purpose of the Intergenerational Report

The Intergenerational Report (IGR) should be an important document. It purports to tell us what the Australian population, economy and Budget could look like in forty years time.

Of course no-one really knows what the economy will look like in forty years time. Instead the IGR tells us how fast the economy could grow over the next four years if the drivers of economic growth – population, participation and productivity – continue to have the same future impact as in the past. So despite the declared optimism of the Treasurer about our economic future, and how much better off we will be, as far as the IGR is concerned that future has been established by definition and is certainly not proven.

March 18, 2024

Visit to Australia by Chinese Foreign Minister HE Wang Yi

The Chinese Foreign Minister, Mr Wang Yi, is in Australia this week to participate in the China-Australia Foreign and Strategic Dialogue with his Australian counterpart, Foreign Minister Penny Wong.

December 3, 2016

Aung San Suu Kyi's government appears unable - or unwilling - to halt what some describe as 'ethnic cleansing'.

The Rohingya in Myanmar are facing increasing attacks and harassment. Australia and the region must be prepared to respond.

July 17, 2014

Refugee success

In recent years we have been getting a diet designed to diminish, denigrate and demonise asylum-seekers and refugees.

We have lost a sense of proportion and the enormous contribution which refugees have made to this country.

I have set out below links to information and articles which describe the remarkable way in which we have accepted refugees in the past and the way that they have helped build Australia. It is a thrilling story. These links are provided courtesy of the Refugee Council of Australia. Some of the information may be a few years old but the stories are current. John Menadue

March 9, 2014

Walter Hamilton. Calling a spade a spade in Ukraine.

Ukraine, the U.N., the European Union and the U.S. have nine days in which to influence the tide of events in Crimea or witness the second (after the excision from Georgia of South Ossetia and Abkhazia in 2008) expansion of Russia’s military and political control beyond its post-Soviet borders. Nine days. That’s how long the Sochi Paralympics will run - during which the prestige-conscious Vladimir Putin is unlikely to declare ‘Full Ahead’.

June 13, 2014

John Tulloh. Misery accomplished in Iraq as disintegration threatens.

Perhaps dictators have their place after all. Saddam Hussein presided over Iraq for 24 years. While he was cruel and vainglorious, he generally succeeded in ensuring Iraqis stayed in line and kept the peace. He was toppled in 2003 when the U.S., with the support of Australia and other allies, invaded the country with the aim of introducing democracy and an altogether more acceptable way of life. Today his country is unravelling with astonishing speed as a small Islamic extremist group takes control of large areas with impunity. Iraq could be even on the verge of disintegration.

September 18, 2016

RICHARD RIGBY. Japan steps up military activity in the South China Sea.

The announcement in Washington, in the context of last week’s visit by Japanese Defence Minister Tomomi Inada, of stepped up Japanese Maritime Self-Defence Force activities in the South China Sea, including exercises with the US Navy, has to be one of the more ill-judged decisions taken regarding this contested area in recent times. It will do nothing to alter China’s claims or diminish its presence, but will provide oxygen to precisely those forces in China who see it being subjected to a campaign of encirclement and containment. It will further fire nationalist extremism, and not only add to existing tensions in the South China Sea, but almost inevitably lead to China escalating its activities in the East China Sea around the Diaoyu/Senkakus. (We’d better get used to not calling them islands, if we follow the logic of the Hague Tribunal concerning the nature of Taiping Island/Itu Aba. The latter clearly has more of the features necessary to be classified as an island than Diaoyu/Senkaku and yet was denied this status by the Tribunal. Still less can Japan’s absurd claims regarding Okinotori-shima (shima-island) be given any credence.)

December 11, 2016

MARK BEESON. New series: We can say 'no' to the Americans?

Getting to ‘no’

Ideas have their moments. The way we think about the world is partly a reflection of who ‘we’ are and partly a consequence of the times we live in. One of the biggest ideas that has informed Australian foreign policy since it became formally independent is that we live in an especially insecure apart of the world, a long way from our natural allies.

January 13, 2014

Journalists are not welcome in Nauru. Elaine Pearson

Dramatically increasing the cost of visas to enter Nauru places severe restrictions from the ability of journalists and others to let us know the truth about asylum seekers being held there. John Menadue

Here’s an innovative way to discourage foreign media scrutiny of a touchy human rights issue: jack-up the cost of a journalist visa 40-fold, from A$200 to A$8000 (US$178 to US$7108). That’s precisely what the government of the small Pacific nation of Nauru has done, dressing up that skyrocketing increase as a means to “ increase revenue.” The fee is non-refundable even if the visa application is rejected.

October 27, 2014

Adam Kamradt-Scott. Mining companies must dig deep in the fight against Ebola.

The current outbreak of Ebola virus in West Africa shows no signs of halting. More than4,500 people have died and many thousands more are infected. Despite the creation of a new United Nations mission to tackle Ebola and commitments of thousands of western military personnel to help combat the disease, the virus is still “ winning the race”.

In September, UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon called on the international community to donate US$1 billion to help fight Ebola. Yet one month later, despite dire predictions that we could see 10,000 cases a week by December and 1.4 million cases by January 2015, the UN has received less than 40% of the funds needed.

May 31, 2015

Frank Brennan SJ. 'Amplifying That Still Small Voice'. Book Launch.

‘Amplifying That Still Small Voice’ A collection of essays by Frank Brennan SJ Book Launch.

Dates and times of the 2015 Book launches of Fr Frank Brennan’s latest book, ‘Amplifying That Still, Small Voice’:

1. Tuesday 2 June North Sydney Catholic Parish Hall, 7.30 pm.

2. Wednesday 3 June Hobart Town Hall, 6.15 pm.

3. Friday 5 June, Newman College, Melbourne, 5.00 pm.

4.Monday 8 June, Australian Centre for Christianity and Culture, Canberra, 7.30 pm.

May 7, 2016

Kerry Murphy. Blaming refugees.

Blaming instances of self-harm by refugees and asylum seekers on ‘refugee advocates’ or the undeserving asylum seekers is not a new political tactic. Back in 2001 then Minister Ruddock was interviewed by Four Corners about the problems of self-harm by asylum seekers in detention, especially in Curtain, Woomera and Port Hedland detention centres. Journalist Debbie Whitmont asked the Minister Philip Ruddock how he explained the number of cases of self-mutilation in Australian detention centres.

October 24, 2015

Richard Letts. Mitch Fifield should dump it while he can.

In a Senate Estimates hearing this week, the new Arts Minister Mitch Fifield was gently questioned for ten minutes by Senator Scott Ludlam about his intentions with regard to the future of arts support: in particular, did he intend to implement the plan of his displaced predecessor, Senator George Brandis, to use funds taken from the budget of the Australia Council to set up a new fund under direct Ministerial control. This scheme created open warfare between Brandis and his arts constituency and doubtless was the reason for his removal from the post in PM Turnbull’s ministry reshuffle.

October 18, 2015

Michael Kelly SJ. George Pell's own goal.

A Catholic friend of mine who spent his professional life as a journalist at what was the then rather WASPISH Melbourne Age told me in the 1980s that two sports dominated that paper’s pages – Australian Rules football and Catholic fights.

Cardinal George Pell should have stuck to playing Ozzie Rules. In that game, shirt fronting is the common tactic used to eliminate opponents. It comes down to knocking out an opposing player usually with a side-on, full body smash that leaves the opponent flat on his back.

February 27, 2015

Stuart Harris. China is not seeking to break the rules of global order.

Australia’s foreign policy, and notably its relations with the US and China, has been a mix of positives and negatives under the Coalition government, as was true of the previous Labor government.

This reflects the lack of a broad strategic vision of Australia’s geographic realities and the evolving relationships involved.

Former prime ministers, Gough Whitlam and Bob Hawke recognised the need for Australia to think strategically about future regional developments, and John Howard‘s thinking gradually moved in that direction. Such long term strategic thinking is more urgently needed today.

March 8, 2013

Let them Work. John Menadue

Last month, Bruce Kaye (guest blogger) and I wrote articles about the need for a change of government policy to allow asylum seekers to work. This is important for their dignity and self-respect and their integration into the Australian community. It would also be less costly to the Australian taxpayer and the Australian community.

Today the Asylum Seekers Centre, Sydney, and fifty other organisations have joined together to call on the Australian Government to allow all asylum seekers to work, whether they came by air or boat.

February 19, 2013

Work rights for asylum seekers. Guest blogger: Bruce Kaye

Having had direct experience of asylum seeker hosting it has become obvious at the ground level that the ‘no work’ policy introduced in August last year by the Federal Government is creating confusion and misery for the asylum seekers and frustration and despair for those involved in hosting.

As citizens, my wife and I are happy to continue to provide this hospitality. These people are in great need. However it seems to us that the Government’s policy of not allowing these people to work simply makes it impossibly hard for them to live in the community at the end of their six weeks of homestay hospitality. Not able to work they are driven into poverty, or the black economy. In any case dependence on Government resources is perpetuated instead of wages being earned and taxes paid.

August 17, 2014

Saree Makdisi. The catastrophe inflicted on Gaza - and the costs to Israel's standing.

The Israeli public relations is almost as powerful as the Israeli military machine. An alternative view is expressed below by Saree Makdisi, a professor of English and comparative literature at UCLA, and the author of ‘Palestine Inside Out: An Everyday Occupation’. This article was published in ‘Mondoweiss’ which describes itself as ‘a news website devoted to covering American foreign policy in the Middle East, chiefly from a progressive Jewish perspective’. John Menadue

March 20, 2025

A five-minute scroll

How long will the Australian Government ignore the murders in Palestine? Michele O’Neil asks who can think this is an act of defence. Francesca Albanese wants the conversation to be about international law, not what indicted leaders say. A US journalist asks the Deputy Secretary of DHS, referring to Mohammad Khalil, whether protesting is a deportable offence.

December 28, 2013

A letter to Pope Francis

The Australian Catholic Coalition for Church Renewal has called for structural amd cultural change in the governance of the Catholic Church

The letter can be found on my web site.Go to top left hand of the home page and click on John Menadue web site.

John Menadue

October 19, 2015

John Menadue. Is Malcolm Turnbull sacrificing his principles?

The polls show most Australian voters have welcomed Malcolm Turnbull’s election as Prime Minister. I did.

It is very early days, but I am concerned by signs that he is bowing very much to the right wing of his own party and former Abbott supporters rather than spelling out clearly his own policies that we heard about for years. He told the Parliament today ‘Can I simply say the government’s policies are unchanged’

May 7, 2016

John Zaw. No end in sight to Rohingya suppression in Myanmar.

The hardline Buddhist Arakan National Party (ANP) that holds a majority of seats in Myanmar’s religiously divided Rakhine State has promised to fight any attempts to grant up to 1 million stateless ethic Rohingya citizenship.

For the new National League for Democracy (NLD) government in Myanmar, the first civilian administration in the country in more than five decades, the issue of Rohingya Muslims in Rakhine poses one of its most formidable challenge.

May 2, 2013

Malaysian General Elections - Change or Chaos? Guest blogger: El Tee Kay in Kuala Lumpur

The run up to the 13th General Election on Sunday May 5 has been described as the dirtiest in Malaysian history. For the first time in 54 years the Barisan Nasional (BN) Government led by Prime Minister Najib Razak fears it may lose its grip on power. For the first time the Malaysian voter has a choice of a credible opposition, the Pakatan Rakyat (PR) led by Anwar Ibrahim, which is mounting a strong challenge. Indications are that the main coalition partners of BN – the Malaysian Chinese Association (MCA), the Malaysian Indian Congress (MIC) and the Gerakan may suffer severe losses or even be wiped out. The United Malay National Organisation (UMNO) may also lose some seats to the Pan Islamic Party (PAS) of the opposition coalition.

June 21, 2014

Joe Hockey on welfare dependence

Surely Joe Hockey must soon become more careful about preaching to us about ending the age of entitlement and the need for Australians to be less reliant on welfare.

Facts are getting in his way. The latest reality check has been the release of the Melbourne Institute of Applied Economic and Social Research’s Household, Income and Labour Dynamics in Australia (HILDA) which surveys 17,000 people each year in Australia. The HILDA report found that Australians are becoming less dependent on welfare.

October 31, 2018

NICK DEANE. Armistice Day

On ‘Remembrance Day’ we should not forget that the majority of war’s casualties are actually non-combatant civilians. We should also remember that the original day was a day of great joy, as warring came to an end. Peace is the ‘default position’; war an aberration. However, current commemorations still focus on the ‘warrior hero’.

July 6, 2013

Asylum seekers - good news at last. John Menadue

The joint communique issued yesterday by President Yudhoyono and PM Rudd is the best news that I have read on asylum seekers for many years. A regional framework is the only viable policy for the future. Individual countries cannot do it alone.

The communique said

‘As co-chairs of the Bali Process, the two Leaders reaffirmed their commitment to continue to develop a regional solution, involving countries of origin, transit and destination which covers elements of prevention, early detection and protection to combatting trafficking in persons and people smuggling and other related transnational crimes. They stress the importance of avoiding unilateral actions which might jeopardise such a comprehensive regional approach and which might cause operational or other difficulties to any party. The Prime Minister of Australia welcomed Indonesia’s initiative to invite key origin, transit and destination countries to a conference to explore concrete operational and policy responses, including regional approaches and efforts to enhance border security, in addressing regular movement of persons.’

March 19, 2025

A five-minute scroll

The world awakens to the news that Israel has broken the ceasefire and now continues its bombardment in the Gaza Strip. Francesca Albanese states we cannot bear witness to global leaders doing nothing. Al Jazeera comments that the ceasefire did not collapse, it was part of Israel’s plan. In Gaza, Palestinian journalist Bisan Owda gives a first-hand account of what’s happening and a former BBC journalist speaks to Owen Jones about the obfuscation of language in journalism on the Israel Palestine situation.

June 13, 2024

Open Letter to Anthony Albanese: ‘Why collusion with this grotesque Israeli government?’

We write in sadness and despair at your government’s failure to condemn openly and persistently the Israeli government’s determination to ethnically cleanse Palestine and to cause brutality, famine, death and destruction to a whole people and their country.

June 22, 2015

Geoffrey Harcourt. Piketty, flawed, but not a light that failed.

Current Affairs

A review of Thomas Piketty, Capital in the Twenty-First Century****.* Translated by Arthur Goldhammer, Cambridge, Mass and London: The Belknap Press of Harvard University Press, 2014. viii + 685 pp. ISBN 978-0-674-43000-6*

*This is a smaller version of a review article to be published in the next issue of Economic and Labour Relations Review. The article contains a bibliography on which this version draws.

At each end of the spectrum of responses to Thomas Piketty’s best seller are those of Paul Krugman and Deirdre McCloskey. Krugman pronounced it “the most important book of the year – and maybe of the decade”. McCloskey graded it as mistaken on most fronts. Bob Solow supports Piketty – “Thomas Piketty is right” – and provides the clearest account of the issues without leaving the realm of simple arithmetic.

October 16, 2017

MUNGO MACCALLUM. Bravura performance from Tony Abbott as stand-up comic.

Tony Abbott’s bravura performance as a stand-up comic at the Flat Earthers Twilight Home Laugh In, or whatever it was called, deservedly received rave reviews – the consensus was that he was a raving ratbag.

March 14, 2025

A five-minute scroll

Chris Minns stands by the NSW hate speech laws. Kevin Rudd warns negotiations with Trump 2.0 administration will continue to be rough. Trump advocates for Tesla and Elon Musk. Zoe Daniels calls out some uncomfortable truths.

December 1, 2015

Michael Kelly SJ. Treating Islam’s clerics like their Christian equivalents will save lives

There is an unexpected upside to the mayhem and carnage across the world, visited on the unsuspecting innocents of countries where Muslims are not a majority of the population – Europe and beyond. It’s something the Catholic Church has had to learn, too.

And that is the simple fact that that misbehavior among religious adherents towards members of the faith community as well as those outside it – requires external intervention to be rectified and hopefully crushed.

March 8, 2016

Rosemary Breen. Living Water Myanmar

Five years ago, when I started this project of building large water tanks to collect water during the rainy season in the Dry Zone of Central Myanmar I had no idea how many lives would be changed because of this simple concept. To date 114 water tanks have been built for villages and schools due to the generosity of so many donors in Australia, the USA and the UK.

As the Australian coordinator, I have given talks and shown a Powerpoint presentation to many groups in order to raise funds, while Saya Toe, the coordinator in Myanmar, organises the team of builders who go from village to village building the tanks with help from the local people. Each time I visit there are requests for tanks from the village headmen or head teachers of schools and seeing the poverty and great need, it is hard to refuse. There are over 650 villages in the Dry Zone and the government has done nothing over the last sixty years to alleviate the situation.

February 5, 2013

Can the media spell 'policy'?

A friend of mine, Ian McAuley, has drawn attention to an election study by the ANU’s Institute for Public Policy Trends. It covers elections 1987-2010.

The study shows conclusively that our media is badly out of touch with what the public wants. For the 2010 federal election campaign, the study asked voters what were the most important considerations in their voting decision. 52% said ‘policy issues’. 25% said ‘parties as a whole’. 15% said ‘party leaders’. 8% said ‘candidates in my electorate’.

December 6, 2015

John Tulloh. Turkey's new neighbour - DAESH (Islamic State)

President Tayyip Erdogan of Turkey must feel like a chess grand master playing several games simultaneously. He has far more neighbours and different cultures to contend with than most leaders: eight in all. They are a mixed bag across more than 2600 kms of borders - Iran, Iraq, Syria, Armenia, an Azerbaijan enclave, Georgia, Bulgaria and Greece. And across the Black Sea he has Russia. Now he has an unofficial neighbour: Daesh, also known as Islamic State. It has been active along Turkey’s frontier inside Syria and regards territory it has seized as part of its self-styled caliphate.

July 6, 2015

Failure in Afghanistan. We don't want to talk about it.

On the 24th June, I posted a link to a review from the London Review of Books. (See https://publish.pearlsandirritations.com/blog/?p=3957) In referring to the UK involvement in Afghanistan, it was headed ‘Worse than a defeat: shamed in Afghanistan’. The review by James Meek said

‘The extent of the military and political catastrophe [in Afghanistan] it represents is hard to overstate. It was doomed to fail before it began and fail it did, at a terrible cost in lives and money. How bad was it? In a way it was worse than a defeat because to be defeated an army and its masters must understand the nature of the conflict they are fighting. Britain never did understand and now we would rather not think about it.’

January 13, 2016

John Menadue. Preferential trade deals – gigantic foundation stones or pebbles?

Malcolm Turnbull has described the TPP as a ‘gigantic foundation stone’ that will deliver ‘more jobs, absolutely’.

The World Bank now tells us that the TPP will be more like a pebble than a foundation stone. See following article by Peter Martin in SMH on January 12, 2016.

http://www.smh.com.au/federal-politics/political-news/transpacific-partnership-will-barely-benefit-australia-says-world-bank-report-20160111-gm3g9w.html

The following is a repost on the same subject, originally posted on 13/10/2015.

John Menadue

Repost from 13/10/2015.

After two wasted years in government, it is perhaps not surprising that Malcolm Turnbull would try and gild the lily by telling us that the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) ‘was of enormous benefit to us. It is a gigantic foundation stone for our future prosperity.’ What in the world has he been digesting to talk like this? Perhaps he is really extending an olive branch to the Abbott supporters he has vanquished by crediting the Abbott Government with the TPP!

February 11, 2025

A five-minute scroll

Ilan Pappe witnessed his face on a target symbol on TV screens at the airport as he returned to Israel. Australia continues to tug on the “forlock of a fading hegemon”. The ABC calls citing international law antisemitic while Amnesty International calls on German authorities to stop the crackdown on freedom of speech.

March 8, 2013

The Neverending Story. Guest blogger: Greg from Cottesloe

Side show alleys have become smaller these days. They used to be the centre of attraction at the annual Royal Show with the boxing troupes, the bearded ladies and so on but even the shrunken lane of today still has a conjuror performing the old pea and thimble trick. The conjuror puts a pea under one of three thimbles then swirls them around with appropriate flourishes and invites a member of the audience to pick the one hiding the pea. Some honest but dim fellow steps forward and has a go but…no luck. He retires ruefully shaking his head and the conjuror’s patter goes on.

Pearls and Irritations

John Menadue's Public Policy Journal