Qanda’s special on climate change – I can change your mind – deployed some junk science of its own. I completed the survey and was told my position was “Dismissive”. That might be correct, but the “profile” of my position at the end of the survey indicates that at the very least it was doctored, […]

If the French elect Francois Hollande the world may get a neat natural experiment where we can compare high Keynesianism to the Washington model using the comparative economic performances of France and Greece. Or it may be that with one of the two strong men of Europe defecting to the high expenditure, high debt side […]

Greg Sheridan thinks that George Pell won Monday night’s debate about religion and atheism. I disagree. A man in Pell’s position ought to know much more about fundamental issues than Pell seemed to. That doesn’t mean that I think Dawkins won. His performance too was second rate, justifying in this instance Sheridan’s description of him […]

The Greeks and Romans envisaged most of their gods as young fit athletes. Even Apollo, the god of the arts, had a six-pack to die for, as well as a lyre and bow and arrows. We don’t imagine our gods as physical beings anymore, if we imagine there are any at all, but we deify […]

Anna Bligh has announced that she is resigning from Parliament, effective March 30. That means that after running a campaign where she assured us all that she was in it for the long haul, she gives her electorate less than one week’s notice when she loses. My bet is that this will be seen as […]

As far as I can recall Anna Bligh started running the “white lady” theme last election and I thought it was too obvious to be effective. Just stating that your candidate is virginal or pure doesn’t make people accept that she is. But in Queensland there are other overtones apart, from the bridal, that accrue […]

Apparently Channel Nine’s worm gave the Great Debate between Anna Bligh and Campbell Newman to Bligh. I was there, and I’m not sure what the worm had for lunch, but it must have affected its judgement. Bligh was lifeless, listless and defeated, particularly when her opponent was answering the questions. I think the reason that […]

When you are heading for oblivion in the way that the Bligh government is, and when you have tried everything to claw back, as the Bligh government has, there is basically only one technique left to limit electoral damage. That technique is to point to the likely size of your opponent’s win and to ask […]

I was shocked this morning when my co-panellists on Steve Austin’s 612 ABC morning program, Janine Walker and Tony Koch, both said what a great person Anna Bligh is and what a great campaign she has run. As I said on the program, I’ve never met Bligh but I’d formed the impression she was a […]

Number 10 Downing Street is the seat of power in the UK, but it is the epicentre of loss of power for Labor in Brisbane. 10 Downing Street, Spring Hill, was the address from which Campbell Newman launched his first successful assault on Brisbane’s City Hall in 2004. His in-laws owned the property and allowed […]