Our travels are well behind us, and the busy and troubled world of Europe seems to far away, even though the news reminds us of it daily. Here on the southern NSW coast life and the weather have a different flow. There is time to watch the kangaroos feeding with their joeys off the deck, […]

This time last week I received a bewildering email from the Chancellor of the University of Queensland (who I had a few days met for the first time at the launch of Queensland Speaks one of Peter Spearitt’s online history projects) telling me that the Vice-Chancellor was going to resign because of something someone else did. […]

Today is the day for unique numbers.  It’s the only time all the ones will add up on the date, and it’s a new millenium for On Line Opinion as we post an article from the 4001st person to send us an article for publication. It is also what differentiates us from all the other […]

Julia Gillard sent me an email yesterday headed “The right side of history”. You may recall she recently accused Tony Abbott of being on the wrong side of history to which he responded that she was on the “wrong side of truth. I haven’t heard Abbott use the phrase again, but the fact that Gillard […]

“If you ask me about the future of newspapers you have asked the wrong question” according to Greg Hywood, the Chief Executive and Managing Director of Fairfax Media. Despite, that, the media release from Melbourne Uni that publicises his delivery next week of the A.N. Smith Lecture in Journalism at the University of Melbourne, says he will […]

The Minerals Council of Australia released research today showing that the cost of the carbon tax would be six times what the government has claimed. The difference from the government’s modelling is that the government assumes that by 2016 the world will have a synchronised response to global warming which will include the pricing of […]

Yesterday saw the introduction into federal parliament of the Minerals Resource Rent Tax bills. This marks another retreat from Australia’s position as possibly the best country in the world (see Peter Hartcher’s new book Sweet Spot) along the path that leads to Argentina, or something like it. The MRRT is not an ordinary tax – […]

While there is no doubt that global temperature has been rising for more than a hundred years there have been issues with the accuracy of the temperature measurements. In particular the siting of weather stations in areas subject to urban heat, choice of sites represented in the data, and the way individual temperature databases have […]

If the NBN is going to make money then it needs a lot of customers taking the high speed packages, but how likely is that to happen? I was canvassed earlier this week by TPG who offering me a 10 mbs broadband upload and download package for $199 per month. I said “No”. If it […]

Does anyone else feel the way that I do about candidates standing at the side of the road waving at traffic? To me it looks to be about the dopiest thing you could do in a day. I know politicians are expected to do some things to get elected that most professionals in other occupations […]