The outstanding success so far of Democrat presidential hopeful and Governor of Vermont Howard Dean has been the biggest story in US politics since the rise of the new conservative push that put Ronald Reagan into office. Indeed, in a way it was that development – which the Democrats have been slow to respond to […]

Every government and opposition needs its Lilleys and Thompsons. Hawke had men like Keating and Walsh, Howard had Reith and now Abbott, Latham has Wayne Swan. These are people who can create mayhem by the way they bowl issues up to the opposition. Sometimes they have to be able to create them when they don’t […]

Let us be unequivocal about this: the millions of people who marched against the war in Iraq were right. There probably never were any weapons of mass destruction in Iraq after Gulf War II, Iraq did not threaten the US or any other nation, and Saddam Hussein had no real connections with El Quaida. The […]

At last some real cricket again! I mean, what kind of game goes on uninterrupted for a whole working week without a result? And what a great contest it was at the MCG last night. These are two well-matched sides (and Zimbabwe is just here to make up the numbers). India has a great batting […]

This direct email (Word Doc 80 kb) from the Clark 04 Campaign came across my email intray today. It’s Madonna “rooting” (caution, US English language usage here) for General Wesley Clark, who is one of the front-runners in the Democratic Primaries. This is not a gambit I’d recommend here in Australia, or at least not […]

This is the same Michael Johnson who mounted a preselection challenge to the former member for this seat, John Moore, at the time when Moore was Defence Minister and overseeing the Army’s engagement in East Timor. As it turned out, Moore resigned before the preselection eventuated, forcing a byelection, but Johnson didn’t appear too worried about the effects of his endeavours on the Howard Government at the time.

The Christmas road toll was one of the worst in years. I have commented before about how glibly we accept this price for automotive mobility, especially as it tends to kill and maim a disproportionate number of young people. Apparently the long-term trend is less bad accidents, due mainly to improvements in automobile design, but […]

On Line Opinion has just published an article by Mark Lawson querying estimates that said the world was about to imminently run out of oil. He didn’t dispute that it would run out some day, but he particularly instanced David Suzuki who claimed in an interview in the ’80s that we would run out of […]

This article in today’s Australian tends to reinforce my view that the housing boom was starting to slow under its own weight without the need for an interest rate rise. Supply of investor stock apparently peaked in March last year. Mind you it’s hard to get a straight comment out of the housing industry. How […]

If we were told that from now on all major decisions by our government had to be vetted and okayed by the US Congress there would be national uproar. After all, haven’t we fought in two world wars to maintain national sovereignty? But our national sovereignty is draining away more each day. No, not through […]