Opinion on politics and social policy
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Travel can reinforce or dispel stereotypes. Even personal experience needs to be tempered with constraining factors. Thus, our impressions of Mexico were far better than media scare stories led us to believe. But we only saw a small area, far from the centres of drug related crime.
My guess is […] Continue Reading…
Every now and then you pass a milestone that is worth celebrating. Last week we had one of those. It is now over 12 years since On Line Opinion started life as a five articles once a month publication. Now, in our 12th year, we have published article number […] Continue Reading…
Tonight’s federal budget is make or break for the Gillard/Swan government. They are close to written-off, but not quite.
Ten years ago John Howard seemed headed for certain defeat, but dramatically changed direction during the Ryan by-election, taking a tax off beer and indexation off fuel excise.
At the time the […] Continue Reading…
Would Late Night Live have interviewed Willhelm Riple and Michael Kravcik a year ago? These two academics have views on global warming which is at odds with the IPCC consensus.
Ripl’s view of climate focusses on the water cycle and the way energy is dissipated via circulation. He wasn’t saying […] Continue Reading…
There is so much more to say about Mexico, including my revelation on the road to Veracruz after a chance encounter with a copy of Bjorn Lomborg’s Sceptical Environmentalist. Seeing the spirit and actions of the Mexicans in this regard was part of my awakening. Green doesn’t have to […] Continue Reading…
For two weeks or more it was just too hard to record my thoughts on this trip. Time and access to the Internet were in short supply. We were seeing things you don’t often see in Australia, like this car on fire:
I’ve had a chance now to digest some […] Continue Reading…
I am amazed at how poor some of our prominent “analysts” are at analysing, particularly when it involves other countries, or even other people. I think it is a failure of imagination, which is not to take away from the fact that it is a catastrophic failure. If you […] Continue Reading…
There are now a number of excellent websites that give detailed analyses of the events at Fukushima.
There is an excellent general article on Fukushima by Richard Wilson on public health aspects as well as some detail on the incidents at the power plant. Richard Wilson has written extensively on […] Continue Reading…
Travelling may expand the mind, but it can also shrink time. In less than two weeks the sound of the ocean in the distance, and Skippy’s mates thumping around at night has been replaced by the much more varied noises of a city with as many residents as in […] Continue Reading…
Barry O’Farrell has taken over the collapsed state of NSW and set his unique mark on the new regime. As in the past, there’s bravado, some logic and specific pratfalls. People who know him are not surprised and are setting a safety zone, a no man’s land, around him […] Continue Reading…