Government spending is keeping Australia out of recession, just as last week’s feeble GDP numbers tallied 7 consecutive quarters of negative growth. Michael Pascoe reports on the moaning business lobby. A funny thing happened after Wednesday’s weak national accounts figures: a large part of the economic commentariat poured scorn on government spending and investment for keeping the Continue reading »
politics
“The first thing we’ll do is sack those 36000 public servants in Canberra” – David Littleproud, leader of Australia’s National Party. Donald Trump’s Cabinet is fraying at the edges before it gets down to business. Matt Gaetz surrendered the Attorney-General offer and Chad Chronister, fingered to be the head of the Drug Enforcement Agency, self-ejected. Continue reading »
Medhurst was born in Damascus, Syria. His father is English and mother is Syrian. Both his parents served in United Nations Peacekeeping and Observer missions and were among the UN Peacekeepers awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1988. Medhurst was born in Damascus, Syria. His father is English and mother is Syrian. Both his parents Continue reading »
In the wake of South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol’s 6-hour coup, Western pundits have opined that this was an affirmation of South Korean democracy’s robustness and resilience, its institutional maturity and strength. This is like saying after a survivor fights off an assault, that this demonstrates a mature state of legal order. Hardly. It Continue reading »
American interference, at the behest of Netanyahu’s far-right Israel, has left the Middle East in ruins, with over a million dead and open wars raging in Libya, Sudan, Somalia, Lebanon, Syria, and Palestine, and with Iran on the brink of a nuclear arsenal. In the famous lines of Tacitus, Roman historian, “To ravage, to slaughter, Continue reading »
In a new report, the Justice Department’s inspector general found that the agency violated its own rules to snoop on reporters.
The post This Is How Trump’s Department of Justice Spied on Journalists appeared first on The Intercept.
A little-noticed provision in the annual defense bill would bar the Pentagon from citing the Gaza Health Ministry as an authoritative source.
The post Congress Keeps Trying to Hide the True Gaza Death Toll appeared first on The Intercept.
Peter Dutton’s shadow minister for home and foreign affairs, Barnaby Joyce, has pledged his allegiance to his leader by swearing that from now on he will only wear Australian flag patterned silk boxers. ”I am a man that usually doesn’t... Read More ›
This is the second-part of my climate-not-all-bad-news series, beginning with the state of the U.S. Here I turn to China, a paradoxical story of both immense challenges and great hope. Growth as the world has never seen It is the nation that holds the world’s climate future in its hands. It is the nation whose 2014 commitment Continue reading »
Our current editor Dr. Aran Martin is leaving us at the end of January. He has given excellent service to Pearls and Irritations. We are seeking a new editor and share the role description below. Pearls and Irritations is an Australian journal for the exchange of ideas from a progressive, liberal perspective, with an emphasis Continue reading »