11th of November 2024 My Lords, there are many things to welcome in this Budget, particularly on the spending side. I am less keen on some of the tax proposals, which seem to be mean-minded and counterproductive, such as the tax on knowledge. The spending commitments are important because they reverse the disastrous policy of … Continue reading Speech in the House of Lords – Autumn Budget 2024
politics
Relatively few people alive would have experienced the rise of fascism in the early C20 but most people understand the crucial role that manipulation of information played in the ascent to power in what were democratic’ countries. Mussolini evolved from a journalist/publishing background; Goebbels and ‘the big lie’ trope are a frequently quoted feature of Continue reading »
“I don’t see a pandemic finishing us off, and climate change itself would (to quote Keating) ‘do us slowly’. The one sure path to extinction is nuclear war.” – Professor Peter Doherty AC, Nobel Laureate, communication to the author, 9 Sep 2024. Two days after Donald Trump’s election last week, the European Union’s Copernicus Climate Continue reading »
The Albanese Government’s obsessive enthusiasm for matching Coalition and News Corp demands with policy responses was on show twice last week. On both occasions it was enshrined in legislation, the first on immigration detention and the other on laws to restrict social media access. Last Thursday the High Court ruled that the electronic devices and Continue reading »
British surgeon Nizam Mamode describes how Israel’s quadcopters target children and Norwegian physician, Dr. Mads Gilbert speaks out on 400 days of genocide. Israel, meanwhile, has passed laws allowing children under under the age of 14 to be jailed. Sarah Schwartz of the Jewish Council of Australia speaks out on the false reporting of weekend Continue reading »
As you may have noticed, the Government has announced changes to student loans and debts, subject (eyeroll) to their re-election. Tick; even the Greens are taking credit. But, and here’s the but, they do little about how the current system, and I am moderating my language for publication, screws over students by burdening them with Continue reading »
With impudence, Israel and its lobby always accuse us Palestinians of what they do against us. They play the role of the victim, making the criminal a victim and the victim a criminal even as they commit one of the most heinous war crimes and genocide against humanity, with unprecedented hatred and sadistic brutality. Turning tens Continue reading »
With a Federal election early next year, and opinion polls showing Labor at best only level with the Coalition, it would seem wise for Labor HQ to ensure that no mistake is made in the choice of candidates even in supposed safe seats. But head office need to control, which in 2022 led to parachuting Continue reading »
The US election guru James Carville is credited with putting Bill Clinton in the White House with the slogan “It’s the Economy, Stupid” on his election strategy white board every day of the US Presidential campaign in 1992. The New Zealand Election Study indicates the economy was also front of mind for voters in the Continue reading »
“Australia’s colonial history is full of [such] genocidal punitive massacres. But somehow the Australian government couldn’t see the similarity when they declared their full support for Israel’s right to defend itself.” Lebanese-Australian anthropologist, Ghassan Hage, wrote these words in November 2023, at the start of Israel’s genocidal assault on Palestinians in Gaza. For more than Continue reading »