Two news items last week completely reversed the economic outlooks in Australia and America. In Australia, the trimmed mean inflation rate for June was 3.8%, which was below the 4.0% expected. This convinced economist that the RBA won’t increase its cash rate in August but instead will reduce it later this year if inflation keeps Continue reading »
politics
On 6 Aug, 1945, approximately 200,000 people in the hitherto untouched town of Hiroshima perished in the worlds first use of a nuclear weapon in anger. On 9th Aug, a somewhat smaller number in Nagasaki likewise perished. Only the authority of secretary of state Stimson, who had visited the city of Kyoto, famous for its Continue reading »
On 29 July, 2024, Dr José Ramos-Horta, President of the Democratic Republic of Timor-Leste met in Beijing with Chinese People’s Republic President Xi Jinping to upgrade the relationship between the two countries to “Comprehensive Strategic Partnership”. On the one hand Ramos Horta punctured Canberra fears of a Timor-Leste – China Security Agreement, but on the Continue reading »
The question of who is responsible for causing the Ukraine war has been a deeply contentious issue since Russia invaded Ukraine on 24 February 2022. The answer to this question matters enormously because the war has been a disaster for a variety of reasons, the most important of which is that Ukraine has effectively been Continue reading »
In response to riots, attacks on police, and destruction of property in numerous British cities, Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer says ‘I utterly condemn the right wing thuggery we have witnessed this week-end.’ To hold perpetrators of violence accountable, he promises the full weight of the law: arrests, convictions and sentencing. A more immediate task, Continue reading »
Patricia Karvelas’s article reflecting on the Labor government’s ‘timid’, ‘pragmatic’, ‘realistic’ change of course in pursuit of bipartisanship on Indigenous affairs made for uber-depressing reading (ABC News, online, ‘Timidity reigns as Anthony Albanese backs away from Makarrata at Garma Festival’, 5th August). It confirmed that the institutional racism prosecuted by the No campaign, is alive Continue reading »
The headline above is outrageous and incendiary – it is also unquestionably true. We have a duty to bear witness to what the Palestinians must endure. The great Israeli journalist Gideon Levy wrote powerfully a couple of days ago about the rape culture that is part of the Israeli war machine. Riots occurred at the Continue reading »
I don’t expect that Donald Trump, presidential candidate, or Trump, elected president, gives a toss whether Anthony Albanese or Peter Dutton is prime minister of Australia after the next Australian election. That’s assuming that he even knows the names of the major candidates or the parties they represent. Even the name of Scott Morrison has Continue reading »
The appointment of a Special Envoy on Islamophobia by the Albanese Government comes amidst complex political times and strained community relations with Australia’s Muslim leadership. Continue reading »
What democracy would accept a member of parliament agreeing that it was permissible and acceptable for it’s solders to sexually abuse political prisoners Continue reading »