Rainy Sydney in 2011, much the same now
In Sydney right now anyway. How about where you are, everybody?
I hope all hoydens and hoyden-adjacent folks are safe and sound during the latest manifestations of the climate emergency.
We are about to find out whether we’ll lose a tax break worth up to $1,080 a year.
Wes Mountain/The Conversation, CC BY-ND
If you told someone a year ago unemployment was about to dive below 5%, to just above 4%, they wouldn’t have believed you.
If that person was an expert, and you said it would happen despite a Delta outbreak and lockdowns in our two biggest states, they might have said you had little idea of how the economy worked.
Sometimes the best things you can do are invisible.
Such as fighting cholera by ensuring drinking water wasn’t contaminated by sewage, as happened in London in the 1840s.
What’s the boldest thing the Morrison government could do in next month’s budget?
It would be to forecast an unemployment rate below 4% (a rate of three-point-something), then to pledge to go further, to two-point-something.
It is time for the digital awards of 2021! This is a review of the year in digital technology, told with a bit of sass and snark. In keeping with the times, this year-in-review award ceremony will be a virtual experience.
And what a year in digital it was. Digital played a role in helping the world enjoy Mars, and it helped propel rumors that led to an insurrection on January 6. Somewhere in between it played a marvelous role in helping society slouch towards an apocalyptical future. Let’s make fun of it all!
The events over the next week in NSW could have massive ramifications for the whole country.
There is a lot going on the NSW at the moment, however, I fear worse may be yet to come.
I don't need to know about that bit.
- Gladys Berejiklian to Daryl Maguire
An earlier version of this post focused on the fact that the budget was announced last week, and right now there are compromises and horse-trading underway to get it passed into law, and that any member of the federal parliamentary press gallery worth their salt should be onto this and what it might mean for our country in these uncertain times.
I don't need to know about that bit.
- Gladys Berejiklian to Daryl Maguire
An earlier version of this post focused on the fact that the budget was announced last week, and right now there are compromises and horse-trading underway to get it passed into law, and that any member of the federal parliamentary press gallery worth their salt should be onto this and what it might mean for our country in these uncertain times.
Sad news to wake up to this morning. My first iteration of this blog had banners that were all images from Diana Rigg’s stunning era as style icon Emma Peel. Of course Ms Rigg did so much more in the many decades since then. It’s sad to see her go. I plan to update this post later with all the images I ever posted of her but I’ll have to ferret out some backups first.
When one major party is in government in Australia, the most significant figure of the opposing party is usually the opposition leader.
When one major party is in government in Australia, the most significant figure of the opposing party is usually the opposition leader.
On Saturday 4 January 2020, after returning from his overseas holiday during the worst bushfires this continent has ever experienced, prime minister Scott Morrison called a joint press conference with former Army Reserves Brigadier, Liberal Party staffer and current defence minister Linda Reynolds, and current Defence Force chief General Angus Campbell.