There’s a strong gerontocratic tinge to US politics of late — the youngest of Joe Biden, Nancy Pelosi, Chuck Schumer, Bernie Sanders, Donald Trump, Elizabeth Warren and Mitch McConnel is Chuck at 73.
Many a theory has been propounded to explain this phenomenon, but a simple one shall be put to the test in a couple of days: Trump is the last of the political candidates borne of the media monoculture and so Trump will win the election comfortably.
What is the Media Monoculture and What Does is Have to Do with a Gerontocracy?
As I argued in a recent article, the election of Donald Trump as President would be disastrous for climate change compared with the current Democrat administration of President Biden. The situation is quite different in Australia. The election of a Coalition government federally next year, even under Peter Dutton, would not be all that much worse than the situation under the current Labor administration of Anthony Albanese.
Cameron Murray’s The Great Housing Hijack is self-recommending. You certainly don’t need a review of any sort to tell you to go read it if you have any interest in the peculiar case of the housing market. Nevertheless, here I supply my own review of sorts and extrapolate on what I consider a couple of Murray’s core points.
The Great Housing Hijack in Miniature
As you can see we’ve adopted a new WordPress theme. Many thanks to our web guru Tony Sarhanis. What do you think? I really like it, although I have one reservation.You can’t scroll down the main posts column until the cursor gets to the bottom of the comments column. I suspect that’s a deliberate feature rather than a bug, because it forces the eye to look at the comments first.
David Tiley was one of the early generation of bloggers in Australia, starting in 2003, approximately the same time as I started. I first met him at a blogging meet-up in St Kilda (where David lived) in about 2005. Blogging was much more social in those days, and there were frequent meet-ups of the more enthusiastic bloggers.
Prosper Australia has expressed strong concerns over the Allan Labor Government’s recent announcement of 50 new activity centres across Victoria, citing the absence of any form of Land Value Capture (LVC) mechanism as a missed opportunity to ensure fairness and economic sustainability.
The common view from politicians and so-called experts is that minority government is dreadful. I don’t agree. Nor, it seems, does former Rudd and Gillard ministerial advisor Sean Kelly. In an article in today’s Age newspaper, Kelly says:
A few years ago I read a book by the iconic Australian author Helen Garner titled “House of Grief”. It dealt with the trial and conviction of a man named Robert Farquharson for the murder of his three young sons Jai (age 11), Bailey (age 7) and Tyler (age 3) on Fathers’ Day in 2005.
Robert Farquharson at the time of the first trial
Four years ago today, the Australian Broadcasting Corporation abolished its 15-minute 7.45am news bulletin.
The 7.45 bulletin was first broadcast in December 1939, at the outset of the Second World War. I have been unable to find the exact date.
Citing cost factors and a declining audience, the ABC announced in 2020 that the 7.45 bulletin would be abolished, 80 years after it began.
133rd Henry George Commemorative Dinner Address by Professor Sock-Yong Phang, Singapore Management University, Kelvin Club, Melbourne, 15 August 2024 Value capture and affordable housing: insights from Singapore Good evening, everyone. Thank you, Dr Tim Helm for the kind introduction. And a big thank you to the Executive Committee members of Prosper Australia. I am […]
The following opinion piece was written by Gareth Hutchens and published in the ABC on Sunday 31st March, 2024. It is reproduced here with permission. This piece of writing was part of a 3-part series, awarded the 2024 E.J. Craigie Writing Award.