Wonderfully uplifting news today that Colombian Green presidential candidate, Ingrid Betancourt, has been freed! Betancourt, who had been taken hostage by FARC revolutionary guerillas 6 years ago, was finally released in an apparently extraordinary operation with no loss of life or even injuries. Read more »

As we say a sad farewell to Kerry Nettle and the Democrats (you can read Bob’s valedictory speech to the Dems here and we’ll post Kerry’s soon), we saw a fascinating signpost today to the interesting place that the new Senate will be when we come back from winter recess in late August. Read more »

This media merry-go-round, fed by the pollies but enabled by the journos, is getting ridiculous.

Up until Rudd left for Japan, the pattern went like this: Read more »

• Liberal pollies or right-wing pundits (Piers et al.) claim that Japan are worried and offended by Rudd’s mishandling of the Australia-Japan relationship, and that his close ties to China are contributing to the strain.
• The traditional media adopts a generalised and unattributed manner of reporting that it “is understood” that Japanese officials are concerned.
• Rudd is asked about these purported tensions and defends his approach to foreign relations.