Editors’ Rant - Feb 2012
- January, 2012  If you’re a Tribune fan (and we guess you must be since you’re reading this and if you’re not reading this then we... ( comments) |
Preface to a Counter Protest
- January, 2012  Defence of the Fertility Control ClinicThe front gate of the Fertility Control Clinic in East Melbourne is a frontline of... ( comments) |
I’m not a climate scientist but...
- January, 2012  Anyone who’s ever been in a car with children will know that when they’re not crying, pulling each other’s hair or... ( comments) |
What We Talk About When We Talk About Socialism
- January, 2012  The taxi driver in Maui picked the accent straight away. “Look out!” he said. “The Aussies are here!” Turns out he used to... ( comments) |
Science
- January, 2012  First of all, let me make it very clear: I do not have a problem with science. Secondly, let me make it even clearer: I... ( comments) |
Intelligent Design - It's NOT Science
- January, 2012  Perhaps I should preface this article with “I’m not a scientist, but…”. A long time ago, people used to believe that it... ( comments) |
Getting Rid of the Ute
- January, 2012  I never used to drive my car. It sat outside my house, different random parts either rusting or drying out depending on... ( comments) |
Why I Can’t Get Behind Soften The Fck Up
- January, 2012  Soften The Fck Up is an initiative aimed at breaking down the “tough Aussie bloke” façade and getting men to open up to... ( comments) |
Weddings
- January, 2012  In the last six weeks of 2011, I attended six weddings. Week after week I found myself donning a suit to spend the day... ( comments) |
On SOPA
- January, 2012  I imagine most of you reading this have a blog or your own little website, a place where you’ve invested time and energy... ( comments) |
A History Of Stupidity
- January, 2012  In 1796 a very special and very dangerous kind of idiot was born. Smallpox was running rampant throughout Europe until a... ( comments) |
Gaming is for Grown Ups
- January, 2012  As a full-time technology journalist who has specialised in the critiquing of video games for over a decade, you’d be... ( comments) |
Simulation
- January, 2012  Oh yes, I’m the great pretender |
Nigella, The Antechinus Family, And The West’s...
- January, 2012  I used to love watching acclaimed kitchen goddess, the luscious Nigella Lawson, when she first appeared on the small... ( comments) |
Political Affiliation
- January, 2012  Some people hold political affiliations with an almost religious fervour. Their political beliefs shape everything, from... ( comments) |
Lessons from A Caravan Park
- January, 2012  Most of us have memories of staying in a caravan park. Whether it was as kids, parents, schoolies or backpackers, the... ( comments) |
Resurrecting the Hors d’Œuvre Course
- January, 2012  An hors d’œuvre course to the French, like antipasto to the Italians, is the start of the midday meal. Individual, small,... ( comments) |
Wine Online
- January, 2012  Wine retailing, like the rest of the retailing world, is going through a bit of a seismic shift from bricks & mortar to... ( comments) |
Cryptic Crossword - Feb12
- January, 2012 As always, first correctly completed cryptic crossword sent to ( comments) |
Editors’ Rant - Jan 2012
- January, 2012 Quite a few horrible things have happened this year. You could probably say that every December, but in 2011 all the bad... ( comments) |
Porn is Bad
- January, 2012  Porn is bad. There you go, I just saved you the trouble of reading most commentary and opinion on the subject. Porn Is... ( comments) |
Australia’s School Funding Quagmire
- January, 2012  Australia has one of the most complex, inconsistent and opaque school funding arrangements in the developed world. You... ( comments) |
I Have A Question And My Question Is This:
- January, 2012  Who the fuck am I meant to vote for at the next Federal election? This is not a rhetorical question. I really want to... ( comments) |
Porn. Don’t Knock It ‘Til You’ve Tried It
- January, 2012  My dear mother used to say: don’t knock it till you’ve tried it. And I’ve tried to follow that advice in everything I do.... ( comments) |
Art Basel
- January, 2012  Miami is best known for vice, Vice and art deco. But in the past decade it’s also become famous for hosting the... ( comments) |
Have The Greens Peaked Already?
- January, 2012  So here we are, teetering over the cusp of 2012. This is the year that apparently will make or break the major party... ( comments) |
A Conspiracy Of Feathered Simpletons
- January, 2012  And then, of course, there’s the question of the evolutionary future of pigeons. A while ago, through a series of... ( comments) |
Re-Thinking The Financial Crisis
- January, 2012  Sharemarket volatility, plummeting business confidence, the impending collapse of the great single currency project and... ( comments) |
Evil King John
- January, 2012  Poor John. After more than 500 years of being dissed by Shakespeare and Robin Hood, there was nothing left but having... ( comments) |
2011 — A Year In Revulsion
- January, 2012  At the time this goes to print, last drinks will have been called on a year of excremental mediocrity in Australia’s... ( comments) |
Sentencing
- January, 2012  When I was completing my law degree, we were taught that there are a number of competing considerations in... ( comments) |
Coffee For One
- January, 2012  I’d been living at my brother’s place for a couple of months before I noticed the coffee shop. The end of something is... ( comments) |
The Superbowl is Almost Here
- January, 2012  January is a special time for me. With the insanity of Christmas gone and the majority of the summer still ahead, most... ( comments) |
Muslims: Things You Don’t Need To Worry About
- January, 2012  I can’t pinpoint the precise date I became a Muslim because it took me a few years of dabbling in what would become the... ( comments) |
eBooks and Australian Publishers
- January, 2012  I love e-books. Have read the buggers for years. From using a dinky PDA to an iPhone, from old CRT screens to wide screen... ( comments) |
The Right of Individuals to Live Their Lives
- January, 2012  For libertarians, government encroachment into the lives of individuals has gone a step too far. Even libertarians accept... ( comments) |
Pizza — Southern Italian style
- January, 2012  Not many Italians would go to the trouble of making pizza at home. The really spoilt ones, of course, may be tempted on... ( comments) |
L’Imposteur Adam Foster
- January, 2012 Adam Foster is not normal — but that’s a very good thing. Because if he was normal, then his wines just might be too,... ( comments) | |
Editors’ Rant
- December, 2011 I think we bring together an outstanding group of writers for you here at the Tribune. We’re proud of the work they do... |
The Baillieu Government and Monster Creation...
- December, 2011  The Baillieu Government, like so many state governments around Australia, promotes a “tough on crime” agenda. The media... |
Howard’s End
- December, 2011  After 10 years of nurturing my hatred of John Howard, I should have been ecstatic at his defeat, I should still be... |
Gay Marriage: What the FUCK!?
- December, 2011  Let me say up front that as someone who has been ‘out’ as a lesbian for 27 years, I just don’t get this push for gay... |
Something from My Brain...
- December, 2011  Brief from my editor: “How are things in your brain at the moment? Got any thoughts you’d like to throw together for us?... |
If Labor Wants to Win the Next Election
- December, 2011  Julia Gillard has problems but they are not the ones usually mentioned in the media. Her problem is not the way she... |
Asylum Seekers - Some Facts
- December, 2011  The asylum seeker debate has almost never been about the facts, it’s about fear. Most often it’s about baseless fears,... |
How Not to Scare People - Even If You’re Gay
- December, 2011  Anyone who knows me knows I have always been a friend to the gay community. I regularly watch Glee, and once I listened... |
Is the Media Consumer Always Right?
- December, 2011  And so, with the demise of 6.30 with George Negus, Australia’s dirtiest secret has been exposed. There’s no longer any... |
Henry II (1133 – 1189): England’s Ranga King
- December, 2011  Henry II was a short, stocky, bad tempered ranga who married the wealthiest and most desirable heiress in Europe. At the... |
Labor’s Australian Story
- December, 2011  There was a slight frisson of excitement amongst pundits last September when word got out that Labor left figures had... |
The Magical and Sensuous Cowshit Moustache
- December, 2011  The manager is standing over me as I peruse his lengthy cheese platter. ‘The one on the far end is especially piquant,’ he... |
Occupy Some Common Sense
- December, 2011  The “occupy” movement in Australia would be funny if it wasn’t so infuriating and ignorant. It’s a little solar system... |
Occupy Melbourne
- December, 2011  In the last few weeks, I haven’t been sleeping so well. I wake up in the middle of the night, with an anxious feeling... |
The Majesty of the Mundane
- December, 2011  One of the things that makes me look forward to Spring is the accelerated rate at which my lawn will grow, meaning that... |
Leadership in a Media Orgy
- December, 2011  The mainstream media has been convulsed in an orgy of navel gazing over leadership speculation recently. Not just... |
Australian Classical Music Performance At...
- December, 2011  Whenever you hear the phrase “Australian Classical Music”, you get a variety of responses. “For the elites”, “old people... |
It’s a Wonderful Movie
- December, 2011  Given how early and how aggressively retailers put out their Christmas product it’s nothing short of a Christmas miracle... |
The Versatile Prawn Roll
- December, 2011  Some years ago, friends and I drove from Manhattan to Provincetown on Cape Cod in Massachusetts. We sampled the local... |
Australian Wine Out in the World
- December, 2011 I recently returned from an extended trip to the States that took me to both California and Pennsylvania. The two states... |
Editors’ Rant - Nov 2011
- October, 2011 Exciting times in the media, folks, but our favourite moment of the last few months was People’s Spokesman and Champion... |
Credentials & Democratic Decline
- October, 2011  ‘People should be aware of what’s out there. And not believe what they read just because it’s written.’ Astro-turf... |
Science Explained for the Not Particularly...
- October, 2011  This is an edited extract of an address given to the Australian Society for Australians who feel fondly towards but are... |
Free Speech Is Not A Free Ride
- October, 2011  So, a funny thing happened a few months back. In my own little way, I contributed to this country’s disturbing trend... |
Thank You, Batman
- October, 2011  Time is a mighty river, and I am an ominously unpiloted rental kayak floating past the picnic area. It’s my first day at a... |
From Swords to Soundbites - HENRY I
- October, 2011  King Henry I of England, known to later generations as Henry Beauclerc, the Lion Of Justice, succeeded his flamboyant... |
Do you really know when they are faking it?
- October, 2011  It’s a sardonic line but a cautionary tale: the internet is the place where men are men, women are men, and 14 year olds... |
The Bad Threesome
- October, 2011  Stop The Boats. Great Big New Tax. Moving Forward. Working Families. Shut. The. Fuck. Up. On second thought, I take that... |
Reporting the economy as if it’s a sporting...
- October, 2011  Most economics reporting is about things we can measure: interest rates, inflation, the All Ordinaries index, the... |
Problems
- October, 2011  If I had to nominate the biggest challenge facing the world today, it would be: problems. Problems today are at... |
Taming The Wild West
- October, 2011  Everyone’s talking about gambling these days. Poker machines are at the middle of a war between the Federal government... |
Being A Woman Is A BITCH
- October, 2011  Being a woman is difficult in 2011. Sure, it’s not like we have to cram our corseted bustles through the one-way... |
Polled Turkey
- October, 2011  ‘If an election were held today...’ is probably the most oft-repeated phrase in political reporting after ‘stop the... |
Has Multiculturalism Failed Us? Time for...
- October, 2011  I used to think multiculturalism was the bee’s knees. Don’t get me wrong — I’m grateful Australia has an official policy... |
You Knobs
- October, 2011 Words are powerful things, far more than we realise most of the time. Public debate can be led or changed simply by... |
Laziness
- October, 2011  The famous scholar Archimedes is claimed to have said ‘Give me a lever and a place to stand and I will move the world.’... |
Liberals At Work
- October, 2011  The Libs are riding high in the polls, but they didn’t get there with careful planning and detailed policies. They did it... |
Trouble In The Ranks
- October, 2011 Gay and lesbian issues are quite popular in the Australian media right now; some would even say it’s all a bit sexy, as... |
Going Forward Going Backward
- October, 2011  I grew up in a pretty good time in Australia, I reckon. Oh, the media, as it always will, would disagree, telling me all... |
Back in Black, Feeling Blue
- October, 2011  There are days in my life when things go swimmingly. I find the right number of coins in my purse to feed the parking... |
Dr Strangelove
- October, 2011  Stanley Kubrick isn’t the first filmmaker to explore that which, in essence, unites mankind. But, with Dr Strangelove or:... |
Mussels
- October, 2011  Australian blue mussels are at their best between July and February. Readily available from fishmongers, it is not worth... |
Cryptic Crossword - Nov 11
- October, 2011 Justin's cryptic crossword is, from what we hear, making our readers quite cross. So to give you all some inspiration,... |
Carbon Fail
- May, 2011  The carbon tax is no longer a proposed financial tool to address an environmental problem. It’s now an ideological... ( comments) |
It’s Time to Call Bullshit on Clubs Australia
- May, 2011  Australia. The sunburnt country; the lucky country. So lucky, in fact, that we’ve got wall-to-wall poker machines to take... ( comments) |
Better Political Reporting Is The Key To...
- May, 2011  When I first got involved in politics at the age of 18, I knew nothing at all about the ancient practice. Nothing. I... ( comments) |
Leadership Is True North For Our Political...
- May, 2011  What is this malaise that’s gripping Australian voters? According to the latest opinion poll we’re deeply unhappy with... ( comments) |
The Idle Unemployment System
- May, 2011  A lot has been said in recent times about Australia’s skills shortage and the so-called idle unemployed. Julia Gillard’s... ( comments) |
Regulating Risky Behaviour
- May, 2011  Smoking is highly addictive, expensive and disgusting to be around if you’re a non-smoker. Is it dangerous as well? Of... ( comments) |
The Thing About Economics
- May, 2011  Do you ever get the feeling you’re being conned? I don’t mean in the normal, everyday, “Oh I just paid for a relaxing... ( comments) |
Truth in Parenting
- May, 2011  There’s a wonderful irony in parenting, that we want to imbue our children with a strong moral code and yet we will tell... ( comments) |
Working from home is not like it is on TV
- May, 2011  8:13am Awake to see disapproving blue eyes looming over self. Daughter demands to know when self is going to get up and... ( comments) |
Twins
- April, 2011  A while ago, my life took a rather dramatic turn, as I became a father for the second time. And then one more time a... ( comments) |
The Information Super Savannah
- May, 2011  Wordcount = 86,150 Typing is not writing in the same way that a cocktail shaker is not a jug of margaritas.... ( comments) |
Suffering In Silence
- April, 2011  Gambling is a strange addiction. When you say “addiction” most people think of drugs, legal or otherwise. Cigarettes,... ( comments) |
Why I Don’t Watch Insiders - Nor Should You
- May, 2011  Political Pundit Shows™, a format where so called fucking experts debate the issues of the day, either in a “partisan” or... ( comments) |
Editors Rant
- March, 2011 Disaster, death, destruction. In the past few months every time you turn on the TV or open the laptop, there they are,... ( comments) |
The Sideshow Zooms Over The Press Gallery’s Heads
- May, 2011  Yesterday I bought a copy of Lindsay Tanner’s book, Sideshow: Dumbing Down of Democracy. The book is not a memoir, it is... ( comments) |
How to Win Fistsful of Cash and Defraud People
- March, 2011  What’s the most soul destroying career that you can imagine? Doctor at a tobacco company? Head of light entertainment at... ( comments) |
Smug commie hipsters on Twitter
- April, 2011  A couple of weeks ago, The Australian launched a pre-emptive strike against an entire communication platform, claiming... ( comments) |
Q and A - Still Jumping The Shark
- March, 2011  In the beginning, Q and A was unmissable TV. The panel format wasn’t new, but with the gravitas provided by the ABC and... ( comments) |
- November, 2011
There's been a bit of screeching in the blogosphere about police brutality at the OccupyMelbourne protests. It's not...
( comments)- November, 2011
3:47am: Sit bolt upright in bed groping around for bellows. Stare around darkened bedroom trying to work out why am not...
( comments)- November, 2011
"Politics hates a vacuum. If it isn't filled with hope, someone will fill it with fear."
Naomi Klein
Australians are...
( comments)- October, 2011
Ever since the vagaries of politics put Andrew Wilkie into a position where he could insist on gambling reforms, Clubs...
( comments)- October, 2011
Popped my being-on-the-radio cherry this morning, with the help of the RRR Breakfasters.
As you can tell from the shaky...
( comments)- August, 2011
The slapfest is ON.
It started on Monday. Glenn Milne rehashed some old rumours about Prime Minister Julia Gillard that...
( comments)- August, 2011
I went to the Melbourne Writers Festival panel on political journalism this morning, because if Lindsay Tanner, Samantha...
( comments)- August, 2011
News Flash, folks: there are shitheads in the world. Some of them are rich, some of them are poor, they come from every...
( comments)- July, 2011
Some of you may have noticed that things have been quiet here at Casa Del Tribune lately. Too quiet.
About June this year...
( comments)- July, 2011
After about an hour of the Murdochs' committee appearance the other night I was just about ready to stick knitting...
( comments)- July, 2011
If ever I need proof that each generation is softer than the last I think of this: When my grandfather was my age he was...
( comments)- July, 2011
The Australian International Motor Show has returned to Melbourne this year.
I love the Motor Show, for it brings all the...
( comments)- June, 2011
For the past few weeks our Australian public channels SBS and ABC have been on an emotional roll, with three stories that...
( comments)- June, 2011
I’ve been working from home for a while now, which, apart from turning me into a deranged shut-in, at least means that I...
( comments)- June, 2011
Wearing cream coloured pants can be dangerous, not just a you-might-end-up-looking-like-a-very-large-biscuit kind of...
( comments)- June, 2011
The Australian Christian Lobby (ACL), their spokeswoman Wendy Francis and the Rip & Roll campaign for safe sex in the...
( comments)- May, 2011
Slutwalk Melbourne. Read my thoughts on it here. Or not. Up to you really. But the photos are pretty cool, huh?
( comments)
- May, 2011
Did you know there's a Facebook campaign to get The Bolt Report off the air? The plan is to note who advertises on the...
( comments)- April, 2011
I didn’t watch the royal wedding, not because I’m a rabid anti monarchist or a hater of inbred gits (I’m not). I just...
( comments)- March, 2011
Drugs are bad and punishment for bad things is good and if you try to tell me anything else I’m going to sit in a corner...
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