Editors’ Rant - Feb 2012
- February, 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... |
Preface to a Counter Protest
- February, 2012  Defence of the Fertility Control Clinic The front gate of the Fertility Control Clinic in East Melbourne is a frontline of... |
I’m not a climate scientist but...
- February, 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... |
What We Talk About When We Talk About Socialism
- February, 2012  The taxi driver in Maui picked the accent straight away. “Look out!” he said. “The Aussies are here!” Turns out he used to... |
Science
- February, 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... |
Intelligent Design - It's NOT Science
- February, 2012  Perhaps I should preface this article with “I’m not a scientist, but…”. A long time ago, people used to believe that it... |
Getting Rid of the Ute
- February, 2012  I never used to drive my car. It sat outside my house, different random parts either rusting or drying out depending on... |
Why I Can’t Get Behind Soften The Fck Up
- February, 2012  Soften The Fck Up is an initiative aimed at breaking down the “tough Aussie bloke” façade and getting men to open up to... |
Weddings
- February, 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... |
On SOPA
- February, 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... |
A History Of Stupidity
- February, 2012  In 1796 a very special and very dangerous kind of idiot was born. Smallpox was running rampant throughout Europe until a... |
Gaming is for Grown Ups
- February, 2012  As a full-time technology journalist who has specialised in the critiquing of video games for over a decade, you’d be... |
Simulation
- February, 2012  Oh yes, I’m the great pretender |
Nigella, The Antechinus Family, And The West’s...
- February, 2012  I used to love watching acclaimed kitchen goddess, the luscious Nigella Lawson, when she first appeared on the small... |
Political Affiliation
- February, 2012  Some people hold political affiliations with an almost religious fervour. Their political beliefs shape everything, from... |
Lessons from A Caravan Park
- February, 2012  Most of us have memories of staying in a caravan park. Whether it was as kids, parents, schoolies or backpackers, the... |
Resurrecting the Hors d’Œuvre Course
- February, 2012  An hors d’œuvre course to the French, like antipasto to the Italians, is the start of the midday meal. Individual, small,... |
Wine Online
- February, 2012  Wine retailing, like the rest of the retailing world, is going through a bit of a seismic shift from bricks & mortar to... |
Cryptic Crossword - Feb12
- February, 2012 As always, first correctly completed cryptic crossword sent to |
Political Affiliation
- February, 2012 Some people hold political affiliations with an almost religious fervour. Their political beliefs shape everything, from... |
Preface to a Counter Protest
- February, 2012 Defence of the Fertility Control Clinic The front gate of the Fertility Control Clinic in East Melbourne is a frontline of... |
On SOPA
- February, 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... |
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... |
What We Talk About When We Talk About Socialism
- February, 2012 The taxi driver in Maui picked the accent straight away. “Look out!” he said. “The Aussies are here!” Turns out he used to... |
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... |
Lessons from A Caravan Park
- February, 2012 Most of us have memories of staying in a caravan park. Whether it was as kids, parents, schoolies or backpackers, the... |
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... |
Weddings
- February, 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... |
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... |
Science
- February, 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... |
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... |
Simulation
- February, 2012 Oh yes, I’m the great pretender |
On SOPA
- February, 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... |
Gaming is for Grown Ups
- February, 2012 As a full-time technology journalist who has specialised in the critiquing of video games for over a decade, you’d be... |
Why I Can’t Get Behind Soften The Fck Up
- February, 2012 Soften The Fck Up is an initiative aimed at breaking down the “tough Aussie bloke” façade and getting men to open up to... |
A History Of Stupidity
- February, 2012 In 1796 a very special and very dangerous kind of idiot was born. Smallpox was running rampant throughout Europe until a... |
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... |
This Time, It's Goodbye
| 
Dear The Age,
I’ve read you since I was a kid; I’m forty now, so of course I’ve changed, but so has the world.
In the past couple of years I’ve started to devour online media, and you, from being my starting-point, have slipped to becoming an occasional click for sports news (though the little paper and many others do it so much better) and the weather.
Your website is covered with intrusive, bandwidth-hungry animated ads, your search function is a joke, and it is impossible to get involved in comment/conversation, or to be part of the community that the rest of the online world so happily is.
The only reason I buy you these days (from being a full-week subscriber I’m now a once or twice a week buyer) is to do DA’s crossword and Leaping Larry's Letters on Saturdays, and sometimes for the sudoku on the train when I’ve forgotten my headphones.
Why did I stick with you for so long, and what happened? I guess thirty years of habit, plus the fact that the Little Paper is simply unreadable, but really, what do you have to keep me interested? Up to date news I can get anywhere, opinion I can write myself or go to blogs and opinion sites whose agenda is either non-existent or at least stated boldly up front.
This isn’t meant to be a long-winded “I know everything, print is dead” treatise, I am simply trying to explain to why I just have to give up on you now.
I’ve hated Catherine Deveny’s hypocritical, bigoted rants for years, but these days there just isn’t enough else in you to keep me interested. The rest of you has become so bland and corporate and pointless, and your web presence is such a tragic example of why old media is dying, that my commitment to you just has to end.
I’m only one reader, I know, but for every loud-mouthed git like me, there are thousands more who just walk quietly away, never to be seen again. You should listen, but you won’t, and that’s why I’m leaving you. Goodbye.
Justin Shaw
Co Editor
The King’s Tribune
P.S. I don’t know if this has been sent to the right department, your Contact Us section is as bad as the rest of your website.
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