With a fortnight ago before the resumption of parliament, and what I presume will be the return of Newspoll to accompany it, two items to kick off a new week:
• The Australian reports SEC Newgate’s monthly Mood of the Nation survey finds “nearly four out of every ten” respondents believe the new government has done an excellent or good job so far, with 31% choosing the middle option of “fair” and 26% going for poor or very poor. It also finds a sharp increase in expectations that the economy will get worse over the next three months, up from 36% a month ago to 57%, with only 8% expecting it to improve, down from 13%. Given a long list of potential contributors to rising electricity prices, 42% thought “Morrison government inaction” a “large contributor” compared with 30% for “Albanese government inaction”.
Forty-seven per cent felt the Reserve Bank’s 0.5% interest rate hike last month (as distinct from the second hike last week) appropriate, with 31% thinking it too high and 9% too low. Sixty per cent said they were positive about transitioning to renewables and 55% believed progress had been too slow, compared with only 19% for negative and 17% for too fast. Sixty-one percent rated the 5.2% minimum wage increase appropriate, with 29% thinking it too low and only 10% too high. Regular questions on issue salience recorded mounting concern over cost of living, now rated extremely important by 68% (up five on last month), moving ahead of health care (down three to 61%). Forty-two per cent rated Labor best to manage the issue, compared with 23% for the Coalition. The survey was conducted June 23 and 27 from a sample of 1201.
• Linda Silmalis of the Sunday Telegraph reports “fresh gossip in Canberra this week” that Andrew Constance, the former state government minister who narrowly failed in his bid for Gilmore at the May 21 federal election, could be a nominee to fill the New South Wales Senate vacancy that will be created if rumours of Marise Payne’s imminent retirement come to pass. Others who reportedly might be interested include Dave Sharma and Fiona Martin, also on the job market after their respective defeats in Wentworth and Reid.
BiltongCinematicU says:
Tuesday, July 12, 2022 at 4:50 pm
I don’t expect the Greens to lose many votes if they oppose Labor’s legislation. In fact I suspect they stand to lose even more votes if they compromise too much.
They are a party that represents radical social and economic change and most of their voters understand this. They are not a big tent party, unlike the LNP and ALP. Being seen as hostile to the two main parties is part of their appeal. The ALP can’t change this, which is why I can understand their own hostility to the Greens.
My point is that Labor has more to lose by taking a hardline approach than the Greens do. The Greens will likely retain their base regardless of how obstinate they become.
I also don’t expect the environment to be a big double dissolution winner. Especially during a cost-of-living crisis.
I remain optimistic about the ALPs policy. And with Pocock out there applying the right kind of pressure I am more hopeful then if we just had to rely on the Greens.
The Apostasy will be trawling for political gains by opposing Labor, as they invariably do. They are Labor-phobic. This comes before every other consideration for them and is born from existential necessity. The Apostasy will add their numbers to those of the Lying Reactionaries on climate change, the anti-corruption body and anything else that pops up. Together they will be intent on inflicting parliamentary defeats on Albo, as they did to Rudd and Gillard. They will take pleasure in it. Watch for it. Bandt will sit with Joyce and vote against Labor on the defining issue of the times. They will vote revenge.
Player Onesays:
Tuesday, July 12, 2022 at 8:30 pm
I’d back my education against your ceral box approach any day.
Elon Musk doesn’t want to buy Twitter anymore — but he might have to pay billions for it anyway
https://amp-abc-net-au.cdn.ampproject.org/v/s/amp.abc.net.au/article/101229300?amp_gsa=1&_js_v=a9&usqp=mq331AQIKAGwASCAAgM%3D#amp_tf=From%20%251%24s&aoh=16576227428398&csi=0&referrer=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.google.com&share=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.abc.net.au%2Fnews%2F2022-07-12%2Felon-musk-tesla-twitter-deal-explained%2F101229300
PM contender in the UK Penny Mordaunt has attacked Dad’s Army, It Ain’t Half Hot Mum, ‘Allo ‘Allo, Lawrence of Arabia and THE DAM BUSTERS for woke reasons.
Grant Shapps has announced he is pulling out of the Tory leadership contest and will support Rishi Sunak’s bid to replace Boris Johnson in No 10.
Dandy
A big pile of rocks is by far the cheapest per KWh stored. Last time I looked the Yanks were moving toward commercialising sCO2. I’d easily go for the MGA if you could get aluminium cheap enough or find a cheaper alternative. Sadly sodium is too reactive. Perhaps you could safely encapsulate it?
Holdenhillbilly at 9:01 pm
If only they had just called him Fido or Rex 🙂
Barney in Cherating @ #702 Tuesday, July 12th, 2022 – 8:40 pm
Yes, you wood.
A harbourfront property owned by Qantas chief executive Alan Joyce has been left covered in eggs and toilet paper.
Vandals are believed to have struck the home in Sydney’s exclusive north shore suburb of Mosman overnight on Monday.
Mr Joyce purchased the $19 million property with partner Shane Lloyd in May of this year.
Actually, Sulfur is a better/cheaper material
Cud,
I like the fact that the MGA peeps were targeting a waste stream.
UQ peeps are trying to commercialise their Brayton cycle sCO2 turbine, at 1-5 MW scale. There is an issue with these turbine’s rotational speed – too fast so it needs to be geared to match 50-60 Hz, with a commensurate efficiency loss. But it could work at much lower temperatures than currently used for power generation.
Fancy a nano reactor in your shed?
Cud Chewer at 7.42 pm
The blogger you posted is hyperbolic rather than well-informed. One key e.g.: early on there is a claim that Ukraine has acted “by arresting the DPR terrorists behind the downing of Malaysia Air flight”.
That is an important claim, but incorrect. 22 months ago the Ukrainians released to the Russians a man named Volodymyr Tsemakh, suspected of being a key witness to the destruction of MH17. See:
https://www.politico.eu/article/ukraine-releases-mh17-witness-prisoner-swap-russia/
Yes, there are probably proportionately more fascists in European Russia than in Ukraine, though to be honest there are far too many in both countries. It is no secret that Putin supports leading fascists like Le Pen in Europe. This is one reason why Russian propaganda is actually hopeless – that it’s so transparent. Note that, for opportunistic reasons (i.e. the election) even Le Pen attacked the invasion.
What is the Novorossiya project? It is a proposal by Russian nationalists that Russia should again try to conquer and occupy the Russian-speaking parts of eastern and southern Ukraine, all the way to Odessa. The proponents were urging Putin to do this in 2014 but he refused, despite fomenting the rebellions in the Donbas and then intervening militarily to stop the rebellions being crushed. Why did Putin refuse then? There may be several reasons, including the 2018 World Cup that he did not want to lose, and the fact that he most probably was mentally tolerant of advice much more than recently.
Note that the release of Tsemakh occurred within 4 months of Zelenskiy being elected President. In hindsight, what was important then (though nobody realised it at the time) was that Ukraine was able to endure the Trump administration without Putin invading, but even that did not justify releasing Tsemakh to Russia, especially when the major criminal trial of 4 MH17 suspects was being prepared.
What is important now is that the Novorossiya project is being revealed as a militarist fantasy gone badly wrong. Note that Lawrence Freedman expects Russia to shift its forces soon to focus on trying to defend their conquest of Kherson from the imminent Ukrainian counter-offensive. See:
https://samf.substack.com/p/time-for-the-russian-army-to-take?utm_source=%2Fprofile%2F69709932-lawrence-freedman&utm_medium=reader2
His last sentence is this: “It is not necessary to think in terms of pushing Russian forces right back to their own border, although some pushing will be required, but to concentrate on continuing to undermine the capabilities and reputation of the Russian military, and consequentially their role in the Russian state.” Why does he say that? Because he presumes that negotiations, if they have been started before the Russians experience major military reversals, will help restore the status quo ante.
Cud, P1, Steve
“The biggest problem with space travel is that it will be very limited until we can develop a means of traveling faster than the speed of light.”
Absolutely. And that isn’t the end of the problems. Even getting close to the speed of light consumes vast amounts of energy, as to become practically unfeasible.
Assuming I am talking to some fellow Sci-Fi fans I recommend a great book I found a decade ago called The Physics of Star Trek. In it a serious physicist went through all the technology in Star Trek TOS and Next Gen and discussed which were theoretically possible, which were practical and which had no chance.
A key constraint was energy. It would take all the energy harnessed by humans on earth to get a single human or small spacecraft to approach the speed of light. Likewise replicators and matter transporters – no chance. Other ideas like hand communicators had already been exceeded by the tech in a smart phone by the time the book was written. Technical advance is possible, but not repealing laws of physics.
The bottom line was learn to love and look after this planet, because only a tiny fraction of us will ever leave it except for short periods. Don’t get me wrong – I am all for space travel and exploration. It is a fantastic way to learn and develop new technologies. It is also prudent so we learn how to spot approaching comets.
Maybe a small Martian research colony will be possible. But it will take decades to get dozens of people there, and they had better be rich if they are paying their own way.
Socrates @ #713 Tuesday, July 12th, 2022 – 9:55 pm
I agree. However, Elon Musk won’t have to pay his own way. He will find a way to make the Muskovites pay. And the really sad part is that they will do so quite happily 🙁
Player One
I fear you may be right. Elon’s real gift is salesmanship, more than engineering. He never actually finished his engineering degree.
Socrates : “Elon’s real gift is salesmanship, more than engineering. He never actually finished his engineering degree.”
ffs, you people are so twisted with your musk-hate, that you can’t even see what has been done. The guy is literally the world expert in creating rocket engines for space rockets, and those space rockets that you put on top of those rocket engines that he’s the chief designer for. If you don’t recognize that, you really need to stop watching the drivel you’ve been watching that has led to you voicing that opinion.
Every single rocket design expert in the world that has ever worked with him says these things. He might have a whole bunch personality traits that you don’t like, but the fact that you use that to discount what he actually does is entirely on you.
Barney at 6.42
The biggest problem with space travel is that it will be very limited until we can develop a means of traveling faster than the speed of light.
____________
The biggest problem with space travel is the cost of getting off the Earth. Makes a Concorde flight look like peanuts.
There is an extraordinary technology being developed call the ‘space elevator.’ It requires an anchor point in geostationary orbit connected by a 35,000+km ‘structure’ to a point as close as possible to Earth’s equator.
It then becomes a matter of operating a very fast train-style vehicle from the equator to the geostationary point. Stop before then (say, a few hundred km up) and you can cheaply jet off to the International Space Station. Extend the structure further and you can slingshot off to the Moon or (extended further still) Mars. No rocket.
Major problem: we don’t have anything like the sort of material to build the elevator structure.
Arthur C Clarke wrote a novel about a space elevator in ‘Fountains of Paradise.’ The Swedish sci-fi film Aniara features a space elevator in at least one scene…
https://www.newscientist.com/article/mg24332460-400-sci-fi-film-aniaras-best-trick-is-to-make-the-future-feel-like-now/
Sky Line is a 2015 documentary on developments in the space elevator field…
https://www.imdb.com/title/tt4085130/
I want my space elevator, goddamnit!
The Times and The Sunday Times
@thetimes
1h
Update: Dominic Raab and Grant Shapps have backed Rishi Sunak to be the next prime minister as Nadine Dorries and Jacob-Rees Mogg endorse Liz Truss
_________________________________________________________
Election Maps UK
@ElectionMapsUK
·
15h
Betting Odds:
Mordaunt: 5/2
Sunak: 5/2
Truss: 6/1
Tugendhat: 9/1
Badenoch: 14/1
Hunt: 29/1
Braverman: 33/1
Zahawi: 40/1
Javid: 50/1
Patel: 59/1
Shapps: 109/1
Via @oddschecker
22:00
_____________________________________________________
Election Maps UK
@ElectionMapsUK
·
15h
Conservative Leadership Contest Update (11/07):
Sunak: 39 (+6)*Thru to next round (20 MPs needed)
Mordaunt: 25 (+4)*Thru to next round
Tugendhat: 20 (+5)*Thru to next round
Truss: 15 (+2)
Zahawi: 15 (+2)
Badenoch: 14 (+1)
Hunt: 13 (+1)
Patel: 13 (+2)
Braverman: 11 (+1)
Javid: 11 (+1)
Shapps: 7 (=)
Chishti: 0 (=)
Snappy : “Major problem: we don’t have anything like the sort of material to build the elevator structure.”
The other problem is that if it breaks it falls down, and a 35K long cable falls down at orbital rotation velocity across the equator of the earth. It speeds up as it falls and is drawn into the earths rotation.
Snappy : “I want my space elevator, goddamnit!”
I suspect we’ll need to experience a few centuries of peace before it really becomes an option. But hey, dream the dream brother.
Query about this Ministerial code. I see they should give up shareholdings. This is fantastic. I agree wholeheartedly. It’s a good move to avoid conflicts.
But will they also decline and give up the invites to the Qantas Chairman’s Club? Hope so. It’s a rort from those influence peddlers at Qantas.
PoliticsJOE
@PoliticsJOE_UK
Keir Starmer will today pledge a shake up to private school system.
In a speech he will say: “When I say we are going to pay for kids to catch up at school
“I also say that’ll be funded by removing private schools’ charitable status.”
9:35 AM · Jul 11, 2022·Twitter for iPhone
a r @9:16am
Sorry for late response.
Actually, the “two planet species” argument doesn’t survive inspection.
First of all, there is no rational self interest for any human being that accrues from living on Mars long term. In other words, nothing that would convince a rational, self interested, well informed human being to actually do so. And we’re talking about living there, not visiting. And we are talking about rational self-benefit unique to the act of living on Mars.
So from a practical standpoint, there will be no colony on Mars and the rest of this is purely for the sake of completeness.
Secondly, lets imagine that a Mars colony exists. (And ignore the fact that this would be deeply unethical). Where is the scenario in which a Mars colony and only a Mars colony would result in the survival of the human species, and every other alternative would result in human extinction? A lot of people automatically assume here and don’t look inside the box.
Threats to the human species on Earth can be divided roughly into external (big rocks from space etc) and internal (doing ourselves in). Lets look at the first category. And in that lets focus on big rocks from space. A good references is the dinosaur-killer asteroid. Despite the common perception, one of these would not actually kill all humans. It would be catastrophic of course. But there is no doubt that if one impacted tomorrow, the species would survive. In any case, an asteroid of this size would leave you with many years (or decades) of advance notice.
What should we do? Spend several trillion dollars saving ten thousand humans on Mars? Or spend the same bucket of cash and save ten million humans in deep shelters (and orbital habs)? And of course the latter means you can save far more of our technological and cultural heritage, and save a lot of other creatures. Its not even worth a second thought, is it?
There are of course other deadlier and more severe kinds of external danger. Solar flares, gamma ray bursts etc. Extremely rare, but perhaps unforeseeable. Problem here is again, these things are gong to be far more survivable on Earth than on Mars (unless you’re underground on Mars, which begs the question). So in essence, we’re wasting money creating a “backup” on Mars. We might as well create a backup on the Moon, or in orbit, or both, or in deep shelters.
And then there are internal threats to species survival. Plagues, nuclear war, etc. Problem here is that first of all, the species is likely to survive. And secondly if we are such an inherently self destructive species, the same will also apply to Mars – only it gets far worse because our existence will be far more fragile there. In other words, our “backup” might be unreliable for exactly the same reasons we thought we needed a backup. The best defence against these kinds of threat is of course, to become a more civilised species. Indeed, we have no hope if we don’t become a civilised species as we’ll likely do ourselves in, 2 planets or not.
In summary the “lifeboat” argument for a Mars colony is never seriously challenged and is inherently weak. The real reason why a lot of people argue for being a “multi planetary species” can be seen in Mars forums, on threads about “government on Mars”. You quickly find a lot of people who see a need for a Mars colony actually want to recreate the “wild-west” or have their “freedom” US style. Sadly, such people would not form a coherent, cooperative society and would quickly self-destruct.
And Mavis, if you’re listening, this is your politics connection.
Socrates
Correct. Elon really has two skills. One is being able to hire good engineers (he isn’t one) and the other is bullshitting investors. Bullshitting people can get you a long way in life, especially if your daddy is rich.
Breaking from BBC
Home Secretary Priti Patel has decided not to stand in the Conservative leadership race
Socrates
I’m all for a realistic, limited, respectful exploratory mission to Mars (hopefully a series of missions). These are likely to be discrete missions punctuated by short periods where no human is on Mars. For several reasons.
Firstly, even a standard conjunction class mission is roughly 500 days on the surface and six months in transit either way. That’s pushing the limits of human endurance and it would probably be regarded as unethical to require anyone to stay longer. So even if you shared a hab between missions, it would be unoccupied for a while. Secondly, to get the most science out of it, you’d need to be mobile – so a new hab on each mission.
Elon’s scheme hinges off an industrial scale mining and processing infrastructure require megawatt class power generation and distribution and an entire ecosystem of ultra-reliable assembly, maintenance, repair and fuel/energy distribution robotics. We’re talking hundreds of billions. Perhaps the super rich might buy a seat on a realistic mission funded by a collaboration of space agencies. But the ticket price won’t be single digit billions.
You do what you like with your money cud. Hope it works out for ya. Other people have other ideas.
The latest on the Kherson counter-offensive in Ukraine:
https://www.reuters.com/world/europe/ukraine-prepares-fresh-russian-assault-west-braces-worsening-energy-crisis-2022-07-12/
https://www.thedailybeast.com/another-general-killed-as-russian-leak-admits-big-shot-fucking-command-was-obliterated
Booster 7 Starts Fire After Explosion | SpaceX Boca Chica
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AfGjPhgz0Lc
Edit: Jump to 11:50 in.
Trump has the GOP fighting amongst itself.
Click here for the article.
C@t
The Russians also separately put out stories about a grain elevator and a humanitarian store. Problem is, these things don’t keep exploding for hours 🙂
‘Fox News is now complaining that falling fuel prices are bad for gas station owners .. “It’s a struggle for all of them,” Fox News host Martha MacCallum claimed’
https://www.salon.com/2022/07/12/fox-news-is-now-complaining-that-falling-fuel-prices-are-for-gas-station-owners_partner/
Jaeger
It will be interesting to see Scot Manley’s breakdown of that.
Player One @ #714 Tuesday, July 12th, 2022 – 10:04 pm
Actually if I could put Elon on a rocket to Mars simply by paying money to SpaceX or wherever, I probably would. Good use of resources.. 🙂
It has to be a one-way rocket though.
“Big booster goes bang!”
NASA Live:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=21X5lGlDOfg
(Wait for the press releases; it’s less painful.)
Jeager
The SpaceX press releases are nowhere near as transparent as they once were. There are a lot of things that could have gone wrong – including launch pad equipment and Raptors doing unexpected things on startup – or interactions between Raptors. Scot usually does good analysis.
Jaeger says:
Tuesday, July 12, 2022 at 11:25 pm
Booster 7 Starts Fire After Explosion | SpaceX Boca Chica
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AfGjPhgz0Lc
Edit: Jump to 11:50 in.
Looks like nothing more than a test that yielded some results.
https://www.smh.com.au/politics/federal/labor-to-introduce-real-time-disclosures-and-slash-donation-thresholds-20220712-p5b12a.html
Good morning Dawn Patrollers
Eryk Bagshaw and Farrah Tomalin report that the United States will launch its biggest Pacific push since World War II by returning the Peace Corps to the region, releasing a Pacific-wide strategy and spending $900 million on economic development.
https://www.smh.com.au/world/oceania/us-australia-launch-major-pacific-counter-bid-to-china-s-rising-influence-20220712-p5b12f.html
Former PM Scott Morrison couldn’t have been more wrong when he suggested during the election that Labor was soft on China, and then went on to sledge Richard Marles as a “Manchurian candidate”. In the seven weeks since the poll, the ALP has been just as hard-nosed in its approach to the relationship with Beijing as the Coalition ever was. And, more importantly, it has done so in a much more nuanced and effective manner, says the editorial in The Canberra Times.
https://www.canberratimes.com.au/story/7817043/albo-marles-and-wong-holding-the-line/?cs=27763
Anthony Albanese has blamed the Greens political party for a decade of inaction on climate change, and challenged them to back Labor’s target of a 43 per cent emissions reduction by 2030.
https://www.smh.com.au/politics/federal/albanese-blames-greens-for-a-decade-of-inaction-on-climate-policy-20220712-p5b10e.html
Shaun Carney says that the Greens need to stop and think before they throw a spanner in the works. He makes sense.
https://www.smh.com.au/politics/federal/greens-need-to-stop-and-think-before-they-throw-a-spanner-in-the-works-20220711-p5b0tm.html
Hasty comments in the press about last week’s meeting between Penny Wong and Wang Yi reveal more about commentators’ biased line on China than about the substance of the meeting. Careful reading of official reports of the meeting is essential to understand how relations between Australia and China might be taken forward, writes Jocelyn Chey.
https://johnmenadue.com/when-words-matter-reviewing-the-wong-wang-meeting/
There is a real risk that the wrong lessons will be learnt by the Liberal Party about the reasons for the federal election loss, and the path back to government, writes an obviously bitter Amanda Stoker in an op-ed.
https://www.afr.com/politics/federal/here-s-the-real-reason-the-liberals-lost-the-election-20220711-p5b0sa
Global energy security is under increasing threat by China’s overwhelming dominance of the renewable supply chain for solar cells, US Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm and International Energy Agency chief Fatih Birol have warned the Sydney Energy Forum, writes Nick O’Malley.
https://www.smh.com.au/environment/climate-change/china-s-dominance-of-supply-chains-threatens-global-renewables-20220712-p5b0xq.html
Here we go! The NSW upper house has sent a transcript of its inquiry into how former deputy premier John Barilaro secured a plum $500,000-a-year trade role to the corruption watchdog.
https://www.smh.com.au/politics/nsw/inquiry-into-barilaro-trade-role-sends-transcript-to-icac-20220712-p5b11y.html
“Truth in politics – now that would be something”, writes Paul Bongiorno who says the Albanese government is determined to prevent oligarchs like billionaire miner and developer Clive Palmer from distorting future federal elections – and it’s not before time.
https://thenewdaily.com.au/news/2022/07/12/paul-bongiorno-truth-in-politics/
When it comes to Covid, Australia must confront reality – not choose between extremes, argues Peter Lewis.
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2022/jul/12/when-it-comes-to-covid-australia-must-confront-reality-not-choose-between-extremes
The editorial in the SMH has had enough and says that there is not enough scrutiny of mistakes in regional hospitals.
https://www.smh.com.au/politics/nsw/not-enough-scrutiny-of-mistakes-in-regional-hospitals-20220712-p5b147.html
The upward march of official interest rates might succeed in curbing inflation, but it could also result in collateral damage to young borrowers who purchased property at the peak, explains Joel Gibson.
https://www.smh.com.au/money/borrowing/what-to-do-if-you-are-about-to-become-a-mortgage-prisoner-20220711-p5b0tc.html
An unhappy Richard Denniss points out the problems with forestry management and emissions.
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2022/jul/13/australias-farcical-climate-policy-market-forces-to-cut-emissions-and-subsidies-to-destroy-carbon-sinks
If Australia tumbles into recession, Philip Lowe’s hands are dirty, argues Adam Schwab.
https://www.canberratimes.com.au/story/7815649/if-australia-tumbles-into-recession-philip-lowes-hands-are-dirty/?cs=14329
Ronald Mizen tells us that growing inflation and the Reserve Bank’s push to normalise interest rates has sparked a slump in business and consumer confidence despite strong spending and forward orders.
https://www.afr.com/policy/economy/business-consumer-confidence-slump-on-inflation-and-rate-rises-20220712-p5b0yf
The infrastructure minister, Catherine King, has claimed some projects pledged by the former Coalition government will be impossible to deliver, saying her predecessor, Barnaby Joyce, left behind a “substantial mess” after showering Nationals seats in taxpayer-funded “largesse”.
https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2022/jul/13/new-infrastructure-minister-says-some-coalition-projects-will-be-scrapped
The head of the International Energy Agency has warned that the global energy crisis will worsen as the northern hemisphere winter approached, while voicing confidence that clean energy will help resolve the crunch, writes Angela Macdonald-Smith.
https://www.afr.com/policy/energy-and-climate/worst-still-to-come-on-energy-crunch-iea-s-birol-20220711-p5b0md
Tom Burton reports that banks are being pressured to ensure money transferred online arrives in the correct account by confirming the name of the intended recipient, a move the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission says will reduce the $420 million worth of frauds that occur each year.
https://www.afr.com/politics/federal/accc-calls-for-banks-to-name-check-transfers-to-cut-fraud-20220711-p5b13r
Victoria’s workplace safety regulator has charged an aged care nurse with two breaches of occupational safety laws after she allegedly went to work at a nursing home in Melbourne’s south after testing positive for coronavirus.
https://www.theage.com.au/national/victoria/nurse-charged-after-allegedly-attending-work-at-aged-care-home-while-covid-positive-20220712-p5b11r.html
Had Collaery’s case proceeded to trial, the ramifications of the case for freedom of expression, journalism and governmental accountability would have resonated through Australian law and society for years, argues law professor, Spence Zifcak who says Mark Dreyfus should be highly commended for drawing this scandalous legal proceeding to a close.
https://www.smh.com.au/politics/federal/prosecution-of-bernard-collaery-was-an-assault-on-values-australia-holds-dear-20220712-p5b10s.html
The buy now, pay later bubble is bursting before our very eyes, says Elizabeth Knight.
https://www.smh.com.au/business/companies/the-buy-now-pay-later-bubble-is-bursting-before-our-very-eyes-20220712-p5b122.html
With asylum applications on the rise and an increasing backlog, the Government must develop policies to maintain control, writes Abul Rizvi.
https://independentaustralia.net/politics/politics-display/albanese-government-inundated-with-growing-asylum-applications,16551
Josh Taylor reports that Australia’s privacy watchdog has launched an investigation into retail giants Bunnings and Kmart over their use of facial recognition technology in some stores. This should be fun.
https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2022/jul/12/privacy-watchdog-to-investigate-bunnings-and-kmart-over-use-of-facial-recognition-technology
The demise of Boris Johnson is a study in the tragedy of political leadership but, at this point in history, Johnson exemplifies the follies that have befallen conservatism in Western democracies and the problem of governing in a debased culture, posits Paul Kelly.
https://amp.theaustralian.com.au/commentary/johnson-symbolises-conservative-crisis/news-story/e917400a987c621e4d28d577b8ee899f
China’s financial stresses are bubbling to the surface, with a heavy-handed response by the authorities to protests at the weekend by bank depositors whose funds have been frozen since April, writes Stephen Bartholomeusz.
https://www.smh.com.au/business/banking-and-finance/china-s-response-to-bank-protests-hints-at-a-wider-problem-20220712-p5b0wa.html
The increasing turmoil in the Chinese banking sector suggests that Beijing is struggling to find a solution for the increasing number of soured property loans sitting on the books of smaller, regional lenders, writes Karen Maley.
https://www.afr.com/companies/financial-services/what-s-behind-the-chinese-bank-runs-20220711-p5b0mj
For the first time in parliamentary history, a prime minister has been brought down simply for lying – once too often, writes Geoffrey Robertson who reckons Johnson will now start to construct the legacy he never left.
https://www.smh.com.au/world/europe/can-t-keep-a-bad-man-down-what-next-for-boris-johnson-20220711-p5b0lm.html
More fun from the entertaining John Crace who was excluded from attending Rishi Sunak’s PM bid launch.
https://www.theguardian.com/politics/commentisfree/2022/jul/12/i-was-ready-for-rishi-but-he-wasnt-ready-for-me
Cartoon Cornet
David Pope
John Shakespeare
Matt Golding
Cathy Wilcox
Andrew Dyson
Fiona Katauskas
Glen Le Lievre
Simon Letch
Alan Moir
Mark Knight
Spooner
From the US
New thread.
UK: The eight MPs in the first round of voting, which takes place tomorrow afternoon, will be Rishi Sunak, Penny Mordaunt, Liz Truss, Tom Tugendhat, Kemi Badenoch, Nadhim Zahawi, Jeremy Hunt and Suella Braverman.
Javid announced his withdrawal minutes before the 6pm deadline for candidates to make it to the first round. Contenders needed the support of 20 MPs to get a place on the first ballot, but Javid had only been endorsed publicly by 12 of his colleagues.
Snappy Tom says:
Tuesday, July 12, 2022 at 10:37 pm
Arthur C Clarke wrote a novel about a space elevator in ‘Fountains of Paradise.’ The Swedish sci-fi film Aniara features a space elevator in at least one scene…
https://www.newscientist.com/article/mg24332460-400-sci-fi-film-aniaras-best-trick-is-to-make-the-future-feel-like-now/
Sky Line is a 2015 documentary on developments in the space elevator field…
https://www.imdb.com/title/tt4085130/
I want my space elevator, goddamnit!
—————
Apple TV’s 2021 adaptation of Foundation also features a space elevator – in fact it becomes a critical plot point. The depiction of it is very cool.
PM odds:
Mordaunt 2.90
Sunak 3.00
Truss 4.70
Badenoch 15.00
Tugenhat 26.00
Hunt 27.00
Braverman 55.00
Zahawi 65.00
Test. No posts published for an hour?
Test. No posts published for an hour?
Thanks BK.
Amanda Stoker’s Fin Review article is behind a paywall – can someone tell me her take on why the Coalition lost?
Snappy Tom 9:31 am
Mandy sounded alot like the Sky After Dark menagerie or El Dutto. The Libs need to stop pandering to those pinko lefties and give the electorate some good ‘ol fashioned rw gruel and give it to ’em good and hard. The public will lap it up………………appparently.
https://www.afr.com/politics/federal/here-s-the-real-reason-the-liberals-lost-the-election-20220711-p5b0sa
testing