The monthly Freshwater Strategy poll for the Financial Review finds Labor with an unchanged two-party lead of 51-49, from primary votes of Labor 31% (steady), Coalition 39% (up one) and Greens 14% (steady). Anthony Albanese’s lead over Peter Dutton as preferred prime minister is out from 42-38 to 47-38, though his personal ratings of 37% favourable and 45% unfavourable show no change in net terms on a month ago (when it doesn’t appear the actual numbers were reported). Peter Dutton is respectively down two to 30% and up two to 43%.
Also featured were questions on the leaders’ attributes, with results including leads for Albanese of 28-24 on trustworthiness (a notably high response rather for neither) and 39-28 for being in touch with ordinary people, and for Dutton of 44-38 on clarity of vision and 38-32 on being good in a crisis. Labor also narrows deficits since last month’s poll as best party to handle the cost of living and tax and government spending. The poll was conducted Friday to Sunday from a sample of 1051.
William, I have been saved many a time by your discreet and subtle deleting of the odd comment of mine here that was born out of accidental mixings of alcohol with prescription medications.
If you find your post deleted you should take it as a good thing because the alternative is to be banned.
”
FUBARsays:
Wednesday, March 13, 2024 at 9:31 pm
Bored now.
”
Good. Or is it according to proverb/ saying?
Yada idle yada yada yada yada yada.
”
TPOFsays:
Wednesday, March 13, 2024 at 9:29 pm
goll says:
Wednesday, March 13, 2024 at 9:10 pm
“I am 50% Jewish”
Is “Jewish” a nationality ?
____________________________________
Nadia wears her half Jewishness (technically the wrong half) like a crown of thorns.
”
Who is Nadia?
P1,
I’m a nominal protestant and Mrs LB comes from a long line of breadline swarthy Irish Catholic Australian stock so I can more than relate to your disclosure here tonight. Despite our marked ethno-religious differences, we’ve been able to make it work for 15 years.
Boerwar at 7.13 pm
You claimed: “Greece seems to have done quite well since the consequent agreement although I haven’t followed it closely.”
Three broad assessments from an economic analysis five years ago by George Pagoulatos at LSE:
1) “Lax fiscal oversight, loose credit following euro-accession, and credibility conferred by Eurozone membership led Greece to a debt-driven growth funded by external capital inflows.”
The causes of the Greek public debt crisis were not only within Greece. Why should banks making very foolish loans get bailed out? Not for any moral reason but because, politically, they are too big to fail.
2) “Since its first year of recession in 2008, Greece registered an eight-year long equivalent of a Great Depression, as steep as that of the US in the 1930s, but double as long. By the time it completed its third program, Greece had lost a quarter of its 2008 GDP, unemployment was at 20% (having reached 27.5% at its peak), one out of three Greeks were below the poverty line, youth unemployment affected four out of ten young Greeks. Over 400.000 people (some 9% of the country’s labor force) were estimated to have emigrated during the crisis. By the end of the third program, even the lender institutions agreed that the handling and outcomes of the Greek crisis suggested a case of grave failure, though the exact allocation of responsibility varied.”
So even the lenders admitted grave failure. Most of the emigrants from Greece were educated youth.
3) “The legacies of heavy and prolonged austerity weighed heavily on the Greek economy, not only regarding high unemployment and poverty levels, but also in terms of the economy’s productive capacity. Unemployment in 2018 was down to 20%, a marked improvement from the 27% peak but in stark contrast to a Eurozone average of 8.6%. In GDP per hour worked, Greece was the only OECD economy with a negative performance during the period 2010-2016. During the crisis years, the rate of GDP decline exceeded that of unemployment growth, which accounts for the negative growth of labor productivity.”
Greece After the Bailouts: Assessment of a Qualified Failure (pp ii, 1, 17):
https://www.lse.ac.uk/Hellenic-Observatory/Assets/Documents/Publications/GreeSE-Papers/GreeSE-No130.pdf or at: https://eprints.lse.ac.uk/91957/
That was the economic result of the regime imposed upon Greece by the EU and the IMF. The social consequences were disastrous, especially in health care, including above average deaths for Western Europe from Covid. Although Greece initially did much better than Italy during the first two waves of Covid, it ended up in a worse position, because of the prolonged effects of austerity on health services.
Clearly, these features are the opposite of an economy that did “quite well” as a result of the bailouts.
Player Onesays:
Wednesday, March 13, 2024 at 9:57 pm
I think I’m just going to post this here …
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Half-Jew
… because both I and my partner fall into this category.
Make of that what you will.
=======================================
I thought a bit the same. I was reminded of that book, probably more a teenage book. “Mischling, Second Degree”, those who believe in racial purity are always the worst of people.
”
Player Onesays:
Wednesday, March 13, 2024 at 9:57 pm
I think I’m just going to post this here …
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Half-Jew
… because both I and my partner fall into this category.
Make of that what you will.
”
Oh!
leftieBrawlersays:
Wednesday, March 13, 2024 at 9:57 pm
William, I have been saved many a time by your discreet and subtle deleting of the odd comment of mine here that was born out of accidental mixings of alcohol with prescription medications.
If you find your post deleted you should take it as a good thing because the alternative is to be banned.
=============================================
As a good Labor man should you be drinking the preferred drink of the National Party, prescription drugs and alcohol?.
entropy the claim of ‘mixing alcohol with prescription medicines’ is just code for someone who drank too fk’ing much and embarrassed themselves due to the outcome of their behavior during an ethanol-fueled bender or binge drinking episode.
The member for beetroot doesn’t have an issue with drinking while on medication but rather an issue with getting shit faced on grog and not being able to control the consequences of his actions. The adding of ‘prescription medication’ into the mix is just a lame copout required by those holding high office to allow for it to go through to the keeper.
Irene: ‘I am 50% Jewish and am not interested in criticising them.’
My ancestry includes the Lipsetts of Donegal, who were originally the Lipschitzes of Poland (so you can see why they modified the name …).
Which makes me related to Tony Blair (posted as a statement of fact, not as a boast 😉 ).
We did the Ancestry dna thing and we got back the results to say we were mostly bog Irish and English but also 0.9% Ashkenazi Jew. Does that make me Jew-ish? 😉
And thank you Oliver Sutton for pointing out that there was a Jewish transmigration to Ireland. Maybe that’s where it comes from for me as well? Could you tell me when that occurred for your family?
Ven says:
Wednesday, March 13, 2024 at 10:01 pm
”
TPOFsays:
Wednesday, March 13, 2024 at 9:29 pm
goll says:
Wednesday, March 13, 2024 at 9:10 pm
“I am 50% Jewish”
Is “Jewish” a nationality ?
____________________________________
Nadia wears her half Jewishness (technically the wrong half) like a crown of thorns.
”
Who is Nadia?
_________________________________________
Irene. Apologies to Nadia (who is an excellent poster).
leftieBrawlersays:
Wednesday, March 13, 2024 at 10:28 pm
entropy the claim of ‘mixing alcohol with prescription medicines’ is just code for someone who drank too fk’ing much and embarrassed themselves due to the outcome of their behavior during an ethanol-fueled bender or binge drinking episode.
The member for beetroot
=================================================
After the “Beetrooter” i think the Nationals had a women senator that used a similar excuse too?. Though i think in both cases it took them a day or two to add the prescription drugs to what they told the media. I’m not sure it makes it any better though. It just changes “i got really drunk” to “i got really drunk while on prescription medicine”. As far as i can see the latter is actually even more stupid.
I agree with you entropy, but unfortunately the powers to be turn a blind eye to it all if you toss in ‘prescription medication’
LeftieBrawlersays:
Wednesday, March 13, 2024 at 10:48 pm
I agree with you entropy, but unfortunately the powers to be turn a blind eye to it all if you toss in ‘prescription medication’
========================================
While i’m not a pharmacist. I doubt there are that many prescription medicines that mixed with alcohol give you a stronger high. Most i suspect say don’t mix with alcohol as the medicine just doesn’t work as well if alcohol present or for others mixing it may make you nauseous. You really need to be very selective with your prescription medicines if mixing for a high i suspect.
Which is probably why Barnaby never revealed what medicine he was on that supposedly did it. As i doubt whatever he might be on, statin?, would do it.
Been There
If you’re reading this, I’d rather you were here than there.
To my delight today, acting on advice from family, I discovered that going for a walk in light rain when the temperature isn’t too cold (around 20°C is best) with a waterproof coat or poncho to keep your clothes dry is an incredibly pleasant and tranquil experience.
I recommend it to others. It might seem inconvenient on paper, but it feels surprisingly good. Of course, stay safe, that’s coolish light rain only, not going walking in flash flood conditions and such. And advisable to bring along an umbrella in case the light rain suddenly gets a bit too heavy as it often happens.
Rainman,
Been there took WB’s advice literally to ‘follow through’ with his threats to leave PB.
Sadly the last update I received from the status of been there is that he is now in the care of a proctologist.
my cat looks at me and is not sure what I am and
I look back and am pleased to feel
the same
about him…
Charles Bukowski
Macarthur says:
Wednesday, March 13, 2024 at 5:34 pm
Entropy @ Wednesday, March 13, 2024 at 5:30 pm:
“ The last Pope, in particular, may very well have grown up with a very positive view of Nazism, and who knows how much of those attitudes he retained into his Papacy? I think the Catholic Church needed to be subjected to some serious denazification during the 1940’s-1960’s.”
————
Because he was German “he may very well have grown up with a very positive view of Nazism”. equally, I assume, he may very well have grown up with a very negative view of Nazism.
But the real nasty bigotry is in the second sentence, based upon “he may …”.
“Who knows how much of those attitudes he retained into his Papacy”… these are the “attitudes” he may or may not have had.
So, your statement is just conjecture based upon your anti-Catholic bigotry.
Obviously that’s not problem on this blog.
Kirsdarke says:
Wednesday, March 13, 2024 at 11:05 pm
You need a hat as well. Then you won’t need the umbrella.
Rainmansays:
Wednesday, March 13, 2024 at 11:14 pm
Kirsdarke says:
Wednesday, March 13, 2024 at 11:05 pm
You need a hat as well. Then you won’t need the umbrella.
================================================
Advice from someone from Adelaide on wet weather gear?. When did it last rain there again?.
@Rainman
Well, it’s good as a backup. A hat won’t be much use if a light 0.2mm/hour drizzle suddenly turns into a 2 inch/hour downpour, which happened often over summer here in Victoria at least.
A question
IF you are on prescribed medication, and assuming there is a warning not to mix with alcohol which I would expect is normal if that is the case, who the hell would mix prescribed medication with alcohol?
Medication carries appropriate warnings
And if the outcome of mixing prescribed medication with alcohol sees you laying in a gutter frothing at the mouth it would seem reasonable to assume the medication packaging contained a warning
The excuse of mixing the two is not an excuse
It merely says you are an irresponsible idiot of the first order – and probably with mental problems to boot
And speaking of idiots, what about PooShooter and adding 50 years of operational costs to a rail network to arrive at the costing?
What about the return to society, not over 50 years but into the foreseeable future because this rail link is inter generational, so longer than 50 years by multiples (think the Sydney Harbour Bridge)
Noting that populations grow (the alternate being withering on the vine aka Japan)
It is not the debt
It is the performance of the asset that debt is invested into
And I repeat, government is not a business nor a household
Government has a far, far wider brief responsible as it is for society and cohesion across that society
Noting no 2 people are equal – so it is not equality it is cohesion
Rikalisays:
Wednesday, March 13, 2024 at 11:14 pm
Macarthur says:
Wednesday, March 13, 2024 at 5:34 pm
“ The last Pope, in particular, may very well have grown up with a very positive view of Nazism, and who knows how much of those attitudes he retained into his Papacy? I think the Catholic Church needed to be subjected to some serious denazification during the 1940’s-1960’s.”
————
So, your statement is just conjecture based upon your anti-Catholic bigotry.
Obviously that’s not problem on this blog.
=====================================================
The previous Popes experience in Nazi Germany is a mixed bag. The fact he was in the Hitler youth, Luftwaffenhelfer and German infantry. Probably explains why “Macarthur” said what he said here. It is more complex than that though. I’ve posted an extract from Wikipedia that shows that too.
“Ratzinger’s family, especially his father, bitterly resented the Nazis, and his father’s opposition to Nazism resulted in demotions and harassment of the family.[29] Following his 14th birthday in 1941, Ratzinger was conscripted into the Hitler Youth – as membership was required by law for all 14-year-old German boys after March 1939[30] – but was an unenthusiastic member who refused to attend meetings, according to his brother.[31] In 1941, one of Ratzinger’s cousins, a 14-year-old boy with Down syndrome, was taken away by the Nazi regime and murdered during the Aktion T4 campaign of Nazi eugenics.[32] In 1943, while still in seminary, he was drafted into the German anti-aircraft corps as Luftwaffenhelfer.[31] Ratzinger then trained in the German infantry.[33] As the Allied front drew closer to his post in 1945, ”
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pope_Benedict_XVI
Oh crap, bad news here locally. There’s been a mine collapse in Ballarat. 2 workers are trapped under rocks, 25 others are stuck underground.
https://www.theage.com.au/national/victoria/two-trapped-underground-after-ballarat-mine-collapse-20240313-p5fc59.html
Seriously hoping that there are no deaths in this incident.
My apologies, I don’t seem to be able to edit my above comment, but developments have been that the 25 other trapped workers have been brought to the surface, one of those trapped under rocks has been freed and airlifted to the Alfred Hospital, and one more worker remains trapped, from what I can tell.
The article is updating things as they happen tonight.
Kirsdarke
I have a sturdy broad brim cow hide hat that has seen me through some heavy downpours.
And Entropy, I spent quite a few years in Melbourne. So, I do remember rain.
Here we go againsays:
Wednesday, March 13, 2024 at 11:24 pm
What about the return to society, not over 50 years but into the foreseeable future because this rail link is inter generational, so longer than 50 years by multiples (think the Sydney Harbour Bridge)
=======================================================
All the great underground train networks of European cities which have served many for more than 100 years now too. The first section of the London Underground was opened in 1863.
Kirsdarke
That’s terrible news about the trapped miner. Keep us updated.
Rainmansays:
Wednesday, March 13, 2024 at 11:39 pm
Kirsdarke
I have a sturdy broad brim cow hide hat that has seen me through some heavy downpours.
And Entropy, I spent quite a few years in Melbourne. So, I do remember rain.
===================================================
We haven’t had much in Victoria either. Probably no as bad as you. Kirsdarke may have walked in the rain today but his chances to do it have been few and far between in the last 2 months.
@Entropy at 11:43pm
Hoping to get more chances over autumn and maybe the warmer days of winter.
But overall there’s probably more opportunities for people outside of Victoria and Tasmania where winter tends to be more mild.
Entropy says:
Wednesday, March 13, 2024 at 11:39 pm
All the great underground train networks of European cities which have served many for more than 100 years now too. The first section of the London Underground was opened in 1863.
————————————————————————
The London Underground is awful. It’s old and dirty and you can hardly breathe down there. Climate change will completely suff it up because they have no room on top of the trains to put air conditioners. They have hundreds of stairs and often no elevators. My son once fell and broke his ankle and he had to crawl to the surface because not one person stopped to help him.
Kirsdarkesays:
Wednesday, March 13, 2024 at 11:48 pm
@Entropy at 11:43pm
Hoping to get more chances over autumn and maybe the warmer days of winter.
But overall there’s probably more opportunities for people outside of Victoria and Tasmania where winter tends to be more mild.
=================================================
I hope you do too and my garden does even more so.
And just on bank loans being repaid
Housing loans are repayable in full by principal plus interest instalments over 25/30 years and for the reason that, in retirement you do not want to be carrying debt
Businesses however borrow subject to Annual Review, that AR encompassing Balance Sheet structure, Liquidity Ratios, profitability including interest cover and loan to valuation ratios analysis to determine the risk grading
In the normal course, given business growth part funded by retained profits (to ensure the ownership of the business by the Shareholders remains and ownership is not being passed to external creditors including banks), the facilities at bank actually increase (which is why banks employ, to assess and lend)
Mind you, leasehold assets which depreciate in value are subject to facilities which are repaid over term, so a vehicle fleet by way of example
But lending for Working Capital, again as an example, will increase, complementing the cash to cash cycle (assisted by Trade Creditors and profit retention)
In the event business require their bankers because they borrow – and they increase that borrowing as needs be
Hence the assessment that it is not the debt – it is the performance of the asset the debt is invested into
Government does not have to make profit to satisfy a lender
Government has a wider responsibility including to future generations
Hence infrastructure investing, which given population increasing, is the requirement and the responsibility to our future generations
Then you get to education, health care, aged care, defence and past that look at the responsibilities of Ministers (and Departments)
And there is no better time to build than now – because it will never be this cheap to so invest again
In terms of what we leave for our future generations, the cost is dirt cheap in todays dollars and they will be thankful for our foresight, providing them with amenity as they will provide for their future generations
Stop and the end event is trouble, expensive trouble
The need is ongoing
entropy I’d like to cease our silly quarrels.
You like to burn the midnight PB oil as do I on occasion. You are the least of my worries on PB. I’d prefer you as friend, not foe. Welcome to the LB good books my mild-mannered friend.
Rainmansays:
Wednesday, March 13, 2024 at 11:49 pm
Entropy says:
Wednesday, March 13, 2024 at 11:39 pm
All the great underground train networks of European cities which have served many for more than 100 years now too. The first section of the London Underground was opened in 1863.
———————————————————
The London Underground is awful. It’s old and dirty and you can hardly breathe down there. Climate change will completely suff it up because they have no room on top of the trains to put air conditioners. They have hundreds of stairs and often no elevators. My son once fell and broke his ankle and he had to crawl to the surface because not one person stopped to help him.
======================================================
The alternative is to drive around London in massive traffic jams. In my opinion the London Underground is the far better alternative.
Looky here the fed labor gov have just given 850 million to a Gina Rinehart backed company rare earths in nt.
They luv Gina!
Watch some spew their weeties tomorrow morning.
Heading to bed now, but god I hope when I wake up tomorrow that I hear that they get the other worker out of there alive.
This news has shaken me a little tonight because I’ve been to that mine a few times on excursions during university. Not that far underground, but was taught about the operations that happened down there.
Also I will be very disappointed if this disaster happened because of safety negligence. One worker has already been airlifted to hospital in Melbourne with life-threatening injuries, and the other is buried 500m underground, 3km from the entrance via the tunnels to get there.
March has been a very bad month for Ballarat, first the unresolved likely murder of Samantha Murphy and now this.
Rikali says:
Wednesday, March 13, 2024 at 11:14 pm
Regarding ‘anti-Catholic bigotry’:
For some I think it’s an Anglo thing. They didn’t like the Irish convicts. Then, they didn’t like the Italian refugees. After that, they didn’t like the Vietnamese refugees.
Macarthur hates the Pope because he called for peace negotiations in Ukraine, which doesn’t suit his fight to the death or until all the Russians have been pushed into the Black Sea continuing narrative.
Entropy has a problem with dead Benedict, which is fair enough because I hated Rat’s arse too. He also doesn’t like the Church’s support for Fascism in WWII. In context though, the Fascists were fighting Communists, and the Communists were godless.
For some it’s because they’re just smugly intellectually superior atheists who despise and denigrate any one who believes in any God/s. But that’s not a particularly Catholic thing, it’s just a thing.
leftieBrawlersays:
Thursday, March 14, 2024 at 12:07 am
entropy I’d like to cease our silly quarrels.
==========================================
Sounds good to me. Though some of the discussion late at night can be a bit off topic. We certainly didn’t generate any great insight into our political system tonight. “Here we go again” posting on the importance of continued infrastructure spending was about as political as it got tonight.
All good then entropy. You are a consistent placid and forgiving contributor – a rare quality on pb
Hostility towards the Catholic church is so pervasive among the kind of people who comment on this forum that moaning about my failing to ban it on grounds of “bigotry” would be unrealistic even if the notion had any merit on its face. Macarthur’s comment about Ratzinger was pretty stupid, but so are a lot of things.
“I ask you to judge me by the enemies I have made.”
Franklin D. Roosevelt
Pied pipersays:
Thursday, March 14, 2024 at 12:10 am
Looky here the fed labor gov have just given 850 million to a Gina Rinehart backed company rare earths in nt.
They luv Gina!
Watch some spew their weeties tomorrow morning.
==============================================
It’s more to do with rare earths than Gina. Currently China has nearly a monopoly on rare earths. As they are so essential for many modern electronics. Western countries like USA and Australia are encouraging alternate supply chains being formed. To cut the reliance on China for those minerals.
Good to hear Entropy, at the end of the day you are an enthusiastic contributor that has an insatiable desire to learn as much as you can and participate in the broader Australian political narrative.
I genuinely feel bad about my cheap and crass attempts to insult you. You are no p1, RM, WWP, SD, RD.- rather a measured and consistent voice of the reasonable centre-left. You play the ball and not the man. Keep on doing your thing !
Entropy
My apologies. I reread your post and obviously I confused you with Macarthur.
“You can always tell who’s never been in an environment where you could get punched in the face for talking recklessly to people.”
Rainmansays:
Thursday, March 14, 2024 at 12:31 am
Entropy
My apologies. I reread your post and obviously I confused you with Macarthur.
============================================
I certainly didn’t like Ratzinger but he wasn’t a Nazi, more a victim of the circumstances at the time. Though i agree with Macarthur that the Catholic Church had to close a relationship with fascism during at least the 1930’s and 1940’s. I understand what you said about it being an anti-communism thing. I still don’t think it makes it right. You can reject both philosophies it isn’t an either or decision there. I also understand that some of it was just in order to not be making enemies of them. Self preservation motive, which is far more acceptable motive. Even if often not considered that noble.
Hitchens said:
“The way I put it is this: if you’re writing about the history of the 1930s and the rise of totalitarianism, you can take out the word ‘fascist,’ if you want, for Italy, Portugal, Spain, Czechoslovakia and Austria and replace it with ‘extreme-right Catholic party.’ Almost all of those regimes were in place with the help of the Vatican and with understandings from the Holy See. It’s not denied. These understandings quite often persisted after the Second World War was over and extended to comparable regimes in Argentina and elsewhere.”
Of course the ruler of Fascist Slovakia, Father Tiso was actually a Priest in Holy Orders.