Author: Alex Mitchell
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Media drongos
Every time a federal Labor MP announces he or she will not stand at the next election, the lazy and predictable Canberra Press Gallery rushes into print with the same old names of possible candidates. How often have we been forced to read speculation that former Premier Steve Bracks, former Premier Morris Iemma, former Premier…
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The IMF’s howler: Millions in poverty
The IMF’s howler: Millions in poverty To the millions of pauperised citizens of Europe, there has been an unprecedented admission of guilt by the International Monetary Fund (IMF): we got it wrong. In a New Year report entitled “Growth Forecast Errors and Fiscal Multipliers”, the IMF admitted that it had plunged nations of the Euro-zone…
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School massacre, guns and reality
You’d need a heart of stone not to be moved by the outpouring of grief over the shooting of 20 children at an elementary school in Newtown, Connecticut. However, the wall-to-wall coverage in the media in the US and here has been over-indulgent, ghoulishly invasive and gratuitously suspect. It’s as if the classroom massacre has…
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Who drove nurse to commit suicide?
An official inquiry in London has vowed to leave no stone unturned in investigating all the circumstances of the suicide of nurse Jacintha Saldanha, the 46-year-old mother of two. What unbearable pressure was placed on Mrs Saldanha after she unwittingly transferred a prank call from a Sydney radio station to the ward where Mrs Kate…
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NSW Labor’s revival starts at the Radisson
Sam Dastyari has two jobs: general secretary of the NSW Labor Party and head honcho of the state branch of the right-wing faction known as Centre Unity. How do I know? I’ve received an email invitation from Dastyari to the 2012 Centre Unity Christmas Party on Tuesday, December 18, starting at 6pm. The card ends…
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Historic win for Palestine
Palestinians always knew that their culture, history and land constituted an independent, sovereign state. Nevertheless, they will celebrate the UN General Assembly vote that officially recognises their statehood and are entitled to do so. Recognition has taken decades and the struggle has taken thousands of lives. The Israeli regime declared through its propaganda foghorn that…
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Behind the Israel-Hamas conflict
It’s a fortnight since President Barack Obama was re-elected to the White House and Israeli Prime Minister Benyamin Netanyahu has started to feel the heat. On the eve of the election, “Bibi” went to the UN General Assembly in New York and produced his ludicrous poster at the rostrum depicting the supposed time line for…
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Investigating child abuse: the Irish precedent
The Australian Government’s planned royal commission into church abuse of children already has a blueprint for action provided by the Republic of Ireland on the other side on the world. The Irish Government’s report handed down in November 2009 conveniently offers an insight into the church’s concealment and denial of decades of sexual abuse and…
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Decoding the US ‘debate’
Like other political desperados, I watched all three US presidential debates “live” on television and, just for good measure, the vice-presidential debate as well. The debates left me deeply puzzled by American political life. During the Q&A on domestic issues – health, education and tax – I was totally confused while the debate on the…
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Why Packer is holding all the aces in the pack
A former NSW politician telephoned me back in June saying: “Did you see that James Packer is planning to build a casino at the Barangaroo site at Walsh Bay?” “Yes,” I replied, “ but there is no way will he get approval. There is already a casino in Darling Harbour – Star City – and…