It's crunch time for PM
Kevin Rudd now faces massive political problems in turning his
climate change rhetoric into dollars and cents reality, writes
Michelle Grattan.
Voters sick of sleazy deceit
Tacky, opportunistic politicians serve no one. They just provide a dismal daily soap opera, writes Richard Torbay.
Bee story has a nasty sting in the tail
A swarm of deadly killer bee puns was circling the globe last week after a truck overturned in Canada, spilling its cargo of 12 million bees, writes Simon Webster.
Dream home now a nightmare
A family is abysmally failed by the system - and no one in the Iemma Government wants to know, writes Lisa Carty.
Kev's no fun any more
Downer's going and so is much of the old guard's personality and passion. The Rudd era is, well, boring, writes Paul Daley.
Buckets of baloney in the basin
Two days ago the nine Labor leaders who govern Australia met in
Sydney, writes Alan Ramsey.
- Alan Ramsey: The honour of working for Mr Curtin
A little risk-taking when young could be best vaccine against danger
Could parental paranoia about protecting the innocence of children
actually stunt the emotional immune systems of children?, writes
Lisa Pryor.
Bureaucrats take axe to logging data
Environment Minister Verity Firth should be squirming with
embarrassment about her department's stance, writes Matthew Moore.
Rivers flooded - in gobbledegook
A great gout of gobbledegook has burst forth, flooding through the
great river system, bringing life and cheer to its shrunken
tributaries and thirsty creeks, writes Annabel Crabb.
Welcome to Sydney, Your Holiness. Care to exorcise a politician or two?
Now that the Iemma Government's idiotic World Youth Day regulations
have made it almost a matter of high principle to annoy Catholics,
I have been wondering how to go about it, writes Mike Carlton.
As the right goes green, Nelson is the odd man out
Brendan Nelson's scare-mongering on climate change action is the
sort of easy populism you might expect of a conservative
politician, writes Adele Horin.
Mixed message on faith a turn-off
It is a cheap shot to ask what Jesus would think of the carnival
atmosphere of World Youth Day - cheap because there is no way of
ever knowing, writes Chris McGillion.
Bedlam one day, tourist trap the next
If the mood in Beirut keeps buzzing with excitement the way it has this week, Lebanon might start to become the paradise so many believe it could be, writes Jason Koutsoukis.
Church caught in crossfire of public's unholy war
This week I started a blog on the Herald's online site. As a
columnist you're usually happy to see a couple of letters published
about something you've written, but life is clearly more hectic in
cyberspace, writes Michael Duffy.
Quick tips for self-improvement
"Yous hould see this," says Jocasta, pointing to a paragraph in the
newspaper. "It says a disciplined writer can create a novel in just
one hour a day," writes Richard Glover.
Charge like wounded bull, sting like bee
In ancient Hindu mythology there existed an infinite number of
universes, each one having its own set of gods, rules and ideals,
writes Richard Ackland.
Vale, Alexander the not-so-great
Several years ago, with controversy over the invasion of Iraq
swirling, Alexander Downer saw a chance to score a point against
one of the most credible critics of the government's policy, writes
Peter Hartcher.
Too many suckers in business
Heckler: I started a new job a few weeks ago. I am enjoying it - thanks for asking. My previous jobs have been away from the CBD, so this my first time in quite a few years back in the city, the "big smoke", writes George R. Perry.
It's not just about gays: Africans provide succour to a church in chaos
There is a saying in financial circles that when Wall Street
sneezes, Australia catches a cold. Such is the global dominance of
North America that whatever happens within its shores, reaches ours
eventually, writes Peter Jensen.
Red rags to Youth Day's slogan squad
What really happened: AFTER the kerfuffle over T-shirts that could cause offence during World Youth Day attracting fines, here is a further list of T-shirt slogans that may come under scrutiny during the event, writes Charles Purcell.
Crack annoyance squad wanted
Morris Iemma leads a Government whose members have displayed a
truly impressive array of human failings, so it's no wonder an
official visit from a man who can absolve sins is appealing to the
State Government, writes Julian Morrow.
Libertarian 'moral panic' aside, it's a happy event
World Youth Day is an event of enormous proportions. It will bring 500,000 young people to the city centre and Randwick Racecourse and huge crowds to dozens of other venues across the city, writes Kristina Keneally.
Eleven children and mother of female politics
Photos of the Deputy Prime Minister, Julia Gillard, meeting the
United States Vice-President, Dick Cheney, at the White House said
it all, writes Anne Henderson.
Yet again, a plea to learn, and prevent murder in families
The horrific deaths of five children and one woman in the past week have left many Australians asking how could this happen and how can we stop this happening again, writes Edwina MacDonald.
Now I lay me down to sleep
Heckler: I MUST have been doing a lot of sleeping lately because everywhere I turn I rub my eyes and see something I don't recall voting for. Did I nod off when Sydney decided to bid for World Youth Day?
Hold the jihad: everyone loves cricket
At the End of the Day: AT THE height of trepidation before
Australia pulled out of the Pakistan cricket tour in March, I
tracked down the distributor of internet videos for the
terrorism-associated group Harkat-ul-Mujahideen, writes Jamie
Pandaram.
Looking for tasty art in the noodle soup of life
The local Chinese, much frequented by taxi drivers, serves a mean combination noodle soup. This, apart from something clearly identifiable as squid, contains three or possibly four varieties of what you might call representational seafood, writes Elizabeth Farrelly.
For P---'s sake, what's in a name?
Heckler: THE English language is being slowly and stealthily destroyed. Not, as you might imagine, by the lazy, the ignorant or the ill-educated, but by the legal system worldwide, writes Alan Marel.
Bumper-to-bumper on reform
The Big Bluff: SPEAKING at his inauguration ceremony this
week, Robert Mugabe outlined his vision for reform in Zimbabwe.
Some extracts follow, writes Aaron Timms.
We must become a money magnet
Every year, thousands of young Australians jump on a plane to New York or London, keen to work in a large financial centre and build their skills. After a few years, some come back. Many do not, writes Chris Bowen.
This party game must be stopped
Alexander Downer's family must be pleased. Last weekend's byelection result makes it easy for him to retire from politics, safe in the knowledge that his seat will remain in Coalition hands. He's even lined up a plum job with the United Nations, writes Josh Fear.
Plenty of tax confusion to declare
Hands up if you've finished your tax return? Anyone? Didn't think so, writes Jessica Irvine.
Crying need for doubting Peter
In the wake of the surprisingly large swing against Labor in the
Gippsland byelection on Saturday, Kevin Rudd could well do with a
Peter Walsh in his cabinet, writes Gerard Henderson.
Evolution of the best idea that anyone has ever had
One hundred and fifty years ago today, a small group of scientists at a meeting on the north side of Piccadilly heard the first public account of the theory that the philosopher Daniel Dennett calls the single best idea that anyone has ever had, writes John Joe McFadden.
Find a plus-size vegan Fox for a role in the hay
In these times of niche markets and cost-benefit-analysis, dating
has been whittled down to the epitome of efficiency, writes Emma
Young.
Celibate equals sexless equals an unholy mess
Barnstorming his way across America, the Sydney Bishop Geoffrey Robinson sounded at times like Martin Luther, writes Robert Blair Kaiser.
Strawberries with lashings of cliche
Heckler: While tennis may not be your sport of choice, there's something about Wimbledon that brings out the best in our seasoned commentators, writes Alison Sweeney.
Gippsland a sobering warning on cost of living
When Kevin Rudd suggested a month ago that an overworked public
servant was responsible for a cabinet leak against FuelWatch,
Brendan Nelson was outraged.
Time to forge closer Canada ties
Statesmen continually rediscover the truth of one of the most depressing but accurate observations economists make: there aren't many hundred-dollar bills lying on the pavement. Most of the great opportunities are already taken, writes Walter Russell Mead.
Less to inspire, thanks to the gender divide
The tribal mind: IF MEN and women could only unite, Australia might get some stimulating television in the second half of this year, writes David Dale.
