David Tiley was one of the early generation of bloggers in Australia, starting in 2003, approximately the same time as I started. I first met him at a blogging meet-up in St Kilda (where David lived) in about 2005. Blogging was much more social in those days, and there were frequent meet-ups of the more enthusiastic bloggers.
A horrible illness has been widely neglected, thanks in part to the influence of a cruel and bizarre cult.
By George Monbiot, published in the Guardian 18th October 2024
How could this happen in the 21st century? The question could apply to many issues, but this one sends you reeling. A brilliant and lively young woman with a common illness was repeatedly disbelieved, dismissed and given inappropriate treatment, until she starved to death. It is a terrible result of the most remarkable situation I’ve ever encountered in either medicine or journalism.
Prosper Australia has expressed strong concerns over the Allan Labor Government’s recent announcement of 50 new activity centres across Victoria, citing the absence of any form of Land Value Capture (LVC) mechanism as a missed opportunity to ensure fairness and economic sustainability.
The common view from politicians and so-called experts is that minority government is dreadful. I don’t agree. Nor, it seems, does former Rudd and Gillard ministerial advisor Sean Kelly. In an article in today’s Age newspaper, Kelly says:
Hidden in the detail of the UK’s carbon capture and storage scheme are unlimited financial liabilities and huge environmental costs.
By George Monbiot, published in the Guardian 11th October 2024
A few years ago I read a book by the iconic Australian author Helen Garner titled “House of Grief”. It dealt with the trial and conviction of a man named Robert Farquharson for the murder of his three young sons Jai (age 11), Bailey (age 7) and Tyler (age 3) on Fathers’ Day in 2005.
Robert Farquharson at the time of the first trial
Why do the mass killers of the fossil fuel industry walk free while the heroes trying to stop them are imprisoned?
By George Monbiot, published in the Guardian 1st October 2024
As longstanding readers will know, I was one of the founders of Troppo along with Nicholas Gruen and several others including Mark Bahnisch and Don Arthur. The latter two moved on to other things (Don was a research at the Federal Parliamentary Library last time I heard, a role that prevents him from publishing material except on the most anodyne topics).
An astonishing thing is happening at sea, but the government, backed by an entire “scientific” discipline, seems determined to stifle it.
By George Monbiot, published in the Guardian 27th September 2024
The bodies meant to protect us from floods are unaccountable, self-serving and feudal in character. No wonder they keep failing.
By George Monbiot, published in the Guardian 18th September 2024
Labour’s first stage of government resembles a vast forensic excavation. As it works through the Conservatives’ midden of horrors, it discovers an ever greater legacy of underinvestment, neglect and corruption. However disappointing the new government’s compromises might be, we shouldn’t forget how overwhelming this task must feel.
Four years ago today, the Australian Broadcasting Corporation abolished its 15-minute 7.45am news bulletin.
The 7.45 bulletin was first broadcast in December 1939, at the outset of the Second World War. I have been unable to find the exact date.
Citing cost factors and a declining audience, the ABC announced in 2020 that the 7.45 bulletin would be abolished, 80 years after it began.