Earlier this month, CoreLogic released data showing that large numbers of suburbs nationwide have joined the million-dollar club: 46% of suburbs in Brisbane boasted a median house price of at least $1 million at the end of July, compared with just 30% a year ago. 36% of suburbs in Adelaide have joined the ‘million-dollar club’,
Another Monday Message Board. Post comments on any topic. Civil discussion and no coarse language please. Side discussions and idees fixes to the sandpits, please.
I’m now using Substack as a blogging platform, and for my monthly email newsletter. For the moment, I’ll post both at this blog and on Substack. You can also follow me on Mastodon here.
US tech mogul Elon Musk has called for the release of Telegram founder and CEO Pavel Durov, who was arrested on Saturday shortly after arriving at Paris-Le Bourget airport.
Authorities in France believe that the 39-year-old dual Russian-French national is complicit in a range of crimes allegedly committed on his platform, arguing that insufficient moderation allows for Telegram to be widely used to break the law.
Canada and Australia have resorted to “quantitative peopling” to give the illusion of growth while individual living standards are collapsing. Canada has recorded its largest population expansion in history, with nearly 1.3 million people added over the past year, almost all via net overseas migration: While this massive population expansion has kept Canada out of
The livestock industry is furiously lobbying to shut down alternatives, and tame politicians are giving it what it wants.
By George Monbiot, published in the Guardian 22nd August 2024
Why are peaceful protesters getting longer sentences than violent rioters?
By George Monbiot, published in the Guardian 14th August 2024
A functioning society depends on equality before the law. If crimes are not treated equally and dispassionately by the justice system, we lose trust in democracy and each other. But as sentences begin to be passed on racists who rioted earlier this month, we see once again a blatantly unequal application of the law.
Some time ago, I wrote a piece in support of Trove, which was in danger of not being funded properly to guarantee its continuation. In that article, I related a story from my family history, about a policeman uncle of mine who was shot while attempting to make an arrest1. This is another one from the past, and refers to the grandparents of the aforementioned policeman. On December 9th, 1905, in the local newspaper, the Wingham Chronicle and Manning River Observer in New South Wales was an article which went as follows:
“Presentation to Mr. and Mrs. Donald Cameron
For 14 years, the Conservatives and their friends in the media whipped up racism and Islamophobia. These riots are the result.
By George Monbiot, published in the Guardian 6th August 2024
“Fight, fight, fight,” senior Tories urged for years. Now they express shock, and condemn the results, when people prove stupid enough to have taken them at their word. While racist thugs will always be with us, governments can create either an environment that curbs them, or one that encourages them. Across its 14 years in power, the Conservative government encouraged them.
Tax the billionaires or their oppressive power will only grow.
By George Monbiot, published in the Guardian 31st July 2024
The host of the Australian Broadcasting Commission’s Insiders show, David Speers apparently referred to Kamala Harris, the Democratic Party’s likely nominee for President of the US in the upcoming election, as a ‘woman of colour’1. You’d think that a supposedly professional journalist would eschew such idiocy. Calling anyone a ‘person of colour’ is simply a way of stating they are non-white. I gather that Kamala Harris has referred to herself as a ‘woman of colour’.
As readers will know, we are downsizing and have three beds to get rid of before we move. While you can sell a bed frame/base fairly easily, it is difficult to sell a mattress, and charities like The Smith Family, The Salvation Army or St Vincent De Paul will not take them. So, the only options seemed to be to take it to a place called Soft Landing in an industrial suburb where they are recycled. Fees apply1, and I have heard from another source that this will cost you about $50. An alternative is to book a bulky waste collection from the kerbside outside your house.