Blogotariat

After what happened in the US on January 20th and subsequently, I have found myself constantly scrolling through assorted writings on Substack, where a large number of reasonably literate Americans, and some very astute Australians (e.g. John Quiggin, Tim Dunlop) are fulminating, or at least aghast at the idiotic petulance from the Mango Mussolini. I also recently heard this sort of scrolling being appropriately termed ‘doomscrolling’. This is defined as: “The act of spending too much time reading negative news online, especially on social media”.

Congratulations must go to the Albanese government and its Grand China Grovel, for it has delivered what is left of “Australia” a truly unprecedented outcome. When Qantas pilots jetting across the Tasman have to worry about the threat of potshots from Chinese warships, the stabilisation in relations between Canberra and Beijing has reached its limits.

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President Cyril Ramaphosa has downplayed the absence of US Secretary of State Marco Rubio at the G20 Foreign Ministers’ meeting, calling it “not a train smash.” Ramaphosa insisted that the US would still follow the outcomes of the discussions.

The rapid development of Artificial General Intelligence and advanced AI systems has ushered in a new era of technological capability. These systems are becoming increasingly sophisticated, capable of performing tasks that were once thought to require uniquely human intelligence.

AI, power and the future of human autonomy – A growing divide    By Yuri Koszarycz

Its all about Japan today as the latest inflation figures come in hot, sending a flurry of activity across the Japanese government bond market and Yen sharply lower as the BOJ indicates more rate rises are needed. Other Asian share markets are doing well although local shares are still flopping around due to the latest

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Mount Isa is looking to green energy and gravity storage in its disused mine shafts to secure a future for the city once its big mines close.

The Coalition’s nuclear plan takes a gamble with our electricity system that old coal will last the distance. It doesn’t account for the risks and extreme costs if that gamble fails.

... With Trump's win, the Liberals would have thought the latest manifestation of a widespread international swing to the right would put wind in their sails. But the counter-argument has grown — an erratic and autocratic Trump is making some Australian voters feel more unsettled and inclined to stick with the status quo.

Musk's big battery tweets set Australia on a path to a renewables revolution in 2017. His utterings on X in this election could help shape the future of energy in Australia.

The Real Estate Institute of New Zealand’s (REINZ) house price index (HPI) for January was released this week. Nationally, home values declined by 0.2% in January to be 1.4% lower year-on-year. The seasonally adjusted HPI recorded a slight increase of 0.1% in January, which was lower than the 0.7% rise in January 2024. After experiencing one

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Victoria’s public debt is already the highest in the country, and the state has the lowest credit rating. One of the causes of Victoria’s ballooning debt is the state’s wasteful infrastructure splurge, which frequently involves massive projects that do not stand up to critical examination. Victoria has recently seen cost overruns totalling $2.5 billion for

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The Bank of Russia (CBR) has said it is not in talks with the US administration regarding the removal of economic sanctions imposed over the Ukraine conflict. Washington has signaled that sanctions relief could be a part of the peace process to end hostilities, leading to speculation in the media about potential discussions.

Via Institute for Energy Economics & Financial Analysis. The worsening supply-demand outlook in Australia’s eastern states has prompted renewed calls for increased gas production. However, such measures have consistently failed to address the longer-term risk of supply gaps, and policy solutions should be further explored instead. Most notably, while LNG producers prioritise exports to take

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