Recently added articles from Review - Institute of Public Affairs:
The 'mining boom' myth
Nov 01, 2008; ... The 'mining boom' is nothing more than the latest excuse for government interventionism, argues Sinclair Davidson Mining isn't the be-all and end-all of the Australian economy. If the 'mining boom ends', as widely predicted by politicians and other interventionists, life will go ...
Hitler's grotesque economics
Nov 01, 2008; ... Hitler's grotesque economics Sinclair Davidson reviews The Wages of Destruction: The Making and Breaking of the Nazi Economy by Adam Tooze (Allen Lane, 2007, 799 pages) In the acclaimed television series Band of Brothers the Webstet character abuses a column of German prisoners of war, ...
How Labor factions broke New South Wales
Nov 01, 2008; ... NSW's conservative ALP was good at fending off communism, but now it can't seem to do anything else, writes Richard Allsop. In the six months following the 1975 defeat of the Whitlam Government, Australia's two most populous states held elections. In Victoria, the voters ...
Your child is a wuss
Nov 01, 2008; ... When Belgian Gardens, a Townsville state primary school, banned cartwheels and handstands in August, it ignited a media frenzy. But as bizarre as it is, the handstand ban is only one incidence of a widespread trend affecting all Australian schools. Carlton Gardens Primary School has ...
Big fat beat up
Nov 01, 2008; ... The obesity industry has diagnosed the wrong problem, and proposed the wrong solution, argues Louise Staley. Arnold Schwarzenegger is obese. He's been ooese his entire adult life, including the seven times he won the Mr Olympia bodybuilding title. Despite obesity not impacting his own, ...
Imposing our preferences on whaling cultures
Nov 01, 2008; ... Restrictions on environmental resource use and sustainability should be based on science, not emotion, writes Jennifer Marohasy Few issues illustrate how subjective beliefs about morality distorts environmental debate more than the issue of whaling. Many environmentalists claim ...
The ideological baggage of Old Europe
Nov 01, 2008; ... The ideological baggage of Old Europe John Roskam reviews The Pursuit of Glory: Europe 1648 to 1815 by Tim Blanning (Penguin, 2007, 736 pages) On the television show Blitz, household gardens are designed and built in a couple of hours. In Britain in the eighteenth centuty people were ...
Not every journo can be Hunter S. Thompson
Nov 01, 2008; ... Objective journalism is being undermined by journalists with literary ambitions, writes Noel Bushnell. A long time ago on a newspaper far, far away, the [insert own adjective here, e.g. crusty, then-famous] editor marched up to his sub-editors table with something on his mind. The ...
The Iraq factor
Nov 01, 2008; ... Barack Obama may have lost control of his own foreign policy, writes Tony Parkinson. Stripped to the rawest of logic, Barack Obama's gameplan was to win the White House on the back of defeat in Iraq. Heading into the presidential election campaign, the same 'troops home' formula ...
The brave new world of lifestyle capitalism
Nov 01, 2008; ... The brave new world of lifestyle capitalism Benjamin Hourigan reviews The 4-hour Workweek: Escape the 9-5, Live Anywhere, and Join the New Rich by Timothy Ferriss (Vermillion, 2008, 308 pages) 'I believe that life exists to be enjoyed and that the most important thing is to feel good ...
STRANGE TIMES
Nov 01, 2008; ... The never ending fight against cough syrup Next time you travel to the United States, be careful-recklessly buying cough syrup could put you in court. In March this yeat, Iowan 47-year-old Gary Schinagel was arrested for buying too much of the common decongestant pseudoephedrine ....
Cops, not liquor regulations, reduce street violence
Nov 01, 2008; ... The emphasis on lockouts and alcohol laws is a distraction from tackling late night violence, argues Tim Wilson On one of its websites, the Queensland Government is remarkably honest about its attitude towards law-abiding businesses - 'the ability to trade is a privilege, not a ...
Sporting prowess obscured by the history warriors
Nov 01, 2008; ... Sporting prowess obscured by the history warriors Richard Allsop reviews Tom Wills: His Spectacular Rise and Tragic Fall by Greg de Moore (Allen & Unwin, 2008, 336 pages) The 150th anniversary of the first game of Australian Football in 1858 has not passed without ...
Biotechnology is bioterrific, not bioterrifying
Nov 01, 2008; ... Biotechnology is bioterrific, not bioterrifying Louise Staley reviews Edging Towards BioUtopia by Richard Hindmarsh (UWA Press, 2008, 330 pages) Near the beginning of Richard Hindmarsh's Edging Towards BioUtopia he provides, apparently un-selfconsciously, a persuasive illustration of the ...
The machinery of the 2007 federal election
Nov 01, 2008; ... The machinery of the 2007 federal election John Shipp reviews Inside Kevin07: The People, The Plan, The Prize by Christine Jackman (Melbourne University Press, 2008, 320 pages) If you are looking for hard-hitting political analysis of the Kevin07 campaign in the 2007 federal election, ...
The dark mind of the copywriter
Nov 01, 2008; ... The dark mind of the copywriter Chris Berg reviews Novels in Three Lines by Felix Fénéon (NYRB Classics, 2007, 176 pages) Ernest Hemingway once said that his best story was his shortest story, deliberately limited to just six words-'For sale: baby shoes, never used'-an exercise in ...
Public's priorities warped for international affairs
Nov 01, 2008; ... Foreign policy It's a good thing Australia's foreign policy isn't decided by public surveys. Results from a recent Lowy Institute survey show Australians have questionable judgement of what is in the national interest. First, Australian's think protecting jobs should top the ...
Why Keating makes Kevin look bad
Nov 01, 2008; ... The reform boldness of Paul Keating contrasts poorly with the timidity of Kevin Rudd, writes Greg Barns. Kevin Rudd stood on the shores of Lake Burley Griffin on a fresh Canberra morning in early September and told popular breakfast presenter Melissa Doyle of Channel 7's Sunrise program ...
Fantasies of 'free market' finance failure
Nov 01, 2008; ... Financial crisis Kevin Rudd, writing in The Australian in October, blamed the financial crisis on 'extreme free-market ideologues' who have 'resisted the regulation of financial markets.' The Prime Minister is trotting out the widespread belief that the 'free market' and 'extreme ...
Did global warming send Lehman Brothers broke?
Nov 01, 2008; ... The failed firm should have spent less time on climate change alarmism, and more on prudent risk management, writes John Roskam. There's much debate about the causes of the global economic crisis. According to the popular media some of the chief suspects include 'greed', Obscene ...