The Punch

We all have to pay tax. And then we have to die.

These two fundamentals are well understood by most Australians - that’s what I surmise from our latest Auspoll. Somewhat astonishingly, to me anyway, a massive 76 per cent of Australians we asked this week said people with terminal illnesses should be allowed to choose euthanasia without breaking the law.

76 per cent is an extraordinary figure. It’s hard to get that for a tax cut. We thought we would find a modest majority on this question, but backing from four out of five Australians for the right to choose the timing and manner of our inevitable exit is very emphatic.

Continue reading "The issue that will not die: 76% support for euthanasia" »

Earlier this year a mate and I drove 300km across North Carolina to have a pork sandwich. The town of Lexington is the capital of what our American friends call “barbecue” –slow-cooked, shredded pork shoulder served with a vinegary chilli sauce and coleslaw. You can feel your heart slowing down as you eat it and I cannot recommend it highly enough.

Heading west from Lexington, towards the hillbilly heartland of the Appalachian Mountains, we saw a huge billboard on the side of one of the backroads.

It said: “You are now entering Klan Country” and bore the swastika-inspired logo of the Ku Klux Klan and a huge Confederate Flag.

Continue reading "Freedom of speech extends to the vulgar, vacuous and vile" »

Meet the respectable gentlemen of the Compton Cricket Club. Reformed gangsters and bad-asses from the violent neighbourhood of Compton, Los Angeles, who’ve taken up cricket to better themselves.

The CCC touched down in Australia this week, to raise funds and awareness for the club’s proposed tour of Australia in January and February.
Formed in the late 1990s, the team has previously toured England five times, and even performed their fantastic cricket rap at Buckingham Palace. The Guardian called it “the best cricket song ever”.

Continue reading "Gangsta cricketers make a serious point, not a silly one" »

As suspenseful as a Hitchcock movie, the twists and turns along the path to the nation’s 43rd Parliament remain a source of fascination and frustration in equal measure. And still it drags on.

We may have to wait until the last moment to know who will be Speaker, (and Deputy Speaker) in the House of Representatives, where government is made - and potentially unmade.

It matters because it affects the final numbers able to be called upon in a vote. Labor has already announced a massive legislative program including more than 40 bills this coming week alone. How any will get through is simply unknown.

Continue reading "Saddling up for the smiley new politics" »

There are varying viewpoints on Sergio Redegalli’s “Say no to burqas” mural, but only one way to look at his facial hair.

It’s unAustralian. There should be a law against this. Could the council make him get rid of it?

Watching Robert de Castella win the marathon at the 1982 Brisbane Commonwealth Games is one of my favourite sporting memories. De Castella trailed two runners from Tanzania for most of the race, eventually powering home to win in the last 100 metres. It’s what the Commonwealth Games is all about.

During the Republic debate in 1999, one of the most frequently asked questions was if Australia became a Republic could we still attend the Commonwealth Games? The answer of course was yes, but it showed how much the Commonwealth Games is part of our rich sporting history and national identity.

In just nine days, 390 Australian athletes will join 7,000 athletes and officials from 71 nations around the world to write the newest chapter in Commonwealth Games history.

Continue reading "To go or not to Delhi 2010 should be up to individuals" »

Well it looks like Katy Perry – pop chanteuse, novelty wig wearer, man-tamer and controversy stoker – has done it again. 

Entertainment news site TMZ reported yesterday that Sesame Street producers had pulled her recently filmed duet with Elmo. The charge? It’s too boobtastic.

In March, Perry filmed an ostensibly kid-friendly version of her hit song “Hot N Cold” with Elmo for the show’s upcoming season, to teach young viewers about opposites. Namely, up/down, fast/slow, stop/go, yes/no, human/muppet.

Continue reading "Reactionary boobs got Katy Perry pulled from kids TV" »

If the Australian people were faced with the prospect of this weekend’s AFL grand final not going ahead because neither team could agree on the umpire, this nation could be faced with a level of social unrest that could force East Timor to come to our aid. Fortunately this crisis only goes to whether our Parliament can sit or not so it will be fine.

With the decision by Tony Abbott not to honour parts an agreement on parliamentary reform we are still faced with a speakerless House of Representatives, and now the awkward question of whether we’ll return for Parliament next week or not.

There are a couple of things to consider about Abbott’s decision and Gillard’s reaction to it. Needless to say it’s all about concern for political hides rather than anything to do with parliamentary reform. 

Continue reading "So should we call Parliament off next Tuesday?" »

The likelihood of interest rates rising is back on the agenda, following explicit warnings from the Reserve Bank that it is considering the need for tighter monetary policy.

The Coalition has consistently warned that the Labor Government’s heavy borrowing and build up of debt will put upward pressure on interest rates.

These warnings have been rejected by the government and by a few select commentators in the media.

Continue reading "Big spending equals big rates - no buts about it" »

One of the things I’ve always loved about foreign languages is the way they throw up the perfect single word for a complex concept which takes many English words to explain.  Perhaps the most famous of these is the German word ‘schadenfreude’, meaning the delight we take in another person’s misfortune. 

For Lateline, I recently read a book called ‘Tokyo Vice’  that included a number of fascinating Japanese examples.  My favourite was ‘doki’ which refers to a group of people who join a corporation at the same time; the sort of work family which whom you form a strangely unique bond which endures even after everybody moves on. 

There were also a number of different words for the generic English word ‘sadness’.  ‘Setsunai’, according to author Jake Adelstein, is “a feeling of sadness and loneliness so powerful that is feels as if your chest is constricted, as if you can’t breathe; a sadness that is physical and tangible”.  Another word ‘yarusenai’ means a grief or loneliness of which you can’t rid yourself.

Continue reading "Well readhead: now with less schadenfreude" »