Year: 2011

Business Spectator

Eurovision notes EU disharmony

13/05/2011
have always wondered why SBS keeps broadcasting the Eurovision song contest year after year. How would any sane person survive a whole evening watching weirdly dressed Ukrainian folk singers, Moldovan punk rockers or Israeli transvestites? Who cares for cringeworthy presenters in glitter suits that were not even fashionable when they were invented? And I haven’t even mentioned the absurdly tedious scoring system.

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Business Spectator

Australia’s Norwegian doppelganger

04/05/2011
The much praised Norwegian SWF may not be as shining an example as it first appears. Australia is well advised to think twice before following the Norwegian model. And, in any case, before it can ‘save’ any money, the Australian government should first reduce its $42 billion budget deficit. Otherwise Australia could end up looking like some entirely different European countries.

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Ideas@TheCentre

Playground stimulus

29/04/2011
How a new playground in a fossilised village can amount to ‘nation building’ is a government secret. They could have just as well repainted the disused railway station or installed a new dock in the closed courthouse.

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Business Spectator

A dangerous euro enchantment

28/04/2011
The evil spirits unleashed by the euro apprentices are not just a disaster for the continent’s economy. They have the potential to damage and weaken the political systems in many of its countries. There is no master wizard to stop this looming catastrophe; there is not even a master plan.

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Sydney Morning Herald

Look to Britain and hold the champagne

25/04/2011
The most frightening parallel between pre-crisis Britain and Australia today is more fundamental. In both cases, there was a dominant understanding that the countries had found their steady and stable growth model. In Britain it was based on financial services and house prices, in Australia on minerals and China.

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Business Spectator

Sad songs from Portugal

21/04/2011
The European rescue package will do little to make Portugal more attractive to its young generation. They only have to watch the news from Greece to see their own future. Overly indebted, unable to fund itself at reasonable interest rates in capital markets, the government will become dependent on funds from the European rescue funds almost indefinitely.

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Business Spectator

Out of Iceland’s ashes

14/04/2011
Icelanders are a tough people. No one turns catastrophes into opportunities as well as the Viking descendants. Instead of seeking foreign help with their country’s financial disaster, Icelanders are turning their backs on the EU.

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Uncategorised

Europa: weltweit beliebt, aber harmlos

13/04/2011
Keine Frage: Deutschland und Europa sind international beliebt. Das jedenfalls war jüngst das Ergebnis einer Umfrage des BBC World Service. Zu besonderen Freudenstürmen besteht allerdings bei genauerer Betrachtung kein Anlass. Dafür muss man nicht einmal Machiavelli gelesen haben. Der hatte schon vor einem halben Jahrtausend bemerkt, dass es manchmal besser ist, gefürchtet zu sein, als geliebt zu werden.

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Ideas@TheCentre

Unanswered infrastructure prayers

08/04/2011
This week produced more news about big infrastructure projects for Sydney. A government inquiry warned that without a second airport, Sydney could face severe flight disruptions within a decade. According to the transport minister, Anthony Albanese, Kingsford Smith Airport is already operating at capacity.

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Business Spectator

Home is where the money is

07/04/2011
I had a doctor’s appointment last week. Usually that would not be worth mentioning in this column were it not for what I learnt about my doctor’s family history.

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