Time to worship at Hillsong Church … the Premier, Bob Carr, and pastor Brian Houston address the crowd at the SuperDome last night Politicians make a joyful noise, too
Eye on Politics & Law Lords: Gang of Four
Here we go again, back to the NME's glory days.
Back to a mythology of office fist fights (true), typewriters thrown from tower blocks (untrue), drug ODs (a couple), hip young gunslingers (more than a few) and counter-cultural cool (we tried).
In the past few years, we've had Nick Hornby confessing that NME hack was the dream job he never had, Jonathan Coe featuring the paper in The Rotters' Club, obligatory mentions in every profile of those reluctant NME twins Tony (Parsons) and Julie (Burchill). Now comes an hour-long BBC documentary ostensibly covering the paper's entire 50-year history but focused on the Seventies and early Eighties, years which contain NME's so-called Golden Age when, to quote Ovid, 'men of their own accord, without laws, did what was right... a season of everlasting spring'.
• On remembering a golden age when politics and philosophy rubbed shoulders with Sex, drugs and rock'n'roll [ Open Letters, Closed Minds ; Predictions are difficult to make—especially when they’re about the future Are We at a Turning Point in History? ]
• · From the sick man of Europe to its richest, Ireland has made a remarkable transformation, writes Thomas Friedman
The luck of the Irish? No, it's just hard work and a grand plan ; Elisabeth Sexton examines this difficult question in the light of the James Hardie cas e Directors: to whom do they owe care? ; True Patriots Act You shouldn't have to surrender your liberties to prove you love the red, white and blue
• · · The office crawler would be rewarded under the Howard Government's planned industrial relations laws changes while quiet hard workers would miss out Beware the crawler: Beazley ; NSW Premier Bob Carr wants the federal government to abolish the Commonwealth Grants Commission and to stop what he says is the redistribution of NSW GST revenue to Queensland and Western Australia Carr tax cut if grants commission dumped
• · · · By Brian Toohey. 2 Jyly 2005 The Australian Financial Review: When the Howard government was elected in 1996, the Income Tax Act was about 3000 pages. It is now more than 10,000 pages. There are also innumerable interpretive guidelines and rulings issued by the Australian Taxation Office and thousands of extra pages associated with GST legislation and associated interpretations. Much of this added complexity stems from changes flowing from the 1999 Ralph report on business taxes Tax laws beg for clarity ; When the rate of capital gains tax was halved in 1999, the Prime Minister, John Howard, the Treasurer, Peter Costello, and their tax reviewer, John Ralph, promised a boon in economic benefit and efficiency. Instead, they contributed to a perilous property bubble, directed a generous tax break to the wealthiest and delivered, at best, a piddling addition to productive investment Falling short of a capital idea
• · · · · Recycling is the cheapest way to respond to Sydney's water crisis, writes Malcolm Turnbull Recycling is the cheapest way to respond to Sydney's water crisis ; Why the longevity boom will make us sorry to be alive
• · · · · · Mirojub Lukenic ran a Sydney cafe for more than a year but never sold a cup of coffee Bogus cafe 'front for stolen goods' ; Pop and rock stars are nowadays as influential in government circles as they are among their teenage fans. Is this necessarily a good thing? What do pop stars know about the world?