AT FIRST glance Matthew Chesher's drug bust appears to be an act of sheer stupidity by a 44-year-old father who should know better. This latest episode is another reminder that there's something rotten at the heart of the government of NSW. Consider the case of Scott Gartrell, the man who replaced Chesher as Carmel Tebbutt's main adviser. Until last week Gartrell was chief of staff to Tebbutt. Instead of sticking around to steer his boss (and fellow warrior of the Left) through what is likely to be her last election campaign, Gartrell chose to up and run A rotting government, as if voters needed reminding
NSW Roads Minister David Borger covered the ALP logos on campaign posters in his electoral office in Sydney's west - because he thought he was sticking to the rules NSW minister 'sticking to rules' ; After the arrest on Friday night of Matthew Chesher - a longtime Labor staffer and husband of Education Minister Verity Firth - over the purchase of an ecstasy tablet, Ms Keneally said today she was "furious" over the new crisis. Keneally fed-up with 'self-indulgent behaviour' Mr Chesher's arrest is another in a series of tawdry episodes for the Keneally government. In September, Ports Minister Paul McLeay quit cabinet admitting to viewing online porn and gambling sites from a parliamentary computer. Former Roads Minister David Campbell resigned after being filmed leaving a gay sauna, while Ian Macdonald was forced to resign after charging airfares to the taxpayer without permission. Former Labor MPs Karyn Paluzzano and Angela D'Amore were both punted from the party for rorting parliamentary expenses
Like Media Dragons Super Rich The Rise of the New Global Elite
F. Scott Fitzgerald was right when he declared the rich different from you and me. But today’s super-rich are also different from yesterday’s: more hardworking and meritocratic, but less connected to the nations that granted them opportunity—and the countrymen they are leaving ever further behind
In a plutonomy there is no such animal as “the U.S. consumer” or “the UK consumer”, or indeed the “Russian consumer”. There are rich consumers, few in number, but disproportionate in the gigantic slice of income and consumption they take. There are the rest, the “non-rich”, the multitudinous many, but only accounting for surprisingly small bites of the national pie.
• Transglobal community of peers who have more in Common with one another than with their countrymen back home; Business blog [THEY are the Macquarie Street globetrotters. Labor premiers and ministers spent 428 days and almost $2 million on taxpayer-funded trips overseas since the 2007 election. The pollies' grand world tour ; Commercial-property broker CB Richard Ellis Group Inc. (CBG) said Tuesday that employees in China made payments to local government officials in violation of company policy and possibly U.S. foreign bribery laws CB Richard Ellis has zero tolerance for illicit or unethical activity in any form]
• · Tommy Sheridan - latest in a distinguished line of pollies to be jailed for perjury in a libel case ; The Darwin Awareness Engine™ helps users track Web and Enterprise 2.0 events, uncover emerging trends and gain faster understanding of complex issues. To demonstrate the value of this new way to present time-sensitive and contextual information, we have dedicated a Darwin Edition to information relating to Wikileaks, the organization that shares controversial information and one of the hot topics in today’s news Media Dragons of Darwin Awareness
• · · Saatchi & Saatchi Prague brilliantly tapped a cultural phenomenon in a new campaign for T-Mobile that swept across the Czech Republic over the holidays Czech out a Czech Christmas custom; Czech dabing parody, part II, Hooligans
• · · · It's been an exciting time for The King's Speech star Geoffrey Rush. He garnered a standing ovation for his performance in The Diary of a Madman at Belvoir St Theater, then rushed over to a local Sydney station where he watched The King's Speech lead the pack at the Oscar nominations. The British monarchy saga earned 12 nods, including best picture and acting honours for Colin Firth, Helena Bonham Carter and a best supporting actor nomination for Rush. "I've been texting people in between interviews and there's a lot of excitement going on across the globe from our team," says Rush. "It's really wonderful. It's sort of like Ben-Hur proportions. It all seems a bit crazy, you know? " Love's locks lost for brushes with lunacy ; Nikolai Gogol's Diary of a Madman ; King's Speech: bbb-but what about Geoffrey Rush?
• · · · · John Malkovich was brilliant playing Casanova, although sometimes the switches between characters were hard to follow. IN HIS 57 years, John Malkovich has gained an important insight into the art of seduction: women hold the real power ; Martin Haselbock, who conducted the Sydney Symphony in the sellout production starring John Malkovich, rejected claims that the work was ''laughed off the stage'' when it premiered in Vienna earlier this month. However my highest accolade goes to the Sydney Symphony Orchestra; they covered several operas in one night (it seemed) and did so memorably." So remember, arts lovers: go early, go often John Malkovich being Casanova John Malkovich: 'I don't need to be liked' ''All five Vienna performances had extremely positive reactions with cheers, bravos and standing ovations,'' Haselbock said. ''We are booked to do five more performances in the same theatre next year.'' Hollywood icon John Malkovich
• · · · · · AMONG the speakers at this week's funeral of former NSW Liberal upper house member Frank Calabro, the first Italian-born representative elected to an Australian parliament, was former NSW premier Nick Greiner. Greiner recalled going to see Calabro in the early 1980s to seek his support for a tilt at the NSW Liberal leadership. Calabro told the Hungarian-born Greiner he would, as he saw in the younger man talent and energy. Greiner said Calabro went on to add the crucial clause: Us wogs have to stick together. Fitting tribute ; The whistle-blowing website WikiLeaks is the extension of a Facebook culture that reflects our prurient appetites for status updates and a constant drip of minutiae about everything from what we are eating to international intelligence. Next up: secrecy.