I cannot and will not cut my conscience to fit this year's fashions.
Two years ago at my local ALP branch, I moved a motion urging the party to support dropping extradition proceedings against Julian Assange. Maroubra ALP is not inner city. It might be regarded as a bastion of the right. The motion was carried, near unanimously. After the debate, one member came up and said: “I think Assange is probably a narcissistic bastard but he’s ours.”
That is, he’s an Australian.
If Albanese asks for Assange’s freedom, Biden has every reason to agree: Bob Carr Bob Carr Bob Carr
I know we should want this for Assange but I would very much enjoy watching heads in the US explode:
Jean-Luc Mélenchon told press this morning
Time to act Anthony Albanese, the Assange persecution cannot be allowed to go on!
Now is the time to end the dangerous threat to basic freedoms and the rule of law that the Julian Assange persecution represents. The Albanese government has a critical role to play to do everything in its power to stop the extradition and end his punishment, Greg Barns writes.
Federal government lobbying behind the scenes for Assange’s freedom Sydney Morning Herald. Oh.
I had a great time earlier this month discussing philosophy and philosophers on the internet with Leigh Johnson, Richard Lee, and Charles Peterson on their podcast, Hotel Bar Sessions (Spotify, Apple Podcasts, Audible, and everywhere else). This team knows how to put together a well-produced show and structure a group conversation that makes for a good listen, and I think a lot of you will enjoy the episode I was on, which was released today.
A councillor has denied a Sydney's mayor’s claims that his complaint to ICAC over support for a surf life saving club was fuelled by disputes over a French knighting ceremony and local business awards.
The Sydney mayor who was the subject of a NSW Independent Commission Against Corruption complaint has threatened the councillor who submitted it with potential defamation action.
Randwick Mayor Dylan Parker to seek defamation advice against Noel D’Souza over ICAC complaint
This new blog post by John Cochrane is too good to excerpt, but here is one bit of it anyway, noting two points that on the AEA program do not receive a whole lot of attention:
Definitely recommended. Can you guess at what does receive a lot of attention? By the way, who today is “the next John Cochrane” and where is he or she being trained? That is what I would like to see discussed most of all.
Assessing the status and trends of net zero target setting across countries, sub-national governments and companies. Net zero is the dominant lens through which countries, states and regions, cities and companies approach decarbonisation. With global coverage of net zero nearly universal at the national level now, the big question is whether a sufficient proportion of targets across the wider economy acquire measures of robustness quickly enough to keep the Paris Agreement 1.5°C target within reach. The Net Zero Stocktake 2022 report — our first comprehensive analysis since Taking Stock over a year ago — shows that target-setting momentum continues and measures of quality are improving, but also that an alarming lack of credibility pervades the entire landscape.”
See also: “The Corporate Climate Responsibility Monitor evaluates the transparency and integrity of companies’ climate pledges.Companies around the world are increasing alert to the climate emergency. They face calls from a growing range of stakeholders to take responsibility for the impact of their activities. Most large companies now have public climate strategies and targets, many of which include pledges that, on the face of it, appear to significantly reduce, or even eliminate, their contributions to global warming. The rapid acceleration of corporate climate pledges, combined with the fragmentation of approaches means that it is more difficult than ever to distinguish between real climate leadership and unsubstantiated greenwashing. This is compounded by a general lack of regulatory oversight at national and sectoral levels. Identifying and promoting real climate leadership, and sorting it from greenwashing, is a key challenge that, where addressed, has the potential to unlock greater global climate change mitigation ambition.The Corporate Climate Responsibility Monitor assesses the climate strategies of 25 major global companies, critically analysing the extent to which they demonstrate corporate climate leadership. We evaluate the integrity of climate pledges against good practice criteria to identify good examples for replication, and highlight areas where improvement is needed..”
