John Daley Chief Executive Officer Grattan Institute This is longer than the usual Conversation article, so allow some time to take it in. Nobody likes talking about the COVID-19 endgame, but we need to choose one. The appropriate interventions – public health, government spending, and freedom of movement – all depend
Frank Zappa’s observation that “Communism doesn’t work because people like to own stuff” might seem like a flippant remark, but it reflected a brutal truth. Deng Xiaoping’s market reforms in the 1980s tacitly acknowledged this truth: not even the Maoist regime could stop basic human entrepreneurship. Black
Welcome to this week’s show with Dieuwe de Boer representing New Zealand and Tim Wilms representing Australia. It’s going to be another Chinese Virus themed episode, but we’ll try to focus on other important news as much as possible.
The panic-buying in Australian supermarkets is reaching truly idiotic proportions. First it was dunny paper, then rice and flour. Then meat shelves were stripped. Then they started clearing Bunnings of seedlings, as if they somehow think they’ll magically grow dirt-food in the next few weeks. Now, these
Panic buyers are dickheads. Scalpers who try and flog off their massive stockpiles of bog roll and hand sanitiser are even worse. But the million-dollar-a-year elites, our university vice-chancellors, make them all look like paragons of community-spirited virtue. As news of an outbreak of a
It’s said that crises bring out the best and worst in people. In the case of the legacy media, it’s brought out almost nothing but the worst. A social media meme sums it up best: What’s worse is that the so-called ‘quality’, taxpayer-funded media are
As I’ve written before, the Morrison government’s plans for a royal commission into Australia’s bushfire disaster this summer is fraught with potential problems. Not least is that unscrupulous climate activists will turn it into a bully pulpit for their hysterics. Another potential roadblock is that those with
Here are two iron-clad rules you should always keep handy in your Bullshit Detection Kit: 1. If a headline claims “Study shows…” or “Science says…” assume that it doesn’t, until proven otherwise. 2. Whatever a “Fact-Checker” says, assume that they’re wrong or lying, until proven otherwise.
Tim and Dieuwe will be talking about the latest developments on both sides of the ocean, including the risks of economic upheaval and the anniversary of the Christchurch terrorist attack. Subscribe to the Youtube channel and ring the bell to be notified when we go live next week.
As I asked recently on The BFD, is it time to bulldoze the universities? It was mostly tongue-in-cheek – but not entirely. Universities have reached a point where they are little more than job creation schemes for middle-managers and left-wing indoctrination camps. Administrators outnumber teachers and researchers;
The latest Jacinda Ardern–Scott Morrison contretemps – her unwonted, un-diplomatic public scolding of the Australian prime minister over deporting New Zealand-born criminals in Australia – has been fairly thoroughly dissected here at The BFD. But it’s a gift that just keeps on giving. Especially because, perhaps like no
New Zealanders better hope, for the sake of the trans-Tasman relationship, that Jacinda Ardern is not returned to the Prime Minister’s office this September. Of course, to re-elect or not the Ardern government is New Zealanders’ decision alone and will certainly – and rightly – be judged on everything
Hair-trigger race-botherer Tim Soutphommasane can scream “racism!” all he likes, but as COVID-19 hits Australia, most of us can’t help noticing a commonality. The domestic spread of the virus is now underway, and it appears to have begun in the sprawling suburbs of northwest Sydney. The
Where will we hold Australia, we who have no other country? Not Indigenous, merely born here. Les Murray The Scandinavians have recently been told in no uncertain terms that they’re “Niente. Nada…there is no such thing”. Soyboys screech, “You don’t have a culture, you’re white!” Now,
BFD readers have had to endure some of Australasia’s most nauseating eructations of left-media flatulence in recent years, as the luvvies on both sides of the Tasman eagerly line up to swoon at the feet of their Socialist Barbie. Some of the worst fawning has been from here
