Watch a relatively effective piece of government advertising. Think about how much worse it gets than that. Then wonder why political parties can't pay for their own advocacy.
Author: Charles Richardson
July election on again for Zimbabwe
Zimbabwe is going to the polls on 31 July, despite doubts about whether enough reforms have been made to allow for a truly democratic choice.
Egypt: reads and reactions
A selection of analysis and commentary on this week's events in Egypt. They convey the comforting message that I'm not the only one sitting on the fence.
A good coup, as coups go
Egypt's military seizes power – not usually the best of strategies for establishing democracy. But sometimes it's the only way, and so far the public seems to be behind it.
Snowden and statelessness
Edward Snowden has all sorts of problems. But statelessness isn't actually one of them.
Rudd, reaction and refugees
The reborn Kevin Rudd turns out, unsurprisingly, to be a "conservative" on refugees as well. But leaving aside the morality of his promised toughness, why does anyone think it makes political sense for Labor?
Egyptians rally for preferential voting (well, almost)
Demonstrations against Egypt's president reflect a variety of sources of discontent, but a large part of the problem goes back to the system that elected him.
Welcoming a bigger Europe
A few hours ago – midnight local time, or 8am eastern Australian time – the European Union became a little bigger, with the accession of Croatia as its 28th member. From its modest beginnings more than 60 years ago as an agreement of six western European countries to pool some of their industrial resources, the EU … Continue reading Welcoming a bigger Europe
Getting the story straight in Africa
Barack Obama is starting to tell a consistent story about human rights in Africa, and by implication elsewhere – helped by this week's Supreme Court decision on gay rights.
Incentive effects
If you increase the demand for political bastardry, you'll get more of it in the future. It's not entirely clear that the federal Labor Party realises this.
The World is Not Enough 