David Cameron commits himself to a compulsory internet porn filter, à la Stephen Conroy and Kim Beazley. It doesn't make any sense, but for certain sorts of policies, that doesn't seem to be an obstacle.
Category: Ideas
Fundamentalism on trial in Bangladesh
A controversial verdict from Bangladesh's war crimes tribunal has led to violent protests. The background is a complex mixture of war, religion and politics.
Political advertising revisited
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.
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.
The tea party fights back on immigration
A new study on the "tea party" movement gives some hints on why immigration reform is such a hard sell in the US Republican Party.
Do libertarians believe in democracy?
A set-to between Jon Chait and Rand Paul has an important moral. Democrats should get over their fear of limited government, and libertarians should get over their fear of democracy.
The politics of science and scaremongering
The anti-science position on GMOs has been taking a battering on the left, but no-one on the right seems willing to stand up to its anti-science brigade on climate change.
Do teenagers count as people?
The New South Wales government plans to (yet again) treat young people as second-class citizens, this time with high-frequency sound that the rest of us are too old to notice.
The world digs deeper into Syria
Syria descends further down the spiral of intervention and escalation. But there's no going back to the era of Mid-East autocrats.
The World is Not Enough 