Melbourne's ticketing fiasco reflects the same sort of insularity that gave us compulsory voting and a broken school funding system, among other things.
And over the cliff we go – sort of
A deal dragged the United States back up the fiscal cliff, and the markets loved it.
Highlights of 2012: The top 10 elections
It was again a mixed year for elections, where the forces of change and the forces of stability both had their victories. Here's my top 10 for 2012.
Israeli Supreme Court backs democracy
The Central Elections Committee, a largely partisan body, had again tried to narrow the options available to Israel's Arab voters by disqualifying an anti-Zionist MP. Yesterday the Supreme Court stood up for democracy.
Well, isn’t that interesting?
A few days ago I said that Mario Monti, Italy's caretaker prime minister, had "left open the possibility of returning to government in some capacity." Now he's gone a step further, announcing that he will put himself at the head of a "centrist" ticket for February's election. The BBC reports as follows: The BBC's David … Continue reading Well, isn’t that interesting?
Who’s afraid of the fiscal cliff?
Expectations are low in Washington for reaching an agreement that would avoid the "fiscal cliff" next week. That's probably not something we should worry about too much.
Egypt’s president gets his constitution
Results are now final for the referendum on the new Egyptian constitution: it was approved with 63.8% voting in favor, on a low turnout of 32.9%. That's a win for Egypt's president Mohammed Morsi, but it also means the end of the extraordinary powers he had given himself to rule by decree beyond judicial review. … Continue reading Egypt’s president gets his constitution
Season’s Greetings
The World is Not Enough would like to wish all our readers the very best for the festive season, under whatever name you know it. My view, for what it's worth, is that Christmas in Australia is fundamentally a secular festival, and that no-one should feel hampered by their religious views (or lack thereof) in … Continue reading Season’s Greetings
Date set for Berlusconi’s last ride
It's been confirmed that Italy will go to the polls in just over two months, on 24-25 February. Prime minister Mario Monti, who has served since November 2011 as head of a non-partisan government, resigned on Friday following passage of his budget measures through parliament; he will stay on in a caretaker capacity until the … Continue reading Date set for Berlusconi’s last ride
Death of a conservative
Curious that the person perhaps most responsible for politicising the US supreme court, at least in the last fifty years, never actually took his seat on the court. Such was the significance of Robert Bork, who died this week at the age of 85. Bork's nomination to the court by Ronald Reagan in 1987 set … Continue reading Death of a conservative
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