http://www.thepunch.com.au/ Politics, political opinion, world news, sports news and the latest news and views updated live, daily on The Punch - Australia's best conversation. en Copyright 2012 The Punch penberthyd@newsltd.com.au penberthyd@newsltd.com.au Tue, 07 Feb 2012 03:00:41 +0000 Tue, 07 Feb 2012 03:00:41 +0000 Politics, opinion, world news, sports news, latest news, views, Barack Obama, Kevin Rudd, Julia Gillard, Nathan Rees, Malcolm Turnbull, Peter Garrett, Barnaby Joyce, Australian, federal politics, opinion polls, election, The Punch, thepunch, punch ExpressionEngine 1.6.7 http://blogs.law.harvard.edu/tech/rss 15 http://www.thepunch.com.au/images/punch-logo-rss.png http://www.thepunch.com.au/ 144 70 Politics, political opinion, world news, sports news and the latest news and views updated live, daily on The Punch - Australia's best conversation. Search The Punch keywords http://www.thepunch.com.au/search/ http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/interest-rate-barney-barely-even-rates-as-interest/ Stop all the cheering, cut off the champagne. Prevent the pollies from barking and silence the drums. The piddling interest rate cut didn’t even happen. Today’s widely expected drop of 25 basis points was the catalyst for plenty of chest beating. Treasurer Wayne Swan tried to unleash righteous fury, the banks tried to cry poor, the unions said the banks are squeezing ordinary Australians, and not in a good way. Nothing happened. The Reserve Bank of Australia decided to keep the cash rate steady. But was all the hullabaloo justified in the first place? feedback@thepunch.com.au (Tory Shepherd) Article http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/interest-rate-barney-barely-even-rates-as-interest/#comments http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/interest-rate-barney-barely-even-rates-as-interest/#item7700 Tue, 07 Feb 2012 03:00:41 +0000 Interest rate barney barely even rates as interesting http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/life-slips-by-while-youre-filming-it-on-your-phone/ Some friends of mine had lunch on Saturday with a mate who spent so much time artfully composing photos of the gathering to post on Facebook they never got to have an actual conversation. It was as if my friends were just attractive extras, hired to play a part in this bloke’s nicely curated published version of his excellent life. I’ve also written before about paying hundreds of dollars for a great experience only to miss it because you can’t bring yourself to switch off your iPhone. It’s a modern curse. And in cases like these the greatest danger is your friends will be busy next time you suggest a photo-shoot, neatly disguised as a catch-up. But what happens when the urge to document an event gets in the way of saving someone’s life? There is a terrible story out of the flood-affected Queensland town of Roma this morning about about a woman who was swept away by raging waters while six brave, still-connected-to-reality men tried desperately to save her. tors@thepunch.com.au (Tory Maguire) Article http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/life-slips-by-while-youre-filming-it-on-your-phone/#comments http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/life-slips-by-while-youre-filming-it-on-your-phone/#item7698 Tue, 07 Feb 2012 01:25:55 +0000 Interest rate barney barely even rates as interesting http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/other-stuff-to-be-angry-about-today-with-chorizo-pic/ That dopey Spaniard. Three-time Tour de France winner Alberto Contador has been banned for two years, and is now officially just a two-time Tour de France winner, after copping a two year ban for drug use. Contador was overnight stripped of his 2010 Tour win by the Court of Arbitration for Sport for testing positive to the banned anabolic agent clenbuterol. The Spaniard says he ingested the substance by eating contaminated steak. Sure he did. The Punch has dined on more than occasion at a delightful tapas bar near our office and we can say with some confidence that both the chorizo and the steak was steroid free. ant@thepunch.com.au (Anthony Sharwood) Article http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/other-stuff-to-be-angry-about-today-with-chorizo-pic/#comments http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/other-stuff-to-be-angry-about-today-with-chorizo-pic/#item7699 Tue, 07 Feb 2012 01:20:46 +0000 Interest rate barney barely even rates as interesting http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/is-it-sexist-weve-got-nothing-to-compare-it-to/ It all started with the empty fruit bowl on a stark kitchen bench in Altona. The Fairfax profile of Julia Gillard in her first early days of prime ministership was a sign of times to come. Being Australia’s first female PM was going to be far from easy. From grooming, decorum and the sound of her voice, to the appropriateness of her relationship with de facto partner, Tim Mathieson. To the lack of emotion displayed on cue from the devastation of the Queensland floods.  When it comes to scrutiny of the personal nature, as a politician Julia Gillard has copped more than most.  As a prime minster it’s been unprecedented. The only real question is why. kippistl@news.com.au (Lucy Kippist) Article http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/is-it-sexist-weve-got-nothing-to-compare-it-to/#comments http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/is-it-sexist-weve-got-nothing-to-compare-it-to/#item7694 Mon, 06 Feb 2012 19:00:29 +0000 Interest rate barney barely even rates as interesting http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/memo-kev-pee-or-get-off-the-pot/ The joke when Peter Costello was trying in vain to cobble together a viable leadership push was that he had enough supporters to fill a Tarago van. Kevin Rudd probably has around the same level of support – Kev’s van might also be fitted with a trailer to carry a few extra bods up the back – but it in numerical terms it is far from being an unstoppable juggernaut which will steamroll Julia Gillard out of the top job. It’s the numbers that matter in politics. In the absence of good numbers, aspiring leaders fall back on psychology. History suggests it offers no sure path to the leadership. Quite the opposite. Peter Costello was a bit like the dorky guy at the school disco who hung around in the corner hoping a girl would ask him to dance. penberthyd@newsltd.com.au (David Penberthy) Article http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/memo-kev-pee-or-get-off-the-pot/#comments http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/memo-kev-pee-or-get-off-the-pot/#item7697 Mon, 06 Feb 2012 18:55:00 +0000 Interest rate barney barely even rates as interesting http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/what-happens-to-us-if-we-collide-with-gfc-2.0/ In 2008, one of the biggest financial disasters in history took place. When investment bank Lehman Brothers collapsed, the global financial crisis announced its unwanted presence to the world. Four years later, the European debt crisis has again left the global financial system teetering on the edge of the abyss. Make no mistake. This is the Cuban Missile Crisis of economics. Christine Lagarde, managing director of the IMF, has warned of a 1930s style Great Depression. Former prime minister Paul Keating has called it the “worst crisis of his lifetime.” Legendary speculator George Soros, in a chilling interview with Newsweek, had this to say: “We are facing now a general retrenchment in the developed world, which threatens to put us in a decade of more stagnation, or worse. The best-case scenario is a deflationary environment. The worst-case scenario is a collapse of the financial system.” feedback@thepunch.com.au (Adam Glyde) Article http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/what-happens-to-us-if-we-collide-with-gfc-2.0/#comments http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/what-happens-to-us-if-we-collide-with-gfc-2.0/#item7680 Mon, 06 Feb 2012 18:50:28 +0000 Interest rate barney barely even rates as interesting http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/harry-potter-and-the-chamber-of-rip-offs/ Took my daughter to the Harry Potter exhibition at Sydney’s Powerhouse Museum on the weekend. She loved it. Great day out. No arguments with the exhibition at all. We pre-booked a $95 family ticket, then queued to get into a queue which led to the queue at the start of the exhibition. Not ideal, but again, no arguments. You’re always going to get crowds with something this popular. The exhibition was terrific, with all kinds of artefacts, costumes and props from the Potter movies. And then the thing ended, in the world’s most expensive gift shop. ant@thepunch.com.au (Anthony Sharwood) Article http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/harry-potter-and-the-chamber-of-rip-offs/#comments http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/harry-potter-and-the-chamber-of-rip-offs/#item7696 Mon, 06 Feb 2012 18:45:12 +0000 Interest rate barney barely even rates as interesting http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/the-science-of-punching-on/ Recently, Jason Tin wrote a rather satisfying article about the imminent death of the internet due to it collapsing under the weight of its own vapid incivility. He’s right. And you’ve seen it, of course. An online comment section can turn a group of people who pay their mortgages and love their kittens into petty, hateful stupid people braying non-sequiturs at each other like Tourettes’ donkeys. But, why? Good question. Science, having nothing better to do, has come up with some rather intriguing answers. So if the internet is dead, then consider me the pathologist – the science wonk who goes picking around in its chest cavity with tweezers trying to determine what killed it. feedback@thepunch.com.au (James Heathers) Article http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/the-science-of-punching-on/#comments http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/the-science-of-punching-on/#item7692 Mon, 06 Feb 2012 18:40:19 +0000 Interest rate barney barely even rates as interesting http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/punch-on-open-thread-07-02-2012/ It’s the first Tuesday of the month, so if you’ve got a mortgage, you know what that means: you’re going to be hearing about interest rates today. Economists are saying that it’s likely the RBA will cut rates. But those same economists, and punters, don’t seem to think it’s particularly likely the banks will pass on any cuts. What’s interesting YOUR rates today? What’s on your mind? piotrowskid@newsltd.com.au (Daniel Piotrowski) Article http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/punch-on-open-thread-07-02-2012/#comments http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/punch-on-open-thread-07-02-2012/#item7695 Mon, 06 Feb 2012 18:00:03 +0000 Interest rate barney barely even rates as interesting http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/facebooks-being-a-boob-over-breastfeeding-pics/ The Facebook ban on photographs of women breastfeeding their own children raises some important issues about freedom of choice and the role of social media in setting behavioural standards. There is no valid reason for any social media network to ban legitimate pictures posted by women of themselves breastfeeding their own children. Such pictures can help normalise breastfeeding and educate others about how breastfeeding is done in real life. feedback@thepunch.com.au (Gail Gago) Article http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/facebooks-being-a-boob-over-breastfeeding-pics/#comments http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/facebooks-being-a-boob-over-breastfeeding-pics/#item7693 Mon, 06 Feb 2012 04:00:31 +0000 Interest rate barney barely even rates as interesting