Weekly roundup Saturday 2 December
We need to do a bit of work on housing
Weekly roundup of links to articles, reports, podcasts and other media on current political and economic issues in public policy.
Housing
Alan Kohler reveals the dirty secrets about housing policy, using lots of graphs. Lucy and Malcolm Turnbull explain why Campbelltown, Logan, Broadmeadows and Noarlunga don’t resemble Paris very closely – but they could with the right policies
Other economics
CPI data reveals that inflation is somewhere between plus and minus 3 percent, but the Reserve Bank will surely find an excuse to stifle the economy. How 45 percent of Australians can cut spending without reducing their standard of living. Explaining different countries’ economic performance: we’re really all boringly similar. The RBA may not know how monetary policy works but do you?
Politics
How Geert Wilders appeals to so many Netherlanders, even though he’s to the right of Angus Taylor. Opinion polls – voters feel duped because they thought they elected a Labor government. Independent research predicts that the last Coalition voter will die on 30 February 2032, give or take a few years. What the polls reveal about Labor-Coalition joint interests. The Voice vote analysed: we’re not racists, but Dutton made it so hard to know what the referendum was about.
True crime stories
Who we’re locking up and how much it costs – spoiler: putting people in the slammer is rather expensive. Gender-related violence. Why Chianti and Prosecco drinkers rarely murder one another.
Public ideas
Forget about the left and the right; think rather about identity versus universalism. How even the most careful journalists legitimize the far right. How Eichmann fooled us all – he really was a nasty person and not just a shipping clerk. The allure of easy solutions.
Summer music
Links to sources of webinars, podcasts and readings
If you have comments, corrections, or links to other relent sources, I’d like to hear from you. Please send them to Ian McAuley — ian, at the domain name ianmcauley.com
