Caught in the net
As the Internet munches away at our tired brain-cells it’s interesting to see how politicians are managing not to cope — or better still, how their image-makers are grappling with this dastardly, irrational, technology. This week Patrick Foster, on his TimesOnline site, reported that the British Prime Minister, Gordon Brown had silenced his YouTube critics by disabling “viewer comments” on the Downing Street YouTube portal.
The issue that caused such angst was Brown’s appearance on his YouTube site trying to hose down a voter reaction to a scandal involving Labour ministers and their government-paid expenses. One minister, the Home Secretary, Jacki Smith, was mauled when it turned out that her husband had ticked-up porno films on his wife’s government credit card. British MPs’ have also been exposed for claiming 2nd-home allowances under murky circumstances. Naughty!
Patrick Foster’s Online site reported, “Gordon Brown’s YouTube message on MPs’ expenses has been watched only 4000…
Madam: Archbishop Fisher (July-August 2024) does not resist the attacks on his church by the political, social or scientific atheists and those who insist on not being told what to do.
Aug 29 2024
6 mins
To claim Aborigines have the world's oldest continuous culture is to misunderstand the meaning of culture, which continuously changes over time and location. For a culture not to change over time would be a reproach and certainly not a cause for celebration, for it would indicate that there had been no capacity to adapt. Clearly this has not been the case
Aug 20 2024
23 mins
A friend and longtime supporter of Quadrant, Clive James sent us a poem in 2010, which we published in our December issue. Like the Taronga Park Aquarium he recalls in its 'mocked-up sandstone cave' it's not to be forgotten
Aug 16 2024
2 mins