Bronwyn Bishop will have to get by on a pension of $255,000 plus 10 free domestic return flights a year if she were to take the Prime Minister’s hint and quit Parliament at the next election. Continue reading Saturday salon 8/8
The momentum at present is with lithium-iron batteries, which are being used in devices from mobile phones to electric cars. Since the technology was commercialised in 1991 its performance has improved immensely – design tweaks have tripled the energy stored in a given volume. Continue reading Lithium-ion batteries and other electricity storage news
Last week’s Morgan poll had Labor ahead 54-46, Essential continues at 53-47. There was no Newspoll this week but the Abbott Government’s political fortunes remain decisively buried. Interest turns to how the leaders are tracking. Here the news is that “Don’t know” and “Anyone else” are performing very well indeed. Continue reading Poll stuff 5/8
The verdict:
French President Francois Hollande did not turn up to give the opening address at a major climate science conference in Paris recently, being otherwise occupied with questions concerning Grexit. Had he been there he may have been able to explain why France has restored subsidies to the French companies building coal-fired power stations in other countries.
As the matter stands, we are told, a coal renaissance is underway which will deliver a 4°C world, or warmer. Continue reading Coal renaissance, as scientists meet and the faithful examine their conscience
Malaysia Airlines flight MH370 disappeared in March last year with 239 passengers and crew onboard. Now 16 months on, what appears to be the wing section of a plane has been found washed up at Reunion, a small French-owned island east of Madagascar. Continue reading Saturday salon 1/8
The Roy Morgan poll, taken over the past two weekends, headlines:
Support for the LNP is down 3 points to give Labor a lead TPP of 54-46. The Greens support is at 15% (up 1.5%) – the highest Greens vote since September 2010. Continue reading Politics after Bronnie and the ALP conference
James Hansen has a 17 author paper out suggesting that we could have multi-metre sea level rise this century. It’s based on the notion that meltwater from the ice sheets interrupts ocean circulation patterns, which then cause a feedback loop via larger storms. I think that’s it in brief. Continue reading Climate clippings 148
Turning back asylum seeker boats can only be done legally and ethically, in my view, with the agreement of transitional countries, such as Indonesia, Malaysia and Thailand. Unfortunately the form of the decision made at the ALP conference makes clear that the ALP would seek to act without such agreement. Continue reading Turning back boats – only by agreement
On Wednesday, prior to COAG on Thursday, our political leaders held a summit or retreat to dicuss taxation and the future of the federation. By all accounts they enjoyed the talkfest – Jay Weatherall said it was “very positive” and that “in my sense and my operation in COAG over the last five years, this is probably the most constructive I have ever seen”.
Despite that there is no evidence they actually decided anything except lowering the threshold at which the GST applies to offshore online purchases. Continue reading Saturday salon 25/7
It can’t be true. In the UK unemployment is being redefined as a psychological disorder as part of an effort to cut the welfare bill by $12 billion. And, says an article in the New Scientist (can’t find the link), the UK
They say “claimants must demonstrate characteristics deemed desirable in workplaces, like confidence and enthusiasm, in return for welfare.” Continue reading Pathologising unemployment
