.

A week which started out as the one in which the Liberals hoped to begin to fight back has delivered them even more bad news, says Bob Ellis.

from mike carlton ….

(To the tune of Kingston Town)

Down the Bay all the Knights of Jay

 sip cocktails on the deck of Kevin Foley's yacht

With every drink the ship did sink

for the Wets were caught in a Right Wing Plot

      And I'm sad to say that it's Goodbye, Jay

     We won't see you come Election Day

     Your polls are down, no chance to turn them around

     and little Adelaide will be a Liberal Town

The prime minister, Tony Abbott, has told parliament he was unable to do anything to prevent Toyota from ending car manufacturing in Australia but that the government’s job was “not to preserve every single business indefinitely”.

“When some businesses close, other businesses open. While some jobs end, others start”.

The BBC's Today programme is enjoying high ratings, and the Mail and Telegraph are, as usual, attacking the corporation as left-wing. Last month, a single edition of Today was edited by the artist and musician P.J. Harvey. What happened was illuminating.

Prime Minister Tony Abbott is expected to announce a royal commission into unions and their finances as Federal Parliament prepares to return this week.

from Crikey …..

Coalition embraces big bank gouge that even Howard rejected

Remembering how HSBC helped launder hundreds of millions of dollars for drug cartels and terrorists and the DOJ let them get away with it.

The Prime Minister has declared he wants to make Australia the "affordable energy capital" of the world and says the system of promoting renewable energy is pushing up power prices.

Liberal backbencher and member for Murray Sharman Stone is presently the most effective opposition leader in the country. She's across her brief, argues her case powerfully and directly and carries with her an undeniable sincerity that spectacularly subordinates her own career advancement prospects to the interests of her constituents.

UN demands Holy See "immediately remove all known and suspected child sexual abusers" among clergy.

from Crikey .....

"The age of entitlement is over, the age of personal responsibility has begun."