Last night, I had the privilege of attending a USSC event in Sydney, in which former Prime Minister John Howard spoke about the US-Australian relationship.  I was genuinely surprised by Mr Howard’s graciousness, particularly toward past and present Labor party members, and his humility.  I hadn’t expected to be so impressed by him. Content-wise, though, there was a lot to disagree with him about, not the least of which were his comments on the US Political system.  He strongly advocated the Westminster Cabinet (and incorrectly said the US doesn’t have a cabinet. Which it, of course, does. It’s just not [...]

So everyone’s talking about the flood tax. The “tax on mateship”. Whatever. Both parties have behaved more-than-a-little cynically in their approach to the situation, and everyone’s talking about the solution- a flood levy- rather than the underlying problem which is, of course, risk. More specifically, it’s a conversation about what risk should be socialized, and what risk shouldn’t. It makes perfect sense that unforseeable risk should be socialised.  Which is why I like socialised medicine. It makes sense that people shouldn’t have to bear unreasonable financial hardship because of something they had no choice in. It’s also why I like [...]