Looking back

Just found this as 'Age letter 2016".  Did I put it up on site?  I'm too lazy to check.

"Let’s run over some of the cases where someone might shoot a policeman in the conduct of his duties and still have a good argument that there were mitigating circumstances.

1)    You’re his wife and he’s been beating you up for years.

2)    He’s been sexually abusing you since you were twelve.

3)    He’s Roger Rogerson and you’re Warren Lanfranchi and you see him coming.

None of these, admittedly, apply to Craig Minogue, but this law will still be on the books in a hundred years. Hard cases make bad law, and Murdoch-driven moral panics make very bad law."

Age binnacle

If the pollution from the fires takes a day off the life expectancy of everybody in Sydney, that’s the equivalent in terms of years of life lost to about 290 people dropping dead in the street. That’s a minimum figure – London’s five-day great smog in 1952 is estimated to have killed about 6,000. It’s becoming clear what Australia’s part is going to be in the great war on global warming; we’re the horrible example designed to scare other nations straight.  Good to see we’re still punching above our weight.