Webdiary - Founded and Inspired by Margo Kingston

How much should we worry about inequality? Answering that question requires that we first answer another question: "Compared to what?" What is the alternative against which to judge the degree of inequality that we see?

"What China needs most is a financial sector capable of harnessing the forces of liberalization and globalization to drive economic growth in the decades ahead. The time has come to cast off the burden of building financial centers, and focus instead on advancing the modernization of Chinese finance.": Zhang Jun

I will now go and ‘download’ a glass of wine and be a ‘key stakeholder’ in watching a fabulous Mekong sunset.

"Because of my angle of vision, I see the flag as symbolising the war on Iraq, the war on refugees and Howard's war on the rule of law, once fundamental to our British Heritage, and on human rights for all Australians. But that's just me. I don't have a problem with other people wearing the flag. I do have a problem with the attitude that because it's not my thing, there's something unAustralian about me. Like the message some wore on the Big Day Out, 'Support or fuck off'. And I do have a problem with groups being told to fly the flag or else." Margo Kingston

The war in Iraq has been exceptionally bloody. For now, that is about all that statistics can safely tell us.

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The scenario has become painfully familiar. A war ends. An international donors’ conference is called. Pledges of billions of dollars are announced. But actual reconstruction and recovery is delayed, perhaps for years. Crony businesses from the US and Europe, which are utterly unfamiliar with local conditions, squander time, aid funds, and opportunities. Recriminations fly, the occupying army remains, and a new insurgency spreads.

"It seems to me that the role played by Australian MP's and Senators, in government particularly, is almost the opposite of what is needed." Ross Chippendale

" I’d say that since the Hanson image and John Howard's appropriation of the flag for political purposes louts and racists have colonised the display of the flag in some respects, as evidenced by its use during the Cronulla riots. So I’d support a ban, as the use of the flag in this way is itself a desecration of our flag. We’re talking a huge, sweaty, alcohol laden event here. Why give aggressive people with a yen for violence and hate a prop like the Australian flag to stir things up with?" Margo Kingston

Dawkins' book, The God Delusion, says: "If this book works as I intend, religious readers who open it will be atheists when they put it down". On the face of it, a deeply unlikely ambition, and not one that is borne out by the quality of the writing. Along the way, however, it does raise some important questions about the nature of morality, and the relationship of morality to religion.

"What good are Europe’s treaties aimed at ensuring the legal equality of all citizens when entire groups face systematic discrimination? That is the question that the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) faces this week." Robert Badinter

" Welby’s death raises two questions, which need to be distinguished. One is whether a person has a right to refuse life-sustaining medical treatment. The other is whether voluntary euthanasia is ethically defensible. ": Peter Singer

Malcolm's rewrite of CS Lewis moves on to a new adventure for Johnnie, Peter, Alexander, and Amanda ...

"We set out the basics of the Firepower story for those who want to play catch up and try to make some sense out of the machinations of the men with the magic mystery pill." Craig Rowley and Richard Tonkin.

"A dictator’s sudden death almost always triggers political instability. But it is doubly dangerous when it poses a risk of region-wide destabilization and a scramble for influence among the world’s greatest military powers – the United States, Russia, and China." F Stephen Larrabee

"Given all the effort that the world’s "emerging markets" have devoted to shielding themselves from financial volatility, they have reason to ask: where in the world is the upside of financial liberalization? That is a question all of us should consider.": Dani Rodrik

"Heavy sighs and teeth sucking have become commonplace in Washington and UN circles as diplomats and hard heads consider what to do about North Korea’s and Iran’s nuclear ambitions. Burma, whose secretive and murderous government recently literally headed for the hills, seems to have escaped the hard laser beam of disapproval, despite its own leading role, and nuclear objectives.": Melody Kemp

So perhaps we should clarify the issue and ask at this point: Given that it is so often seen as desirable, just what is wrong with revenge?

"Teenage suicide rates have been doing more rising than falling across the world for the past decade or more and Australia is no exception. In fact we have frequently managed to have a suicide rate which ranked as the highest of all of the industrialized nations." Roslyn Ross.

"This might be become a reality if ElefantAsia Laos launch a elephant time sharing arrangement. Before you raise your hands in horror and contact your local PETA branch, consider this. Stress and overwork are not just affecting your average downsized worker. Shrinking elephant populations afford little time to rest and recreate, or to be more precise, procreate. Too many elephants are suffering headaches and ‘not tonight-ism’.": Melody Kemp

"If a major flare-up causes investors to lose confidence in low volatility, the bottom could fall out from under equity and housing prices. In that case, do investors and policymakers have a plan B?": Kenneth Rogoff

"What do we owe to our great-great-great-grandchildren? What actions are we obligated to take now in order to diminish the risks to our descendants and our planet from the increasing likelihood of global warming and climate change? Almost everyone – except the likes of ExxonMobil, US Vice President Dick Cheney, and their paid servants and deluded acolytes – understands that when humans burn hydrocarbons, carbon dioxide goes into the atmosphere, where it acts like a giant blanket, absorbing infrared radiation coming up from below and warming the earth.": J Bradford DeLong

"It is our obligation as Japan’s most influential newspaper to tell our readers who was responsible for starting the Sino-Japanese War and the Pacific War." So writes Tsuneo Watanabe, Editor-in-Chief of Japan’s (and the world’s) most widely circulated newspaper, Yomiuri Shimbun, in the introduction to the book From Marco Polo Bridge to Pearl Harbor: Who Was Responsible.