Then comes Sir Walter Scott with his enchantments... Sets the world in love with dreams and phantoms; with decayed and swinish forms of religion; with decayed and degraded system of government; with the silliness and emptiness, sham grandeurs, sham gauds, and sham chivalries of a brainless and worthless long-vanished society. He did measureless harm; more real and lasting harm, perhaps than any other individual that ever wrote.

The senior management of Australia’s leading Banks went before the Australian Senate on Tuesday to answer questions regarding widespread fraud in their Superannuation / Wealth Management departments. Last year alone almost $80 million was paid to victims of the banks frauds. What was obvious at the senate hearing is the contempt the banks still have for Australian Laws, the Senate and their customers.

from Crikey …..

authoritarianism, not terrorists, killed Charlie Hebdo ….

With the gaggle of GOP 2016 presidential contenders growing, the Republican wannabes have largely refrained from assailing one another and have instead focused their wrath on Democratic candidate Hillary Clinton. But now Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) has launched one of the first R-on-R attacks, and he has done so regarding an issue of primal importance to the Republican voting base: guns.

Bjørn Lomborg is a well-known personality in the environmental debate. He is the author of several books which, due to their copious lists of notes and references, appear very technical and scientific and therefore trustworthy. Unfortunately, those reading his books or listening to his lectures or seeing his film are rarely aware that the facts and statements presented by Lomborg are often not reliable.

from Crikey ….

One hundred years ago this month – April 1915 – the Allies and Germany were stalemated on the Western Front. Winston Churchill, the young, ambitious First Lord of the British Admiralty proposed a scheme first advanced by France’s prime minister, Aristide Briand.

Larrikin lad from a life on the farm
always in trouble, but never did harm
Made a fine soldier when he answered the call
Ratbags can make the best of them all.
Somewhere in an unmarked grave
Sleep reward for being brave
If he woke, what would he say
about what's going on in Australia today?

Lest We Forget the lives that were lost
that the freedom we live in has come at a cost
that was paid for happiness, friendship and fun,
not liberty lived under Government Gun.

Iran will take the extraordinary step of sharing with Australia secret intelligence gathered by its operatives fighting Islamic State extremists in Iraq. 

Foreign Affairs Minister Julie Bishop revealed the co-operation after a meeting with Iran's President Hassan Rouhani, during which she said he described Islamic State as the "most significant global threat at present".

Intelligence sharing with Iran - which would have been unthinkable during the years the country was branded part of the "axis of evil" - has also become more likely as optimism grows that Iran, the US and world powers will strike a grand bargain to ensure the Islamic Republic will not build a nuclear weapon.

And you thought Woolworths’ exploitation of Anzac Day was bad. Wait till you see what News Corporation did over the weekend. Chris Graham explains.

I don’t know who invented the phrase ‘You can’t make a silk purse out of a sow’s ear’, but whoever it was, I’m pretty certain they’d never been in Australia on April 25.