Adelaide was rated the fifth most liveable city in the world by The Economist this week. I guess they don’t care much about electricity costs:
The IPA’s Daniel Wild explained why electricity is so expensive in South Australia on Sky News on Saturday. In July Brett Hogan wrote on IPA Today about how the SA government and Elon Musk’s grand plans for a giant battery will not do anything to solve the issue.
The controversy over Yarra Council in Melbourne choosing to stop referring to January 26 as Australia Day won’t go away any time soon. The IPA’s Simon Breheny explained on ABC News on Wednesday why Australia Day shouldn’t be moved. Back in February, the IPA’s Dr Bella d’Abrera explained in The Spectator Australia why the #ChangeTheDate movement is so misguided.
Here are the three things you need to read about the terrible events happening in Charlottesville:
- Brendan O’Neill’s post on Monday on how Charlottesville is the natural endpoint of identity politics.
- Kevin D. Williamson in National Review on Wednesday on how white nationalists “seek identity in the tribe because they are failed individuals“.
- Peter Beinart in the upcoming edition of The Atlantic on the history of Antifa and the rise of the violent left.
This is such a waste of taxpayer money it’s almost impressive. Last week it was revealed that European Commissioner Jean-Claude Juncker spent £24,450 on a chartered trip to Rome for a one night stay last year. But of course Britain’s economy will fall apart away from the guided stewardship of the EU.
It survived The Blitz but it was no match for health and safety – Big Ben is set to be silent for the next four years to protect the ears of restoration workers.
Last week the IPA was proud to host Wall Street Journal editorial board member Mary Kissel on her tour of Australia. Peter Gregory and I interviewed her on The Young IPA Podcast on Trump, Obamacare, foreign policy and more. You can also listen on SoundCloud and on our website. You can also hear her on The Alan Jones Show and The Bolt Report.
The Samuel Griffith Society is hosting its 2017 Conference in Perth from the 25th to the 27th of August. Speakers include our former Deputy Executive Director and now Senator James Paterson, Tony Abbott and Senator David Leyonhjelm. Register here.
Article of the week:
Last week we told you about James Damore, the Google software engineer who wrote about Google’s ideological echo chamber and was fired for doing so. Read the story in his own words from The Wall Street Journal on Saturday – ‘Why I was fired by Google‘.
IPA Staff Pick:
Each week an IPA staff member shares what they have enjoyed recently. Today: Matthew Lesh
Even though I don’t agree with it all, The Atlantic’s September cover story by Kurt Andersen, a 12,000 word piece on how the US went haywire, correctly identifies post-modernism’s harmful contribution to America – the idea that truth is purely a construct. Andersen pinpoints the 1960s as a turning point, describing the decade as “a national nervous breakdown, we are probably mistaken to consider ourselves over it.”
Here’s what else the IPA said this week:
- Andrew Shearer, Resilient alliance with US underwrites our strength – The Australian
- Georgina Downer, Timor’s prosperity lies in its best assets: Its beaches and people – The Australian
- Daniel Wild, Do we have an inequality problem in Australia? – Channel 7 Sunrise
- Prof. Sinclair Davidson, Government drives up prices – you heard it here first – Catallaxy Files
