Scott Wickstein broadly agrees with me on Telstra, but notes

I must admit, I normally read the writings of these worthies with a cynical and suspicious eye. John Quiggin is certainly no friend of the government, and I must admit I tend to take a lot of his statements with a pinch of salt, especially on political economy- my own observation is that he will talk down or ignore anything that makes the government look good on the economy, and highlight the reverse, with unemployment being a case in point. (Not that there’s anything wrong with that, as long as you are open about it. I’m a fan of the government, and I don’t mind who knows it, and anyone that reads this blog should take it into account.)

I don’t make any pretence of political neutrality, and I’m glad that Scott doesn’t either. In debate over social and economic issues, it’s almost impossible to be a neutral expert (or a neutral non-expert) and I think a clear statement of one’s position is far preferable to a pretence of neutrality.

However, while it’s true that I’m no friend of the government, this is more or less a chronic state with me – I was no friend of the last government either. On an issue like Telstra I’m anti-government because I’m anti-privatisation, not vice versa. Similarly, I don’t attack the government’s performance on unemployment because I want to undermine its economic credentials. Rather, I’m critical of its economic credentials because it’s done so little about unemployment.

To summarise, I’m happy to identify myself as an advocate for a particular political/economic viewpoint (social democracy for short), and readers should bear that in mind. But I make every effort to avoid being partisan in a party-political sense.