I’ve been running behind for a bunch of reasons, so I’m jumping ahead to Monday. Post comments on any topic. Civil discussion and no coarse language please. Banned commenters should read the comments policy before attempting to return as sock puppets.
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John Quiggin 
@Jim Rose
Some discussion about differentiating cause and catalyst would be useful here. Haven’t thought it through, but generally I’m thinking firebugs will always be with us, yet the conditions which enable them to have effect reflect independent factors. Did a gunshot in Sarejevo “cause” WW1?
Of course confusing the two is very useful if political quiescence is your agenda: tragedy is due to flawed individuals (a God-given burden we must accommodate) rather than a socially-constructed reality (hey, we can change this). Or put another way, watching soap opera versus acting purposefully.
On carbon tax repeal, Joe Hockey says ” I don’t know why Labor would stand in the way of a tax cut!” OK, how much will the tax cut be, Joe? What’s the number? Will a real journalist stand up and ask the bleedin’ obvious? And press for an answer, with figuring?
Political materiality rather than COL materiality is the issue here.
@kevin1
And it’s not even a tax cut. It’s a subsidy rise to a handful of large polluters, most of whom are big businesses.
@Fran Barlow
I’m not actually across the detail – I presumed they are suggesting that electricity prices will go down, but I expect the effect to be small. Do you have any estimates on this?