I’ve also published a piece on elites at On Line Opinion. Opening paras:

Of course there is an Australian elite. In fact, there is more than one. Business wealth commands one sort of power, central position in political machines commands another, and senior office in the public service yet another.

The recent discussion of elites in Australia has focused on the ‘opinion elite’. Many of the assertions that have been made about the opinion elite in recent months, particularly by supporters of the Howard government, have been self-serving nonsense. Nevertheless, there is no denying the fact that some Australians have more influence than others in determining the ideas that are taken seriously in formulating public policy, and that, on many occasions the views of this influential group are not representative of the population as a whole.

Ray Cassin gives a great analysis of the current state of the republican debate. Ever the optimist, I disagree with him about one thing. I think that once it becomes clear that we are not going to remain a monarchy, a significant number of old-style monarchists (those who actually like the monarch as a person rather than as a cog in the wheels of the Westminster system) will switch to support for direct election.

I recently reviewed Thomas Frank’s One Market Under God, and William Baumol’s The Free-Market Innovation Machine: Analyzing the Growth Miracle of Capitalism,for The Drawing Board, an Internet journal published out of the University of Sydeny. My concluding para

The Free-Market Innovation Machine is a disappointing book from an author who has made substantial and creative contributions in many fields of economics in the past. By contrast, One Market Under God deserves to be recognised as the best dissection of the bubble culture of the 1990s that has yet been written.

It may be a little while before my latest contribution to the Fin goes up on my new website at UQ, and of course the Fin is almost the only paper in the world with a website that’s “all pay, all the time”. In my most recent column, published on Thursday, I argue that Labor needs to push for higher taxes and conclude

For the moment, it is probably too optimistic to suppose that any political party in Australia would advocate an increase in standard rates of income tax to finance improvements in health, education and the environment. But ultimately, those who will the end must will the means.

Reading the comments that have accumulated in my absence, I see that some of my American readers were a bit miffed about my gentle raillery on the subject of coffee. To even the score, I’ll just mention that while the espresso machine was the second-last item to be packed and the second to be unpacked, my beloved PowerBook G4 Titanium was last on and first off. Nothing I have ever owned has made a bigger difference to my quality of life (except perhaps my first 128K Mac). I dips me lid to American style and ingenuity for this marvelous device.

In a virtual sense, anyway. In geographical terms, I’ve arrived on a beautiful day in Brisbane. The flame trees and poincianas are in bloom, and there was even a kookaburra on the back fence to welcome us. More from me after I’ve unpacked the Krups!

Well, this is my definite last post from Canberra. The Krups is in the car, and the Powerbook is the last thing left in the house that’s plugged in. Thanks to all the Queensland bloggers who’ve already offered welcomes.

Since I’ve got a little bit of time on my hands, I’ll just observe that the Indonesian police have done a great job. In view of their success in catching the main suspects, I’m prepared to put the ‘laughing bomber’ episode down to cultural differences – it seems to have played OK in Indonesia and that’s what matters. The blame has been pinned firmly on radical Islamism and this will hopefully help to stop this malign import from taking root in Indonesia.

Now if we could only get Howard to do something positive, like a full-scale denunciation of Fred Nile’s absurd comments on chadors. Given that Howard has the guts to take a stand on things he believes in, like gun laws, his pussyfooting with Nile and earlier with Hanson leads me to the conclusion that he shares their sentiments to a large degree.

An interesting sidelight to the Carr-Kingston controversy was this comment by Tim Blair

A publication “called” National Post? What, Margo’s never heard of it?

I have to confess that, until I started Googling serial plagiarist Mark Steyn, who is featured regularly in its pages, I had never heard of this august journal either. Imagine my embarrassment when I found out it was a well-known Canadian newspaper.

Obviously Margo and I, as pointy-headed intellectuals, fail to share in the average Australian’s close interest in all things Canadian, whereas Tim has his finger right on the popular pulse. This explains a lot, like the dinner party conversation starters along the lines of “How about them Maple Leafs” that used to go straight over my head. Now if any Canadian readers can explain the Progressive Conservatives for me, I’ll be right in the swing of things.

The house is all packed up except for the items we absolutely need for tonight and tomorrow – beds, a toaster and the Krups espresso machine. With a long trip ahead, a good cup of coffee will be even more vital than usual.

So I was fascinated to read this piece on a new image for “Mr. Coffee”, one of those 1970-vintage automatic coffee machines. In a nod to my favorite computer, they suggest calling it iCoffee, although there is no planned connection to the Internet.

This raises a couple of points. First, the problem is not the name but the mechanism. Given America’s status as the world’s leading consumer society, it’s startling that so few people there understand something as vital to civilisation as good coffee.

Second, as with anything about coffee in the US, the article can’t avoid mentioning Starbucks. The question I have is about the appropriate metaphor. Is Starbucks to coffee as Oprah Winfrey is to literature, a potential bridge from instant to the real thing. Or is Starbucks to coffee as Microsoft is to software, a ‘good enough’ monopolist that kills the competition and closes off the chance of anything better?

From ANU anyway. After I post this, I’ll pack up my trusty Powerbook, the last item left in my office. Tomorrow, the family and I will set out for Brisbane, taking it slowly. There may or may not be a little blogging en route. I should have a permanent Internet connection again next week. In the meantime, I hope my legion of commentators will take up the slack I’m leaving. Would anyone care to start with a comment on, say, drug legalisation, or whether bin Laden is really still alive?