Swan's big taxing, big spending budget "And this was supposed to be a tough budget. It is the opposite in fact: it is the budget of an unpopular Government approaching an election, not one that's tightening the belt. Wayne Swan hardly had to employ any smoke and mirrors at all." (Alan Kohler)
Austerity can't be just for regular people "When people talk about 'austerity,' they only ever talk about the pain the general population should voluntarily accept. No one ever says the financial services sector should have to cut back on its access to easy money." (Matt Taibbi)
The conservationist's Catch-22 "What to do when one endangered species starts eating another? That is the problem facing environmentalists whose research shows that jaguars, themselves at risk of extinction, are increasingly preying on endangered turtle species."
Maurice Sendak wanted children to grow up a bit "The cliché about children's book writers is that they're sensitive, mewling types. The best, of course, from the Brothers Grimm through Roald Dahl and the brilliant Maurice Sendak, who died on Tuesday, have always been exactly the opposite. Their stuff is anarchic and verges on the nightmarish. These writers want children to take themselves seriously."
Atomic guitars "Two canary yellow stratocasters, mounted on stands to face each other and wired into squat black amps. Next to the guitars hangs the shell of a radiation-proof suit. The stage is set for a band that never arrives." (Watch and listen)
