There are probably no other politicians of any era as unalike as the 18^th century British Parliamentarian, John Wilkes, and the Victorian MP Geoff Shaw.

One was one his era’s most famous libertines, a member of the notorious Hellfire Club, a notable wit and inveterate gambler, a pioneer of the reporting of Parliament through the North Briton  and an opponent of autocratic government. The other – well he’s Geoff Shaw MLA. But despite the differences there is a similarity – their situation and the question as to whether parliaments should expel MPs because they disapprove of them. Obviously if the Constitution provides for certain disqualifications such as bankruptcy, accepting an office of profit from the State, criminal offences and so on then breaching those can lead to expulsion. In the recent scandals about British MPs rorting their allowances some repaid them and stayed on; some were found guilty of crimes went to gaol and out of Parliament; and some were voted out at the next election. But none of them were voted out just because a majority in the Parliament thought they should go. read more

While it is easy to focus on the mythical nonsense about Anzac traditions and politicians’ exploitation of the myths, there is a far more worrying  aspect of the myth-making – the extent to which it distorts debate about military readiness, war and what strategies and training Australia and its military should pursue. read more

The blog was, some years ago, in one of a number of small groups being consulted by the State Library of Victoria about its future directions and corporate planning. The consultants running the session trotted out all the usual gobbledygook and managerial newspeak which you expect on these occasions. read more

Tabloid media, nowadays a term which conveniently describes an approach to news rather than just a newspaper format, has much to answer for in terms of pain, suffering and distortion.

Much of its deleterious impact is on politics and the most vulnerable or most gullible sections of society.  Even more seriously, for example, the enthusiasm with which news media absorbed and amplified the lies and distortions in the lead up to the invasion of Iraq may not have been responsible for the thousands of deaths which occurred but it helped create the climate which made it possible. read more

New PRIA President, Mike Watson, has passed on to the blog a number of initiatives the PRIA is taking on internships – plus some research on what Registered Consultancy Group members think about interns.

First, the good news. The PRIA conducted a survey of 30 consultancies across Australia in September  2012. Just over half of respondents were from NSW, with Queensland and Victoria both contributing 15% each. Multiple consultancies from WA, SA and Victoria also participated.  40% of consultancies participating were small (1-5 staff), 27% mid-size and 33% large or multinationals. It found that: “80% of consultancies did not host tertiary work experience students to just observe in the office. The small number who did host work experience students offered only short time periods, generally only one or two weeks.”. read more

Internships exploitation in PR is obviously not only a widespread problem but one which provokes some strong feelings.

The blog was a bit taken aback when students at RMIT started to unload on the system and was rather more taken aback when horror stories started to roll in. As readers will have noticed the blog does not provide a comments section partly because of lack of time to moderate it and partly because, while writing for the online newsletter crikey , the blog became aware of the combination of vitriol and insanity among many of those who felt compelled to post reactions. But working in an industry full of resourceful people comments came from many who used old-fashioned email to give their views. read more

Surveys of PR employer attitudes consistently show that a majority of them are unhappy with the skills and standards of PR course students. Yet, ironically they are simultaneously taking PR undergraduates on as interns in record numbers.

This may be a coincidence, a correlation or something else but it seems significant that the uptick in seeking PR interns started in the significant year of 2008 and has continued through the slow process of recovery from the great financial crisis. read more

There is nothing quite like scare campaigns – from the mild suggestion of unintended consequences to claims that we’ll all be ‘rooned’.

Politicians have used them for years ranging from the Yellow Peril to the Red Menace and from drugs to s.x rock and roll. More recently it has been the demonising of the few refugees, in comparison for instance to those trying to cross the Mediterranean, coming to Australia by boat. The Red Menace, on the other hand, was probably dead by the time Malcolm Fraser warned that if a Labor Government was elected people should hide their money under their beds and Bob Hawke replied that it was no good putting any money under the beds because that’s where the Reds were! read more

Australian Attorney General George Brandis thinks it is medieval, politically correct and a rejection of freedom of speech for scientists and others not to engage with climate denialists.

Presumably he also thinks it’s medieval for people not to engage with creationists who believe the earth was created 10,000 years ago and Adam and Eve shared the world with dinosaurs; and, perhaps medieval not to engage with people who think the Sun revolves around the earth. Now the blog doesn’t know how good a lawyer Brandis is but he’s obviously an awful Attorney General and worse historian. After all the point of medieval life – and the church which dominated it – was not to engage with contrary beliefs but to seek to obliterate them with torture, censorship and auto da fes. read more

The key characteristic of the Enlightenment was the pursuit, production and promulgation of knowledge. Its impetus was the need to combat ignorance, superstition and fear. Unfortunately today the need is still as great as we face the systematic pursuit, production and promulgation of ignorance.

In the past week the blog has come across two pieces on how the production of ignorance is flourishing. The first from the George Mason University Centre for Climate Change Communication was an article published in the American Geophysical Union open-access journal. The Centre, in announcing the paper’s publication, said: “The climate science community needs to do more to communicate the scientific consensus because: (a) most Americans don’t know there is a scientific consensus on this point; (b) this lack of awareness undermines people’s engagement in the issue; and (c) research by our team – and others – has shown that simple messages that communicate this basic scientific conclusion are highly effective, especially with political conservatives.” read more