Around the Traps 21/11/25

 It is time for Around the Traps again.

Aussie,Aussie,Aussie,Oy,Oy,Oy

• Brian Oliver on asbestos-has-been-found-in-childrens-coloured-sand-whats-the-risk-to-kids
• Peter Breadon and Elizabeth Baldwin on hospitals-are-under-pressure-these-changes-could-save-1-2-billion-a-year-and-fund-160-000-extra-hospital-visits
• Aude Bernard et al on yes-migration-to-australia-is-up-but-new-figures-show-most-migrants-do-not-become-citizens
• Jenny Buchan on franchise-businesses-have-long-been-plagued-by-scandals-dominos-is-just-the-latest
• John Hawkins on years-in-the-making-the-first-complete-monthly-inflation-report-is-almost-here
• Roger Dargaville on which-policies-would-face-the-chopping-block-under-the-coalitions-retreat-from-net-zero
• croaking cassandra on an-mpc-speaking , the-new-governor-and-those-responsible-for-her
• Greg Jericho on wages-are-now-barely-growing-faster-than-inflation
• Janine Dixon on real-wages-have-grown-just-over-the-past-year-but-theyre-still-down-near-2011-levels

OZ climate

• Mark the Graph on labors-announcables-vs-architecture , electoral-calculus-coalitions-net-zero
• Adam Morton on coalition-net-zero-emissions-claims-factcheck-electricity-price-power-bill-cost
• Patrick Commins on are-australians-really-paying-more-for-electricity-than-other-countries
• Alison Reeve on yes-your-energy-bills-have-gone-up-turning-net-zero-into-a-culture-war-will-send-them-higher
• Lisa Cox on artificial-intelligence-data-centre-australia-solar-farm-possibly-unparalleled
• a-culture-of-fear-bushfire-survivor-tells-senate-inquiry-how-climate-misinformation-fuels-trauma-and-silences-voices
  
• australias-most-renewable-grid-sets-spectacular-new-wind-record-as-it-awaits-word-on-cop-hosting-bid
  
• local-networks-say-they-can-save-billions-slash-gas-use-and-create-breathing-room-in-dash-to-replace-coal
  
• over-my-dead-body-planning-minister-rejects-any-chance-of-approval-for-cancelled-wind-project
  
• a-perfect-failure-transmission-tower-collapses-in-the-name-of-stronger-renewable-grids
  
• every-component-of-my-life-was-attacked-how-wind-farm-misinformation-tore-community-apart
  
• are-renewable-zones-solving-solar-and-wind-grid-connection-problems-or-making-them-worse
  
• big-battery-told-not-to-charge-as-rooftop-solar-repeatedly-pushes-grid-demand-below-zero
  
• four-hour-big-battery-to-be-built-next-to-australias-biggest-wind-farm
  
• aemo-wants-five-years-warning-on-coal-plant-closures-to-fix-fundamental-mismatch-in-pace-of-energy-transition
  

Northern America

• institutional economics on gap-filling-us-inflation-and-employment
• Felix Martin on us-stablecoin-power-play-could-epically-backfire Thanks Nick
• Kruggers on vibecessions-part-i , the-plutocrats-who-cried-commie , reminder-crypto-is-a-trump-trade , the-vibecession-deepens 
• Tyler Cowen on why-are-us-clinical-trials-so-expensive , john-cochrane-understands-the-elasticity-of-supply
• Christian Paz on republican-latino-immigration-economy-support-trump-politics-deportation
• Alex Tabarrok on illegal-immigrants-didnt-break-the-housing-market-bad-policy-did
• Jordan Rubin on james-comey-grand-jury-disclosure-judge-trump
• Joshua Keating on gaza-hamas-fighters-tunnels-underground-ceasefire
• Andrew Prokop on jeffrey-epstein-files-scandal-explained-trump-giuffre
• noahpinion on housing-is-at-the-heart-of-americas-problem , the-economics-theory-that-could-have-saved-trump
• the conversable economist on us-tariff-revenues-in-perspective , do-exclusionary-preferences-explain-why-some-americans-happy-about-paying-for-tariffs
• Brad De long on just-what-do-trumps-trade-deals-consist-of? nothing , more-lies-about-trade-tariffs-from-the-chaos-monkeys
• Jeet Heer on trump-marjorie-taylor-greene-epstein
• Andrew Warren on lindsey-halligan-james-comey-prosecution-grand-jury
• Mark Stern on texas-gerrymander-judge-soros-trump-crazy

Europe

• Graham Quillette on a-journalism-of-deception-bbc-deborah-turness-tim-davie Thanks Nick
• Nicholas Bloom  et al on economic-impact-brexit Thanks Nick
• noahpinion on eurocope
• the conversable economist on the-eu-and-the-hard-lessons-of-neglecting-growth
• Tyler Cowen on was-brexit-worse-than-we-had-thought
• Alexander Korolev on by-delaying-a-decision-on-using-russias-frozen-assets-for-ukraine-europe-is-quietly-hedging-its-bets
• Rob Manwaring and Emily Foley on is-the-uk-headed-for-a-new-prime-minister
• Stefan Wolf and Tetyana Malyarenko on ukraine-and-europes-weakness-exposed-as-us-and-russia-again-negotiate-behind-kyivs-back
• Ferdinand Mount on flipping-britains-postwar-script-blue-jerusalem-kit-kowol
• Chris Bertram on core-protection
• Joshua Keating on trump-ukraine-peace-plan-zelenskyy
• Fred Kaplan on trump-28-point-ukraine-peace-plan-russia-putin

Asia

• noahpinion on chinas-people-are-on-a-treadmill
• Abhijnan Rej on terrorism-returns-delhi-troubling-new-profile
• Karryl Trajano on can-asean-secure-quantum-future
• Shahzad Uddin on bangladesh-signals-that-no-leader-is-above-the-law-by-sentencing-sheikh-hasina-to-death

Wonk

• Ian Montgomery on forget-davos-try-kilkenny Thanks Nick
• Nathan Pinkowski on postliberalisms-reluctant-godfather Thanks Nick
• cracks in post-modernity on the-rights-co-opting-of-post-liberalism Thanks Nick
• Tim Harford on the-silver-bullet-fallacy
• Daniel Byman on left-wing-terrorism-returning
• the conversable economist on dishwashers-and-the-24-7-time-constraint
• Shanie D'Souza on reality-check-brics-lofty-dedollarisation-agenda
• Henry Yep on delay-weapon-fighting-winning-clock
• noahpinion on the-future-of-war-is-the-future-of-society

General

• Danielle Le Lagadec and Catherine Hungerford on 5-health-benefits-of-line-dancing-according-to-science

Climate

• David Appell on jma-october25-was-3rd-warmest-oct
• Asma Aziz on this-widely-used-chart-makes-the-clean-energy-switch-seem-much-harder-than-it-actually-is
• ocean acidification on pathways-to-a-safer-planet
• skeptical science on ClimateAdam-why-the-climate-crisis-is-a-health-crisis , new_research
• Christian Downie on brazil-is-trying-to-stop-fossil-fuel-interests-derailing-cop30-with-one-simple-measure
• Andrew King and Aditya Sengupta on what-do-we-know-about-climate-change-how-do-we-know-it-and-where-are-we-headed
• Ryan Neelam on climate-change-compromise-progress-heart-amazon
• ocean acidification on carbon-rich-waters-are-becoming-even-more-acidic-as-atmospheric-co2-levels-rise

Andrew Gelman ( mainly stats)

• the-density-of-fraud
  
• sociology-of-science-what-does-it-take-for-erroneous-or-fraudulent-claims-to-take-hold
  
• a-borgesian-blog-idea-and-nothing-to-do-with-forking-paths
  
• the-aristocrats
  
• under-what-sort-of-systematic-reporting-errors-will-science-be-self-correcting-or-not-and-do-gardening-programs-reduce-obesity
  
• survey-statistics-sampling-the-sample
  
• this-guys-mad-about-fake-research-and-he-should-be-research-incompetence-research-fraud-and-the-promotion-of-fraudulent-or-incompetent-work-these-are-not-victimless-crimes
  
• three-meta-principles-of-statistics-the-information-principle-the-methodological-attribution-problem-and-different-applications-demand-different-philosophies
  
• what-do-you-think-is-the-ideal-number-of-children-for-a-family-to-have-two-different-statistical-measurement-challenges-arise-from-this-one-question-on-the-general-social-survey
  
• freakometric on the three pillars of fairness in pricing , decomposing direct and indirect biases in linear models under demographic parity constraint, insuring to achieve emancipation
• Kaiser Fung on avinashs-scoring-rubric-for-data-visualization , more-than-a-penny

Dianne Coyle (quirky + book reviews)

• reshuffle-or-how-productivity-happens
  
• Tyler Cowen on the-science-of-second-chances , best-fiction-of-2025
• Ingrid Robeyns on online-discussion-on-lisa-herzogs-the-democratic-marketplace
• Amy Sorkin on if-the-legal-campaigns-against-donald-trump-had-ended-differently

Vox Wonk

• european-unions-new-fiscal-rules-fine-line-between-brilliant-masterpiece-and-another
  
•  monetary-policy-transmission-through-cross-selling-banks 
• rewiring-trade-warming-world-how-cop30-can-turn-climate-goals-trade-rules 
  
• elvis-ghost-jordans-airness-and-new-economics-publicity-rights
  
• assessing-commissions-multiannual-financial-framework-proposal-first-order-principles 
  
• credit-and-product-innovation-emerging-markets-evidence-india
  
• public-money-private-innovation-how-government-funding-built-and-sustains-americas
  
• ai-financial-sector-supervision-new-evidence-emerging-market-and-developing-economies
  
• unbearable-lightness-sovereign-greenium
  
• beyond-military-sales-market-premium-dual-use-research-and-development
  
• european-defence-governance-and-financing 
  
• conflict-dismissals-evidence-separations-mutual-agreement-france
  
• continued-growth-despite-challenging-environment-commissions-autumn-2025-forecast 
  
• innovation-digital-economy-architecture-ensuring-regulatory-simplification-drives 
  
• tariff-avoidance-and-import-measurement-lessons-first-us-china-trade-war 
  
• pension-design-and-general-public-finances-beyond-baseline-actuarial-neutrality
  

The LNP's energy policy

 Okay we do not know but we can take an educated guess.

nuclear power

No Public ownership but bans are lifted. good so far but given nuclear power is much more expensive than coal and takes twice as long to build this becomes an academic argument.  Also very important baseload power in incompatible with rooftop solar.

coal powered power

 The government would provide support in financing thus  lowering borrowing costs. They would 'sweat' out exing assets.There is no intertest from the public sector in building coal fired power stations. They take 8 years to build , even new ones break s down on hot days ( ironic eh), they take too lomn ng to start and shut down, they need to be going 24 hours a day, they only make money at night ( solar duck curve) and are incompatible with rooftop solar.  I should also add units breaking down is what AEMO worries about every summer re blackouts.

Sweating out existing assets is mad. This is one of the reasons energy costs are so high. This would make it worse. Lowering borrowing costs is academic when no-one wants to build any plants.

gas

They want to flood the country with gas to ensure prices fall. Unless you legislate this it won't happen and what happens when this hits overseas contracts.compaines are put in an invidious position.

renewables

This sector will be put on hold

This is all mad and like under Dutton I very doubt this would ever be applied but it adds to uncertainty.

the killing season

 This time of the year is now known as the killing season because this was when rudd was first knifed as PM.

We now have liberal leaders being lined up to be tossed aside.

Federally Sussan Ley looks a dead woman walking.Under pressure she has made some unforced errors and now the wagons are circling as the polls simply are very bad and there appears no improvement. the right wing clearly has the numbers but neither Andrew Hastie nor Angus Taylor has yet to make a move. ( If either are the answer then you clearly have asked the wrong question!)  The Liberals have a lack of talent and no-one on their side can make a dent on an unimpressive government. Possibly the best example of the is Ted O'Brien who was woeful in the last parliament and responsible for their disastrous nuclear policy is now deputy leader.

The irony is whoever leads the party must surely get a a large swing at the nest election. It could be a 'corbyn' swing. People will swing when they know the government cannot change

In NSW Mark Speakman will be replaced by whom we do not know but the whispers are now shouts. It is hard to be Opposition leader after being in government for so long. Speakman was on a hiding to nothing and Minns is impressive.

Victoria is another thing all together. how the ALP is stil lthe government is beyond me. It appears if the ALP is bad the Liberals are worse so they change leaders in the hope of winning. Victoria desperately needs a new government!!!

US Politics

 How can we ignore the gross incompetence of the Comey and James grand jury indictments. This could be the FOURTH person yes read that again  Trump has had declared to legally in position to be shown quite the opposite.

But it gets worse. She 'conducted' the last part of the grand jury without a court recorder. Pam Bondi says it was all fine and dandy despite this.Showing she is either a consummate liar or incompetent. The DOJ have not presented to the defence  the previous prosecutor's report on what he was not attempting to indict either defendant.

I think we can be pretty confident both cases will be dismissed as she was improperly appointed.

The US  murders more people in boats despite providing NO evidence to back up their claims. Please note they very quickly dispatched survivors back to their countries instead of charging when they could have. 

Republicans got smashed in all elections held last tuesday. Perhaps a harbinger on the mid-terms.

Moar Epstein and now investigation into any democrats associated with the case despite Bondi saying earlier in the year the DOJ found no crimes had been committed by any other actors!!

Trump seems to be more fat and older these days and his cognitive decline is accelerating.

Pavarotti

 Of course you must have the fat man singing Nessun Dorma as he does brilliantly

Around the Traps 14/11/25

 It is time again for Around the Traps.

Aussie,Aussie,Aussie,Oy,Oy,Oy

• Frank Bongornio on kingmaker-labor-warrior-and-no-stranger-to-scandal-graham-richardson-dies-at-76
• Michelle Arrow on extraordinary-and-occasionally-inept-before-the-dismissal-the-whitlam-government-changed-australia-forever
• Eli Hayes and Darren Lim on not-every-critical-mineral-equal-australia-s-policy-should-reflect
• Mark the Ballot on polling-update
• Mark the Graph on australias-first-truly-domestic-inflation-cycle-in-decades
• Daniel Ghezelbash and Jane MacAdam on as-australia-welcomes-its-millionth-refugee-its-hardline-border-policies-endure-we-can-lead-by-example-again
• Jo Coghlan on how-ac-dcs-1975-debut-shocked-australian-culture
• croaking cassandra on government-departments-championing-bigger-roles-for-themselves
• Michelle Grattan on in-dumping-net-zero-the-liberals-have-thumbed-their-noses-at-voters-they-need-to-win
• Bernice Ma and Samia Badji on the-ndis-shifts-almost-27m-a-year-in-mental-health-costs-alone-our-new-study-suggests
• Natalie Sambhi on anchored-region-what-new-australia-indonesia-security-treaty-really-means
• Melissa Jardine et al on preparing-when-disaster-conflict-converge
• Mathew Newman on rise-rise-geopolitical-risk
• Antony Green on time-to-change-the-electoral-act-to-fix-faults-in-senate-counting

OZ Climate

• victorias-biggest-solar-project-partially-built-by-robots-injects-first-power-into-the-grid 
  
• australias-comfortable-advantage-in-geothermal-heating-and-cooling
  
• andrew-forrest-says-real-zero-is-already-the-winning-business-case-in-three-key-fossil-fuel-guzzling-industries
  
• another-major-solar-battery-hybrid-project-hits-financial-close-as-physics-and-engineering-trump-politics
  
• australias-most-powerful-battery-hit-by-catastrophic-failure-of-transformer
  
• its-incredibly-expensive-global-wind-giant-says-turbine-prices-have-peaked-but-other-costs-are-high
  
• a-clear-decline-iea-says-faster-transition-to-renewables-equals-lower-household-prices
  
• can-you-design-a-better-time-of-use-tariff-than-chris-bowens-solar-sharer
  
• was-the-high-cycling-of-australias-most-powerful-battery-too-much-for-crippled-transformer
  
• sloppy-misleading-and-funded-by-whom-rainforest-reserves-under-fire-at-senate-misinformation-inquiry
  
• the-wheels-fell-off-farmer-tells-senate-how-misinformation-killed-a-community-battery-project
  
• Frank Jotzo on own-goal-why-the-nationals-retreat-on-net-zero-would-be-bad-economics
• Hussein Dia on ev-charging-deserts-in-regional-australia-are-slowing-the-shift-to-clean-transport
• Adam Morton on coalition-brawl-australia-2050-net-zero-emissions-target
• Mark the Graph on the-twenty-one-deadly-sins-of-net-zero , quick-reflection-liberal-backflip-on-energy-policy
• Rod Sims and Baethen Muller on whyalla-steelworks-low-cost-green-iron
• Patrick Commins on coalition-net-zero-power-bills-international-energy-agency
• Michael Keating on net-zero-debate-evidence
• Ana Malos on the-liberals-dropped-net-zero-will-it-make-any-difference-to-australias-climate-response
• Graham Readfearn on facebook-community-groups-and-maggot-infested-rats-the-inner-workings-of-australias-climate-misinformation-war

Northern America

• Barbara McQuade on jeanine-pirros-case-dc-sandwich-thrower-was-downright-lawless
• Brad De Long on bubbles-productive-and-unproductive , is-it-life-liberty-and-democracy
• Rod Drehers diary on americas-crazy-train  Thanks Nick
• Richard Hanania on groyperization-accelerating Thanks Nick
• a wild logos on  the-metaphysics-of-maga Thanks Nick
• Valerie Thomas on how-the-us-cut-climate-changing-emissions-while-its-economy-more-than-doubled
• institutional economics on year-one-of-trump-2.0 , trumps-dollarization-delusion
• the conversable economist on federal-reserve-accountability-for-actions-during-the-pandemic
• Adam Serwer on mafia-style-american-politics
• calculated risk on the-next-financial-crisis
• Kruggers on republicans-are-damaged-by-their-own-cruelty , war-is-peace-freedom-is-slavery-grocery-prices-are-way-down , the-republican-brain-doesnt-want-to-understnd-healthcare , the-decline-and-fall-of-the-heritage-foundation
• Jonquilyn Hill on health-care-insurance-cost-premiums-2026
• Russell Berman and Jonathan Lemire on democrats-folded-government-shutdown-end
• noahpinion on zohrans-real-problems-arent-what-you-think
• Mark Liebovich on trump-lame-duck-third-term-prospects
• Fintan O'Toole on a-guy-who-never-dies
• Jeet Heer on chuck-schumer-shutdown-senate-democrats
• Andrew Prokop on epstein-emails-trump-hours-house-virginia-giuffre
• Jonathan Chait on trump-epstein-email

Europe

• Mary Harrington on the-king-and-the-swarm Thanks Nick
• Tim Harford on should-we-put-a-high-price-on-work-visas
• Peter Layton on a-visual-guide-to-14-of-the-drones-wreaking-havoc-in-ukraine-russia-and-beyond
• Alex Tabarrok on european-stagnation
• Sam Knight on the-mess-at-the-bbc-will-never-end

Asia

• Amy Chew on anwar-s-international-success-sours-home
• Kruggers on why-china-will-rule-renewable-energy
• noahpinion on i-want-the-japanese-future-back
• Tyler Cowen on how-has-japan-managed-its-debt-ratio
• Nina Lakhani on israel-attacks-palestine-water
• Saqlain Rizve on why-does-taliban-remain-point-influence-bangladesh
• Khang Vu on will-north-korea-defend-china-taiwan-war
• Richard Heydarian on where-philippines-might-lead-asean

Wonk

• Phillip Kastner on can-the-world-prevent-a-genocide-in-sudan
• Ray Laurence on the-roman-empire-built-300-000-kilometres-of-roads-new-study
• Brad De Long on a-note-reitter-translates-marx-as-he-was
• Dennis Muller on bbc-resignations-over-trump-scandal-show-the-pressures-on-public-broadcasters-and-why-they-must-resist-them
• Tyler Cowen on in-defense-of-schumpeter
• Alex Tabarrok on more-from-less-optimizing-vaccine-doses
• Febrian Ruddyard on case-un-reform-cannot-wait
• the conversable economist on noncompete-agreements-across-high-income-countries
• Nina Khaze on albania-s-ai-generated-minister-impressive-spectacle-questionable-reform

General

• Andor Kiss on james-watson-exemplified-the-best-and-worst-of-science-from-monumental-discoveries-to-sexism-and-cutthroat-competition
• William Crozier on how-a-medieval-oxford-friar-used-light-and-colour-to-find-out-what-stars-and-planets-are-made-of
• Michael Stein on 55-million-years-australias-oldest-crocodile-eggshells-found-in-queensland
• Adam Schatz on alice-coltrane-monument-eternal
• Kylie Cairns and Melanie Fillios on dogs-10-000-years-ago-roamed-with-bands-of-humans-and-came-in-all-shapes-and-sizes

Climate

• Simon O'Connor et al on green-finance-was-supposed-to-contribute-solutions-to-climate-change-so-far-its-fallen-well-short
• Melanie Pill and Georgia Hammersly on why-cop30-may-disappoint-again
• Robyn Eckersly on from-trumps-wrecking-ball-to-chinas-electrifying-rise-geopolitics-hang-heavy-over-this-years-climate-talks
• Alex Dietzel and Katherine Fitzpatrick on five-key-issues-at-the-un-climate-summit-in-brazil-and-why-they-matter-to-you-and-the-planet
• Moyhu on october-global-surface-templs-down-0011
• ocean acidification on consequences-of-climate-change-for-foraminifera-and-foraminifera-communities
• Pep Canadell et al on the-worlds-carbon-emissions-continue-to-rise-but-35-countries-show-progress-in-cutting-carbon
• skeptical science on new_research

Andrew Gelman ( mainly stats)

• science-and-religious-dogmatism
  
• what-intro-stats-textbook-to-use
  
• the-accupuncture-paradox-and-its-resolution
  
• from-the-three-branches-of-government-to-the-bidirectional-nature-of-legal-reasoning-in-a-way-that-is-similar-to-how-statistics-works-and-should-work-in-the-real-world
  
• survey-statistics-weights-and-mrp-for-voters
  
• belief-in-the-law-of-small-numbers-as-a-way-to-understand-the-replication-crisis-and-silly-researchers-who-continue-to-cite-discredited-behavioral-research
  
• noted-economist-likes-to-talk-about-demographics-but-he-doesnt-know-the-actual-facts
  
• the-value-of-close-reading-larry-summers-edition
  
• how-is-it-that-this-problem-with-its-21-data-points-is-so-much-easier-to-handle-with-1-predictor-than-with-16-predictors
  
• the-fifth-anniversary-of-a-viral-histogram
  
• Kaiser Fung on govt-shutdown-shines-light-on-missing-data ,we-arent-getting-2-000-checks
• Freakometrics on disentangled deep smoothed bootstrap for fair imbalanced regression
• the grumpy economist on causation-does-not-imply-variation Thanks Tyler

Dianne Coyle ( quirky + book reviews)

• global inequality on javais-toujours-raison Thanks Nick
• Rowan Williams on we-who-wrestle-with-god-by-jordan-b-peterson-review-a-culture-warrior-out-of-his-depth Thanks Nick
• Tyler Cowen on two-books-i-hope-you-do-not-mood-affiliate-against, violent-saviors , marked-by-time
• Ruth Marcus on how-the-supreme-court-defines-liberty

Vox Wonk

• takatoshi-ito-scholarship-japans-economy-transformed 
  
• tariffs-global-imbalances-and-dollar 
  
• lessons-denmarks-eight-hour-workday-reform 
  
• supply-chains-and-free-trade-agreements
  
• hidden-costs-of-chinas-industrial-policy
  
• navigating-2022-inflation-surge-lessons-monetary-policy-frameworks
  
• swedish-household-debt-not-too-high-look-solvency-and-liquidity-not-debt-income
  
• supply-shocks-and-inflation-timely-insights-financial-markets
  
• frontiers-digital-finance-part-1-global-perspective
  
• generative-ai-uneven-adoption-labour-market-returns-and-policy-implications
  
• no-eu-does-not-impose-45-tariff-itself
  
• frontiers-digital-finance-part-2-stablecoins-monetary-singleness-tokenisation-and
  
• paying-euroscepticism
  

Mark the Graph is on fire

 We are lucky that Mark the Graph has decided of late to write quite a few articles. ( keep it up)

I have previously  highlighted articles on energy. If you read them all and todays you will be much better for that.

Here ate two

• the-twenty-one-deadly-sins-of-net-zero
  
• australias-first-truly-domestic-inflation-cycle-in-decades
  

I am not bothered by a nazi rally

 If we live in a democracy everyone is entitled to outline their political views no matter how hideous.

Voters will determine whether they are good or not not politicians. 

Okay I understand you cannot have pure free speech as you cannot shout fire in a cinema but I do not like people determining what you can say.

Over in the 'land of the free' the government has determined you cannot speak up for palestinians at all. if you are a visitor or foreign student or a green card holder you can be immediately deported. Indeed it gets worse you cannot criticise donald trump otherwise you get the same treatment.

Back here in OZ if I am so stupid to support Hamas or any other terrorist organisation then why shouldn't I. There are obviously limits to what you can say such as threats to people but let people say what they think.  After all stupid ideas are always stupid ideas

Why are we so afraid of what people say?

It is 50 years

 November 11 is remembered for remembrance day, Ned Kelly's hanging and of course the dismissal.

What most people miss is that the Liberals and National party could not have stopped supply going through the Senate unless the Queensland and NSW premiers replaced existing ALP senators with people who were not of the ALP and who then voted with the Opposition. It is no coincidence Fraser successfully changed the constitution so any senator must be replaced by a  person of the same party.

Another thing people miss is Whitlam's original program was very economically rational. He was af=terall a rattigan man. He established the IAC. He was highly influenced by the Vernon committee. His problem was he wanted to do it all far too quickly.

He was far too sentimental. He allowed people not up to it to be cabinet ministers. Until he appointed Hayden as treasurer, McCelland as Labour minister, Wriedt as Agriculture minster to name three His government was all over the place . It was tool ittle and too late. They destined to be voted out at the next election.

The Liberals were just too impatient and thus coming to power in the way they did Fraser never thought he had legimancy.

The dismissal should never occurred and probably will not occur again but -no-one comes out with their reputation enhanced.

new panels and a battery continued

 Well my of my questions were answered when the tradesman came around to finalise everything. Something was put around the wrong way. Thus far we have plenty coming in and little going out.

Heating of the hot water makes up a lot of the consumption, this happens 4 times every day. even so the battery is around 60% or more in the morning when the sun is up.

The big bonus is if there is a black out the battery gives us power however for reasons i do not understand our air conditioning is only powered by the grid. 

Just bear in mind when power companies told us what average families consumed our 4 person family only consumed what 2 and 1/2 of a 'normal 'family would consume.

So everything is hunky dory

Around the Traps 7/11/25

 It is time again for Around the Traps.

Aussie,Aussie,Aussie,Oy,Oy,Oy

• Hugh White on albaneses-folly-pandering-donald-trump Thanks Nick
• Antony Green on background-on-one-nations-impact-on-elections-and-politics
• Nick Evershed on coalition-better-chance-teal-voters-over-one-nation
• Jennifer Parrker on beyond-aukus-maritime-strategy-australia-needs
• Stella Huagfu on rba-keeps-interest-rates-on-hold-leaving-borrowers-looking-further-ahead-for-relief
• Christopher Burke on australia-s-mineral-diplomacy-can-connect-africa-s-resources-asia-s-demand
• Greg Jericho on the-rba-predicts-inflation-will-rise-faster-than-wages-lets-hope-its-wrong
• Antony Green on evidence-on-labor-supporters-voting-strategically-for-independents

OZ Climate

• Petra Stock on energy-prices-falling-electricity-cheaper-households
• Mark the Graph on the-rights-wrong-headed-retreat-to-energy-nostalgia
• Graham Readfearn on nationals-littleproud-net-zero-emissions-claims-real-or-spin , great-barrier-reef-coral-bleaching-decline-global-heating-recovery
• Mark the Graph on the-slow-road-can-nationals-energy-plan
• victoria-fast-tracks-approval-of-major-solar-battery-hybrid-project-and-new-big-battery-in-latrobe-valley
  
• Peter Milne on confidential-western-australian-government-report-warns-gas-exports-risk-slowing-asias-move-to-clean-energy
• Wesley Morgan and Ben Newell on as-global-climate-action-threatens-to-stall-can-australia-step-up-at-cop30-in-brazil
• Emile Boulot and Jan McDonald on wheres-nature-positive-australia-must-ensure-environment-reforms-work-to-restore-whats-been-lost
• solar-sharer-bowen-wants-retailers-to-offer-free-electricity-for-three-hours-in-middle-of-every-day
  
• hydro-tasmanias-hidden-crisis
  
• nationals-choose-coal-nuclear-and-climate-denial-as-politics-of-delay-threatens-to-kill-another-industry
  
• free-electricity-in-the-middle-of-the-day-is-not-free-of-risks
  
• solar-farm-complete-at-australias-biggest-off-grid-hybrid-renewable-energy-project
  
• australias-second-biggest-battery-shows-signs-of-life-turning-coal-centre-into-massive-battery-bank
  
• energy-regulator-flags-switch-to-tariff-caps-as-market-digests-meaning-of-free-solar
  
• listen-to-farmers-not-facebook-poll-reveals-majority-of-rez-residents-support-solar-and-wind-development
  
• shock-and-dismay-as-one-of-australias-biggest-solar-recycling-hopes-put-into-administration

Northern America

• Jason Houser on trump-ice-raids-bovino-immigration-border-patrol
• Mary Harrington on epsteins-inner-ring-of-evil Thanks Nick
• Andrew Prokop on trump-ice-border-patrol-purge-leaks-bovino
• the conversable economist on the-silicon-valley-no-poach-conspiracy-recap-and-reminder , economists-on-the-trump-tariffs-supreme-court-case
• Tyler Cowen on david-brooks-on-the-new-right , the-business-of-the-culture-war
• Menzie Chinn on guest-contribution-abundance
• Luiz Romero on trump-is-repeating-the-long-painful-history-of-us-policing-of-latin-america
• Kruggers on were-number-two , the-big-smirk , which-party-is-in-trouble-again , are-hispanics-americas-new-jews , trump-tariff-trouble
• Zack Beauchamp on republican-fuentes-carlson-owens-trump-antisemitism-civil-war
• new deal democrat on weighing-regional-fed-services-surveys-the-sketch-emerges-of-an-economy-on-the-cusp-of-stagflationary-recession
• Ian Millhiser on supreme-court-tariff-argument-trump-learning-resources-vos-selections
• Mark Stern on supreme-courts-tariffs-trump-fail-kavanaugh
• David Graham on elections-anti-maga-democrats
• Eric Levitz on 2025-elections-virginia-new-jersey-democrats-republicans-trump
• Jeet Heer on nick-fuentes-tucker-carlson-interview-analysis
• Alex Tabarrok on here-comes-the-sun-if-we-let-it-cutting-tariffs-and-red-tape-for-rooftop-solar

Europe

• Oleska Drachewych on trump-and-putin-didnt-hold-new-peace-talks-after-all-but-that-was-likely-putins-plan-all-along
• noahpinion on im-a-weeb-for-ireland
• Grant Wyeth on aland-fate-demilitarised-islands-russia-s-doorstep
• Tony Press on russia-s-arrest-ukrainian-scientist-brings-chill-geopolitics-antarctic

Asia

• Sam Roggeveen on mystery-south-korea-s-nuclear-powered-submarines
• Sophia Yi on high-waters-deep-divisions-views-south-china-sea
• Chee Tan on trump-xi-talks-will-not-have-changed-the-priorities-of-the-chinese-government
• Seong-Hyong Lee on logic-behind-south-korea-s-nuclear-submarine-deal
• Andrew Selth on myth-soft-liners-myanmar-s-military-governments
• Michelle Burgis-Kasthala on after-2-years-of-devastating-war-will-arab-countries-now-turn-their-backs-on-israel
• Tom Corben on sanae-takaichi-japan-back-back
• Lucy Williamson on Inside Gaza
• Robert Walker on new-permanent-contest-china-over-critical-minerals-will-be-hard-win

Wonk

• William Long on buddhism-and-deliberative-democracy Thanks Nick
• Naomi Saphra et al on first tragedy then parse Thanks Nick
• institutional economics on trump-xi-and-one-dimensional-politics
• Tim Harford on in-defence-of-digital-id 
• noahpion on the-giant-basket-case-countries , the-great-world-war-2-afterparty-is-over
• Hannah Forsyth on death-and-capitalism-part-3-of-4 , death-and-capitalism-part-4-of-4
• Kruggers on the-domestic-politics-and-geopolitics-part1
• Tilman Ruff on if-the-us-resumes-nuclear-weapons-testing-this-would-be-extremely-dangerous-for-humanity
• Tyler Cowen on supply-is-elastic-in-a-new-and-different-setting
• Martin Giessdoeffer and Trang Nguyen on cop30-cop31-will-test-middle-powers-climate-opportunity
• the conversable economist on the-case-for-high-skilled-immigration , fall-2025-journal-of-economic-perspectives-freely-available-online

General

• Lisa Hackett on 90-years-of-monopoly-how-the-new-craze-morphed-from-socialist-critique-to-capitalist-dream

Climate

• Real Climate on raising-climate-literacy
• skeptical science on fact brief does cold weather disprove human caused climate change , new_research
• Wenzhong Huang et al on we-studied-217-tropical-cyclones-globally-to-see-how-people-died-our-findings-might-surprise-you

Andrew Gelman ( mainly stats)

• studying-sex-ratios-is-just-a-lot-harder-than-you-think-effects-are-tiny-and-variation-is-large
  
• hilarious-ted-talk-bio-he-sold-the-second-most-expensive-picture-at-his-first-exhibition-without-really-being-able-to-paint
  
• an-economist-declares-the-cost-data-from-medicare-are-completely-irrelevant-it-is-clearly-measures-of-net-costs-that-matter-but-only-gross-costs-analogous-to-sticker-prices-are-provided-simila
  
• donald-trump-and-joe-mccarthy-2
  
• polls-betting-odds-nonsampling-errors-win-probabilities-vote-margins
  
• survey-statistics-continued-struggles-with-equivalent-weights
  
• predictive-modelling-for-football-analytics-is-available
  
• discrepancies-between-polls-and-election-outcomes-in-2025
  
• the-theoretical-appeal-of-the-cuomo-non-party-campaign-for-mayor
  
• if-cuomo-had-been-able-to-run-against-mamdani-head-to-head
  
• the-model-underlying-r-hat-and-a-bayesian-estimator
  
• conflicting evidence
• Kaiser Fung on how many gigs , big-drops-and-big-dots , turnout-tuneout
• Freakometrics on functional analysis of loss development patterns in P&C insurance
• Marc Bellamare  on the (mis)use of the fixed effects estimator

Dianne Coyle ( quirky + book reviews)

• Jonathan Ree on like-a-top-hat Thanks Nick
• Liz Evans on how-should-i-cast-my-soul-patti-smiths-intimate-new-memoir-is-a-quest-for-her-true-self

Vox Wonk

• data-power-and-emissions-how-ais-growth-may-slow-down-green-transition
  
•  macroeconomic-implications-extreme-weather-events-insights-advanced-economies 
• hidden-cycle-how-informality-shapes-fiscal-policy-and-sovereign-default 
  
• when-debt-perceptions-shape-fiscal-futures
  
• lasting-economic-scars-war
  
• dutch-households-spend-less-their-income-fixed-and-necessary-expenditures 
  
• chinas-shrinking-oil-footprint-how-electric-vehicle-adoption-shaping-chinas-oil
  
• china-shock-global-relocation-production-inequality-consequences
  
• how-ai-can-help-detect-warning-signs-financial-market-stress
  
• spending-smarter-powerful-growth-strategy
  
• chinas-belt-and-road-initiative-and-shifting-landscape-trade-and-investment
  

US Politics

 I do not get US politics.

The polls have shown the punters blame the republicans for the shutdown. They have bought the democrats argument that it is al about health care costs. Yet they and their propagandistas in the media act like they are way on top.

Trump is the most unpopular President in history. The only President near him is himself in his first term. Except for 2024 he has been an electoral disaster for the republicans but they act like 2024 was a landslide not the very close election it was.

He is under water on the economy. He lies about inflation and that is one area people do not believe his lies. They know what they are paying for goods and services.

He is under water on immigration. People can see ICE is going after any undocumented immigrant not violent criminals.

Is it any wonder the two greatest swings to democrats yesrday were young and latino voters.

In most terms the elections the year before the mid-terms are a harbinger of what is to come!

We have new solar panels and a battery

 We recently replaced our older solar panels and added some more. We have also just added a battery. It is 15kw.

The great beauty of installing it is we get to see how much energy we produce, how much goes to the battery and how much we take from or add to the overall system.

I am amazed just how much power we get even on a cloudy day and even when the sun is setting. We do not use any from the system on a cloudy day and as the sun sets we still get some power from the solar panels. We are reliant on the battery but as you would expect we do not use as much as we would without it.

We do not use up the battery overnight even after preparing the evening meal and most taking showers.

although the reheating of the hot water for showers was expected there are other times where we are using power and there seems no feasible reason for it. Perhaps there is a lag at work. I need answers to questions.

Thus far we have not experienced a day where the temperature has got near 30 degrees so it only goes up from here. Of course it will be interesting when we are in winter!

I will update once we have had a lot more experience with it.

A few more questions. how come all of the power from the solar panels do not go straight into the battery. Why does some of it go into the system?

Today the temperature has not reached 20 degrees yet despite starting at 5% capacity we are at 90% just before 10 am.

The Opposition is in a fix

 The Opposition has problems.

Sussan Ley has  problems. She is under pressure and it shows. Her judgment is suspect. Take two minor examples. She called for Rudd to be sacked. She criticised Albo for wearing a Joy division T-shirt. When people lose confidence in a Leader's judgment it is usually curtains. I saw it happen to Bill Hayden but he had Hawke breathing down his neck. Ley has no-one as yet certainly no-one who is impressive.

The National party has rejected net zero and the conservative wing of the Liberals want to as well. Rejecting net zero will essentially make the Opposition climate deniers. There is only slight minority support for rejecting net zero. The Liberals would be rejecting any chance of regaining teal seats and possibly losing some more. No teral seats no chance of being in government.

One Nation has risen to 15% in voting terms according to Newspoll. However this has come from previous Liberal voters not ALP voters. Under our preferential system most of these votes will come back BUT it still puts the Liberals as woeful losers and not a chance of winning government. Also One Nation is very unlikely to win a lower house seat.

The Liberals has little talent to work with. Let's face it if Angus Taylor is the answer you have asked the wrong question. It is hard yakka in Opposition. They could do a lot worse then examine Paul Keating in opposition!!

We do need a decent Opposition and we need one now!

Energy in Australia courtesy of Mark the Graph

 The incomparable Mark the Graph has been in spectacular form when writing on energy.

Just read the articles and take them in. It is a great series.

• net-zero-caught-between-urgency-and-feasibility
  
•  why-no-one-is-building-new-coal-plants-in-Australia 
• the-mirage-of-return-to-cheap-power 
  
• australias-energy-betrayal-from-abundance-to-austerity
  
• the-rights-wrong-headed-retreat-to-energy-nostalgia
  

Around the Traps 31/10/25

 It is time again for Around the Traps.

Aussie,Aussie,Aussie,Oy,Oy,Oy

• gross national product on chalmers-was-right Thanks Nick
• Adil Cader on star-power-soft-power-australia-s-celebrity-diplomacy
• Joel Williams and Nicole Hill on fish-stocks-off-icy-heard-island-bounced-back-when-illegal-fishing-stopped-and-sustainable-fishing-continued
• Elliot Stein on shock-normal-australia-s-progressive-patriotism
• Greg Jericho on so-its-goodbye-to-lower-interest-rates-to-be-honest-the-rba-was-always-looking-for-an-excuse-not-to-cut
• Stella Huangfu on higher-than-expected-inflation-report-dashes-hopes-for-further-rba-rate-cuts
• Mark the Graph on the-q3-inflation-surprise , the-price-of-stability

OZ Climate

• aemo-turns-to-battery-inverters-for-world-first-trial-of-running-big-grids-with-no-synchronous-generation
  
• aemo-turns-to-battery-inverters-for-world-first-trial-of-running-big-grids-with-no-synchronous-generation
  
• cheaper-home-batteries-is-a-great-start-but-it-must-avoid-repeating-rooftop-solar-mistakes
  
• wind-hits-record-share-of-150-pct-of-state-demand-as-fossil-energy-shrinks-to-just-1-5-pct-of-total-generation
  
• big-batteries-dominate-booming-grid-connection-pipeline-as-solar-storage-hybrids-also-make-their-mark
  
• industry-pitches-plan-to-ensure-landowners-are-not-hit-with-costs-of-dismantling-wind-and-solar-farms
  
• wind-and-solar-hit-new-peaks-amid-storms-and-heatwaves-rooftop-pv-shines-in-southern-states
  
• prices-fall-sharply-in-september-quarter-as-renewables-surge-batteries-displace-gas-in-evening-peaks
  
• why-the-middle-matters-its-no-longer-about-targets-its-about-the-cost-of-getting-there
  
• forget-subsidies-solar-battery-hybrids-can-deliver-incredibly-competitive-power-for-big-industry
  
• finally-batteries-and-solar-for-renters-and-apartment-dwellers-are-here
  
• its-been-a-bad-few-months-for-battery-bidding-algorithms
  
• Michelle Ward et al on queenslands-forests-are-still-being-bulldozed-and-new-parks-alone-wont-save-them
• Mark the Graph on why-no-one-is-building-new-coal-plants-in-Australia , the-mirage-of-return-to-cheap-power , australias-energy-betrayal-from-abundance-to-austerity
• Graham Readfearn on climate-risk-heat-deaths-fact-despite-coalition-thinktank
• Justine Bell-James on labors-environmental-law-overhaul-a-little-progress-and-a-lot-of-compromise

Northern America

• Brad De Long on chaos-monkey-trump-tomahawk-missiles-and-the-art-of-sanewashing , the-state-of-trumps-trade-war , and-people-were-worried-about-biden-losing-mental/cognitive-step , yes-ai-is-a-bubble-but-it-is-a-bubbleplus
• Nicole Foy on immigration-dhs-american-citizens-arrested-detained-against-will Thanks Nick
• Quico Toro on no-kings-and-the-echo-of-venezuela Thanks Nick
• institutional economics on self-containment-and-the-long-run-failure-of-economic-statecraft
• Danielle Hewitt and Noel King on ice-protests-chicago-broadview-pastor-pepper-spray
• Dahlia Lithwick and Mark Stern on trump-news-judges-warning-martial-law
• noahpinion on trumps-energy-policy-is-incoherent-and-self-defeating , bring-back-liberal-nationalism
• Kruggers on the-rise-of-renewable-energy , no-ronald-reagan-didnt-love-tariffs , the-hunger-games-begin , how-we-lost-the-trade-war , too-cruel-too-soon
• Tyler Cowen on are-new-data-centers-boosting-electricity-prices
• Zack Beauchamp on republican-fuentes-carlson-owens-trump-antisemitism-civil-war , trump-business-boycott-democracy-resistance
• Garret Van Dyk on how-a-sewer-socialism-revival-could-see-zohran-mamdani-become-new-yorks-next-mayor
• David Graham on 2026-midterms-trump-threat
• J Michael Luttig on trump-third-term-authoritarianism
• Andrew Prokop on trump-economy-polling-bad-worst-inflation-prices
• Jonathan Chait on trump-obamacare-shutdown-fight-healthcare-subsidies
• Fintan O'Toole on the-lingering-delusion-107-days-kamala-harris
• Jeet Heer on the rush to war with Venezuela , andrew-cuomo-bigotry-mamdani
• Michael Scherer et al on trump-officials-military-housing-stephen-miller
• Tom Nicholls on trump-nuclear
• Eric Schliesser on no-despotic-kings-but-maybe-constitutional-monarchy
• Jordan Rubin on james-comey-grand-jury-motion-lindsey-halligan-trump

Europe

• Sergey Popov on sanctions-on-russia-have-failed-to-stop-the-war-so-far-will-trumps-latest-package-be-any-different
• Mark Pierce on partition-trap-awaiting-ukraine-s-territorial-settlement
• Mick Ryan on military-training-lessons-ukraine

Asia

• small precautions on the-great-reckoning-of-the-china Thanks Nick
• Sanchari Gosh on japan-s-hawkish-turn-under-takaichi-tests-india-s-balancing-act
• Anas Iqtait on israel-s-annexation-of-the-west-bank-has-been-occurring-for-decades-20251024-p5n53y.
• Amin Saikal on the-leader-most-capable-of-governing-a-future-palestinian-state-is-languishing-in-an-israeli-jail
• Amy Chew on sham-election-offers-no-end-myanmar-s-suffering
• Ben Murphy on icj-tells-israel-to-let-un-aid-flow-into-gaza-but-uns-own-failures-throughout-the-war-loom-large
• Jennifer Kavanagh on america-shouldn-t-pivot-asia
• Shathie D'souza on india-china-detente-real 
• Robert Walker on asean-s-dealmaking-trump-shows-promise
• Sarah Roy on what-day-after-for-gaza
• noahpinion on economic-ideas-for-takaichi-sanae

Wonk

• Luke Slawomirski and Nick Gruen on will-we-ever-learn-only-by-building-learning-systems Thanks Nick
• Sarah Majdov on in-a-world-obsessed-with-innovation-what-if -most-of-it-isn't-real Thanks Nick
• Tim Harford on the-wrong-kind-of-maths
• Hannah Forsyth on death-and-capitalism-part-2-of-4
• Sean Illing on enshittification-cory-doctorow-amazon-google-facebook
• noahpinion on our-age-of-kings
• Tyler Cowen on agustin-etchebarne-on-milei-and-the-election , trump-and-the-americas
• Brad De Long on competition-civility-and-the-discourse , on-the-faux-puzzlement-of-dan-davies
• Juan Ferrero on javier-mileis-victory-in-argentinas-midterm-elections-is-also-a-win-for-trump
• Penny Wong on confronting-danger-zombie-united-nations
• Chris Dillow on some-costs-of-remilitarization
• The conversable economist on imf-lessons-about-industrial-policy-from-korea-and-brazil
• Tilman Ruff on if-the-us-resumes-nuclear-weapons-testing-this-would-be-extremely-dangerous-for-humanity

General

• Pamela O'Neill on samhain-the-true-non-american-origins-of-halloween
• Konstantine Panegyres on a-2-000-year-history-of-chucking-a-sickie

Climate

• Phillipa Collin et al on climate-change-is-a-crisis-of-intergenerational-justice-its-not-too-late-to-make-it-right
• skeptical science on controversial-methane-metric , fact-brief-evidence , ClimateAdam-can-solar-halt-the-desert , new_research
• essays concerning on mind-the-spark-gap
• Thomas Newsome and William Ripple on in-2024-the-climate-crisis-worsened-in-all-ways-but-we-can-still-limit-warming-with-bold-action
• Alexander Baker and Liz Stephens on hurricane-melissa-is-a-warning-why-violent-storms-are-increasingly-catching-the-world-off-guard
• Stephen Townsend and Alan Pearce on yes-cricket-is-a-contact-sport-we-have-safety-gear-but-we-need-to-do-more
• ocean acidification on tiny-ocean-organisms-missing-from-climate-models-may-hold-the-key-to-earths-carbon-future

Andrew Gelman ( mainly stats)

• even-the-easiest-data-requests-can-require-some-effort
  
• hey-philip-larkin-i-dont-get-what-youre-saying-here
  
• the-stated-purpose-of-a-program-is-not-always-the-same-as-its-real-purpose
  
• no-this-is-not-the-most-unpredictable-race-for-mayor-that-new-york-city-has-seen-in-decades
  
• the-war-war-and-the-electoral-benefits-of-running-more-moderate-candidates-for-political-office
  
• the-last-time-it-seemed-to-people-that-the-country-was-coming-apart
  
• studying-sex-ratios-is-just-a-lot-harder-than-you-think-effects-are-tiny-and-variation-is-large
  
• Kaiser Fung on ten-pie-charts-are-you-worried-yet
• Freakometrics on what if we finally focused on prevention
• Tyler Cowen on a-new-critique-of-rcts

Dianne Coyle ( quirky + book reviews)

• n
• anecdotal value on dan-wangs-breakneck-review Thanks Nick
• Andrew Gelman on reading-like-its-1937
• Tyler Cowen on what-to-watch

vox wonk

• public-rd-and-brazils-agricultural-revolution 
  
• leading-firms-are-falling-behind-developing-east-asia
  
• multi-issuer-stablecoins-threat-financial-stability
  
• flawed-rationale-behind-americas-reciprocal-tariffs
  
• how-tariffs-hurt-ones-you-love
  
• africas-domestic-debt-boom-new-evidence-african-debt-database
  
• political-polarisation-drives-talent-away-evidence-spains-health-sector
  
• insuring-labour-income-shocks-role-dynasty