John Quiggin
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johnquiggin.bsky.social
John Quiggin
@johnquiggin.bsky.social

Economist & blogger @ http://johnquiggin.com, http://crookedtimber.org. http://johnquiggin.substack.com/?utm http://mstdn.social/@johnquiggin
I repost my content, using the #repost hashtag. You can go to settings/filters to avoid seeing the same post. .. more

John Quiggin is an Australian economist, a professor at the University of Queensland. He was formerly an Australian Research Council Laureate Fellow and Federation Fellow and a member of the board of the Climate Change Authority of the Australian Government. .. more

Economics 65%
Business 9%

Oddly enough, I took this off the shelf yesterday to re-read it. Just as good as I remember.

Saying "people will live underwater" in 1970 was a lot less dumb than is saying "people will live on Mars" today.

I'll be going off social media for a holiday break, except for #johnqpersonal posts. Back after Xmas, or maybe early in 2026.

Happy holidays, everyone!

bsky.app/notifications

Worked with a change of browser. That's unusual these days, but I use odd browsers

The 20th century added to the tradition with "Christmas has been so commercialised" (the standard whinge in my youth), and then "the war on Christmas", which bids fair to outlast the Hundred Years War.

Reposted by John Quiggin

It’s a good thing there’s such a steady stream of studies, because they seem to be forgotten moments after publication. news.griffith.edu.au/2025/12/16/c...
COVID-19 leaves a lasting mark on the human brain - Griffith News
COVID-19 does not just affect the respiratory system, but also significantly alters the brain in people who have fully recovered from the infectious
news.griffith.edu.au

Pluralistic: A perfect distillation of the social uselessness of finance (18 Dec 2025) – Pluralistic: Daily links from Cory Doctorow pluralistic.net/2025...

Links goes to "Not Found" for me

The main remaining point is that the IHRA defn arguably precludes the idea of a democratic one-state solution with no established religion or preferred ethnicity. But while that's a minority position, it's widely regarded as either desirable or the fallback from a failure of the two-state solution

I agree with them that its a bad definition. I think, however, that the dangers associated with the IHRA definition have been greatly reduced by the fact that most criticism of Israel is now based on generally applicable standards rather than the specific circumstances of Israel/Palestin

Reposted by John Quiggin

How much does it cost to end rough sleeping? An Australian-first study may have just found out
How much does it cost to end rough sleeping? An Australian-first study may have just found out
A new study has revealed how many homes would be needed to end rough sleeping in three major Australian cities – and the costs.
theconversation.com

D'oh! I'll try again in the morning

Sure, but this article doesn't mention even land-based anti-ship missiles like the Neptune.

There was video of the attack - Russians denied damage, but even if true, they won't always get lucky

How much does it cost to end rough sleeping? An Australian-first study may have just found out go.bsky.app/redirect?

It's ceased to have much bite. The requirement not to judge Israel by standards not applied to others might possibly prohibit direct comparisons with Nazi Germany, but not with a long list of genocidal regimes. And now that we've recognised Palestine, it's clear that Israel's occupation is illegal.

Lengthy piece on why experience of drones (and, by omission, anti-ship missiles) in Ukraine war is irrelevant to a possible air-naval war between US and China. Among the terms not mentioned #BlackSea #Sevastopol #SeaBaby #Moskva.

www.foreignaffairs.c...?
America’s Drone Delusion
Why the lessons of Ukraine don’t apply to a conflict with China.
www.foreignaffairs.com

I’m happy with that, but I expect that the government will face plenty of hostility once this becomes clear. And, given their track record, they will buckle, perhaps by trying to make anti-semitic hate speech a special category.

A law that banned speech of this kind would also capture attacks on, for example, the “indigenous industry”, “African gangs”, Pauline Hanson’s burqua stunts and so on. And it would presumably affect media organizations that platformed racial hatred, most obviously Sky.

For example, the Nazi rally outside NSW Parliament used a banner saying “Stop the Jewish Lobby”, which the police judged was inside existing law.

Hate speech directed against ethnic and religious groups should be restricted by law. But it's important to note that any law strong enough to restrict anti-semitic hate speech will affect lots of people, mostly on the political right. That's why they have opposed such laws until now.

This looks bogus to me. Provenance?

This only makes clear what was known before AI. Lots of academics copy citations without checking they are correct or that they say what the previous source imputes to them.
In lots of cases (rg lists of papers that have addressed a topic) it's sufficient to read the abstract, but that's a minimum

But they have power only in his mind. Big public support and majorities for gun control in both houss. Doesn't mean he won't fold

Can Albanese rise to the occasion ?*
Can Albanese rise to the occasion ?*
The challenge of gun control
johnquigginblog.substack.com

If you are talking about danger to others, cars a more appropriate analogy. If danger to self, you need to include gun suicides and accidents.

Cars are much more necessary than guns but are very tightly restricted in this respect. Almost anything you can do with a car for fun, as opposed to transport, is illegal or restricted if it poses a danger or nuisance to others (burnouts, racing, speeding, off-roading).