The week that was…

Ironically, in a week where little of substance happened politically, we’ve been treated to high quality pieces on bigger picture issues.

LaTingle talks education while Irvine and Mega give us our weekly dose of plain english economics. Probyn and Eltham explain the Roy Hill saga while Grog shows us the illusion that is the middle ground on IR. Carney, Kitney and Oakes consider the sustainability of Abbott’s negative campaign. And there’s a suite of links on parliament and the media that are best read together.

Finally, don’t let the 20th anniversary of Mabo pass on Sunday without reading the three excellent pieces offered here from Marcus Priest and Peter Lewis.

20th anniversary of Mabo decision

• Marcus Priest: Mabo: far from a black and white solution and Mabo’s legacy: joy and sorrow
• Peter Lewis: 20 years since Mabo – we have a long way to go

Economics, education and IR

• Jessica Irvine: The boom that’s in blooming good health
• George Megalogenis: Our longer-term advantage cannot be denied
• Laura Tingle: Bringing Garrett in from the cold
• Andrew Probyn: How Roy Hill became millstone
• Ben Eltham: We need Rinehart’s 1700
• GrogsGamut / Greg Jericho: Where is the middle ground on IR?

Abbott

• Shaun Carney: Positives in a power play that’s negatively charged
• Laurie Oakes: We’ll all be rooned, except the Coalition at the election
• Geoff Kitney: Hung up on credibility, not creed

Parliament and the media

• Barrie Cassidy: Bizarre scenes and shifting mood in parliament
• Jonathan Green: Insight lost to the ugliness of the celebrity moment
• Katharine Murphy: A duty to scrutinise
• Tim Dunlop: Freedom isn’t complete without engaging government
• Ben Eltham: Fairfax strikes out

Quarterly Essay

• Laura Tingle: Land of the angry and entitled (excerpt from Quarterly Essay)