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from Crikey …..

In the global Stock Market Olympic awards last week, the race to beat their pre-GFC stock market highs was won by  Denmark – the home of Lego, King Canute, Soren Kierkegaard, Hans Christian Andersen, Hamlet, Jørn Utzon, Helena Christensen, Danish pastries, and a long line of Vikings called Erik.

(With apologies to Malvina Reynolds)

Little boxes on the hillside, Little boxes in our leafy parks

Little boxes, little boxes, little boxes all the same

Theres a Liberal one, and a Labor one

from the 730 report …..

JOE HOCKEY: Well, Labor have no Plan B. Labor have no Plan B. We have laid down...

SARAH FERGUSON: Do you have a Plan B?

US tech giant Apple has shifted an estimated $8.9 billion in untaxed profits from its Australian operations to a tax haven structure in Ireland in the last decade, an investigation by The Australian Financial Review has found.

President Vladimir Putin has delivered a robust defence of Russia's actions in Crimea, saying he would use force in Ukraine only as a last resort.

Prime Minister Tony Abbott says Australia has [quite] enough national parks and he will set up a new Forest Advisory Council to support the timber industry.

Speaking at a timber industry dinner in Canberra overnight, Mr Abbott said too much forest is currently locked up in Tasmania.

Tonight,  on Channel Ten "The Project",  the presenting crew had a segment with a forceful mum complaining about a photographer having dared to offer to retouch her kid's school pictures...  Oulalah It hurts... But?

Prince William, Kate, baby George confirm tour stops for April visit to Australia, New Zealand

"Foreign minister Julie Bishop will officially summon the Russian ambassador, Vladimir Morozov, in Canberra on Monday morning for an explanation of his country’s actions in the Ukraine.

Prime Minister Tony Abbott on Sunday called on Russia to “back off” from its military escalation in the semi-autonomous region of Crimea."

In political economist Mancur Olson's path-breaking book, The Rise and Decline of Nations, published in 1982, he argued that a country's economic stability ultimately leads to decline as it becomes increasingly dominated by organised interest groups, each seeking to advance their interests at the expense of others.

more to come...