There are many reasons for the current woes facing the government but, considering their habit of rewarding incompetence, it is hardly surprising.

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In November 2015, a cartoon in Al-Ahram, an Egyptian state-owned newspaper, depicted an Islamic State ogre with “Made in America” emblazoned on his back. It wasn’t unusual. A look at Middle Eastern news media shows that this idea is startlingly common. Even prominent officials in the region, from Egypt’s former culture minister to a former deputy prime minister of Iraq, have publicly ventured conspiracy theories that Washington created the Islamic State.

I have been trying to place a date on this very funny cartoon, published say between 1960 and 1980 in The New Yorker... 

Australia has a population of just under 50 people, according to last night's census figures. It represents a fall from the 22 million measured in the 2011 census.

The snapshot of the nation showed that almost one in five of all Australians now live in a share-house in Coppin Street, in the Melbourne suburb of Richmond. The flatmates, who moved into the property last week, are still waiting for their internet to get connected.

read more: http://www.smh.com.au/comment/satire/australias-population-now-48-abs-confirms-20160810-gqp623.html

The Australian Bureau of Statistics says it believes a series of hacking attacks which led to the census website being shut down last night were part of a deliberate attempt to sabotage the national survey.

(To the tune of the Bruno Mars Song)