Author Archives: Ernest Zanatta

To the Barricades? A Pro-Free Market Capitalist Case for the Occupy Movement

Let me start by saying that despite the suggestiveness of the heading of this posting, I am not announcing a Road To Damascus style conversion to Marxism, socialism, or even social democracy. I remain a cultural conservative with a commitment to politically and economically libertarian values (much as I dislike the word ‘libertarian’). But I …

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Is it time to look a Gift Horse in the Mouth (or Mask)?

About seven years ago, I made a very speculative (and ultimately spectacularly unsuccessful) investment in a venture which was seeking to close a deal to clean up some of the abundant pollution in mainland China. As I trusted the friend who put me onto this (despite his starting to live a fantasy life approaching that …

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The Upside of Living in a ‘Provincial’ City

There is a saying I read somewhere several years ago, but which I cannot attribute to any source (believe me, I tried to find one today), which goes along the lines of: ‘Blessed is the country without a history.’ This is because when you look at the details in history, you usually find the four …

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The Strange and Highly Dickensian Case of Puneet Puneet

As a general rule (with a few exceptions like A Tale of Two Cities), I dislike reading Charles Dickens. I find him verbose and preachy and most of his characters are mere caricatures. When reading The Old Curiosity Shop, I found that I wanted to punch the grandfather in the face, he was so exasperating. …

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A Shout Out For My Favourite Winery – Andrew Buller Wines

I thought I would just give a shout out for Andew Buller Wines of Rutherglen, my favourite winery of all. My favourite wine, since the year 2000, was the RL Buller & Sons Calliope Shiraz, which Andrew Buller would make. Sadly, the winery has changed owners in recent years, but Andrew and his wife Wendy …

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Put not your faith in Frequent Flyer Programs

I got a few push notices just now indicating that Virgin Australia is going into voluntary administration, the latest victim of the coronavirus crisis. This does mean that a large number of people are likely to lose their jobs, which is a sad outcome. It also leaves Qantas without a competitor, which might not augur …

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The Never-ending Struggle for Relevance – the Victorian State Opposition turns the Pandemic into a First World Problem

In any Anglo-phonic democracy, particularly those based on the Westminster system, the role of the loyal Opposition is important. It is there to scrutinise the behaviour of the government of the day and to constructively criticise it’s policies. If it does a good job of that, and the government of the day does a poor …

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Communist Kitsch rescued from the Trash Can of History

In the early 2000s, there were a couple of Chinese restaurants in Little Bourke Street named after Mao and Deng. They did not last long, because the food was not very good (the Post Mao Cafe based it’s menu on what apparently was Mao’s favourite dishes, which appears to have been the Chinese answer to …

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