Richard Farmer’s chunky bits

Election policy update. My tent city will be bigger and more horrible than yours.

The good news for the Coalition. When prices go up, blame the government

And the good news for Labor. An exception to the rule is house prices. Perhaps it was not coincidence that support for Labor dropped markedly during the first couple of years after the 2010 election. The real estate market then in a minor slump of the kind that makes people feel uneasy as they think their wealth is drifting away. Now things are looking better, as the RP Data-Rismark Daily Home Value Index shows.

Mr Nice and Mr Nasty. It was all kids and family for Opposition Leader Tony Abbott, while Prime Minister Kevin Rudd was out of new opportunities because of his travel commitments and had to content himself with more of those flak jacket shots.

Opposition immigration spokesman Scott Morrison again proved his ability to play the villain’s role while his leader showed his caring side.

Bellowing support. Words can take on a new meaning when used by editorial writers for the Murdoch press. The flagship Wall Street Journal has gone quite ape over the thought that a woman might end up in charge of US monetary policy as the next boss of the Federal Reserve. Apparently there is a field of two that President Barack Obama will eventually choose from, one of them being current Fed board member Janet Yellen.

Yellen, the Journal conceded in an editorial, “doesn’t lack for professional credentials. But her cause has been taken up by the liberal diversity police as a gender issue because she’d be the first female Fed chairman.” And apparently leading this terrible feminist charge is the Democrat House of Representatives leader Nancy Pelosi, who “has bellowed her support”. Bellowed? Well judge for yourself:

News and views noted along the way.

• Evidence that the lunar cycle influences human sleep
• Garry Davis, man of no nation who saw one world of no war, dies at 91
• Gangplank to a warm future — “Because of leaks of methane, the main component of natural gas, the gas extracted from shale deposits is not a ‘bridge’ to a renewable energy future — it’s a gangplank to more warming”
• Buying a used car? Be sure to flatter the seller
• Sunday, bloody NYT Sunday, Maureen Dowd is eternally terrible edition — “Reading Maureen Dowd is like paying one of the Mean Girls to write columns for you forever and ever. At this point Dowd’s tone is pretty much only good for writing notes and passing them down the row in first period math: haha huma her husband cheats on her prolly because she’s a furriner also she pads her bra and has her period.”
• Publishers or platforms? Media giants may be forced to choose — “After threats to Caroline Criado-Perez, questions raised over who is responsible for libel or abuse via Twitter and Facebook.”