On this very sporting weekend, it’s timely to consider what sports we Australians are really good at. This week’s Crikey offers some clues: there’s peddling (as in influence — come on down Daryl Maguire); long distance running (as in why the hell doesn’t the ex-head of Crown Rob Rankin front up?); and lots of “watching” (as in which watch did Christine Holgate buy you? Oh, the Cartier too).

Fortunately, Crikey has this week started — thanks to suggestions from readers — its own dictionary of spiv terms (a Spiv-tionary, if you will) so we’ll be able to update these new sporting codes as we go. There’s one other sport to think about: world-class petitioning. It may well not bring about what it aims to achieve but hats off to the former PM Kevin Rudd on his petition to have a royal commission into the influence of News Corp. It’s going gang busters. Rudd’s piece for Crikey this week certainly hit a note with readers.

Finally, and in preparation for the week or so ahead, we welcomed back Guy Rundle. His piece on why a Trump loss is not as clear cut as many think was my personal standout (though it did make me want to chuck up my cornflakes).

GUY RUNDLE 4 minute read

Don't count your chickens — the divide in America is now so great that the depth of Trump's support simply cannot be registered by a coastal-oriented media system.

KEVIN RUDD 3 minute read

No committee of elected politicians is capable of conducting an independent inquiry into abuses of media power — they are simply too vulnerable to Murdoch’s influence, writes Kevin Rudd.

JANINE PERRETT 3 minute read

This past week has not been a glorious one for powerful women in the public eye...

CHARLIE LEWIS 4 minute read

Well, it was certainly better than last time. But will it be enough to turn the tide?

MICHAEL BRADLEY 3 minute read

Don't expect to hear much from ex-Crown chair Rob Rankin, even after James Packer threw him under the bus.

MADONNA KING 3 minute read

Queensland Labor's late election push on euthanasia presents a challenge the opposition will find hard to mount.

BERNARD KEANE 3 minute read

We've entered an era of bigger government — and that means more power for the government to reward its friends, and more opportunities to rort spending to serve the government's political interests.

4 minute read

It’s an iron law of politics that the squeaky wheel gets the grease. Yet despite 25 years of the arts being squeezed, it's barely squeaked.

AMBER SCHULTZ 3 minute read

Restrictions on LGBTIQ blood donors are excluding up to a million Australians. Why is Lifeblood still pushing donors away?

GEORGIA WILKINS 2 minute read

Just hang on there, finance minister. You're wrong. There's a lot that's 'remarkable' about the powers of the Nev Power-led commission.

DAVID HARDAKER 3 minute read

News Corp has painted Gladys Berejiklian as a chick-flick protagonist unlucky in love. But it's the people of NSW who are getting dudded.

GEORGIA WILKINS 3 minute read

Is the icare scandal enough to keep Dominic Perrottet away from NSW's top job?

BERNARD KEANE 4 minute read

The Leppington Triangle scandal is looming as one of the most damaging in decades — but for the bureaucracy, not for politicians.

MICHAEL SAINSBURY 3 minute read

Fears are growing about how the Thai military will respond to a protest movement calling for major political reform.

JANINE PERRETT 3 minute read

The NSW Premier has gone full Mills and Boon to exploit female sympathy. You could almost forget this is a corruption scandal.