Phil Shannon

  • Legionella outbreak in the health department

    CANBERRA — The federal Department of Health and Aged Care has been publicly embarrassed by a recent outbreak of legionella in one of its Canberra buildings. The Community and Public Sector Union (CPSU) reports that staff in the

  • Rod Quantock: Serial satirist captured

    Serial satirist captured Double Disillusion: Musings from a Rebel ComicBy Rod QuantockLothian Books, 1999229 pp., $19.95 (pb)Inspector Mastiff of the Yarra turned up the collar of his gabardine coat as the wind whistled with

  • Ten easy steps to be an anticommunist

    Ten easy steps to be an anticommunistThe Black Book of Communism: Crimes, Terror, RepressionBy Stephane Courteis, et alHarvard University Press, 1999858pp, US$37.50 The openings for career anticommunists may have dried up a

  • Marx through the keyhole

    Marx through the keyholeKarl MarxBy Francis WheenFourth Estate, 1999431 pp., $49.95 (hb) Ever since he wrote the Communist Manifesto in 1848, the theories of Karl Marx have been systematically pronounced dead and buried by the

  • Health staff reject shoddy deal

    The ballot for a new certified agreement in the Commonwealth Department of Health and Aged Care concluded last week. The result was a resounding "no". Sixty per cent of staff rejected the shabby agreement, which provided for a very

  • The revolutionary liberal adopted by Stalin

    PushkinBy Elaine FeinsteinPhoenix, 1999309 pp., $24.95 (pb)In February 1937, as Stalin's regime was engaged in extravagant celebrations of the centenary of the death of Russia's most famous poet, Alexander Pushkin, many victims of

  • Public service anger over performance pay bonuses

    Public service anger over performance pay bonusesCANBERRA — Staff in the commonwealth Department of Health and Aged Care will soon be voting on their next certified agreement. An unpopular attempt to introduce performance pay

  • Performance pay takes a tumble at ANTA

    Performance pay takes a tumble at ANTACANBERRA — The practice of paying performance bonuses rather than wage rises in the Australian Public Service was dealt a small but significant blow recently. Staff in the Australian

  • The history of capitalism: no, it isn't pretty

    Industry leaders, business executives, corporate entrepreneurs — what a much misunderstood community we have here, unjustly maligned by ungrateful plebs unable to see that their well-being depends on the noble spirit and good

  • When Ol' Blue Eyes was pink

    Amongst all the homages to Frank Sinatra that have saturated the media since his death, the Sinatra who did not always break bread with Republicans, hang out with the Mafia, insult women or sing anthems celebrating individualism,

  • Certified agreement in Health and Family Services

    Voting on a certified agreement in the Commonwealth Department of Health and Family Services (HFS) finished during the last week in February. The agreement, which will determine the wages and conditions of HFS staff for the next 18