The 9pm Edict #1

22 February 2010 in Politics, The 9pm Edict by Stilgherrian | 4 comments

Ladies and Gentlemen, I present for your edification and amusement, episode 1 of The 9pm Edict.

“Peter Garrett resists calls for his resignation. #nocleanfeed monomaniacs get up my nose. And some strongly-worded stuff about the Premier of NSW and Sydney’s public transport,” it begins. Kinda.

Yes, this is my new podcast project. Tonight is the first of 20 episodes, to be posted every Monday and Wednesday night for the next 10 weeks.

You can listen to this episode below. But if you want them all, subscribe to the podcast feed, or even subscribe automatically in iTunes.

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 16:38 — 7.9MB)

If you’d like to comment on this episode, please add your comment below, or Skype to stilgherrian or phone Sydney +61 2 8011 3733.

[Credits: The 9pm Edict theme by mansardian, Edict fanfare by neonaeon, all from The Freesound Project. Photograph of Stilgherrian taken 29 March 2009 by misswired, used by permission.]

Tags: christopher-pyne, helen kroger, ikea, kristina keneally, peter-garrett, podcasting, stephen conroy, tony abbott

4 comments

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Sylmobile on 23 February 2010 at 10:40 am

I like the analysis of context around the news items and I like the meta analysis of news qua news, particularly when it leans towards the edification of the audience rather than the critique of the news services. It’s kind of like a Media Watch in reverse. Interesting.

And the identification of an oddity within a news item is particularly entertaining while being informative and instructive. Does this mean I can finally lay to rest my years of wondering why Wynyard had platforms numbered 3, 4, 5 and 6, yet no platform 1 and 2?

I wouldn’t be averse to having a broader set of quick references to news items to simply be aware of, with a subset receiving the extended treatment. Anything to appeals to my laziness is basically welcomed.

The delivery of the Edict was very enjoyable. I smirked and giggled like a school girl at points.

Reply
Jason Langenauer on 23 February 2010 at 10:43 am

A couple of disparate points:

1. I disagree strongly with your assertion that there is any such thing as a “normal rate of fatalities” in any industry, let alone the construction industry. The only normal rate of fatality in any industry surely must be zero in a civilized society, and deviation from this principle should not be tolerated. Somebody must be held accountable for each of the 4 deaths.

Obviously, the minister is not directly responsible for workplace conditions at the installers, but even the most cursory risk assessment at the program-level would have identified this as a likely risk, and it seems this risk assessment did not happen, or was ignored. Whether or not this merits Garrett’s resignation is something I have yet to fully decide on.

2. As far as I know, the existing tunnels are not completely built. The old tram-tunnels from the east side of the harbour bridge to Wynyard no longer exist, and the platforms themselves at Wynyard are now car parks. This is why Wynyard station has no platforms 1&2 these days. There are also (apparently) 2 additional unused platforms underground at central station, but these only exist at central station itself. There is certainly no tunnel linking them.

(As an aside, there are also 2 more platforms at St James station, which were used in WW2 as a command and control center..)

Reply
Stilgherrian on 23 February 2010 at 11:52 am

@Sylmobile: I’m so giggly-pleased that you used the word qua that I’ve italicised it just for you.

Yes, Wynyard station‘s platforms 1 and 2 were originally for the trams which went up the east side of the Sydney Harbour Bridge. There was talk of using them for a rail line up to Manly and Newport as part of Bradfield’s plan for more Sydney railways, but it never moved beyond talk.

@Jason Langenauer: 1. By “normal” rate of death, I just mean “consistent with previous statistics”. It’d certainly be wonderful if the death rate was zero, but the reality is that accidents can still happen no matter how well-managed a workplace.

Coal mines occasionally collapse, for example, and miners die. It is the nature of mining. And yet we still mine coal. 1468 people died in road accidents across Australia in 2008, yet we still allow drivers to control their own vehicles. Are we therefore uncivilised? Perhaps we are.

2. Careless wording in my part. The tunnel I was referring to was the one from Central to Redfern and Eveleigh, which not only exists but is currently used to shunt country trains.

Reply
Wolfcat on 23 February 2010 at 5:34 pm

I love the tone of voice and the music…

sounds all very slick and professional

content was spot on and a nice departure from the Stil Live from last year.

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