Mr Bean loves free speech

October 25, 2012

From James Paterson

Looks like Occupy Canberra has a lot of work to do with the bureaucratic 1%:

That chart is from an important new report on how to really downsize the public service by IPA Research Fellow Julie Novak, released this week.

This video, of Mr Bean star Rowan Atkinson defending the right to offend, is the must-click Hey link of the year. Why don’t Australian celebrities stand up for free speech? The IPA’s Simon Breheny explains why the UK’s ‘Section 5′ is their Section 18C.

The latest edition of the IPA Review is out next week. Sadly, we learnt last week that communications minister Stephen Conroy is not a fan (but obviously an avid reader). Here’s a sneak preview of the front cover. And here is a great article from the last edition – Peter Gregory on how private schools are transforming the developing world.

A few months ago we told you it was lucky that Tim Flannery wasn’t Dutch. Well, it’s even luckier he isn’t Italian, given this court case. Europe sure is a strange place, as this insane EU poster (discovered by Dan Hannan) demonstrates.

I’d never have picked Mitt Romney as a comedian, but his speech at the Al Smith dinner last week in New York was genuinely very funny. Barack Obama’s was pretty good too. And here’s something you won’t see reported on CNN: Republicans are better informed than Democrats.

Finally, the current edition of New York magazine has a fascinating long read on the Ayn Rand-devotee who turned around AIG after the bailout.

Here’s what else the IPA said this week: