EDITORS' PICKS

Swan's witless fighting words
Alan Kohler
Prime Minister Gillard could do with a verbal swordsman of the same ilk as Paul Keating, and it's Bob Carr, not Wayne Swan, that is the most likely contender.

Flooded with climate vitriol
Rob Burgess
The politics engulfing climate change are distracting governments from seeking out information on climate variability, despite its already devastating consequences for lives and businesses.

Estimating Clive Palmer
James Kirby
Of the three tycoons Wayne Swan has attacked, China-connected Palmer is the one who may cause the most trouble...but is he a billionaire?

Jim McKnight talks bad loans
Karen Maley
The head of restructuring at UBS says there are clear signs of Australia becoming less strategically relevant to foreign lenders, and retail and traditional media sectors may struggle in the problem loans space.

Gerry Harvey's missing data link
Stephen Bartholomeusz
Woolworths and Myer 'get' that loyalty programs will deliver them the data they need to succeed at online retailing. It won't be long before those that don't get it are quickly leapfrogged.

CLIMATE SPECTATOR: Global warming, a communist plot?
Tristan Edis
It is difficult to understand why Australian business visionaries chose to reject climate change science as a communist plot rather than a physical phenomenon.

A survival kit for non-miners
Robert Gottliebsen
Australia's non-mining economy is facing an uphill battle and different sectors will need to make different changes to cope. But with so many economic pressures the question remains, what's going to give first?

Why Finkelstein is not Judge Dredd
Alan Kohler
Leaving aside the more absurd aspects of the Finkelstein report, it doesn't seem an outrageous idea that complaints about media mistreatment should be taken seriously and redressed.

Labor can't fight an IR ghost any more
Rob Burgess
Are the shenanigans at the ACTU just another sign that Australian politics is veering hard Left?

What would a Reserve Bank clone have done?
Shaun Vahey
One of the main differences of a shadow board that simulates the RBA's rate setting process is that disagreements between board members are communicated directly to the public.

The RBA's pragmatic push-back
Stephen Bartholomeusz
Officials in the Reserve Bank are increasingly frustrated at claims it has lost control of monetary policy, and recent comments make it clear the actions of the individual banks are being factored in.

TECHNOLOGY SPECTATOR: iPad 4G
Adam Turner
The latest offering from Apple has plenty to keep the faithful happy, and hold back the Android hordes, but it does leave Australia let down on LTE networks.

The hypocrisy of Europe's bankers
Oliver Marc Hartwich
The view of the eurozone debt crisis from the point of the continent's bankers is self-interested, and short-term. So when their confidence rises as it is doing right now, the rest of us should worry.

Whistleblowing? I can't hear you
Eyal Press, Salon.com
Whistleblowers that raised red flags before the global financial crisis were ignored by the authorities and if new US laws are passed, those that speak out could face further persecution.

China wakes up to work-life balance
Patti Waldmeir, Financial Times
The younger generation of Chinese workers have begun to discover the joys of sloth, and the impact will be felt around the world.

Readying for a CEO mind-shift
Robert Gottliebsen
Global competition is permeating beyond manufacturing into Australia's accounting, retail, education and IT sectors and not all CEOs will survive the resulting revolution.

Balancing the biased billionaires
John Hempton
American-style politics of money is coming to Australia, as Wayne Swan's criticism of billionaire influence pointed to, but here the problem is exacerbated by narrower avenues to wealth.