EDITOR'S PICKS

Turnbull has saved the NBN
Alan Kohler
Malcolm Turnbull has somehow turned the Liberals into an NBN party, creating a plan only a little worse than Labor’s and rescuing the Opposition from a terrible mess.

Wind forecasts gather power
Robert Gottliebsen
With Australia's prospects in the natural gas market taking a blow and carbon prices on the way down, the wind industry must play to its strengths.

O'Brien squeezes loyalties to wet Woolworths' sail
Stephen Bartholomeusz
Woolworths' third-quarter sales reveal how Grant O'Brien is using customer loyalty data to generate impressive growth, and the numbers reinforce a sense the retail sector is picking up.

Tide's out for inflation across global shores
Stephen Koukoulas
Low Chinese inflation suggests growth will remain close to 2013 forecasts of a little over 8 per cent, while a low Australian CPI later this month could trigger a rate cut.

Turnbull bets utility over bling in the NBN bout
Stephen Bartholomeusz
Malcolm Turnbull has proposed a financially more prudent and far more pragmatic NBN which could equal the technological capacity of Labor's at a $12.7 billion discount, albeit a decade later.

The Bitcoin bubble
Alan Kohler
No one is quite sure what the Bitcoin phenomenon will come to, but the unit's recent rise from $20 to $147 suggests that in a world of increasing distrust in fiat currencies it's not going away.

Time to scrap Australian car making
Stephen Koukoulas
The decline of Australia's car making industry is something we should embrace. For workers, it can be an opportunity to retrain and get off a dead-end road.

Seeing through Labor's super con
Rob Burgess
Like Margaret Thatcher, Labor's super reforms will win short-term praise. But they achieved just one thing: locking in a tax minimisation scheme for the wealthiest savers in the face of Labor and Liberal values.

Thatcher's political and punk rock legacy
Jessica Irvine
Margaret Thatcher's policies on deregulation, government spending and union power were hard for England to swallow. But the Iron Lady dragged down inflation, shaped a market-oriented era and inspired some great rock songs.

The real cost of missing the high-speed train
Jessica Irvine
At three times the cost of the NBN, high-speed rail on Australia's eastern seaboard faces heavy opposition. But the long-term economics are compelling.

Double or nothing: the euro solution
Oliver Marc Hartwich
Europe's badly designed monetary union is being defended at all costs. With the EU now meddling in Portugal's separation of judicial powers, maybe it's time the real alternative was broached.

Time to recharge the Keating method
Keith Orchison
Twenty years after the Paul Keating-commissioned Hilmer Report, Australia needs a similar circuit-breaker to cut through the ill-disciplined debate about power reform.

Australia and China begin the great thaw
Geoff Raby
For all the symbolism of Julia Gillard's trip to China, a new forum co-chaired by Andrew Forrest will be key to breaking down suspicions hindering business dealings.

The stock secrets hidden in margin debt
Steve Keen
There are astounding, yet slightly different, correlations between margin debt and share market moves in the US and Australia. It reveals the varied fragility of each country's rally.