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Beyond the spin, beyond the handouts, here’s how to get a handle on what’s really happening on budget night

<div class="theconversation-article-body"><a href="https://theconversation.com/profiles/peter-martin-682709">Peter Martin</a>, <a href="https://theconversation.com/institutions/crawford-school-of-public-policy-australian-national-university-3292">Crawford School of Public Policy, Australian National University</a> Three weeks from now, some of us will be presented with a <a href="https://budget.gov.au/">mountain</a> of budget papers, and just about all of us will get to hear about them on radio, TV or news websites on budget night. The quickest way to find out what the budget is really doing will be to listen to the treasurer’s speech, or to peruse online the aptly-named “<a href="https://treasury.infoservices.com.au/page/budget2023">glossy</a>” – a document that last year was titled “<a href="https://archive.budget.gov.au/2023-24/overview/download/budget_overview.pdf">Stronger foundations for a better future</a>”. <figure class="align-right zoomable"><a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/589444/original/file-20240422-23-vkinrm.png?ixlib=rb-4.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/589444/original/file-20240422-23-vkinrm.png?ixlib=rb-4.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/589444/original/file-20240422-23-vkinrm.png?ixlib=rb-4.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=848&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/589444/original/file-20240422-23-vkinrm.png?ixlib=rb-4.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=848&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/589444/original/file-20240422-23-vkinrm.png?ixlib=rb-4.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=848&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/589444/original/file-20240422-23-vkinrm.png?ixlib=rb-4.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1066&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/589444/original/file-20240422-23-vkinrm.png?ixlib=rb-4.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1066&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/589444/original/file-20240422-23-vkinrm.png?ixlib=rb-4.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1066&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" alt="Cover of 2023 budget glossy" /></a><figcaption>Glossies are used to make each budget attractive. <a class="source" href="https://archive.budget.gov.au/2023-24/overview/download/budget_overview.pdf">Commonwealth Treasury</a></figcaption></figure> But they will tell you exactly what the government wants you to hear, exactly as it wants you to hear it. If you are looking instead for the truth – what the government is actually trying to achieve and what it is holding itself and its officials to, I would suggest something else, tucked away on about page <a href="https://cdn.theconversation.com/static_files/files/3225/8787.pdf">87</a> of the main budget document. It is required by the <a href="https://www.legislation.gov.au/C2004A05333/latest/text">Charter of Budget Honesty Act</a> introduced in 1998 by Peter Costello, the treasurer under Prime Minister John Howard. On taking office in 1996, Costello set up a <a href="https://webarchive.nla.gov.au/awa/20101119021633/http://www.finance.gov.au/archive/archive-of-publications/ncoa/execsum.htm">National Commission of Audit</a> to examine the finances he had inherited from the Hawke and Keating governments, presumably with an eye to discovering they had been mismanaged. But the members of the commission weren’t much interested in that. Instead, they decided to deal with something more fundamental. <h2>Budget as you wish, but explain your strategy</h2> Governments were perfectly entitled to manage money in whatever way they wanted, and they were perfectly entitled to spend more money than they raised (which they usually do, it’s called a <a href="https://www.investopedia.com/terms/d/deficit.asp">budget deficit</a>). What the commission wanted was for governments to make clear what they were doing, and to spell out the strategy behind it. Only part of it was about being upfront with the public. The commission also wanted governments to be upfront with themselves – to actually develop frameworks for what they were doing, rather than doing whatever they felt like. The commission recommended a <a href="https://webarchive.nla.gov.au/awa/20101119021633/http://www.finance.gov.au/archive/archive-of-publications/ncoa/execsum.htm">Charter of Budget Honesty</a>, which among other things requires officials to prepare independent assessments of the finances before each election, requires budget updates six months after each budget, and requires <a href="https://www.aph.gov.au/About_Parliament/Parliamentary_Departments/Parliamentary_Library/pubs/BriefingBook45p/TaxExpenditures">tax expenditures</a> (tax breaks) to be accounted for like other expenditures. And it requires the publication and regular updating of a <a href="https://cdn.theconversation.com/static_files/files/3227/CBH_Fiscal_strategy.pdf">fiscal strategy statement</a>. <h2>Where treasurers hold themselves accountable</h2> The <a href="https://cdn.theconversation.com/static_files/files/3225/8787.pdf">fiscal strategy</a> can be thought of as an exam question set by the student who is being examined – something along the lines of “this is what you say you want your budget to achieve, please set out the means by which you plan to achieve it”. It turns out to have been exceptionally effective in getting governments to organise their thoughts, make budgets at least try to achieve something, and let the rest of us know what they are trying to achieve. Every few years, treasurers change the strategy, as is their right. Treasurer Jim Chalmers says he’ll change it again this budget, to de-emphasise the fight against inflation and to more greatly emphasise the need to <a href="https://ministers.treasury.gov.au/ministers/jim-chalmers-2022/transcripts/press-conference-washington-dc-0">support economic growth</a>. His statement will tell us what’s behind his actions in a way the glossy words in his brochure and speech might not. <h2>The strategy that has signposted 26 years</h2> Previous statements have signposted all the important turns in what the budget is trying to do. The first, in <a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/589686/original/file-20240423-16-rncqg3.PNG">1998</a>, committed Costello and Howard to achieving a budget surplus on average over the economic cycle and whenever “growth prospects remain sound”. Making that commitment more difficult was another “not to introduce new taxes or raise existing taxes over the term of this parliament”. Two years later, after the government had won an election promising a new goods and services tax, that commitment was <a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/589692/original/file-20240423-18-q843xn.PNG">changed</a> to “no increase in the overall tax burden from its 1996-97 level”, a condition met by calling the GST a state tax. <h2>Hockey and Morrison wound back spending</h2> The Labor budgets from 2008 <a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/589702/original/file-20240423-18-mikx6f.PNG">loosened</a> the tax target to the average share of GDP below the reference year, which they changed to the higher-tax year of 2007-08. The first Coalition budget under Treasurer Joe Hockey in 2014 changed the target from tax to spending, pledging to bring down the ratio of <a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/589705/original/file-20240423-16-9spkdy.PNG">payments to GDP</a>, and pledging a surplus of 1% of GDP by 2023-24. Any new spending would be more than offset by cuts elsewhere, and if the budget did receive a burst of unexpected revenue it would be “banked” rather than spent. In 2018 Treasurer Scott Morrison reintroduced tax as a target, that he spelled out precisely. Tax was not to increase beyond <a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/589706/original/file-20240423-16-b7gj5d.PNG">23.9%</a> of GDP. <h2>During COVID, Frydenberg spent big</h2> In 2020, in the face of a COVID-induced recession and soaring unemployment, Finance Minister Mathias Cormann and Treasurer Josh Frydenberg pushed the old strategy to one side. They would spend big now to keep the economy afloat so they wouldn’t have to spend more bailing it out later, and they wouldn’t return to their old concern about the deficit until the unemployment rate was “<a href="https://cdn.theconversation.com/static_files/files/3228/fs2020.pdf">comfortably below 6%</a>”. So well did they succeed that in 2021 Frydenberg made the momentous decision to keep going, abandoning the promise to return to worrying about the deficit when unemployment fell below 6%. Instead he promised to keep spending big until unemployment was “<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/589709/original/file-20240423-16-9pmpaf.PNG">back to pre-crisis levels or lower</a>”. The decision propelled unemployment down to a 50-year low of <a href="https://www.datawrapper.de/_/wPfXO/">3.5%</a>. Along with high iron ore prices, that one change of strategy has probably helped deliver Chalmers two consecutive budget surpluses – the one he announced last year for 2022-23, and the one he is set to announce this year for 2023-24. More of us have been in jobs <a href="https://www.finance.gov.au/publications/commonwealth-monthly-financial-statements/2024/mfs-january">paying tax</a>, and fewer have been out of jobs <a href="https://theconversation.com/half-a-million-more-australians-on-welfare-not-unless-you-double-count-227342">on benefits</a>. It’s a powerful demonstration of the real-world difference budget decisions can make, and the way in which the <a href="https://cdn.theconversation.com/static_files/files/3225/8787.pdf">fiscal strategy</a> tells the story.<img style="border: none !important; box-shadow: none !important; margin: 0 !important; max-height: 1px !important; max-width: 1px !important; min-height: 1px !important; min-width: 1px !important; opacity: 0 !important; outline: none !important; padding: 0 !important;" src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/228387/count.gif?distributor=republish-lightbox-basic" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" /> <a href="https://theconversation.com/profiles/peter-martin-682709">Peter Martin</a>, Visiting Fellow, <a href="https://theconversation.com/institutions/crawford-school-of-public-policy-australian-national-university-3292">Crawford School of Public Policy, Australian National University</a> Image credits: Getty Images This article is republished from <a href="https://theconversation.com">The Conversation</a> under a Creative Commons license. Read the <a href="https://theconversation.com/beyond-the-spin-beyond-the-handouts-heres-how-to-get-a-handle-on-whats-really-happening-on-budget-night-228387">original article</a>. </div>

Money & Banking

Spin cycle disaster: man puts winning Lotto ticket through the wash

In a harrowing tale that's sure to wring out a chuckle or two, a man in his late 20s from Belmont, Western Australia, narrowly escaped laundering his way out of a $2.8 million windfall – after nearly sacrificing his winning lottery ticket to the treacherous depths of his washing machine. It all started innocently enough at the Here's Luck Lottery Centre in Belmont Forum, where our hero – who very sensibly prefers to remain incognito – purchased what would turn out to be a life-changing ticket for the Saturday Lotto. Little did he know, his unassuming trousers would soon become the epicentre of a near-catastrophe. In a classic case of absentmindedness, our hero forgot to take his ticket out of his pants pocket before succumbing to the siren song of laundry day. "I forgot to take the ticket out of my trousers and put it in the washing machine," confessed the forgetful winner. "After five minutes I realised and stopped the washing machine to grab the ticket, fortunately, it was safe." Indeed, it was a race against the spin cycle as the man scrambled to rescue his potential fortune from a soapy demise. "I couldn’t think, I couldn’t sleep, I am still processing the win," he admitted with palpable relief. But our protagonist emerged victorious from this sudsy saga, managing to salvage his ticket just in the nick of time. With a sigh of relief, he made his way to Lotterywest HQ to claim his well-deserved prize. Lotterywest spokesman James Mooney chimed in, highlighting the importance of registering tickets to avoid potential mishaps of this magnitude. "For this player, it all came out of the wash okay, but it’s a reminder for players to register their ticket to prevent what could be a multimillion-dollar mistake," he wisely advised. Image: Getty

Money & Banking

Why understanding how spiders spin silk may hold clues for treating Alzheimer’s disease

<a href="https://theconversation.com/profiles/michael-landreh-1328287">Michael Landreh</a>, <a href="https://theconversation.com/institutions/karolinska-institutet-1250">Karolinska Institutet</a> and <a href="https://theconversation.com/profiles/anna-rising-1440132">Anna Rising</a>, <a href="https://theconversation.com/institutions/karolinska-institutet-1250">Karolinska Institutet</a> Really, we should envy spiders. Imagine being able to make silk like they do, flinging it around to get from place to place, always having a <a href="https://pubs.acs.org/doi/10.1021/acsmacrolett.8b00678">strong-as-steel safety line</a> or spinning a comfy hammock whenever they need a rest. The fascinating properties of spider silk make it no wonder that scientists have been trying to unravel its secrets for decades. If we could understand and recreate the spinning process, we could produce artificial spider silk for a <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0141813021021292">range of medical applications</a>. For example, artificial silk can help <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.biomaterials.2021.120692">regenerate the nerves that connect our brain and limbs</a>, and can shuttle <a href="https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.biomac.0c01138">drug molecules directly into the cells where they are needed</a>. <figure><iframe src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/zNtSAQHNONo?wmode=transparent&start=0" width="440" height="260" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen="allowfullscreen"></iframe></figure> Spider silk is made of <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/topics/engineering/spidroins">proteins called spidroins</a>, which the spider stores in a silk gland in its abdomen. There are several types of spidroin for spinning different sorts of silk. Spiders <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7673682/">store them as a liquid</a> that resembles oil droplets. But one of the questions that has eluded scientists so far is how spiders turn these liquid droplets into silk. We decided to investigate why the spidroins form droplets, to get us closer to replicating a spider’s spinning process. <h2>Weaving a web</h2> The trick that spiders use to speed up their spinning process can be used to spin better artificial silk, or even develop new spinning processes. In 2017, we learned to <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/ncomms15504">make synthetic silk fibres</a> by emulating the silk gland, but we did not know how things work inside the spider. Now we know that forming droplets first <a href="https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/37084706/">speeds up the conversion to these fibres</a>. An important clue to how the droplets and fibres are related came from an unexpected area of our research – on <a href="https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/23013511/">Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s diseases</a>. Proteins that are involved in these diseases, called <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/topics/biochemistry-genetics-and-molecular-biology/alpha-synuclein#:%7E:text=%CE%B1%2DSynuclein%20is%20a%20highly,linked%20to%20familial%20Parkinson%20disease.">alpha-synuclein</a> and <a href="https://www.alz.org/media/Documents/alzheimers-dementia-tau-ts.pdf">tau</a>, can assemble into tiny, oil-like droplets in human cells. Tau is a protein that helps stabilise the internal skeleton of nerve cells (neurons) in the brain. This internal skeleton has a tube-like shape through which nutrients and other essential substances travel to reach different parts of the neuron. In Alzheimer’s disease, an abnormal form of tau builds up and clings to the normal tau proteins, creating “tau tangles”. Alpha-synuclein is found in large quantities in <a href="https://www.webmd.com/mental-health/what-is-dopamine">dopamine-producing nerve cells</a>. Abnormal forms of this protein are linked to Parkinson’s disease. <figure class="align-center zoomable"><a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/528217/original/file-20230525-25-p40y48.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/528217/original/file-20230525-25-p40y48.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/528217/original/file-20230525-25-p40y48.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/528217/original/file-20230525-25-p40y48.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/528217/original/file-20230525-25-p40y48.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/528217/original/file-20230525-25-p40y48.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/528217/original/file-20230525-25-p40y48.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/528217/original/file-20230525-25-p40y48.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" alt="Beautiful spider web with water drops close-up" /></a><figcaption>The trick spiders use to speed up their spinning process can be used to spin better artificial silk. <a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/beautiful-spider-web-water-drops-close-155560781">Aastels/Shutterstock</a></figcaption></figure> Oil droplets of either one of these proteins form in humans when they become entangled, like boiled spaghetti on a plate. At first, the proteins are flexible and elastic, much like spidroin oil droplets. But if the proteins remain entangled, they get stuck together which alters their shape, changing them into rigid fibres. These can be toxic to human cells – for example, in neurodegenerative conditions such as Alzheimer’s. However, <a href="https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/33148640/">spidroins can form droplets</a> too. This left us wondering if the same mechanism that causes neurodegeneration in humans could help the spider to convert liquid spidroins into rigid silk fibres. To find out, we used a <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/nchembio.2269">synthetic spidroin called NT2RepCT</a>, which can be produced by bacteria. Under the microscope, we could see that this synthetic spidroin formed liquid droplets when it was dissolved in phosphate buffer, a type of salt found in the spider’s silk gland. This allowed us to replicate spider silk spinning conditions in the lab. <h2>Silky science</h2> Next, we studied how the spidroin proteins act when they form droplets. To answer this question, we turned to an analysis technique <a href="https://www.britannica.com/science/mass-spectrometry">called mass spectrometry</a>, to measure how the weight of the proteins changed when they formed droplets. To our surprise, we saw that the spidroin proteins, which normally form pairs, instead split into single molecules. We needed to do more work to find out how these protein droplets help spiders spin silk. Previous research has shown spidroins have different parts, called domains, with separate functions. The end part of the spidroin, called c-terminal domain, makes it form pairs. The c-terminal also starts <a href="https://journals.plos.org/plosbiology/article?id=10.1371/journal.pbio.1001921">fibre formation when it comes into contact with acid</a>. So, we made a spidroin which contained only the c-terminal domain and tested its ability to form fibres. When we used phosphate buffer to entangle the proteins into droplets, they turned into rigid fibre instantly. When we added acid without first making droplets, fibre formation took much longer. This makes sense since the spidroin molecules must find each other when forming a fibre. Entangling the spidroins like spaghetti helps them rapidly assemble into silk. This finding tells us how the spider can instantly convert its spidroins into a solid thread. It also uncovered how nature uses the same mechanism that can make brain proteins toxic to create some of its most amazing structures. The surprising parallel between spider silk spinning and fibres toxic to humans could one day lead to new clues about how to fight neurodegenerative disorders. Scientists may use spider silk research, including what we have learned about the spider silk domains, to keep human proteins from sticking together – to stop them from becoming toxic. If spiders can learn how to keep their sticky proteins in check, perhaps so can we.<img style="border: none !important; box-shadow: none !important; margin: 0 !important; max-height: 1px !important; max-width: 1px !important; min-height: 1px !important; min-width: 1px !important; opacity: 0 !important; outline: none !important; padding: 0 !important;" src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/205857/count.gif?distributor=republish-lightbox-basic" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" /> <a href="https://theconversation.com/profiles/michael-landreh-1328287">Michael Landreh</a>, Researcher, Department of Microbiology, Tumor and Cell Biology, <a href="https://theconversation.com/institutions/karolinska-institutet-1250">Karolinska Institutet</a> and <a href="https://theconversation.com/profiles/anna-rising-1440132">Anna Rising</a>, Researcher in Veterinary medicine biochemistry, <a href="https://theconversation.com/institutions/karolinska-institutet-1250">Karolinska Institutet</a> This article is republished from <a href="https://theconversation.com">The Conversation</a> under a Creative Commons license. Read the <a href="https://theconversation.com/why-understanding-how-spiders-spin-silk-may-hold-clues-for-treating-alzheimers-disease-205857">original article</a>. Images: Getty

Body

Vinyl record sales keep spinning and spinning – with no end in sight

Over the past decade, vinyl records have made a major comeback. People purchased US$1.2 billion of records in 2022, a 20% jump from the previous year. Not only did sales rise, but they also surpassed CD sales for the first time since 1988, according to <a href="https://www.riaa.com/2022-year-end-music-industry-revenue-report-riaa/">a new report</a> from the Recording Industry Association of America. Who saw that coming? I certainly didn’t. In the mid-1990s, I sold off my family’s very large collection of records over my wife’s protests. I convinced her we needed the space, even if the buyer was picking up the whole stash for a song. Back then, of course, there were far fewer options for listening to music – it was years before <a href="https://pitchfork.com/features/lists-and-guides/9986-the-year-in-streaming-2016/">on-demand streaming</a> and <a href="https://www.shockwave-sound.com/blog/music-on-the-move-a-short-history-of-mobile-listening/">smartphones</a>. <a href="https://www.bu.edu/questrom/profile/jay-zagorsky/">I now teach at a business school</a> and <a href="http://businessmacroeconomics.com/">follow the economy’s</a> latest trends. Sales of records have been increasing since 2007, and the data shows the vinyl record industry’s rebound still has not peaked. Last year, the music industry sold 41.3 million albums, more than in any year since 1988. This resurgence is just one chapter in a broader story about the growing popularity of older technologies. Not only are <a href="http://www.the-standard.org/life/vinyl-records-making-a-comeback-after-30-years-of-being-behind-cds/article_9108143e-3bdd-11ea-be0d-97edd557218b.html">LP records coming back</a>, but so are <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/dc-md-va/2018/09/24/sales-are-booming-manhattan-typewriter-store-mostly-thanks-young-people-tom-hanks/">manual typewriters</a>, <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/2022/12/24/board-game-popularity/">board games</a> and <a href="https://theconversation.com/why-are-so-many-gen-z-ers-drawn-to-old-digital-cameras-198854">digital cameras from the late 1990s and early 2000s</a>. There are many <a href="https://blog.technavio.com/blog/reasons-behind-upsurge-vinyl-record-sales">theories about why records</a> are <a href="https://www.readersdigest.co.uk/culture/music/why-is-vinyl-making-a-comeback">making a comeback</a>. Most of them miss the point about their appeal. <h2>Why records and not CDs?</h2> One suggestion is that sales have been spurred by <a href="https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p057l522">baby boomers</a>, many of whom <a href="https://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2020/11/09/the-pace-of-boomer-retirements-has-accelerated-in-the-past-year/">are now entering retirement</a> and are eager to tap into the nostalgia of their youth. Data shows this theory is not true. First, the <a href="https://www.billboard.com/charts/vinyl-albums">top-selling vinyl albums right now are current artists</a>, not classic bands. As of this writing, <a href="https://illustrationchronicles.com/jamie-hewlett-gorillaz-and-the-enduring-evolution-of-pop">Gorillaz, a band formed in the late 1990s</a>, was at the top of the vinyl charts. Second, <a href="https://www.riaa.com/reports/2021-u-s-consumer-music-profile-musicwatch-inc/">data from the recording industry</a> shows the most likely person to buy a LP record is in Gen Z – people born from 1997 to 2012. Another theory is that records are cheap. While that might have been true in the past, today’s vinyl records command a premium. “Cracker Island,” the Gorillaz album that is currently topping the vinyl sales charts, <a href="https://usstore.gorillaz.com/products/cracker-island-standard-vinyl">lists for almost $22</a> – twice the cost of the CD. Plus, subscribing to an online service like Spotify for 15 bucks a month gives you access to millions of tracks. A third explanation for the resurgence is that <a href="https://www.sciencefocus.com/science/does-vinyl-really-sound-better/">people claim records have better sound quality</a> than digital audio files. Records are analog recordings that capture the entire sound wave. Digital files are sampled at periodic intervals, which means only part of the sound wave is captured. In addition to sampling, many <a href="https://www.soundonsound.com/techniques/what-data-compression-does-your-music">streaming services and most stored audio files compress the sound</a> information of a recording. <a href="https://cs.stanford.edu/people/eroberts/courses/soco/projects/data-compression/lossy/mp3/concept.htm">Compression allows people</a> to put more songs on their phones and listen to streaming services without using up much bandwidth. However, <a href="https://electronics.sony.com/hi-res-audio-mp3-cd-sound-quality-comparison">compression eliminates some sounds</a>. While LP records are not sampled or compressed, they do <a href="https://www.perfectvinylforever.com/faq">develop snap, crackle and popping sounds</a> after being played multiple times. Records also skip, which is something that doesn’t happen with digital music. If you’re really going for quality, CDs are usually a superior digital format because <a href="https://www.gearpatrol.com/tech/audio/a731474/reasons-to-buy-cds/">the audio data is not compressed</a> and has much better fidelity than records. Yet even though CDs are higher quality, <a href="https://www.riaa.com/u-s-sales-database/">CDs sales have been steadily falling</a> since their peak in 2000. <h2>The ultimate status symbol</h2> In my view, the most likely reason for the resurgence of records was identified by an economist over a century ago. In the late 1890s, <a href="https://www.econlib.org/library/Enc/bios/Veblen.html">Thorstein Veblen</a> looked at spending in society and wrote an influential book called “<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Theory_of_the_Leisure_Class">The Theory of the Leisure Class</a>.” In it, he explained that people often buy items as a way to gain and convey status. One of Veblen’s key ideas is that not everything in life is purchased because it is easy, fun or high quality. Sometimes harder, more time-consuming or exotic items offer more status. A cake is a great example. Say you offer to bring a cake to a party. You can buy a bakery-made cake that will look perfect and take only a few minutes to purchase. Or you could bake one at home. Even if it’s delicious, it won’t look as nice and will take hours to make. But if your friends are like mine, they’ll gush over the homemade cake and not mention the perfect store-bought one. Buying and playing vinyl records is becoming a status symbol. Today, playing music is effortless. Just shout your request at a smart speaker, like Siri or Alexa, or touch an app on your smartphone. Playing a record on a turntable takes time and effort. Building your collection requires thoughtful deliberation and money. A record storage cube alongside an accompanying record player also makes for some nice living room decor. And now I – the uncool professor that I am – find myself bemoaning the loss of all of those albums I sold years ago. Image credits: Getty Images This article originally appeared on <a href="https://theconversation.com/vinyl-record-sales-keep-spinning-and-spinning-with-no-end-in-sight-201444" target="_blank" rel="noopener">The Conversation</a>.

Music

Federer sends tennis world in a spin

Roger Federer has sent the tennis world in a spin after announcing he may be pushing back his retirement. The 40-year-old Swiss player was welcomed to a standing ovation and a huge round of applause when he appeared at Wimbledon on Sunday for the traditional parade of champions. Federer, who has been struggling with his right knee after undergoing three operations to help repair damage to his meniscus and cartilage, then announced exciting news to tennis fans. “I hope I can come back one more time. I’ve missed it here," he said. "Of course I've missed being here. I would have loved to be here. I knew walking out here last year, it was going to be a tough year ahead. <blockquote class="twitter-tweet"> With eight singles titles to his name, <a href="https://twitter.com/rogerfederer?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@rogerfederer</a> 🏆 🏆 🏆 🏆 🏆 🏆 🏆 🏆<a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/Wimbledon?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#Wimbledon</a> | <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/CentreCourt100?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#CentreCourt100</a> <a href="https://t.co/ucGLn0wW6q">pic.twitter.com/ucGLn0wW6q</a> — Wimbledon (@Wimbledon) <a href="https://twitter.com/Wimbledon/status/1543582911466700800?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">July 3, 2022</a></blockquote> "Maybe I didn't think it was going to take me this long to come back. But the knee has been rough on me. "I didn't know if I should make the trip, but I'm happy standing right here, right now." Federer has played at Wimbledon every year since his main-draw debut in 1999 but had to sit out in 2022 due to the long recovery on his knee. "I've been lucky enough to play a lot of matches on this court. Feels awkward to be here today in a different type of role," he said. "But it's great to be here with ... all the other champions. This court has given me my biggest wins, my biggest losses." Image: Getty

Caring

Crackin’ election result sends Liberal Party spinning

Saturday night’s election win for the Labor Party has seen members of the Liberal Party begin to question what the future holds, while one MP said outgoing Prime Minister Scott Morrison should have quit months ago. It comes after footage from 9News captured Mr Morrison showing off his whip-cracking skills while his wife Jenny served margaritas at an afternoon party at Kirribilli House on Sunday. The footage also showed Mr Morrison sipping on a beer, and Jenny and their daughter Abbey having a crack at using the whip. <blockquote class="twitter-tweet"> <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/EXCLUSIVE?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#EXCLUSIVE</a>: The outgoing Prime Minister hosted his last function at Kirribilli House this afternoon - with drinks, canapes, and whip-cracking to mark the occasion. <a href="https://twitter.com/MarkWBurrows?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@MarkWBurrows</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/9News?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#9News</a> <a href="https://t.co/JFCezxtP6R">pic.twitter.com/JFCezxtP6R</a> — 9News Sydney (@9NewsSyd) <a href="https://twitter.com/9NewsSyd/status/1528287227125563392?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">May 22, 2022</a></blockquote> Reporter Mark Barrows said the event was “a chance for the Morrisons to say thank you to their staff and their families” before they leave the official residence and return to the Shire, allowing incoming PM Anthony Albanese to move in. Meanwhile, various Liberal MPs have begun weighing in on the brutal election results - with the party set to lose 17 seats - and on the direction of the party in the future. One MP said Mr Morrison should have resigned months ago when polls showed he had little support among voters, but instead he “strapped himself to the Liberal Party like a suicide bomber and blew the whole show up”, per <a href="https://www.dailytelegraph.com.au/news/national/federal-election/election-fallout-liberal-mp-says-scomo-should-have-quit-but-instead-blew-the-whole-show-up/news-story/b3e5b31dee0435f836f15d502379e60b" target="_blank" rel="noopener">The Sydney Morning Herald</a>. Outgoing finance minister and moderate Senator Simon Birmingham, one of the first to speak out publicly, said the party was paying the price for failing to lock in climate and energy policy during Malcolm Turnbull’s leadership. These sentiments were echoed by outgoing Treasurer <a href="https://www.oversixty.com.au/news/news/peter-dutton-frontrunner-for-leader-of-liberal-party" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Josh Frydenberg</a>, who called on the party to be better at “articulating” its climate change achievements. “Australia has not been well served by the culture wars on climate change,” he said. However, Queensland Nationals Senator Matt Canavan has warned the party against catering to Left-leaning voters. “If Left is code for higher taxes, more government regulation and woke policies, I can’t see how that’s a recipe for success,” he said. Another outgoing Liberal minister said the party was struggling to bridge the gap between wealthy inner-city voters and the rest of Australia, and that it might be that the divide was too wide to bridge. Several Liberal sources have defended Mr Morrison, saying he was the victim of Labor’s character assassination strategies, while others urged for party members to wait for the “dust to settle” before decisions were made about the party’s ideological direction. Outgoing Home Affairs Minister Karen Andrews, who lost a significant number of primary votes to the Greens, said the Liberals needed to “go back” and “look at our values… to make sure we are properly representing the Australian people”. Though the Liberals have suffered significant losses in New South Wales, Victoria, and Western Australia, the Nationals have seemed to hold all of its seats. As a result, Queensland is looking to be a stronghold for the Coalition with the state accounting for a third of Federal Liberal-aligned seats. One MP said Queensland would have “a big say within the party” about what the Coalition and Liberals would do going forward. Queensland MP Garth Hamilton said the party needed to be “honest, credible and painfully earnest” following the election and defended the Coalition’s position as a “broad church”. “The idea of a broad church demands that we remain reflective of a range of views, we need to continue to be that,” he said. “Losing our Left flank is going to be a challenge. Our centre of gravity need to be in the centre-Right.” Images: 9News

News

Australian law says the media can’t spin lies – ‘entertainment magazines’ aren’t an exception

In a <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/media/2020/feb/17/womans-day-headline-declaring-meghan-and-harrys-marriage-over-blatantly-incorrect">recent ruling</a> the Australian Press Council has given a signal to gossip magazines it is OK to make up and publish rubbish about people, so long as the stories aren’t “blatantly incorrect”. This is despite the council’s own guidelines stating all member publications must strive for accuracy and avoid being misleading. The council, which adjudicates complaints against the print media, has also suggested it’s OK to have less rigorous standards when reporting on royalty and celebrities. And all this happened in a ruling against a magazine for publishing falsehoods. A confused adjudication The council has upheld a complaint about an article published in Woman’s Day on May 27 2019. The cover declared: “Palace confirms the marriage is over! Why Harry was left with no choice but to end it.” The inside story was titled “This is the final straw” and claimed: “Prince Harry has been left enraged and humiliated by a series of shock revelations about his wife’s past” and he “has finally reached breaking point”. In upholding the complaint, the <a href="https://www.presscouncil.org.au/document-search/adj-1773/">Press Council said</a> the headline was “blatantly incorrect” and not supported by the article’s contents. It also ruled the headline “was more than just an exaggeration […] it was misleading”.“ But the council has sent a strong signal it will be lenient with publications that exaggerate. It said: ”[A]n entertainment publication can be expected to use some exaggeration" and “celebrity and gossip magazines are purchased for light entertainment, with readers not necessarily assuming that everything presented is factual”. The phrase “not necessarily” suggests some people might believe what’s presented is factual. But, that aside, why is the Press Council making rulings at odds with its own general principles? The <a href="https://www.presscouncil.org.au/statements-of-principles/">first principle</a> says publications should “ensure that factual material in news reports and elsewhere is accurate and not misleading and is distinguishable from other material such as opinion”. How does it reconcile these two contradictory ideas? It’s a question Marcus Strom, the president of the journalists’ union, MEAA Media, has been considering. He told <a href="https://theconversation.com/australian-law-says-the-media-cant-spin-lies-entertainment-magazines-arent-an-exception-132186">The Conversation:</a> “The Press Council guidelines are clear that all member publications must strive to be factual and not misleading. I’m surprised that falsehoods – where not “everything presented is factual” – are allowed within that definition.” If you’ve walked past a rack of magazines in the supermarket and wondered just how many times the same celebrity can become pregnant, you may have asked yourself why these publications can print falsehoods on an almost industrial scale. You might have concluded they’re just gossip magazines and no one takes them seriously. That same thinking seems to be driving the Press Council’s comments. But is that good enough? The idea these publications have a special exemption from journalistic standards is a concept with almost no foundation in law. There is no special provision under Australia’s defamation laws for this class of magazines. There is no “celebrity” defence that allows the media to make up lies about people. Even the defamation law’s defence of “triviality” offers very little protection. The Rebel Wilson case made that perfectly clear. Lawyer Dougal Hurley, of Minter Ellison, tells The Conversation gossip magazines trade on light entertainment, and readers “can and do expect a level of hyperbole that they would not in news media”. However, he concludes: “This does not mean that the defence of triviality will succeed if these magazines are sued for defamation. Indeed, the rejection of triviality defences by the jury [in the case of] Wilson is evidence of this. Gossip magazines that have not already changed their editorial practices risk being liable for significant defamation payouts.” Out-of-step thinking The other controversial suggestion in the ruling is that the media can apply less rigorous standards when reporting on the royal family and celebrities. “The Council also acknowledges that the reasonable steps required to be accurate and not misleading in an article concerning royalty and celebrities can, depending on the circumstances, be different to those required in respect of other persons, particularly those who are not usually in the public eye.” The council offers little reasoning for this, but is no doubt assuming that, as public figures, they should expect incursions on their privacy and sensationalised coverage. Again, the council’s thinking is looking out of step with the <a href="https://www.afr.com/companies/media-and-marketing/australia-the-defamation-capital-of-the-world-20190904-p52nuh">increased use of the courts</a> to combat inaccurate reporting and false gossip. Hurley says: “Although in many respects gossip magazines are as they ever were, it is also true that they are bearing more risk in circumstances where they purport to report news and publish to a global audience instantaneously.” He continues: “While international celebrities may appear to be easy targets for gossip magazines, our notoriously plaintiff-friendly defamation laws mean that these celebrities can and will sue in Australia. Only a major overhaul of Australia’s defamation laws will prevent the libel tourism that has contributed to Australia becoming the defamation capital of the world.” Perhaps in these circumstances, the Press Council might do its members – and the public – a greater service by insisting proper standards apply to all reporting, and that accuracy and fact checking be the norm, even for the magazines at the supermarket checkout. Written by Andrew Dodd. Republished with permission of <a href="https://theconversation.com/australian-law-says-the-media-cant-spin-lies-entertainment-magazines-arent-an-exception-132186">The Conversation.</a>

Legal

ALDI sends shoppers mad with spin on Aussie classic dessert

Australia has gone wild over budget supermarket ALDI, and the hype is not bound to slow down anytime soon with their latest new product that will be sure to tingle your nostalgia senses. <iframe src="https://www.facebook.com/plugins/post.php?href=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.facebook.com%2Fphoto.php%3Ffbid%3D10156275610827693%26set%3Da.10150600060282693%26type%3D3&width=500" width="500" height="613" style="border: none; overflow: hidden;" scrolling="no" frameborder="0" allowtransparency="true" allow="encrypted-media"></iframe> ALDI has just shared a photo online of its “Entertainer” which is a $3.99 take on the classic Vienetta dessert. The ice-cream has only just hit shelves and is already causing a wave online. “Oh my gosh!! What memories just flooded back!” one shopper wrote on a Facebook post of the ice cream. “This was a family favourite in my house as a kid,” another commented. “OMG, my favourite ice-cream ever,” someone else wrote. Other ALDI fans tagged their friends and family, suggesting they should buy one for “old times sake”. “For the nostalgia should we get one next time we have people over?” one person said. “We could get this fancy dessert for our Xmas party!” another teased. <blockquote style="background: #FFF; border: 0; border-radius: 3px; box-shadow: 0 0 1px 0 rgba(0,0,0,0.5),0 1px 10px 0 rgba(0,0,0,0.15); margin: 1px; max-width: 540px; min-width: 326px; padding: 0; width: calc(100% - 2px);" class="instagram-media" data-instgrm-permalink="https://www.instagram.com/p/Bp3wP8glfzI/?utm_source=ig_embed&utm_campaign=loading" data-instgrm-version="12"> <div style="padding: 16px;"> <div style="display: flex; flex-direction: row; align-items: center;"> <div style="background-color: #f4f4f4; border-radius: 50%; flex-grow: 0; height: 40px; margin-right: 14px; width: 40px;"></div> <div style="display: flex; flex-direction: column; flex-grow: 1; justify-content: center;"> <div style="background-color: #f4f4f4; border-radius: 4px; flex-grow: 0; height: 14px; margin-bottom: 6px; width: 100px;"></div> <div style="background-color: #f4f4f4; border-radius: 4px; flex-grow: 0; height: 14px; width: 60px;"></div> </div> </div> <div style="padding: 19% 0;"></div> <div style="display: block; height: 50px; margin: 0 auto 12px; width: 50px;"></div> <div style="padding-top: 8px;"> <div style="color: #3897f0; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 14px; font-style: normal; font-weight: 550; line-height: 18px;">View this post on Instagram</div> </div> <p style="color: #c9c8cd; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 17px; margin-bottom: 0; margin-top: 8px; overflow: hidden; padding: 8px 0 7px; text-align: center; text-overflow: ellipsis; white-space: nowrap;"><a style="color: #c9c8cd; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 14px; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: 17px; text-decoration: none;" rel="noopener" href="https://www.instagram.com/p/Bp3wP8glfzI/?utm_source=ig_embed&utm_campaign=loading" target="_blank">A post shared by Nancy_Micaiah👨‍👩‍👧‍👧 (@nancy_micaiah)</a> on Nov 6, 2018 at 11:43pm PST </div> </blockquote> The original Viennetta ice-cream is still available throughout Australia, and can be purchased at Woolies for $5 or Coles for $6.

Food & Wine

"As good as a Dyson”: $8 Kmart find sends fans into a spin

A NSW mum has immediately shared her new find at Kmart – and it’s not going to break the bank and does a fantastic job at cleaning the floors. Shirley Towan, from Bombala in regional NSW, spoke to <a rel="noopener" href="https://www.news.com.au/lifestyle/home/interiors/the-8-kmart-find-mum-thinks-is-as-good-as-a-dyson/news-story/aea84ee4816575a19be564f68724efe6" target="_blank">news.com.au</a> about her latest Kmart find, which is an $8 broom from Kmart that cleans carpets. It can be found in the cleaning section of the discount department store. “I instantly knew I had to have one so I asked my friend to pick one up for me on Sunday,” Shirley said. She was looking for a fix to clean a hallway through her home that “no amount of vacuuming has ever cleaned properly,” when she found the broom at Kmart. However, Shirley had already invested more than $700 in a Dyson vacuum, but was unhappy with the results as it didn’t clean her carpet the way she wanted it to. Putting the broom to the test on Monday, Shirley was shocked with the results. “When I first used the broom I was in absolute disbelief that there was so much debris left behind after constant vacuuming,” she said. “I was actually slightly embarrassed that all that stuff came out of my carpet!” <img style="width: 480px; height: 480px; display: block; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" src="https://oversixtydev.blob.core.windows.net/media/7826655/42727521-3-f.jpg" alt="" data-udi="umb://media/09263c8d3990449b912defc35b8165ca" /> Source: Kmart Australia Shirley has also made a bold claim, saying that her new purchase is “just as good as a Dyson”. She shared her success with a popular Kmart Facebook group, saying she’s been in “total shock”. “I wanted to share it with other mums to let them know that an $8 broom can be amazing for carpet,” she said. With 2.2K people liking her tip and almost 500 comments, Shirley has been “gobsmacked” by the reaction to her post. “I just wanted to show a few mums how good it was and now the whole country has got on board,” she said. “Now I’m famous for sharing a pile of fluff!”

Money & Banking

The riddle that has the internet in a spin – can you figure it out?

“What walks on four legs in the morning, two legs in the afternoon, and three legs at night?” inquired the Sphinx. Oedipus, ever the clever Greek tragic figure, was not easily fooled. “Man,” he replied. Then, the Sphinx died, for some reason. The upcoming riddle’s stakes are a bit lower, that’s for sure, but its answer is similarly difficult to dream up. If Teresa’s daughter is my daughter's mother, what am I to Teresa? For clarity’s sake, the relationships mentioned in the above riddle are by blood, and not by the quick and breezy process of Facebook family requests. Fortunately for the riddle-solver, finding the answer will just provide gratification. The pivot point of the riddle sits on the tongue of question-asker, who happens to be… Teresa’s daughter, <a rel="noopener" href="http://twentytwowords.com/heres-the-answer-to-the-viral-riddle-thats-driving-the-internet-nuts/2/" target="_blank" title="" data-original-title="">as confirmed by this diagram from 22 Words.</a> Now, if you’re still looking for a challenge to keep your brain churning, just try and find the <a rel="noopener" href="http://www.readersdigest.com.au/true-stories-lifestyle/thought-provoking/spot-the-turtle" target="_blank" title="" data-original-title="">turtle in this photo</a>. It has nothing to do with daughters, but apparently, women can solve it faster than men. Written by Sam Benson Smith. This article first appeared in <a href="http://www.readersdigest.com.au/true-stories-lifestyle/thought-provoking/riddle-has-internet-spin-can-you-figure-it-out">Reader’s Digest</a>. For more of what you love from the world’s best-loved magazine, <a href="http://readersdigest.innovations.com.au/c/readersdigestemailsubscribe?utm_source=over60&utm_medium=articles&utm_campaign=RDSUB&keycode=WRA87V">here’s our best subscription offer.</a> <img style="width: 100px !important; height: 100px !important;" src="https://oversixtydev.blob.core.windows.net/media/7820640/1.png" alt="" data-udi="umb://media/f30947086c8e47b89cb076eb5bb9b3e2" />

Mind

5 scrapped TV spin-offs you’ll never get to see

Spin-offs are tricky business and if they do not go down well fans, they not only cease production, but they ruin the perfectly good storyline of the original show. These TV show spin-offs next made it on our screen, but some even made it as far as shooting a pilot. Here are TV spin-offs that got called off. 1. Rose Tyler: Earth Defence This idea was a Doctor Who spin that followed Rose Tyler’s adventures after she departed the flagship in 2006. The story was meant to follow Tyler as she worked for Torchwood after she ended up stranded on a parallel Earth. The spin-off was green lit and had a budget allocated for the first episode of a series of specials, but it was stopped due to fears that bringing back Rose too soon would lessen the impact of her departure. 2. Cherry Hill Prison Break was going to get a spin-off which would follow well-to-do housewife Molly as she’s thrown into a women’s prison. Molly was going to be introduced in the third season of Prison Break, but the 2007-08 Writers Guild of America strike forced production to shut down and the change in storylines. 3. Assignment: Earth Assignment: Earth was intended to be the sister series of the original Star Trek. Star Trek’s final episode in season two introduced Gary Seven, an alien from the 24th century who time travelled to protect Earth’s history. It was organised for Gary Seven to have more standalone adventures, but the idea never happened. 4. How I Met Your Dad While there is a different How I Met Your Mother spin-off potentially in the works, the first spin-off idea was created in 2014. The spin-off series would’ve been a gender-swapped remake of the original series. The pilot of the spin-off starred Greta Gerwig as the lead and had Meg Ryan perform the voiceover as the older version of her character Sally. CBS passed on the idea, but now a revamped version called How I Met Your Father could still be picked up. 5. Springfield One Simpson’s episode ‘22 Short Films About Springfield’, which focused on Springfield’s other residents, was so popular that a spin-off was nearly created. Former showrunner Josh Weinstein told <a href="http://www.digitalspy.com/tv/ustv/feature/a818387/scrapped-tv-spin-offs-doctor-who-prison-break-buffy/" target="_blank">Digital Spy</a>, "We felt at that time – around season seven – that we all knew the family so well, so let's start exploring all these great side-characters.” "It would be a chance to tell full stories about these other characters, but that never happened. I think it could've been great, but everyone was so busy at the time." What is your favourite TV show spin-off series? Let us know in the comments below.

Truck sends car spinning on QLD motorway — but who is at fault?

Dash cam footage has captured the moment a truck clipped the back of a car as it attempted to overtake on a Queensland highway. The footage was shared on Facebook group Dash Cam Owners Australia and shows a car approaching two trucks that were travelling in the outside and inside lane on Port of Brisbane Motorway. The car appears to use the left lane to overtake the first truck and then as it goes to change lanes, the truck clips it which sends it spinning out of control. <iframe src="https://www.facebook.com/plugins/video.php?href=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.facebook.com%2FDashCamOwnersAustralia%2Fvideos%2F1704177882975178%2F&show_text=0&width=560" width="560" height="315" style="border: none; overflow: hidden;" scrolling="no" frameborder="0" allowtransparency="true" allowfullscreen="true"></iframe> The video has generated a lot of conversation as viewers argue over which driver is at fault. Some have claimed that the car driver should have been aware of the truck’s blind spots. "While the truckie was in the right lane (and shoulda been in the left lane) ... you never never never sit to the left of a truck or semi ... and not expect to be run over. How hard is it to understand that a truckie cannot see you when you are slighty (sic) in front of him and to his left?,” one person said. “People put on their indicators and think they can just move across. How about checking first if it was safe to do so. You pulled in front of a bloody big truck,” another added. But others have come to the defence of the car driver. “The dash-cam driver was in their lane doing everything legally and got hit by a truck.” The owner of the Facebook page even contributed to the debate and said, “I’m confident if the roles were reversed here, everyone would be blaming the car for sitting in the right hand lane.” A person who claimed to be the driver of the car said he gave both trucks plenty of time to see him before merging into the right lane. “8 seconds after the right truck disappears from view, he started to veer towards the left lane. I do not know if he was merging or otherwise occupied,” he wrote. “Unfortunately, he did not see my car and the front of his truck clipped the back drivers side of my car. This forced my car to spin onto the front of his truck and bounce off to the other side of the road.” “At the time of impact, I was NOT merging into the right hand lane.” The man claimed that the truck driver admitted fault to the police when they arrived. Who do you think is a fault in this incident? Let us know in the comments below.

Insurance

The very best (and the very worst) TV spin-offs

Sometimes, a television show is populated with so many wonderful characters that producers decide to capitalise on their success and create a spin-off show. Sometimes, it’s easy to see that the original show was lightning in a bottle, and that a spin-off was never a good idea. Occasionally, though, the resultant show is so wonderful, so engrossing, that you’d be forgiven for forgetting that it’s a spin-off. The Best 1. Frasier – spun off from Cheers Held up as the shining example of spin-off success stories, Frasier ran for 11 seasons, picking up a whopping 37 Emmys along the way. 2. Better Call Saul – spun off from Breaking Bad News that the creators of the revered Breaking Bad were making a spin-off about Walter White’s shady lawyer, Saul Goodman, was met with trepidation. How could they possibly follow up one of the most critically beloved series of recent memory? Very, very well, apparently. The prequel series is a hit with audiences and critics alike, as star Bob Odenkirk carries on the Breaking Bad legacy with aplomb. 3. The Good Fight – spun off from The Good Wife The Good Wife was television at its finest – at once a slick legal drama populated with contemporary stories that echoed current headlines, and a gripping exploration of the life of a woman whose life is plagued by scandal thanks to her politician husband. After its seven successful seasons, The Good Fight picks up where the show left off, allowing Christine Baranski to take up the mantel of lead character, along with Cush Jumbo and Rose Leslie. It’s similar in tone to its big sister show, but different enough to feel just as fresh, relevant, and necessary. 4. Angel – spun off from Buffy the Vampire Slayer Buffy’s creator, Joss Whedon, decided to give Buffy’s vampire-with-a-soul boyfriend his own television show after the latter character had been killed. Cue one perfectly executed resurrection story, and David Boreanaz’s Angel left Sunnydale and headed for Los Angeles, where he teamed up with fellow Buffy alum, Cordelia (Charisma Carpenter) to set up a detective agency. Darker than its counterpart, Angel ran for five seasons, and reinvented itself several times with a diverse cast or characters and actors that complemented its gripping storylines. The Worst 1. Joey – spun off from Friends Fans hoped against hope that this Friends spin-off would be as wonderful as the original. Unfortunately, the show never stood a chance. The show rated well at the beginning of its run, but was cancelled halfway through its second season. We like to imagine that Joey moved back to New York to be with his friends. 2. Joanie Loves Chachi – spun off from Happy Days Happy Days’ Joanie and Chachi packed up and moved to Chicago to start a rock band. It would seem this was a bad move for the pair, as the show was cancelled after two short seasons, and the characters returned to Happy Days for its final season. 3. The Brady Brides – spun off from The Brady Bunch Take two characters from one of television’s most recognisable and beloved families, and give them their own show. Instant hit, right? Not so much. The team behind The Brady Brides gave Marcia and Jan a pair of husbands and had the two couples living together in a single home. The result was as bad as the premise sounds, and the show was canned after only six episodes. Which spin-off TV show is your favourite?

Katherine Kelly Lang and Ita Buttrose in “The Bold and Beautiful” spin-off

Emmy-winning actress, Katherine Kelly Lang, who plays Brooke Logan on The Bold and the Beautiful, dropped by morning show Studio 10 yesterday. The soapie-loving presenters soon roped her into starring in a Studio 10 version of the long-running show. The very good sport Katherine played along in the hilarious skit that pokes fun of soapie storylines, the acting, as well as the Studio 10 presenters themselves. Watch the skit above. Related links: <a href="/news/news/2015/12/downton-abbey-christmas-special-trailer/">Watch the new “Downton Abbey” Christmas special trailer here</a> <a href="/entertainment/tv/2015/12/best-tv-shows-to-watch-these-holidays/">5 of the best TV shows to watch these holidays</a> <a href="/news/news/2015/12/desi-arnaz-writes-sweeting-thing-about-lucille-ball/">Desi Arnaz writes sweeting thing about Lucille Ball at the end of his life</a>

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Catalogues

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Entertainment

Travel

Health

Lifestyle

Finance

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Compare

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Information

Keep up to date

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Beyond the spin, beyond the handouts, here’s how to get a handle on what’s really happening on budget night

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Federer sends tennis world in a spin

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Katherine Kelly Lang and Ita Buttrose in “The Bold and Beautiful” spin-off

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