Assange racing to write book. Followers of all things Julian Assange had a private chuckle when it was announced that his $1.5 million memoirs would be published in April, by Canongate, Simon and Schuster, and in Australia by Text Publishing. The deadline would be difficult for anyone, but pinning down Neo long enough to get sufficient material for a ghost to whip into shape was one step beyond. Curiously, the recently dispatched March newsletter for Text makes no mention of this forthcoming blockbuster, which would surely be among their year’s biggest sellers. Somewhere in Norfolk, is a phone ringing without being answered?

Business group’s carbon taskforce. The NSW Business Chamber send out an email yesterday on the proposed carbon tax.  It’s echoing the opposition’s line a tad too much, don’t you think?

Parties aren’t talking about election. With the relentless pursuit of media management by the two major players in this awful NSW election, you may have thought getting their “news” would prove simple. Requests to both Coalition HQ and Zombieland down on Sussex Street via phone and email — as well as signing up to both of their e-news offerings — has still failed to deliver any announcements via my inbox. I would have never believed it if I hadn’t seen it myself, foolishly believing they wanted to get their stories out — presumably only to their favoured darlings in the fourth estate, rather than anyone who actually wanted to read what they had to say. I would have thought they would have been pleased someone actually wanted to read their garbage first hand.

Macquarie website on the blink. This is the second day in a row that my (and others) access to Macquarie accounts is not possible. After logging into their newly revamped site, I am greeted with no information on my accounts but a lovely calendar (see below). Although Macquarie’s previous online banking wasn’t pretty, at least it was functional. Meanwhile, my bills go unpaid.