Your morning Briefing: ALP goads seniors: vote against us

Your 2-minute digest of the day’s top stories and must-reads.

Hello readers. Labor has goaded seniors to ‘vote against us’, dismissing the grievances of retirees, and the EU has snubbed Theresa May over the Irish backstop.

30/1/2019: Retired couple Pat and Dick Connor, at their home in St Lucia, Brisbane. The couple are very concerned over Labor's proposed changes to franking credits and their superannuation. Lyndon Mechielsen/The Australian

‘Vote against us’

Drawing battlelines ahead of a May election, Chris Bowen has pitted older Australians against working families, dismissing the grievances of retirees. Simon Benson suggests Labor’s tax philosophy is based on a simple principle: tax those who aren’t your people and funnel it through to those who are.

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02/12/2018: Local retirees (L-R) John Brennan, 67, Stuart Wright, 58, and Kathleen Mastrogiacomo, 70, at Clovelly Bowls Club on Sunday. Hollie Adams/The Australian

Tectonic shift

Over the next decade the baby-boomer generation shifts wholly into retirement. Prepare for a massive shift in consumer and property markets and business, writes Bernard Salt.

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***BESTPIX*** LONDON, ENGLAND - JANUARY 30: British Prime Minister Theresa May leaves Number 10 Downing Street for Prime Minister's Questions on January 30, 2019 in London, England. Mrs May is set to have further talks with EU leaders after MPs in the House of Commons last night backed a proposal for her to amend the Brexit withdrawal agreement. (Photo by Jack Taylor/Getty Images)

May snub

European leaders have rejected UK overtures to reopen the withdrawal agreement and go back on the Irish backstop.

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Ray Martin at 60 Minutes 40th anniversary

Race debate ‘gets in way’

Ray Martin warns the ugly debate over Australia’s indigenous community risks getting in the way of helping victims.

“So often, TV comments will spark a debate, but the debate never goes anywhere. Everyone just wrings their hands about who is a racist and who isn’t.’’

Ray Martin

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Warrnambool racing carnival - Galleywood Day, Race 8- Wangoom Handicap. Trainer Darren Weir with Michelle Payne before her ride on Star Collision. 4th May 2016. Picture: Colleen Petch.

Turf troubles

Racing has been galloped on from within, writes Patrick Smith. Skin and flesh has been ripped back to the bloodied bone. Self-inflicted hurt and humiliation. Racing, it seems, breeds traitors as regularly as mares drop foals. From the cobalt scandal in 2017 that ripped some careers to bits as utterly as a losing punter tears up a worthless ticket. To Group I trainer Robert Smerdon and his sophisticated race-day treatment scheming and now the arrest of Darren Weir, the country’s most successful trainer.

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Johannes Leak’s view

Johannes Leak Letters Cartoon for 31-01-2019. Version: Letters Cartoon (1280x720 - Aspect ratio preserved, Canvas added)COPYRIGHT: The Australian's artists each have different copyright agreements in place regarding re-use of their work in other publications.Please seek advice from the artists themselves or the Managing Editor of The Australian regarding re-use.