I was thinking the other day about what Australia really needs from its Government, to replace the current broken down corrupt and incompetent LNP Government, so I wrote Albo’s victory speech for him: “Ladies and Gentlemen, friends, fellow Australians. Thank you all for that welcome. Tonight, after nine long years of conservative Government, is a... Continue Reading →
Politician’s Partners – Fair Game
Politicians Spouses are Fair Game Politicians and political figures love to play the game “Attack me by all means but leave my family alone.” For children, certainly those under the age of about twenty to twenty-five, at ages when one cannot necessarily be expected to have developed one's own opinions, that's a reasonable position to... Continue Reading →
The Death of the Fourth Estate
The Death of the Fourth Estate How the entire mainstream media is an apologist for corruption and greed To paraphrase Shakespeare, I come to bury the Fourth Estate, not to praise it. As an instrument of accountability in our society the mainstream media is now largely irrelevant. The notion that the media is the fourth... Continue Reading →
Your freedoms and rights are a myth
(You have no rights, only privileges conferred by society) The problem with the demands for “rights” and “freedoms” by the anti-vax, anti-lockdown, mask-free movement is that those demands are based on a mythology perpetrated by groups such as the Institute of Public Affairs (IPA). That mythology is itself based on US ideological concepts of individual... Continue Reading →
Demonising Virtue, Value and Ethics
Or how the right “invented” and weaponised the terms "political correctness”, “virtue signalling”, “woke” and “cancel culture” As our politics has drifted relentlessly to the right, in recent years, and as the features of neo-liberal economies have increasingly driven inequality and environmental degradation, a part of this drift has been the labelling of virtue as... Continue Reading →
Looking for Napoleon – inside the French mind
From these small misunderstandings history is made. The 100 years war. Waterloo. Nuclear testing in the Pacific. The Wogs begin at Calais. La Perfide Albion (Albion being an old name for England). Even today many French people view the English as being perfidious and Brexit does little to change that.
Why I hate Australia (and why it’s not even a place)!
Most people think of Australia as a place. But I don't. You know. "Where are you from?" Australia. But Australia is not a place, it's simply an idea. A concept. A set values. We may think of Australia as tangible. Surely it is? It's where we are from. But it's not - it's a figment... Continue Reading →
The Generosity of Strangers in Strange Lands
It's clear that Australians whose daily out outpouring of bile against Muslims, refugees and strangers, in general, have never experienced the generosity, warmth and welcome of strangers in strange lands. Had they done so it is hard to believe that they would behave towards people with different values, skin colours and religions as they have... Continue Reading →
Rugby League – the world’s most boring “sport” – inane, unintelligent and misogynistic
Rugby League! Is it the world’s most stupid game? And how easy it is to dislike!! Leaving aside the misogyny, the hyped-up macho culture, the boys’ own stupidity (Oh I hate Queensland!!), the serial idiocy of its players and the state-based xenophobia, it surely has rules which make it the world’s most unintelligent game. And... Continue Reading →