Cockeyed views

In the aftermath of Brexit, I’m told, that the phrase most googled in Britain was “What is the EU”?!!! What is clear, is that the plebs of England, particularly the North, had no idea what the referendum was all about. Whilst it may seem rational to blame the “remain” side for not explaining it well enough to them, the reality is the economic rationale behind the EU is complex and it takes more that 3 word slogans to explain. The Northern plebs were never going to get it. Further more, when the competition has no real argument other than appealing to the usual racism and border protection issues, with promises of power and glory, where being truth full is irrelevant, then, it becomes quite a challenge. Yes, the trick is to somehow relate any subject with migration and any other race and the plebs will be with you. Over the last 20 years, it has become apparent that the right side of politics appears to have a license to lie and the left don’t. It’s not to say the left doesn’t, but in...

It is not every generation that has the fortune (or misfortune) to observe the last twitches and spasms of an empire about to perish. In fact, it might even be the last empire ever as the progressive world strides forward towards a world that is beyond tribal boundaries. That is a distant goal, but surely one that will be attained under the new world order – a multi-ethnic world order. This maybe BRICS or one that follows it, but it will not be dominated by fat rich Anglo-Celtic white males. It is unreasonable to expect an empire to subside gracefully. The images of their military superiority, often mistaken as a superiority in race , will continue to be dangled in their faces by the likes of Trump and Farage and easily consumed by the struggling plebs as the only way to wealth and riches – Make America Great again!! And so the civilised, and I don’t mean rich, I mean civilised in manner – peaceful, respectful and non-discriminatory – rest of us will have to absorb the missiles this ...

Last Saturday, my son, wife and I attended the outdoor production of Turandot - the last of a trio of opera's presented by Opera Australia and Handa Opera. Whilst I intended presenting my thoughts on each opera immediately after attending them, I didn't really find the time to do so. So, here is a condensed review of all three of them.   A few years back, Opera Australia appeared to have made a strategic change to the approach taken to their productions. Rather than the lavish sets etc. The focus seemed to have changed to spending more on the artists. So, rather than having fat, chunky chics running around the stage shrieking at the top of their voices (with the exception of one or two stupendous voices), we had productions with vastly improved vocals but sometimes rather drab sets. This was particularly noticeable in the last 2 productions of Lucia. The first had some of the most brilliant sets, which almost looked like elaborate paintings (a point that was not missed by the ...

Peace and laughter Hmmmm. . . . flowers, bees, birds, crystal clear rivulets, wonderful fragrances, peace, doves, children playing on beautiful beaches, John Lennon. . .. .. OK, THATS ENOUGH!! Back to reality!!! That universe would be pretty boring anyway! What, with no Sabre rattling and threats to wipe out the whole of the Middle East with a force of a mere 3,500 of our valiant and gallant members of the ADF?!!! No kid’s body parts splattered on the beaches, No wedding parties blown up to smithereens, no kids being machine gunned down cos they threw stones!! Where’s the excitement and adrenaline rush?!! And all that without even thinking about “death cults” and “evil caliphates”. Clearly the forefathers of the Gungho-Saxon-White-Supremacy-Crusader mob, didn’t want us to be bored. Not only did they create this piece of mischief, simply cos a book from the dark ages said so and they just could, but they put a bunch of terrorists in charge and funded (and keep funding) the w...

Sorry, just using her own parlance! Maybe it’s acceptable for a woman to call another a bitch in parliament, but people do get their knickers in a knot when a guy uses the term on a woman. So, let’s leave aside the Bitch and focus on the Bimbo! The Bishop and the Bitch! There are a few of aspects relating to Blonde Bimbos that are undisputed. Most of them, aren’t blonde They are blonde, because when viewing through Western societies’ lenses, Blonde is sexy and sexy is good - gets you further in life! As they are usually operating at a level of incompetence, they are susceptible to many a gaffe! OK, I’m no expert on hair colour, but she sure does have dark roots(pardon the pun!!) and that is as far as I will take that part of the discussion. Bishop has undoubtedly had a privileged upbringing and has clearly leveraged her sex appeal (and possible blondeness) to good use – a classic case of “nice from far, but far from nice”! Through-out her life she has been the show-p...

A few days back I received a motor for my son’s drone all the way from some distant province of China (through ebay). The total cost was AUD 2.50! How is this possible in a world where we couldn’t even get burger for that price! In Australia, if I tried to send an empty envelope to my neighbour who is approximately 10m away from me, through Australia post, it would cost me 90 cents! To add to that, I would have to travel to a post box and mail it! Now some simple calculations (curtesy of google) suggest that Beijing is approximately 9,000km from home and at the going rate for domestic mail in Aussie, this would cost me $810,000!! Ok, the cheapest Australia Post rate for mailing something to China was $12.25. Add to that the cost of the motor, say $1.00 and the vendor is at a loss of $10.75 already! This got me thinking! Why is it that everything is a thousand times more expensive if a capitalistic country is involved and is it truly sustainable in a world where national borders are inc...

We’ve recently been through a week of horror as the cool calm and collected Pell (the ultimate bureaucrat) was questioned by the Royal Commission. Pell’s performance was nothing other than remarkable on many fronts. Only once did he let the Mr. Hyde side take over in an unconsidered statement of not being interested in his “mate” abusing (mating with) kids. Very little came out of Pell that we didn’t know already, nor was there that classic “got-ya” moment where the witness breaks down and admits to everything. Apart from Pell hiding from Australian justice and making it difficult (if he is genuinely sick, he should retire and come home) – a la Skase – nothing really seems to have been achieved by that whole procedure. Pell may or may not have been involved in such activity – there has not been any proof of it – he may or may not have been aware of it happening – once again no direct proof. But on the second issue, he would have had to be the only human on “Earth” (Well, the Christia...