Cockeyed views

OK, it’s been and gone and so some of us are in the depths of withdrawal and may remain such for another long four years! The first time I involved myself in this event was either in 1988 or 1992. The event was of a much smaller scale and the competitors of lesser quality (considering it only began in 1976). It was still an exhibition of the brilliance and the exuberance of youth. I popped into the Conservatorium on several days through-out the competition and as I recall, the awards night and final performances were at the town hall. For various reasons, I have not really followed the event since. But this year, my brother emailed me a month or so before and so I decided to spend sometime there and aren’t I glad I did! I happened to be in the city on one of the Semi-finals sessions. Whilst I had some problems with booking tickets online, I was able to purchase them at the Conservatorium. The Conservatorium itself had changed significantly since I was there, last. While in the queu...

There are so many interesting news items right now eg. juvenile detention of indigenous kids, Gassing babies, the American elections, the Sydney Piano Competition (I soooo wanna write something on that! Oh! dominated by the Russians and Chinese, I should add!). But the one I thought to be highest priority was the whole corrupt effort of the Western nations to ban the Russians from the Olympics. The media will drum all those other issues to death as will they with this story. However, they will all take an anti-Russian stance. It’s quite normal for Western media to go hysterical and lose any sense of logic when it comes to dealing with issues relating to Russia (or China for that matter). It’s hard to fathom why this is the case, is it the Cold war (that ended 30 years ago), is it their intense dislike for Putin (Domestically, one of the most popular leaders of that country), is it the terror of communism (long gone) one can only guess. It is more likely due to  a fear and realisat...

Note: I started this entry a couple of weeks prior to the elections. Unfortunately, I was unable to complete it until several weeks after! Close to 10 years ago, a couple of years after Malcolm entered politics, I sheepishly admit that, I thought he would be a visionary leader for this country. He was truly progressive and liberal (not conservative). But he faced a dilemma. Here was a rich white man, who naturally would be assumed to have conservative views but instead had progressive views.So just as he could have very well fitted in either camp (i.e.. Labor or Liberal) he equally didn’t fit in neither! Malcolm chose the Fiberal party although his beliefs were more in line with the Labor party. Malcolm’s Hockey like ambition to be Prime Minister to stroke his own ego was always a concern (one should always be suspicious about these ambitious jokers who want to be PM for the sake of being PM) and there was also the issue that he was not electable by the Australian public, who typic...

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 (...