Category: General

So what’s it all about?

Australia Day is fun.

Yes, it’s a day when we celebrate being Australians, living in the best country in the world, but it’s not a day for being aggressively nationalistic or bombastic; no weapons parades like the Chinese, no marches or saluting the flag; it’s a day for being laid-back, inclusive and having a country-wide party.

Our local council, like others all across Australia, will be laying on sausage sizzle breakfasts, and lunchtime and evening barbies – free, naturally – musical events, competitions for kids, face painting, sport and so on, culminating in fireworks.   One display early, for the littlies, and another later in the evening for the grown-ups.

Everyone will have a great time, and if some have a bit too much to drink, the blue heelers will do their best to be tolerant and try to get them home in one piece; you’ll only get booked if you’re behaving like a cast-iron drongo.

We’re a young country, so at times like this we’re inclined to act like kids; pollies, big end of town, Defence Force and all – we see no harm in that.

Even the most militant of the ‘original owners’ (‘aboriginals’ to you) have in the main given up holding protests about Captain Cook and the invasion; they join in and enjoy themselves with everyone else, then go back to being militant after Australia Day’s finished.

Everybody smiles, the sun shines, the surf’s up – who would live anywhere else?

One seriously wonders what is going on?

Reading the papers this morning the presages of doom seem to be in overdrive!

It strikes me that the global warming supplicants have moved on from their current busted flush to the munificent bottomless coffers of Monsanto.  Now we are assured that the burgeoning  world population will not be fed unless we accept cloning and GM. Otherwise they are all heading for our patch in ravening hordes. (I thought they were already here?)

Then we are ‘terrified’ by the threat of petrol rationing at £8.00 per gallon.  World shortages, global warming, yeti size carbon footprints, dedadedadeda! Ahem, we currently pay 56 pence per litre here, yes, you read it right, 56p/l. tax included!  That is how much of a shortage there is.

To top it off we are solemnly assured that Yellowstone is about to go off causing world decimation (which it will).  Well, OK that’s true, give or take an odd few million years, but, like now, right now, before lunch??

I suppose we could have a public whip round and buy them a decent book of chilling Fairy tales, a new copy of Grimms would do with which to terrorise the children; other than that-

THE SOONER THE BETTER!  About time the world had a serious clear out and culling.  Better to go with a bang than a whimper, but not before coffee please.

Meanwhile I’m off to count angels dancing on pinheads and study my Mayan calendar.  (Surely Nostrodamus didn’t have THAT MANY descendants that all took the title of journalist?)

Dewani extradition, Max claims torture

While reading my Sunday Times and searching for additional material yesterday I found this:-
The UK’s extradition agreement with South Africa does not require authorities from that country to provide “prima facie” evidence – that is, a summary of the prosecution case.

They only need to state that there is initial suspicion of an offence for there to be sufficient grounds for extradition – unless Mr Dewani’s lawyers can find reasons why he should not be sent back.

It is likely that they will argue that Mr Dewani’s human rights would be seriously compromised if he were to be extradited to South Africa for trial, and if extradition were granted his lawyers are likely to lodge a series of appeals that could end up in the European Court of Human Rights. Recent statements from figures of authority in South Africa have fuelled fears among Mr Dewani’s family that he has already been condemned by many in the country, and that a fair trial would be impossible.

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That would perhaps explain why Mr Clifford is quoted in the Sunday Times (here and here) as;