Category: General

U2

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One name of each of these people begins with ‘Y’

Mission Complete – Thanks Everyone!

One of our journalists headed his article on young Usman’s elevation to the peerage with the remark “First Muslim to represent Australia”.

He received blunt answers from all but one of the on-line commentators, which were all along the lines of  “He’s an Aussie, he plays good cricket, who cares about his religion?” They went on to observe that journos don’t mention the faith of other team members, so why should they try and make an issue out of Usman’s?   It’s a non-event.

Usman himself didn’t see it in religious terms either; he plays guitar (whoops, the Imams will have a fit), plays Playstation (likewise), and doesn’t interrupt his innings to bang his head on the pitch at regular intervals.   He is a non-drinker of alcoholic beverages, but as Katich (his NSW captain) points out, that means he can act as taxi-driver when he joins the lads to go out for a night on the town.   Which he does.

The journo’s efforts to stir up trouble rather backfired.   Good!

Oh, the one dissenter?   He observed that religion must be important, because with the weird selection policy operated by current State boards it was practically impossible for any promising new youngsters to be selected unless they fitted some arcane profile which had little to do with their proficiency at cricket!   Oh, parochial politics in sport – beats religious bias every time! 😀

An area larger than Germany and France together is flooded.   22 cities and innumerable small towns across Queensland are inundated.   Thousands have been evacuated to rescue centres, thousands have lost everything – the cost to the Australian economy has already been estimated to exceed $6 billion.

Yet where are the offers of help from the USA and Britain?   There are none.   No rescue helicopters, no food drops, no financial support.   Nothing, nada, zilch; just a deafening silence.   Special relationships?   Don’t make me laugh.

Where are the generous aid packages from Pakistan, India, Indonesia, China?   There are none; not a brass razoo.

Australia will as always quietly get on with the job, on its own.

Bhupendra Patel, aged 42, was sentenced by magistrates in Manchester earlier in 2010 to do 120 hours of unpaid work. The probation service found him work at the Sue Ryder Care store, a charity shop that supports a nearby hospice for the terminally ill. Upon arriving for work, Patel asked the manager about CCTV coverage. He later stole goods worth £539, which he took away in a taxi. The goods have not been found.

The case was brought before magistrates in Manchester where he was sentenced to four months imprisonment, suspended for 18 months. He walked out of the court a free man. Terrific!

I was in a bar earlier this afternoon and saw someone wearing this T shirt, he allowed me to take the picture so I thought that I’d share

Off to a party later to see the New Year in, MrsOMG asked me to shave of my tache, she says it makes me look suave.

Happy New Year to all charioteers past and present, my best wishes.

OMG