Author: jkirkby8712

I must say that it was very difficult to draw upon the resources of ‘will’ power to get out of bed this morning, at 5.30am!!  Cold, dark, and the promise of a very Wintry week ahead of us!  Yet 90 minutes later, as I looked out of the radio studio windows and the view of the skyline of Sunbury, the early morning sunshine created a beautiful warm aspect to the morning – it may not have been so warm outside, despite the  early sun, but certainly the aspect of it, brightened and awakened the day in a very pleasant manner.  Earlier, as I walked up the ramp to the external door,  I was greeted by two ‘very chatty’ magpies sitting on the balcony of the ramp  – now these birds, and others, are fed every Sunday morning, by the two presenters, who follow me on air at 9am!  Obviously, the magpies have not yet learnt to read the clock,  because when my car arrives, they seem to assume that ‘feeding time’ has arrived!!  Mind you, they do realize very quickly that I am the ‘wrong’ human, and not the hand that feeds them, and their greeting is short lived, and with a loud squawk of annoyance, shall we say, and a flutter of wings, they take off, and leave this sole human to his own company. Of course, the local rabbit population don’t even attempt to greet me – well they do, by scattering in all directions upon my arrival in the area each morning! It’s ‘nice’ to be so popular!!!

One of the pieces of music I play each Sunday morning always comes from the vast collection of compositions attributed to the ‘four seasons’, and with today being the first Sunday in Winter, so began 3 months of compositions specifically written for that time of year. As I note year, much of the ‘winter’ music has been written in the Northern Hemisphere, and as a consequence, winter is so often associated with Christmas. The music of winter is therefore quite regularly related to the Christian aspects of the Christmas story, as well as snow, etc  – not the kind of  Winter, we here in the south would be experiencing in December! Be that as it may, I always begin my Winter ‘four seasons’ selections with a piece of music written by the relatively unknown English composer, Harold Darke [lived from 1888 to 1976] simply called ‘In the Bleak Mid Winter’ and which deals with the birth of Christ. Were it not for the words that form part of this composition [and on my recording, is  performed by the Choir and Orchestra of Claire College, Cambridge under the direction of John Rutter who was responsible for some of the music & hymns at the recent Royal wedding in the UK], and you simply took the title and music at face value, this particular piece is a perfect introduction to my ‘seasonal’ music.

After another lengthy walk this morning, which I achieved reasonably early in view of the forbidding weather forecast for later in the day [which in fact did not arrive until this evening], the rest of my Sunday was without major commitment, and subsequently saw quite a bit of time spent on the family history project [ and perhaps even more time spent  ‘recovering’ from two strenuous weekend walks!].

Carlton Football team update  – Round 11 of the 2011 AFL season this weekend – the Blues travelled over to Adelaide to play a late Sunday afternoon game   against Port Adelaide, a team struggling to win games in 2011. There was no ‘free to air’ coverage of this game, I think the first time this year, we have not been televised for all to see. My son, James was watching the game at one of the local pubs on ‘pay TV’, and tried to encourage me to join him, halfway through the match. However, at that point, I was halfway through cooking an evening meal for Susie & myself, and to be honest, at that stage, simply did not feel like venturing out again tonight [those decisions were always spur of the moment ones, when I was younger, but  those days have passed!!]. So for me, it was a radio broadcast tonight – which for the first half, did not seem to be going too well for the Blues, but as the quarter by quarter time scores indicate below, the Carlton team really turned up the heat, and went onto a powerful win. I would make the comment later, to James, that if Carlton were able to put together 4 quarters of the way they played today in the 2^nd half, they would be unbeatable. I guess I was suggesting that the first half of football was a poor effort by Carlton, but James disagreed. He would write on Face Book that  ‘I believe they did produce four good quarters on Sunday. I know that the scoreboard doesn’t show it, but Port really threw it up to Carlton in the first half. But Carlton kept fighting, and in the end Port couldn’t keep up the pressure.  I think it was perhaps one of Carlton’s best four quarter performances and while the opposition was a poor side,  they did probably play some of the best footy they have all year. That was my observation anyway!!’   Well now, who am I to argue with my son, who has developed into an even more fanatic Carlton supporter then his father was all those years ago, and as a former player, he can no doubt see more in their performances than I do [that’s my diplomatic response in any case]. The final scores were as follows:

Carlton Blues:          3.3.21          5.7.37            9.11.65              FINAL:  16.15.111

Port Adelaide:          4.2.26          6.4.40            7.7.49                Final:        7.7.49

Meanwhile, from Paris, we learnt that Rafael Nadal overnight, won his 6^th French Open title when he defeated [again] Roger Federer over 4 sets – 7/5,7/6,5/7, 6/1 – looks like it was pretty tight up until the end of the 3^rd set, when it might have seemed that Roger was making a comeback, but at that stage, Nadal must have really turned only picked up the result via the radio.  Top seed Nadal – who was also champion in 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008 and  2010 – took his overall Paris record to 45 wins against just one defeat. His victory also means he can hold on to his world No.1 spot.  It was the 25-year-old Spaniard’s 17th win over Federer in 25 meetings and fourth in a Roland Garros final.  But unlike their 2008 clash, when Federer managed to win just four games in the most one-sided final in 30 years, Nadal was made to work harder for his sixth Paris title.
On Saturday night, we saw the result I liked –  the Chinese girl who lost the Australian Open final in January to Kim Clysters, scored a victory in the Women’s Final. As the following commentary from Roland-Garros explains:- ‘When Li Na stopped playing tennis in 2002 to study journalism she perhaps never envisaged that she would one day be making headlines all over the world. This afternoon the 29-year-old did just that, becoming the first Chinese player in history to win a Grand Slam singles title when she dispatched defending champion Francesca Schiavone 6-4, 7-6(0) in the French Open final. The 29-year-old from Wuhan hung up her racquet temporarily because she was languishing around the no.120 mark in the world rankings and wanted a back-up plan in case her tennis didn’t pan out. She enrolled on a journalism course and spent two years away from the tour. Nine years on she is the 2011 French Open champion and describes the victory as a “dream come true”.’

A couple of Aussie wins today in various parts of the world – locally in Adelaide, the Socceroos had a 3-0 win of the New Zealand ‘All Whites’ soccer team in a ‘friendly’ match [though no sporting contest between Australia and New Zealand would normally be regarded as normal!!]. This game was a lead up match to this coming Tuesday night’s match at Melbourne, where Australia will be playing another ‘so-called friendly’ against Croatia, one of the team’s we came up against in last year’s World Cup first round of matches.  While in motor cycle racing, well a wonderful win to Australia’s Casey Stoner who scored his 3^rd MotoGP win of the season [out of 5 races] when he won the Catalunya MotoGP today [a course in a region of Spain]. He finished more than 2 seconds ahead of defending world champion, Jorge Lorenzo, who now leads the Australia in the overall championship ladder for 2011, by just 7 points. Stoner is in great form at present. He was the 2007 World Champion.

 

A very pleasant evening, last night, at the Melbourne Recital Centre [MRC] listening to my quartet of girls and their string instruments, probably only spoilt by the fact that I was feeling very tired – perhaps tonight would have been a better night for one of next week’s jazz concerts. Must admit that most of tonight’s music was not quite lively enough to get one up and dancing in the aisles!!  Nevertheless, I did enjoy the program, the details of which I referred to yesterday. The one point of ‘interest’ happened at the beginning of James Ledger’s composition ‘Processions’, when just before the girls came back on stage to play his work, James popped up from the audience onto the stage, where he proceeded to give a brief explanation of the music, and the background to it. That was fine, however  –  and I’ve noticed this before at the MRC –  the onstage microphone he tried to use, didn’t work, nor did the replacement that was quickly brought out for him! A rather poor state of affairs I thought, for a major entertainment venue!  Anyway, he spoke without a working mic, luckily his voice was just loud enough to carry throughout the auditorium, although I’m sure there would have been many present who experienced some difficulties in clearly hearing his explanations

In his own words, James Ledger [born 1966] describes his composition ‘Processions’ as follows:-   “The piece is in three continuous sections, or processions, that run continuously after a short introduction. The first procession is energetic and jubilant music that reflects the optimistic instances of migration, such as the case of my maternal grandparents. They emigrated from England after the second world war when Australia attracted them with the chance of a new and better life. The second procession reflects the darker side of human displacement. Here, there is uncertainty and perhaps numbness that comes from separation or leaving home. There is a sense of loss and isolation against a trudging motion that is captured in this procession. The whole work was written against the backdrop of two devastating earthquakes that struck the city of Christchurch, New Zealand, and then Japan.  The third movement is a funeral procession, in which the instruments glissando slowly downward, representing a sigh or expression of grief”.  [James Ledger, 2011]

So there you have it, just like the story told by an author in print, much if not all of classical [and no doubt other genres] music has been written and originally composed with some series of events or storyline in mind. I guess the principal difference with music is, that you generally need the composer to actually reveal what his music is all about  – I mean, having read the little piece above ‘before’ hearing the music, one was able to gain a much more appreciative understanding and/or enjoyment of the music as it went along. That’s how this ‘amateur’ music lover sees it in any case, I mean without the composer’s explanation, how could we possibly have a clue what the music was trying to say?  Having said all that, I now realize that I have just one more planned concert to attend with the Australian String Quartet – in September, and appropriately titles ‘Sunset’, as I’ve already decided not to renew my subscription to their concerts in 2012, but will instead, allocate those funds to another group or artist, try something different! Maybe a whole year of jazz next time!!

I had another rather expensive activity to undertake this morning – to be fitted out, and purchase a new pair of glasses!  Now these are mainly for long distance driving, viewing at concerts, sporting events, etc, all of which, I have over recent experienced some difficulty with clear views, etc. It has been manageable,  but obviously needed to be remedied. The final cost just came along as a bit of a shock, as I don’t recall the glasses I purchased two years ago [for reading in artificial light, etc] being quite as expensive. Anyway, to get over that shock,  and it being a beautiful morning, I decided it was the right day to go for a lengthy walk, an activity that because of evening commitments, and poor weather etc, has been a little neglected over recent months. Probably went further than I should have, but as it was to be my only real exercise for the day, was pleased I made the effort. Unusually, I had Susie home for a large part of the weekend [during the day anyway], and surprisingly, she was here to join me for the two evening meals [which yours truly cooked of course!].  Meanwhile, I spent the balance of my Saturday, partially as the ‘housemaid’ I seem to become at times [washing, ironing, cooking], and later on, time spent working on the family history, and watching a bit of football, mmmmm, perhaps more than I should have, but I did surprisingly feel like relaxing, not my strongest point!!

 

Tonight is Concert No. 2 for the year, by the Australian String Quartet [ASQ], as part of the group’s  2011 Season, to which I have my regular ticket. While in some ways on a Friday night, I’d prefer to be heading home and as early as possible, not so this day, where from work later this afternoon, I will drive into the CBD, and across the Yarra River, to find my pricey ‘little’ carpark in the Arts Centre complex. I say ‘pricey’ because while there are probably cheaper car parks in the area, the convenience and ready access to most of the concerts I attend, is I think generally superior!

Now, I have been a subscriber to the ASQ concerts since 2006, but I’ve decided that this will be my last year, will either allocate the cost to other areas, or simply may not be able to afford such ‘outings; after retirement.  By coincidence, the makeup of the ASQ, as it has been since 2006, is changing at the end of this year, with two of the girls leaving, so it is probably an appropriate to make a change myself. In mentioning that, there was a brief article in one of the papers earlier this year which commented on the change of the group –  headed ‘The Australian String Quartet may soon be Australian in name only after embarking on an international hunt for new musicians’, it made reference to the fact in searching for two new members, and despite the view that there are many fantastic musicians in Australia,  auditions for replacements would not be limited to Australians.  As cellist, Rachel Johnston argued, ‘the international standard of the quartet was more important than whether the players came from Australia’. Personally, I find that attitude a little disappointing, but MS Johnston points out that ‘It’s a matter of finding a musician who has the technical mastery and the artistic mastery that we need, and also they need to fit with the group and you can’t restrict your pool when you’re looking for that’.  Fair enough I suppose, but it almost sounds as though she has given up on finding Australian replacements for violinist, Sophie Rowell, and violist, Sally Boud before the search has started!  Meanwhile, the report noted that the addition of two new musicians will mean the quartet will soon have had 18 members since its establishment 25 years ago.  The current line-up was formed following the controversial resignation of all the players in 2006. At the time, the resignations were said to be because of the conservative musical direction being imposed by the ASQ board.  While the appointment of four attractive young females by the board was met with some cynicism from the orchestra literati, the success of the group has proven otherwise.  “We have bookings for 2013 already and other people in Europe are booking even further in advance,” the ASQ’s other remaining member, the second violinist, Anne Horton said.  The current members of the ASQ have warned the audition process would not be limited to rigorous testing of the incumbents’ musical abilities.  “We feel like, after travelling together for such a long time, we’ve become a family and it’s almost like you’re hiring someone and adopting them as your family,” Ms Boud said.  “The musical side is kind of taken for granted, but they won’t make it if they don’t have a sense of humour.  “Actually, we might audition them with jokes.”

Tonight’s program features four compositions – Schubert’s String Quartet No. 10; Dvorak’s  ‘Cypresses’; Dvorak’s String Quartet No. 12, and a world premier apparently of a composition by James Ledger [a composer  from Western Australia] which he called ‘Processions’.  It was inspired, according to the composer,  by the concept of migration and its three movements explored the emotions of optimism, uncertainty and grief.   I must keep those ideas in mind as I listen to the music tonight, and see if I am similarly inspired!!!

On a slightly different passion,  my football team don’t play until Sunday afternoon this weekend, over in Adelaide, and it doesn’t appear as though I will even see the game on TV – the only coverage is on the pay TV channel. Perhaps I should at that time, travel into the city again, for the official opening free concert of the Melbourne International Jazz Festival – I actually have tickets for two jazz concerts next week, so with meetings on three other nights, and a radio show to do on Tuesday night, it seems that I am going to be ‘out’ on 7 of the next 9 evenings!!!  And this is supposed to be the time of my life when I start relaxing!!

I shall return >>>>>>>>>>>>>>

 

 

Another cold morning, followed by another beautiful sunny day in this part of the world, though a little envious of the reports of warm days coming out of English via an ‘old’ penfriend or two!!  Make the most of it friends, I’m sure it won’t last!!

A small attendance at tonight’s radio Committee meeting, but nevertheless [with a quorum just managed], it was a useful session, and good to see Station Manager, Mike, back on deck again with plenty of enthusiasm, after two serious bouts of illness. It was during this meeting, that I revealed my plans [subject to approval] to revise my ‘program’ schedule in the near future, more about that later, and while the opportunity to do so, has arisen a little earlier than I had planned, I’m feeling quite enthusiastic about the changes.

Received in the mail today, a beautiful little CD from a Melbourne singer, Marilla Homes, who appeared on one of my Sunday afternoon shows almost three  years ago.  This was her ‘debut’ album, to be formally released at a pub in an inner Melbourne suburb this weekend  – would love to put in an appearance, but these days, I’m not so keen on turning up to a ‘pub’ on my own – don’t mind doing that at a formal concert [as I will be doing tomorrow night], but that is a different concept. Anyway, I drifted off to sleep tonight, listening to that album – absolutely glorious singing, some wonderful versions of songs like ‘Nature boy’, ‘Black Coffee’ [a song that Marilla sang  live for me, when she came to the radio] and ‘Ever the Winds’. A beautiful album, quite pleased to have made an early purchase of it!  Meanwhile earlier today, I picked up a recording of the wedding service of William & Kate – my particular interest was the music and hymns that formed a part of that service, some of which I will be able to incorporate into my Sunday morning program.

Susie was actually home tonight – not that I saw much of her, apart from a couple of brief conversations through a door. After the initial greetings upon one or other of us arriving home, my dear girl disappears to her room, and rarely ventures out to wherever I am before I retire for the night! A little disappointing at times, but at present, don’t want to push the issue, happy for her to communicate at her own pace, when she is ready and/or wants to.

 

Actually, the first two days of Winter  – expected to be fine and sunny 19 degrees – after frost and fog, and an almost ‘freezing’ start to the morning. That’s exactly how it feels right now, just before 6am, as I prepare for a brief visit to the radio station to join Ron for a few minutes [I hear he is already on air ‘warming’ up the studio ] to talk about the local football results, etc. In fact, it’s so cold this morning, not even the two cats seem keen to move from their basket pouch in the laundry, usually they are in a rush to get out the door!!!  Welcome to Winter, Victoria, while up in Queensland  friends are celebrating ‘their’ morning with an outdoor breakfast barbeque I believe  –  ohhh well, I think I still prefer to be down here, in view of some of the disastrous weather that northern  state experienced over the summer. I like my weather to be a little more moderate in nature!!!

A major portion of today’s media is concentrated on two things – the growing uproar and anger over the revelations about the mistreatment associated with the livestock export trade, and more Australian military deaths in Afghanistan. One of our soldiers was killed a week ago, and now yesterday, came the announcement of two more deaths – one as a result of a helicopter crash, and the second, shot by an Afghan soldier that the Australian was on guard duty with. needless to say, the military are hunting that betrayer down, even our Prime Minister is calling for a determined effort to track the traitor down, who is apparently now been lauded as a hero by the Taliban and their supporters. Of course, an incident of this nature is going to make the Australian soldiers somewhat wary of those forces they are supposedly fighting alongside of.  Now while this is a terrible and tragic occurence, I have to wonder about another aspect of this ‘war’ in Afghhanistan – almost on a weekly basis now, we hear reports of American [usually] troops firing on residential areas anmd the subsequent loss of lives of women and children, innocent civilians who happened to be in the wrong place [or were used as ‘fodder’ by the Taliban,. etc, operating out of such populated places]. I’m disappointed that not more shock and outrage is revealed out here when those kind of socalled ‘incidents’ occur  – yes, the loss of the Australian soldier is tragic, but he was doing a job where the risk of death and injury is an everyday likelihood. The many civilian deaths that seem to be occurring all too regularly lately as a consequence of ‘allied’ military action, are not part of those people’s chosen role – they just happen to have been born in the wrong country, which sadly has been under some form of invasion condition for decades now.

Anyway, it’s late at night, and this is a subject which deserves far more attention and comment than my tired mind is able to devote to at this time. Be that as it may, there is growing discontent here in Australia at our continued presence in Afghanistan, and that opposition becomers more and more vocal, with each succeeding report of the death of one of our soldiers. It is a difficult debate, with in many respects, good arguments on both sides, again, not to be gone into on this occasion, but when one’s mind is fresh and clearer of the direction I want to direct my comments towards.

Meanwhile, expecting Susan home tomorrow night, she turned up this evening – but not for long, gone again in 20 minutes, back after another 20 minutes, and then gone again, probably for the night, soon after. I was quite pleased to see her back home,  but it was not to last!@!

Meanwhile, I shall return on another day, in these pages >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

Yes, for the end of Autumn, we are enjoying a beautiful sunny Tuesday  – perhaps not so warm out of the sun, but it is a very pleasant to end a season, about 14 degrees this afternoon [though I believe even London will be warmer tomorrow!!!! We can’t allow that!

I’m actually home today, giving myself a day off, using a small part of my voluminous  hours of sick leave credits, most of which, God willing I will never get to use – nothing urgent on in the office needing my presence, so have decided a day of rest was justified! I actually made a bit of time this morning, to watch  an internet copy of last night’s ABC Program ‘4 Corners’  – afterwards, I almost wished I’d never bothered, as the subject matter left one feeling somewhat depressed and angry.   The program  showed graphic footage provided by Animals Australia and RSPCA that shows Australian cattle being mistreated in Indonesian slaughterhouses. There, cattle are often maimed and cruelly mistreated before slow and painful deaths that take agonising minutes after a cow’s throat is cut. What’s more, the callous slaughter is done using equipment paid for by Australian taxpayers, and the workers in Indonesia have supposedly been trained by Australians into the correct manner of using that equipment.  The video showing on the GET UP web site, and  the scenes depicted in the $ Corners program are quite horrific.  Needless to say, those who will most be affected by calls to stop the practices, and even stop the export of live cattle to Indonesia, are naturally enough being quite defensive about the whole process, but it is becoming obvious that there is no longer room for excuses from an industry that has over a decade to fix and remedy the problems.

I ;posted a comment on Face Book this morning –  ‘Meanwhile, I’m glad I didn’t watch Four Corners before Q & A last night – that viewing would have soured the rest of the night! Disgraceful story, of the manner in which Australian cattle are treated in the livestock trade in Indonesian abattoirs – even more sickening was the manner in which those who profit from the trade were so prepared to ‘defend’ the processes!!’
I also sent off a little message to a friend of my son who is often quite vocal in her defence of cruelty towards animals, etc –  I wrote – ‘Bek, last night’s Four Corners program [can be seen on the internet] on the live trade export to Indonesia – absolutely disgraceful treatment of our cattle exports, painful to watch the suffering and terror these animals are put through – the GET UP organisation currently have a campaign to do something about it, doubt the government will’.  Her reply came back soon afterwards with the comment that  ‘Thanks Bill 🙂 Yes, I have heard a few things about the show last night, there is also a petition floating around Facebook now from the people at Get Up … I did not watch it, but I can imagine what the content was because I have seen it so many times … Things are changing, slowly, and through creating awareness to what actually happens in this world I believe we are growing in numbers 🙂

The following is part of the verbal report that appeared on the 4 Corners Program, by Anne Worthington:-

‘Horrific footage from inside Indonesian abattoirs that use Australian cattle has revealed abuse of the animals is widespread. Footage to be aired, shows animals kicked, thrashed and beaten, their throats hacked at, eyes gouged and tails broken. According to analysis of the footage by RSPCA chief scientist Bidda Jones, some animals show signs of possible consciousness when they are dismembered. In March this year, animal welfare campaigners Animals Australia filmed in 11 randomly chosen abattoirs in Indonesia and provided the footage to Four Corners. More than a month later, a Four Corners team went to Indonesia and filmed in abattoirs where cattle suffered prolonged and painful deaths.

Animals Australia spokeswoman Lyn White brought Egypt’s live export trade to a halt in 2006 after exposing animal cruelty in Cairo.  She says her suspicions were raised after the live export industry released a report in January describing animal welfare in Indonesia as generally good.  “We had assumed that because there were greater level of industry involvement in Indonesia, the treatment of the livestock would have been better,” she said.

“But we couldn’t have been more wrong.” The abattoirs featured on Four Corners are well-known to the Australian industry, which has installed equipment and provided training in Indonesian abattoirs to help with the handling of Australian cattle since 2000. The live export industry was shown the vision from four Indonesian abattoirs prior to an interview. LiveCorp CEO Cameron Hall described the scenes as “graphic and disturbing”, and announced the suspension of the supply of Australian cattle to three of the four abattoirs.  The fourth abattoir, Gondrong in Jakarta, was the scene of sustained suffering by Australian animals. When asked why Gondrong is continuing to process Australian cattle, Mr Hall says training can address the issues. A statement released by industry last week said: “A team of Australian cattle experts will fly to Indonesia this weekend to deliver this training to priority facilities, including this facility.” But Four Corners has revealed the facility has already been visited six times by industry representatives in the past 14 months. There are 100 abattoirs in Indonesia that slaughter Australian animals. Since the trade began 20 years ago, more than 6.5 million cattle have been shipped to Indonesia for slaughter. Indonesia is Australia’s key market for live cattle exports, taking 60 per cent of all cattle, and in 2010, the trade was worth more than $300 million.

The Australian livestock export industry and the Australian Government have invested more than $4 million into improving animal welfare in Indonesia over the past 10 years. The majority of funding has been invested into Australian-designed metal restraining boxes. The RSPCA says the boxes are inadequate and stunning the animal prior to slaughter is the only humane option. There are currently only six Indonesian abattoirs that use stunning. Last week the industry launched its welfare action plan, which included providing stunning equipment to five additional abattoirs by the end of this year. The new plan also says from 2015, Australian livestock will only be supplied to facilities who meet the OIE (World Organisation for Animal Health) standards.  But Indonesia is already a signatory to the OIE.  Animals Australia spokeswoman Glenys Oogjes says Australia has no power to make Indonesia comply with these guidelines. “The OIE guidelines are minimal standards for developing countries that allow practices that are illegal in Australia to take place,” she said. Agriculture Minister Joe Ludwig said in budget estimates last week that he had been concerned about the live animal trade for some time and criticised the industry for being too slow in addressing welfare concerns. But in April, during a speech to the Northern Territory Cattleman’s Association in Darwin, he reiterated the Australian Government’s continued support of the live export trade.”The live animal export sector is the backbone of many rural and regional communities across Australia, including northern Australia, as it provides a valuable market option for producers,” he said’.

Not surprisingly, this topic formed a portion of the questions on last night’s Q & A Program which followed $ Corners. The panel this week consisted of  George Brandis [Queensland Liberal Senator], Kate Lundy [Parliamentary Secretary for Immigration and Multicultural Affairs], Guy Rundle [writer and commentator,  who in his own bio describes himself as ‘well-known for his irreverent reporting and caustic wit’], Jackie Kelly [former Liberal Minister], and  Joe Hildebrand [News Ltd columnist, who also describes himself as specialising in subjects he knows nothing about]. Seeing those two on the panel – Guy and Joe, I was a little bit cynical, taking trhe view that  they were a useful pair to have getting involved in a so-called serious discussion, or perhaps Q & A wants to head down the ‘Chaser garbage-run style of program.  Unusually, I really only made that comment to ‘stir up the possum’ a bit, expecting to get back to vigorous responses –  in fact last night, my Q & A entries on Face Book attracted no replies!!! Either my fellow viewers were not watching last night, or more likely, they had decided that they were getting a little tired of Bill’s inane reference to Q & A every week.  Fair enough, perhaps I should lay off the program a little.  Anyway, I probably had to eat my words a little – while the politicians on the panel proceeded to argue and yell at each other across the table with their usual  political slogans, the two members whom I felt were a liability, actually made some of the more sensible and relevant comments.

Another subject that made some comments yesterday on another forum related to the actions of our leaders in Federal Parliament during Question Time. I raised my concerns about this before, but this latest comment was aroused by a friend, who has somewhat different political views to myself,  raising the issue.  Now I don’t whether my lengthy response just got lost in cyber space, or whether my friend deleted it [!!], but it doesn’t seem to exist anymore.  I will assume the former, as Ann is not usually shy in responding to political viewpoints.  Anyway, can’t recall exactly what I said now, but watching Question Time in the House of Representatives of Federal Parliament this afternoon,  I felt my point was proved – on numerous occasions, the Speaker, Harry Jenkins had to [quite vigorously] call the Treasurer [of his own Party] into line for simply ignoring and/or refusing to obey the ‘Speaker’s’ request that he [the Treasurer] direct his responses to the question asked. As I noted yesterday, the Prime Minister and the Treasurer are the worst offenders and abusers of parliamentary privilege and rules during Question Time. Usually, because the Speaker is of their ‘faith’ they can get away with it. But today, our esteemed Treasurer was so obviously in breach of the rules, that the Speaker virtually screamed at him to sit down and shut up [perhaps not in so many words, but the body language was there!]. My point made!

Putting politics, etc aside, I was expecting Susie to return from Bendigo tonight. But no, a message mid-afternoon, told me she did not expect to be back in Sunbury until Thursday!  Fair enough!  It was nice to have a little bit of advance knowledge for a change J  Meanwhile, despite having a day off from work, the old radio shows go ahead as usual –  6-8pm tonight with my Showtime program.  I was looking at my program records since starting 6 years ago [in May 2005, with the show I’m doing tonight – now No. 288], and calculated that in total, I have undertaken 894 individual or joint programs since May 2005. Quite proud of that figure, and when I first went on air, at 10 pm on Thursday night, 5^th May that year, I could never imagined that I would still be there, and have contributed so many hours to the radio station. On that score, I have some changes planned [time slots/program formats, etc] in the near future, and am currently working towards that outcome. In the meantime, off to play some great music from Broadway, stage and screen, as usual, with a little interval special of the some folk artists from overseas tonight.!!

It was a rather cold start to the morning which saw your writer awake and about even earlier than usual for a Sunday morning – SBS was televising the Final from Wembley Stadium, London, of the Euro Champions football final between Manchester United and Barcelona. Had felt I’d like to watch what I could of it before leaving for the radio station this morning – I think it was around 4.45 am, when the match started [my time]. Unlike many major finals which tend to end up been dull defensive type games, this one was an excellent advertisement for the sport[ rather necessary in view of the current poor publicity and scandals over corruption at the senior levels of FIFA] – a great game to watch, the last party of which I missed, although in the end, the team from Spain proved far superior to Manchester United [whom I was barracking for] and eventually won the Championship Cup 3-1.

 

Now I don’t know whether it was the early arising, or other factors, but during my show this morning – 6.30am-9.00am –  I was feeling decidedly unwell, major headache, and quite nauseous, and couldn’t really combat either of those feelings, as I had unusually, today not brought any pain killers etc with me, and while the First Aid box in the studio contained all the usual necessary aids, there were no painkillers –  along the lines of the rules regarding such medications in First Aid kits at places of employment, etc, not allowed to provide them!!  I can see the point to that restriction to some degree, but at other times, it can be very inconvenient! Such as today! At one stage, I was wondering whether I could continue the program, or perhaps ask those presenters following me if they could come in early. However, we decided to battle on, and according to one listener I heard from later in the day, my discomfort was not evident through the radio waves! Later, although I was due to return at 4pm, I did not completely commit myself to that appearance – decided to wait and see how the day ‘panned’ out!!

 

During the morning, I heard that overnight,  Australia’s one surviving competitor in the French Open Tennis Championships  – Jarmila Gajdosova –  has lost her 3^rd Round match,  to the German 15^th seed  Andrea Petkovic 6/2,4/6,6/3 – looking at that score line, our girl was not disgraced, but obviously not in the same ‘league’ as her competitor. So with a week of the championships to go, no Aussies left! Interestingly, it is at this point, that our free to air commercial channel decides to start telecasting, initially highlights only, of the tournament!!  Meanwhile later into Sunday night, the Monaco F1 Grand Prix saw those chasing the championship leader, Sebastian Vettel fail to make any ground on his lead, as the German won the race, again. Australia’s Mark Webber could manage only a 4^th position, meaning that he has slipped further behind his Red Bull teammate, as did everyone else!  While in cycling in the big lead up event to the Tour de France [coming soon], Alberto Contador held the leader’s jersey for the bulk of the 94^th  Giro d’Italia [Tour of Italy] race, winning it for the second time.  Contador will be trying to win his 4^th Tour de France next month!  Finally, after this weekend’s round of AFL matches, the Carlton Blues are sitting in 4^th position on the competition ladder, with 2 or 3 winnable matches ahead of them [though that doesn’t guarantee the Blues will actually win!!].

 

Anyway, I took the rest of my Sunday fairly quietly, and felt fully able by late afternoon to return to the radio studio for a program of Australian folk & country/blues music. That included a couple of individual songs each, from country singer Kasey Chambers, and her not so famous but equally talented father, Bill Chambers.

Back home later,  for another meal alone, and while there were plenty of tasks I had on hand to accomplish, I ended up watching the second episode of a series on the ‘Kennedy family’ of the US. As Susie had indicated an interest in watching this series also, I continued to tape the show for her, for some future viewing.  Meanwhile, since Jodie’s visit on Friday night, I’d not heard from the family – sent as message to Susie partway through the day [assuming she is still up in Bendigo] but did not get a response.

 

 

Welcome to a cool overcast morning. The house is quiet, and will stay that way for the next few days. Susie is up in Bendigo for the weekend, and I have the two cats for company – which like Susie, are never really around when they are ‘here’ in any case, until they want something to eat!!  Four days until the ‘official’ Winter, although I think over the past few weeks we have been given a bit of a taste of what is to come!

Out in the back garden, the birds are very active – well noisy anyway, seem to be kicking up quite a fuss about something. Perhaps one of Susan’s cats is on the prowl, in which case they won’t be very popular with me! They well know that if I see them stalking, or with an unfortunate bird, there will be severe retribution, even if such actions are their natural instinct I suppose – nevertheless, I attempt to discourage them, as far as I can be aware of it, of such activities. I’m afraid that I am not a fan of cats – they are generally sneaky ‘dishonest’ creatures, with a mind of their own, and unless it’s suits some particular purpose or desire, pay no credence to human instructions, not what I call a loyal pet [compared to a dog]. However, the two felines at this residence belong to my daughter, and while she is rarely here, I tolerate their presence and look after them to the extent they allow me too!!!

The Get Up organisation, of which I am a ‘silent’ subscriber, are currently trying to readers such as myself to become involved and take part in a ‘protest march’ relating to climate change, in a current of weekends. Now this is basically in support of the Government’s plans to introduce a carbon tax as part of it’s ‘supposed attack’ on the climate problems of now and the future. I’m in two minds as to which side I want to support on this issue. As with other things, I have a preference for taking more note of the scientific evidence that is being put to us rather than the kind of hysteria that conservationists, and parties like the Greens try to ram down our throats. At the same time, I recognise the needs, and the necessary aim of trying to improve the environment for future generations – our children, and so on. I do get a little annoyed at the arguments over the costs of the various proposals, and the manner in which some viewpoints seem to be insistent on protecting the rights of those with all the influence and money – the big polluters such as the coal industry, etc. But at the same time, in the absence of immediate wide scale alternatives, we still tend to have to rely on their product to a large degree. The argument or aim needs to be to make those kind of industries more environmentally friendly in the way they produce their product, and I’m not sure that by forcing this upon them through policies such as a carbon tax, etc, is going to help the rest of us, with the likely increased costs then forced upon those areas, passed on to the rest of us –  though admittedly, increased power and energy costs seem to be a regular thing of life irrespective of carbon taxes, and one feels that whatever system is in place, we will continue to see annual increases in the figures showing on our utility invoices!!!

Anyway, I was interested in Get Up’s argument, though in no way convinced that I wanted to join their formal protest – in fact, I believe in my 64 years on this earth, I have purposely only taken part in three formal protest demonstrations, as generally, I don’t see that method as my means of protest – okay then, I prefer to do that through my writings, and will continue to do so  –  as a side note, what were those three demonstrations I took part in? No explanation here, just the subject, perhaps a later time, may be more appropriate to explain in more detail.  Back in 1967 – (1) outside Pentridge Prison [now closed], at the time when the last criminal in Australia was hung; [2) the march for reconciliation with the Indigeneous community, early 2000, and (3), in protest against Australia’s involvement in the invasion of Iraq. More on each of those at a later date! But for the current topic – I think I will leave that demonstration to the younger generations, and be content to support their cause through the ‘pen’, even if I’m not yet sure how far I support them!!!  To put Get Up’s arguments to the fore, I will copy their submission to people such as myself below, but reminding readers that this is just one side of the argument.

“Dear Bill,

I don’t mean this the wrong way — but we need to do better. So far, 3,440 people have RSVP’d to family climate rallies across Australia next weekend. But I just finished reading the Australian Climate Commission’s new climate science report – and frankly, I’m scared. The risks have never been more clear and the case for action has never been more urgent. Scientists know this, you and I know this, but the rest of Australia still needs to hear it.

The stakes are so high, and the opposition to climate action so vocal, that we need more than the usual suspects at these rallies. We need you, Bill.  So if you’re already planning on coming, thank you. But if not, I hope you’ll give this email just 90 seconds of your time and the chance to convince you.  I confess that rallies are not usually my thing. I sometimes wonder who is even watching and if it’s effective. But next weekend is an acid test of the community’s support for climate action, and we won’t succeed by staying home. Tacit support is not enough.
This isn’t about angry protest. Our family rallies have face-painting, balloons and ice-cream for the kids – and great live music before and after the rally. Think of it as a great impetus to get out of the house and start a sunny Sunday in a beautiful park with other families!  We’ve chosen next Sunday, June 5, for the national rallies because it’s right in the middle of the final, fragile negotiations of the multi-party climate committee. These are the negotiations that will decide what the price on pollution will be, how it will increase over time, and how much money will go to clean energy versus to big polluters.
The Government and Independents on the committee are under extraordinary pressure to give up on climate action. Climate deniers held a rally against the carbon price last week in the electorate of Independent MP Rob Oakeshott. The Daily Telegraph reported that over 3,000 people attended – even though the official police estimate was under 800. Right now, politicians and the media are gauging support for climate action by which side has the bigger rallies.
Some say putting a price on pollution will send our economy back to the Stone Age. They say they represent the majority of mainstream Australia. We know it’s rubbish – but unless we put our faces and voices in front of the TV cameras too, we know exactly what will happen next: an exasperating onslaught of one-sided media coverage against climate action, which will send politicians running scared.  I wish that policy were not so dependent on which groups protest the loudest. But if Australia’s climate policy were decided by science and reason, we would have put a price on pollution long ago.

Please join the urgent climate rallies happening across Australia on Sunday week, June 5, and don’t forget to bring a friend, or ten!  Where: Outside State Library  When: 11am Sunday June 5.  Hope to see you there,  Sam, for the GetUp team”.

On the other side of the fence – well there are many different views, but the following speech [made by Opposition leader, Tony Abbott, in an address made at a dinner in Adelaide on the 7^th March, more or less spelt out the kind of arguments that the Liberal Party are pushing in opposition to the Government’s carbon tax plans. The general view of anyone who pushes the kind of platform that the Liberals are promoting is that they are climate deniers [as GetUp says above], but I don’t accept that kind of broad brushed reflection on people who have different views, nor do I necessarily accept some of the generalising statements that appear below. However, it does provide another side to the issue, but unfortunately, also includes strong political and negative overtones, as would be expected from Tony Abbott. The task of readers is to try and draw the relevant facts or statistics from all the rhetoric, if we are to be convinced that the ‘NO’ side to the carbon tax debate has any relevance. That means ignoring claims of the Government simply ‘getting into bed’ with the Greens and their conservation demands [because the Government needs the support of the Greens in both houses of Parliament], ignoring the talk about Julia Gillard lying to the electorate before the last election, that there would be no carbon tax, and ignoring the constant negativity that Tony Abbott cannot seem to help himself from incorporating into any debate on public policy these days.  Perhaps I should have done that ‘precis’ for readers beforehand, in order to determine whether there is actually any ‘body of evidence’ contained within the speech. Anyway, those who care to, please read on, otherwise, join me again tomorrow, lol!!!

“The Prime Minister’s commitment to a carbon tax from the middle of next year and to an emissions trading scheme from 2017 is inevitably going to be the dominant issue of this parliament. Make no mistake. This new tax is designed to change your way of life. This new tax is designed to change the way our economy works. What’s the point of a carbon tax if it doesn’t make it harder for people to turn on their air conditioners or to drive their cars? After all, the only way that a carbon tax can reduce emissions – rather than just make them more expensive – is if people use less coal-produced electricity and less oil-powered transport.

If a carbon tax does not reduce the use of fossil fuels, it’s just another tax – not an environmental measure at all. Given people’s propensity to use their air conditioners and to drive their cars, if a carbon tax is to reduce electricity use and car use it will have to raise the price of daily life very considerably indeed. It’s no wonder that the Prime Minister prefers to talk about the principle of the carbon tax rather than nasty details like the level at which it would have to be imposed.

When the Prime Minister, Senator Brown, the Greens and other ministers talk blithely about a low carbon economy or a carbon constrained future, this is exactly what they mean. They mean an economy where much less electricity is generated by burning coal, where transport means less use of private cars and where industries that use lots of electricity like steel and aluminium scarcely exist in Australia. If this is to be more than just a hit on people’s cost of living, it must utterly transform the way we live and how we work.

Not for nothing was the old Soviet Union emblazoned with slogans such as “communism equals worker control plus electrification”. It’s odd that Julia Gillard seems to have forgotten her history. You can’t have a modern economy or rising standards of living without rising power consumption. The leaders of China and India certainly haven’t forgotten. That’s why they’ll never agree to any limitation on their carbon dioxide emissions that would lock their people permanently into the kind of poverty from which they are only now beginning to escape. That’s why a new coal-fired power station opens in China every fortnight. That’s why any unilateral step to tax emissions will hurt Australia’s economy without improving the world’s environment.

There was, of course, a stronger argument for putting a price on carbon when the whole world seemed to be moving in that direction. Pre-Copenhagen, it could have been argued that the costs of a carbon tax would be equally shared among all the world’s economies. Now that President Obama has abandoned his “cap and trade” scheme, it’s clear that the best way to reduce emissions is through measures that would be in the national interest regardless of international action. 

In the absence of wind that never stops blowing and sun that never stops shining; in the absence of hydrogen cars; and in the absence of nuclear power stations to supply most base load electricity, big reductions in emissions are currently impossible without a big increase in people’s cost of living or a significant change in their lifestyles. Eventually, technologies that we can hardly envisage today will make fossil fuels less important. In the meantime, though, making coal, oil and gas more expensive is the modern equivalent of hastening the computer age by a tax on typewriters.

Thanks much more to the closure of the coal industry and to deindustrialisation than to a widely scammed ETS, Europe has hardly increased its production of emissions over the past decade. It has, though, increased its consumption of emissions by about 50 per cent. Almost nothing has changed environmentally. What’s happened is that emissions-intensive activities have migrated from Europe to the rest of the world. The rest of the world is sustaining Europe’s standard of living by doing the things that Europeans are too environmentally vain to do.

It was to avoid this kind of debate in an election year that the current Prime Minister kyboshed her predecessor’s emissions trading scheme.  Along with the Treasurer, she sabotaged Kevin Rudd’s political standing and then seized the prime ministership herself because she wanted to avoid an election debate that couldn’t be won. The ETS had to be off the election agenda because, given a choice, the electorate was hardly likely to put preventing climate change ahead of protecting its standard of living.

Julia Gillard did not just depose the prime minister who’d championed an ETS. She did not just let it be known that this was one of the key factors why the government “had lost its way”. She went further. With her announcement that climate change policy would be put in the hands of a citizens’ assembly until what she called a “deep and lasting consensus” had been created, she deliberately built the impression that there would be no carbon price in the term of the current parliament.  The otherwise implausible citizens’ assembly now looks like a cynical ploy to reassure struggling families worried about cost of living pressures.

On her own admission, the Prime Minister always wanted to impose a carbon price. She just didn’t want to justify it to the electorate in an election campaign. She wanted to avoid it during the last election campaign, to impose it during this term of parliament, and to justify it during the next campaign as a done deal that couldn’t be undone without causing havoc.

As sure as night follows day, I said on at least 15 occasions during the campaign, there would be a carbon tax if this government is re-elected. The Prime Minister’s statement “there will be no carbon tax under a government I lead” should haunt her to the political grave because it was the culmination of a deliberate strategy to hoodwink voters.

The rationalisation that the Prime Minister has changed her position because circumstances have changed is false. She may not have anticipated a hung parliament but she certainly anticipated a hung Senate and knew that any carbon arrangements would have to be negotiated with the Greens who were the only group campaigning for a carbon tax.

The Prime Minister’s claim that voters will reject what she calls the politics of fear is false. If she believes it, why didn’t she make a carbon tax to be followed by an emissions trading scheme front and centre of her election campaign? Rejection of such a policy would not be evidence of an electorate that’s scared of the future but of an electorate that expects a level of basic honesty from its leaders.

The Prime Minister’s boast that she is taking a courageous decision is false. Courageous governments inform voters of their tough intentions before an election, not after one. If this is as important as she now says it is, why wasn’t it important enough to be an issue in last year’s election? Not only was her statement that there would be “no carbon tax under a government I lead” untruthful but it was specifically designed to stop voters from casting judgment when they had the chance. It wasn’t just a false statement. It was a deliberate deception.

Regardless of when the next election is held, the carbon tax will be the big issue. The Coalition will oppose it in opposition and rescind it in government, as we will the mining tax and as we would the flood tax were it still in place. The government claims that business wants certainty. Once a carbon tax is in place, the only certainty is that it will increase. There will be no carbon tax under the Coalition. It doesn’t get more certain than that.

We are against a carbon tax today, tomorrow, next week, next year, this term and next term. We are against it because it is a new tax from a government addicted to unnecessary new taxes and wasteful new spending. More fundamentally, though, we are against it because it won’t achieve its stated objectives and because we have a better plan that will. Our job is not to make a bad tax less damaging. Our job is to present voters with a clear alternative and we will.

For a government that denied it would bring in a carbon tax to bring one in without first seeking a new mandate would be a travesty of democracy. Only one single member of the House of Representatives went to the election supporting a carbon tax. Voters did not elect a parliament that supported a carbon tax.  Voters did not force a carbon tax on a reluctant prime minister. The opposite is the case. The Prime Minister is forcing a carbon tax on reluctant voters. Now that voters finally know the Prime Minister’s real intentions, now that they know what was fake and what was “real Julia”, they should have another chance to vote before a way-of-life-changing tax is brought in as a conspiracy of the parliament against the people.

In modelling the impact of Kevin Rudd’s emissions trading scheme on prices, the Treasury used a carbon price of $26 a tonne. This, remember, is the scheme that the Greens rejected because the carbon price wasn’t high enough. Even at $26 a tonne, a carbon tax would add an average of $300 a year to electricity bills (and $500 in NSW). It would add 6.5 cents to the cost of a litre of petrol. At this rate, a carbon tax would raise about $10 billion a year without materially reducing emissions because consumers have previously absorbed price rises of this magnitude.

A carbon tax of about $25 a tonne would close 16 coal mines and cost 10,000 jobs in coal mining (according to Access Economics). It would cost 24,000 jobs in mining generally (according to ACIL). It would cost 45,000 jobs in emissions-intensive industries (according to Frontier Economics). It’s “economic vandalism” according to the head of Bluescope Steel that will drive manufacturing jobs offshore.

A carbon tax would add 25 per cent to the price of electricity and up to five per cent to the cost of groceries because power and transport costs are embedded in the price. If these estimates are wrong, the government should give us the correct ones. The revelation that the government has not attempted to model an economy-wide carbon price since 2008 suggests that it’s scared of what the answer might be. It has been prepared to cite estimates of so-called green jobs that might be created under a carbon tax – but this assumed a carbon price of $45 a tonne – and didn’t net out the existing jobs that would be lost.

For the record, the Coalition holds that climate change is real and that mankind is contributing to it. We have a different policy to deal with it, that’s all, one which aims to reduce emissions, not just to make them more expensive. There is a better way. That’s the Coalition’s strong plan to reduce emissions that is economically responsible and that won’t cost Australian jobs. We support action on climate change but, unlike Labor, don’t think that it should reduce our standard of living.

Last February, the Coalition announced a direct action policy to reduce emissions by 5 per cent by 2020 through more tree planting, better soil and smarter technology. Our plan would cost $3.2 billion over the forward estimates period rather than the $40 billion that the government had sought to raise through its ETS. Our plan would cumulatively reduce emissions by some 600 million tonnes of carbon dioxide over the decade by purchasing abatements at an average cost of $15 a tonne. Our plan was backed by various experts in the field, including a former Labor treasurer of Queensland, who said that large scale emissions reductions were feasible at this price.

Our plan was fully funded from the budget through savings in other government spending. It did not involve a net increase in government spending, it did not involve a net increase in the tax burden on the public and it did not involve the government picking winners, merely selecting the most cost-effective forms of emissions reduction from the various proposals that the market would produce.

Our proposal is straight-forward, easy to understand, and practical to deliver. Yes, it implies the international recognition of emissions reduction through storage of carbon in the soil but the US government as well as our own is campaigning to bring this about. By contrast, the government’s proposal involves a new tax, a new slush fund and a new series of handouts designed to buy the next election.

The Prime Minister will insist that jobs will be protected in energy intensive industries and will insist that no one will be worse off because everyone will be compensated – except the rich. She will insist that this is a painless way to reduce emissions – just like she said before the last election that there will be no carbon tax under the government I lead. This is a dishonest government trying to do the wrong thing by stealth. I will do everything I humanly can to prevent them getting away with it and to give voters a chance to pass their verdict at the next election.

I have a plan for a modern, low emissions economy that maintains our standard of living, makes best use of Australia’s natural advantages in soil, sun and wind and doesn’t hit families at a time when they’re already doing it tough. That’s what I will be offering at the next election whenever it comes”.

Unfortunately Tony, the electorate is finding it difficult to understand precisely what ‘that plan’ is – we need less attack, more constructive forward planning!!

 

Another Friday night game for the Blues tonight –  this time at the Melbourne Cricket Ground [MCG]. I had considered going but after last night’s outing, decided against doing so, and at my age, lol, the open expanses of the MCG are a little chilly for my liking these days. That decision was confirmed after Jodie offered to come around to home,  and watch the game with me, after she finished work [as she did last week].  From memory, it is a special ‘charity game’ tonight, to do with the Olivia Newton-John foundation –  in fact, it is precisely that.  The Olivia Newton-John Cancer and Wellness Centre will combine leading medical treatment and research of international significance, integrated with the best of wellness care and support for patients and their families.  The Appeal is a major fundraiser for Austin Hospital  [Austin Health] one of Australia’s leading hospitals that provides extensive services for patient care and treatment, research and professional health education. Building on cancer expertise since 1882, the Austin Hospital, in collaboration with the global Ludwig Institute for Cancer Research,  seeks to bridge the gap between research, treatment and cancer care at the new Centre.  Olivia’s mission,  to help provide the best in cancer care and research, will be assisted tonight, at the MCG as the Carlton Blues take on the Melbourne Demons in a charity match [though part of the regular season fixture] for the Olivia Newton-John Cancer and Wellness Centre.  This is a major fundraising initiative in conjunction with the AFL, which will include a live performance by Olivia prior to the match.

As for the football side of things, the Blues have made one ‘compulsory’ change to the team that lost by 2 points to Geelong last week –  Rob Warnock, the player who missed that final kick for goal that would have won the game for Carlton had he kicked straight, was suffering from the immediate after affects of concussion at that time, and that injury has kept him out of the team this week. I’m happy with his replacement, Shaun Hampson, who played the first five games this year.  More about this match later.

Meanwhile, over in Paris, I think I mentioned the other day that we had just two girls left in the tournament – I was wrong, there is a third Aussie female player who has made it through to the 3^rd Round this weekend – Jarmila Gajdosova [formerly Groth, I think] defeated the crafty Spaniard, Anabel Medina Garrigues 7/6, 6/4, so she is the third Aussie player to make the final 32 in Paris, joining compatriots Samantha Stosur and Anastasia Rodionova.  Stosur and Rodionova play tonight, our time, while Jarmila’s third round match will be tomorrow night.  Stosur is first up on centre court against Argentine Gisela Dulko on Friday night (EST) while Anastasia Rodionova plays third seed Vera Zvonareva in the final match of the day on court one. Gajdosova is due to meet Germany’s world No.12 Andrea Petkovic in their third round clash on Saturday night at Roland Garros.

Of course. being Friday, my inbox has received the weekly ‘Liberal Party’ message, and sad to say, it is as negative as usual, in fact at present, the media seems to focusing on a bit of disunity within some sections of the Coalition Opposition, and much of it seems to be focused on Tony Abbott’s over-use [in some eyes, including mine], of his constant attacking and negative tactics towards the Government   An example follows, in today’s message –   ‘As the graph below shows [I’ve not included it here], the Labor Government has failed to deliver a single budget surplus since coming to office in 2007.  In fact, Labor hasn’t even delivered a surplus in the past 21 years.  Labor simply cannot manage money. It is creating successive budget deficits because it is spending beyond its means. This, coupled with a record $107 billion debt in 2011/12, will continue to put upward pressure on inflation and interest rates’.  I would personally like to see these messages project a little bit more in the way of positive approaches as to how the Opposition could or would do things better, or in a different way.  At the moment, that is not the kind of approach Tony Abbott is actually demonstrating.  It’s becoming a little repetitive, and disappointing!  I’m feeling that if he wants to remain the person in charge, leading up to the next potential election [still 2 years away] that attitude may need to change!

 To be continued >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

Continuing. Interesting little exercise this morning, attempting to extract a ‘misguided’ possum out of the office kitchen area, where over the past two nights, it has enjoyed the feast of a few food items which had inadverttently being left where they shouldn’t have been!! I think our little friend had then been unable to find it’s way out of the building, and was discovered this morning, cowering between the back of a filing cabinet and an external window – noticed from outside!!! Now these creatures can be quite vicious when cornered or trapped, so the exercise of encouraging it to remove itself from the building through the now open doorway was not attempted without some caution [and concern for the possum itself]. All went well, except the possum, in it’s desire to get away quickly from this bunch of human creatures, mistook the glass window beside the doorway for a quick exit!!! Bang!!  I think our possum would have spent the rest of the morning with a headache – a brief retreat backwards, second attempt found the open doorway, and sprinted out towards the trees – no immediate relief there, as maintenance people were in the area, trimming the estate trees, so I imagine in it’s attempts to find a refuge, it would have needed to dodge a few more of us humans!!!

I enjoyed my younger daughter’s company at home tonight to watch the football, which had the expected result as far as my team was concerned, though it was not really a match that one would remember long into the future. Carlton seemed to be in control for the entire game, but only really dominated on the scoreboard  in the final quarter. However, that win moved the Blues up to third spot on the ladder, for the time being!  Quarter by quarter scores were as follows:

Carlton Blues:              3.4.22     5.8.38      8.12.60     FINAL:  13.15.93

Melbourne Demons:   1.2.8         3.4.22      4.7.31     Final:  6.10.46

Now the disappointing news overnight for Australia, came from the French Open Tennis, in Paris.  Our big hope in the Women’s tournament, and full of confidence at present – Sam Stosur – well, she went down, was defeated overnight, and I was rather disappointed to hear that news.  No free to air coverage of the tennius at present – I guess it’s on Pay TV, so I have to depend on news reports or the internet to keep up with results. In fact, both of our girls playing tonight, were defeated – Stosur, favourite to win her match,  lost in a shock loss to World No. 51 Argentine player, Gisela Dulko 6/4, 1/6, 6/3, while Anastacia Rodionova lost her 3rd round game against Vedra Zvonareva 6/2,6/3.  We still have one faint hope of further success – Jarmila Gajdosova plays tonight in her 3rd round game, although on rankings etc, we should noit depend too heavily on Jarmila. Meanwhile, I wonder what Sam’s explanation of her shock loss will be – she was in good form, had beaten her opponent twice in recent times, and was one of the hopes of reaching the final again!