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A couple of days ago, I asked friends in Thailand about the weekend’s election, and received an interesting response [dated 5 July]
 
“We have just seen a “democratic thai election”.  The outed former PM – Taksin –  has brought  & schemed
his younger sister to the role of The Prime minister of Thailand.  His motives should have been obvious…but the Thai rice-farmers  of the North-East prefer Taksin’s “vote-buying money”   (to anything we may assume ) to  be a DEMOCRACY  for money hungry Thais.  The Educated in Bangkok preferred the status quo to remain.
Taksin’s plan is, obvious, to now be white-washed clean of all  the corruption charges already proven against him.  His 46 billion baht – of ill-gotten gains, that’s frozen by the Court, to be returned to him.  He will expect the same as his former wife received… with interest.  For him to now return back to Thailand – from his exile, a FREE MAN and so wrongly convicted. In his and his red-shirt employees’ minds. The going price for your vote up here –  in the N.E was 250 baht from the party that eventually won.  I’m crying “poor” as the “man with the money” failed to turn-up at ‘the family’ home by 9.30 p.m. on Saturday night. So we left.
This is only a part of the disillusionment of DEMONCRACY – THAI  STYLE. We had to travel to ‘my wife’s’ village for her to vote. (As with everyone in Thailand) We did the trip on our 110cc Honda. Twenty km along the highway we were hit by a tropical storm that soaked us both for the 25 mins.  Then 10km up the road people are wondering why we are in our plastic raincoats. Her sister waited 5 hours in Bangkok in an attempt to get on a bus.  There would have only been “standing room” on the bus for the 260km trip”. 

[The writer, an Australian married to a Thai lady] who has a lot of respect and admiration for the King of Thailand, who is much revered in the country, however his respect obviously doesn’t extend to the newly elected government & their representatives. I saw Taksins’ sister  being interviewed on the ABC this morning, and she came over as quite genuine and sincere, but I obviously wasn’t aware in much detail of the background to her political family].

The State of Origin rugby league was played tonight  – Game 3 [the decider between Queensland and New South Wales [NSW] – ‘the Blues’ – I decided to watch this game tonight, before switching over to the cycling for a while – barracking for the ‘Blues’ despite getting a bit of ‘ribbing’ from my sister up in Queensland. However, things didn’t go that way for NSW, and Queensland, in front of a very parochial home crowd of over 50,000, went on to win their 6^th State of Origin title in a row!!

Meanwhile, it was Stage 5 of the Tour de France tonight – Carhaix Cap to Frehel, a distance of 164.5 kms. I watched the first hour or so,  and saw a replay of the finish later on – Britain’s Mark Cavendish came from the ‘pack’ to snatch victory for the day’s ride, from a Belgian and Spanish rider. I noticed that there were a number of accidents in tonight’s ride, don’t think weather conditions were that good, and apparently the roads that the competitors ride over in this section of the Tour are quite narrow [certainly the opposite of what we are used to here in Australia].  Cadel Evans [Australia’s hope] came in 11^th position for this stage, and he remains in 2^nd position overall, behind the Norway rider, Thor Hushovd.

I would have liked to have watched the Matildas’ game tonight –  Women’s World Cup soccer game against Norway, in which the Aussies came away with a 2-0 win, and thereby qualified for the quarterfinals  –  next match, against Sweden!!  Unfortunately, with the game on at 2am our time, it was not ‘convenient to be up watching TV in the middle of a working week, at that time!!  At least that match [against Sweden] might be on at a more reasonable for us here in Eastern Australia – 9pm on Sunday night!!  Excellent!

 

 

Highly unlikely, but apparently at 11.32am this morning, a quake measuring 4.0 was felt in parts of Melbourne today, shaking the ground  for about 10 to 15 seconds, with Adam Pascale, from the ES & S Seismology Research Centre said the quake’s epicentre was Korumburra in country Victoria south-east of Melbourne. Mr Pascale said there was also a couple of magnitude 2.8 aftershocks. Twitter users reported feeling the shakes in suburbs across the city.  Mr Pascale said Korumburra had been the epicentre for a number of 4.5 magnitude quakes in recent years, including one in March 2009.  Here in Northcote, a few kilometres north of the CBD, I didn’t notice anything!!

Meanwhile, a news report came through from Afghanistan this morning, of yet another Australian soldier being killed in that ‘conflict’. The newly appointed defence chief didn’t get long in his role, before he had to come out this morning and advice that an Australian commando had been shot in the head while leading his team into a gunfight in Afghanistan.  I believe that now means 28 deaths over there, with the majority of those seeming to have occurred over the past 12 months or so. No doubt, this will result in renewed calls for Australia to get it’s troops out of that country – a difficult call for many reason, however, both the Prime Minister and the Opposition leader continue to insist that we will see the ‘campaign’ through!!!

Speaking of Tony Abbott, he was in my ‘email ear’ again today  –  more on his ‘almost obsessive’ campaign against anything to do with the carbon tax, the details of which will be announced this weekend.

Dear Bill,   Julia Gillard’s carbon tax is a recipe for massive economic self-harm. It will reduce the living standards of average Australians, cost thousands of jobs and destroy the very industries that make Australia a competitive exporter – and all for no environmental benefit.  The Prime Minister assured the Australian people before the last election that there would be no carbon tax under the government she led. Julia Gillard is now determined to foist this unnecessary tax on our country without giving people a say on it.  The Prime Minister’s latest attempt to quell growing community anger about the carbon tax was her announcement last weekend that petrol would be excluded from the carbon tax for some sections of the community. But Labor’s proposal will do little to ease the cost of living hit on Australian families and businesses. And what the Prime Minister did not mention is her deal with the Greens for a Productivity Commission inquiry that leaves open the possibility of more taxes on petrol in 2015.  In my address to the 2011 Economic and Social Outlook Conference in Melbourne last week, I set out the economic case against a carbon tax. In debunking the assertion by Julia Gillard and others that Australia risks being left behind if we do not have a carbon tax, I made the point that:  “…the unilateral imposition of a carbon price will put Australia at a competitive disadvantage compared to countries which are taking no such action. Contrary to the government‘s repeated assertions, there are no countries – none – that are planning to impose an economy wide carbon price, as the Productivity Commission has just confirmed. In the absence of comparable international action, an Australian carbon tax will damage our economy without helping the environment which is why it can‘t be fixed; it just has to be fought.”

Of course, with two sides arguing so vehemently, and both quoting various experts from scientific, environmental and economic circles, it makes it very difficult for the average member of the electorate to know which way to turn, and certainly, Abbott’s ‘scare tactics’ [which even I have to admit is simply what they are – ‘cost thousands of jobs’, etc, etc] are becoming more and more mundane and repetitive – will that tactic eventually backfire on him,  and turn people from his side of the debate? Of course, once the relevant legislation gets through parliament, which eventually it will, particularly with the Green’s support now, the Abbott tactics will perhaps become less relevant as time goes on  – it all depends upon how successful the government is in implementing the relevant policies, they certainly need a reversal of the ‘implementation of major policy attempts since 2007!!

Update on the Tour de France: –  the following report summarises an exciting finish in the early hours of  Wednesday morning [my time – Stage 4 of the Tour de France, Tuesday 5 July].  The three-time winner of the Tour de France,  who is desperate to make up lost time, as well as lost face, was unable to chase down the gutsy thrust for the line by 34-year-old hard-nut Australian, Cadel Evans, losing out in a photo-finish after a 172.5km race through rain and wind from Lorient. \Evans’ performance gave him the lead in the battle for the climbers’ jersey.  In a bare-knuckle scrap, Contador, who attacked initially at 1.3km, could not quite deliver the knockout blow.   Yet he is back in the fight, up off the canvas after taking damaging blows earlier in the tour. He is not going to go quietly, subdued by scandal or adversaries. He may have been beaten on the day but his tour is alive again.  Principal results were:\           Stage four, Lorient to Mûr de Bretagne, 172.5 kms: 1. Cadel Evans (Australia / BMC Racing) 4hrs 11mins 39secs, 2. Alberto Contador (Spa / Saxo Bank) at same time, 3. Alexandre Vinokourov (Kaz / Astana) s.t., 4. Rigoberto Uran (Col / Team Sky) s.t. , 5. Philippe Gilbert (Bel / Omega Pharma – Lotto) s.t., 6. Thor Hushovd (Nor / Garmin) s.t. , 7. Fraenk Schleck (Lux / Leopard) s.t. , 8. Samuel Sanchez (Spa / Euskaltel) s.t., 9. Jurgen Van den Broeck (Bel / Omega Pharma – Lotto) s.t., 10. Andreas Kloeden (Ger / RadioShack) s.t.

Meanwhile, the overall classifications after 4 stages showed us that: –  Overall general classification: 1. Thor Hushovd (Nor, Garmin-Cervelo) 13 hours, 58 minutes, 25 seconds, 2. Cadel Evans (Australia – BMC) 1sec, 3. Frank Schleck (Lux, Leopard-Trek) 4secs, 4. David Millar (GB – Garmin-Cervelo) 8secs, 5. Andreas Kloeden (Ger, RadioShack) 10secs, 6. Bradley Wiggins (GB – Team Sky) s.t., 7. Geraint Thomas (GB – Team Sky) 12secs, 8. Edvald Boasson Hagen (Nor, Team Sky) s.t., 9. Andy Schleck (Lux, Leopard-Trek) s.t., 10. Jakob Fuglsang (Den, Leopard-Trek) s.t.

Arrived home briefly late this afternoon, before heading back up to the radio station to find Susie had returned from Bendigo – must have just basically travelled up there  yesterday to celebrate her birthday with ‘new friends’ – in any case, it seems she was back for the rest of the week, and although of course, I probably wouldn’t see much of her, it was good to have my ‘girl’ back home!!   In the meantime, another pleasant two hours on the radio, but came out at 8pm to a freezing winter’s night in Sunbury, and the promise of a similar day tomorrow!!  While friends in England [of all places] are boasting on line of the lovely sunny weather they are enjoying [in Cornwall, anyway!!].

 

Ahh yes, it’s such fun going back to work, after enjoying a couple of days of not having to bother!!  And yes, today is Susie’s actual 25^th birthday, but she is already back up in Bendigo [though only for a couple of days, I would eventually discover].  Anyway, sent her a greeting about halfway through the day, and even got a response!  I must say, I liked her little entry on Face Book today [note, she spells her own name with a ‘z’, which was not really our intention originally, we prefer Susie/Susan]:

Suzie Kirk [on her Facebook site]

‎’Today you are you! That is truer than true!
There is no one alive who is you-er than you!
Shout loud, “I am lucky to be what I am!
Thank goodness I’m not just a clam or a ham
Or a dusty old jar of sour gooseberry jam!
I am what I am! That’s a great thing to be!

If I say so myself, HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO ME!’

Meanwhile, some interesting news on the ‘employment scene’ with reports of the Director of our Government Department [from which we get our funding] being ‘moved aside’ –   and is a reminder that while all the attention is on Julia Gillard’s Labor Government Federal carbon tax,   things at the Victorian parliamentary level, are perhaps not running as smoothly as new State Liberal leader, Ted Bailleau might have been hoping by now. As the report read, in a ‘Crikey.com article, this incident is one of a few which has been troubling the Liberals at the State level over recent weeks.-

‘Respected Victoria Office of Housing Director Margaret Crawford has been forced from her position in the wake of extreme pressure to fix a series of gaffes by Liberal housing minister Wendy Lovell.  Crikey can reveal that Crawford, appointed to statutory position by an independent body under the former Brumby government in February 2008, will move to the Department of Transport as Deputy Secretary, Strategic Transport Planning on a secondment following a rancorous six months inside the Department of Human Services’ 50 Lonsdale Street HQ. A New Zealander, Doug Craig, will temporarily take Crawford’s role while she is at Transport, and then later when she is on leave.  Housing insiders are in uproar over the move, set to take effect on Monday week, believing their boss to have been the target of a deliberate destabilisation campaign. Crawford’s departure takes to three the number of statutory office holders deposed amid murky political circumstances in Victoria this year, alongside Director of Public Prosecutions Jeremy Rapke and Victoria Police Commissioner Simon Overland. She is one of the Victorian Public Service’s most senior bureaucrats, with an annual salary of more than $300,000 and is charged with overseeing the state’s 65,000 strong public housing stock and managing politically sensitive waiting lists of close to 40,000 people.  Senior housing sector insiders say rumours of Crawford’s fate had been percolating for months inside the Office. They told Crikey that she had copped extreme heat from Lovell following a botched response she gave to a question on set-top boxes for pensioners in state parliament last month for which she was later forced to issue an apology. At a fiery Public Accounts and Estimates Committee hearing in May — attended by Crawford — the Minister was unable to recall the Office of Housing’s rental operating deficit and stumbled over other questions on the proportion of state funding to be allocated to new public housing. In the lead-up to PAEC, Ministers are usually provided with detailed briefing notes and Crikeyunderstands that Lovell was aggrieved that she was unable to recall basic facts provided to her in good faith. A war of words also erupted following the release of March quarter public housing waiting list data and Lovell’s disappointing performance in parliament in May when Labor claimed the minister couldn’t explain key clauses in the Residential Tenancies Act. Her departure was shrouded by a disinformation barrage overseen by the department’s spin doctors. A DHS spokesperson, Brendan Ryan, denied point blank last Friday that Crawford had left the Housing role and then bizarrely refused to respond to a follow-up question inquiring into the new gig. A spokesperson for Wendy Lovell referred queries back to Ryan.Crawford’s exit will add to long-held fears that the Baillieu government could be about to embark on a clean-out of prominent Labor-era public service posts, despite denying the existence of a sacking black list in the weeks following November’s state election.  Late last year, Lovell claimed she had “inherited a crisis” across the housing portfolio and that 41,000 people were on public housing waiting lists. In May she reported that public housing waiting list had declined to 37,430 under her watch. Shadow housing minister Dick Wynne slammed the sequence of events this afternoon. “This is another Baillieu government statutory office holder — this time the Director of Housing — who has been undermined by the government and forced to move to another position. Wendy Lovell at every opportunity has sought to undermine the Director to every not for profit agency and housing service provider in the state,” he said.  “How gutless to have this decision announced, at the close of a Parliamentary session and before a 7 week break in a shameless attempt to avoid scrutiny.” Mind you, the comment above about ‘gutless decisions, could equally be applied to Julia Gillard’s decision this week to reveal all of the details about the Government’s proposed carbon tax ‘next’ Sunday  –  after the Parliament has adjourned at the end of this week for the ‘Winter recess’!!!  Thereby, not allowing any further parliamentary debate and/or official discussion about those details until Parliament resumes in mid August!!  She’s clever, if nothing else!  Though needless to say, both Julia Gillard [as Prime Minister] and opposition leader, Tony Abbott will both be on the ‘campaign’ trail around Australia over the next few weeks pushing their respective agendas on this issue – Julia’s words would be ‘wearing the leather off her shoes’!

Update on the Tour de France – Stage 3 result overnight  – this saw the American Tyler Farrar of Garmin-Cervelo upstaged the hopes of British sprint rival Mark Cavendish on his way to a maiden Tour de France victory on the third stage on Monday. World champion teammate Thor Hushovd of Norway kept possession of the race leader’s yellow jersey as Garmin celebrated their second win on the trot, having won the 23km team time trial at Les Essarts on Sunday. Cadel Evans was in the peloton to maintain his position one second behind Hushovd, at third place, in the overall standings.  The Norwegian’s teammate, David Millar, remained second with the same time as the leader. I saw the end of tonight’s race, finished about 1.30 am I think, didn’t look at the clock when I switched off@!

But of course, it was well after midnight, when I returned home from a great 3 hours on the radio  – as usual, a real mix of folk, blues, country, world, and of course jazz, amongst other genres. Even found an old recording by American singer of years past, Kate Smith, singing ‘Far Away Places’, while Leroy Gomez entertained us with ‘You’re My Everything’.  Former workplace associate here, Liz, sang a beautiful Vietnamese love song/ballad. Of course, those few selections were just scratching the surface of tonight’s show, which while going for 3 hours, I usually feel like continuing beyond the midnight hour, only the early rise for work in the morning. Tonight, even a 1956 recording of one of the Goon Show episodes got a run. Damm good program tonight, though no phone calls, not even for my ‘not so mysterious’ Aussie singer, former Seeker’s member, Judith Durham!

Received an overnight email from old friend Bev, who was wondering about my imminent retirement & whether I was managing to do some walking.  She was also imagining that by now, I was thoroughly sick of work & the travelling as the  time draws near to the end in October.  I was able to assure her that her assumptions and thoughts were all on course, for the way I was feeling, and that I was still counting the days down!  And was I going to go for a bit of a holiday as soon as I retire?  Well, nice idea, but I wonder if radio commitments, etc, would get in the way of that idea!!

 

It’s just after 10am when I begin writing this piece, and since 6am this morning, at which time I’d left home for the radio station, the weather has deteriorated considerably – decided that a walk was ‘not’ on the agenda this morning, icy wind, equivalent rain showers, and a very overcast morning, after being quite mild a few hours ago.

After last night’s concert, I decided to have a ‘concert within a concert’ on my program this morning – from a recording of selections from earlier concerts of the Heidelberg Symphony Orchestra, a played a few tracks of music by Sibelius, Faure, Tchaikovsky & Grieg, and later in the show, played another orchestra’s version of the beautiful second movement of Dvorak’s ‘New World Symphony’ [featured by the Heidelberg team last night – refer to Saturday’s comments].  Today, I even played a listener request, well another presenter actually – wanted to hear Rimsky-Korsakoff’s ‘Flight of the Bumble Bee’.  Unfortunately, the only version on hand that I was able to find was from a fairly old vinyl recording, and it had a certain amount of ‘background noise’ from the vinyl copy – however, we apologised to our listeners in advance for the poor quality of the recording, and as the track only lasted 1 minute 25 seconds, I figured people could cope with that!! I hope!  – 

I sent a birthday greeting, via Face Book, to classical music composer and arranger, Peter Breiner this morning  –  Slovak born, I think he generally resides in Canada these days, and is very active in the world of music, and very generous in sharing his love of music, and other things [such as soccer] through the social network mediums.   His reply came through almost immediately, indicative of the man’s character I think  – ‘Thank you so much –  it’s so great to get a birthday wish from someone whom, I’ve never met!! And who knows, maybe one day we will…’

Interesting, that today over in Thailand, national elections are taking place, and some are predicting a rare change of government in that region. Must get onto Jack Harris, who is currently over there for 6 months with his Thai wife, and get a gauge on how the day is going.

Update: Tour de France: Stage 1: [Sat 2^nd July]: Passage du Gois to Mont des Alouettes, 191.5 kms – this annual event commenced in France yesterday – we have a daily coverage here on SBS television between 10pm and 2 am each night. I doubt I will see very much of the coverage! The results of Day 1, Stage 2, with 198 riders finishing the stage, were:

1. Philippe Gilbert, Belgium [Omega Pharma-Lotto teram]………………4 hrs 31 secs
2. Cadel Evans [Australia] [BMC Racing Team]……………….+ 0.03 seconds
3. Thor Hushoyd, Norway [Team Garmin –Cervelo]……………………….+ 0.06 secs

Belgian Philippe Gilbert of the Omega Pharma team won an incident-filled first stage of the Tour de France here on Saturday and took the race leader’s yellow jersey. “It’s the most important race of the world, and it’s very special to win the first stage because I receive all the jerseys, except of course I’m too old for the white jersey,” Gilbert said. Meanwhile, from the Tour Diary of  Cadel Evans –   “A hectic way to start the Tour; crashes, narrow roads, lots round- and an unpredictable final. Looking back at the TV highlights, it was a messy day for many. We managed to avoid any major mishaps, thanks to the good work and expertise of ‘Giorgio’, ‘Burgie’ and Micky. Easier said than done; riding at the front in the wind all day is hard both mentally and physically.  In the final, Big George got caught in a crash at 2k to go. I was alright but got a bit closed in on the right as the winning move went on the right with 1k to go. Second is not a bad start!”

After the family dinner tonight, and Susie and I returned home, it would be close to 10 o’clock before she left for the return to Bendigo. I was certainly not happy about her driving back up at the highway at that time of night, but there was little I could say or do, just hope & pray for another safe and uneventful trip. \Certainly no intention of  going to bed for a while. In  fact spent the next few hours working on one of the family trees [the Jenkins line] and keeping an eye on the various international sporting events happening tonight.

 First completed event was a very exciting finish to the Italian MotoGP race – Australia’s Casey Stoner, well clear in the championship at present, looked like extending that lead with 5 laps top go, but a brilliant come from behind effort by Jorge Lorenzo on the Yamaha, took over the race, and with obviously struggling with some kind of tyre problem, even his teammate, with a couple of laps to go, knocked Casey out of 2^nd position, at the cost of some more championship points. 1. Lorenzo. 2, Dovizoso, 3. Casey Stoner.  Watching these races, as a non-motor cyclist, I am amazed, or bewildered as to how those guys stay on their motor bikes!!!  Meanwhile in the Women’s World Cup Soccer tournament, Australia was in it’s second game of the tournament tonight, in a match, which following their 1-0 loss to Brazil last week, they had to win to be assured of moving onto the next stage of the tournament. Match was against the small African nation of  Equatorial Guinea. The other Group D game was Brazil vs Norway, the latter being Australia’s next opponent. The halftime, the score was 1-1, which was really,, not good enough for the Matildas [the name of the Aussie team]. Early in the second half, a couple of great goals by the Australian strikers, to give the girls a 3-1 lead. They went on to eventually win the game 3-2 – that last goal by the opposition was a pity, as they really needed to build the score in the opposite direction.

Wimbledon  Men’s Final tonight [our time] – didn’t really watch much of it, as I find Rafal Nadal ‘boring’ to sit and watch for hours, too predictable I think, the normal outcome, anyway.  Despite having said that, interestingly, when I switched over to the tennis, just before midnight, Djokovic has just won the first set over Nadal, 6-4. Eventually, Novak Djokovic celebrated his elevation to world number one by beating incumbent Rafael Nadal 6-4 6-1 1-6 6-3 to win his first Wimbledon title.   Results of the weekend finals are listed below.   Wimbledon finals took place this weekend, and despite no Australians featuring in the ‘big league’, there was some Aussie success at the ‘junior’ levels, as indicated below

• Women’s Singles Final [Saturday]:  first time Grand Slam winner – Petra Kvitova [Czech] defeated Maria Sharapova [Russia] in a shock upset –   6/3, 6/4 – won the Title with an Ace!!
• Men’s Singles Final [Sunday]: Novak Djokovic [Serbia] defeated Rafal Nadal [Spain] infour sets – 6/4,6/1,1/6, 6/3
• Men’s Doubles Final [Saturday]: not surprisingly, Bob & Mike Bryan [USA] defeated Robert Lindstedt [Sweden] and Horia Recau [Roum]  6/3, 6/4, 7/6
• Women’s Doubles Final [Saturday]:  Kyeta Peschke [Czech] & Katarina Srebotnik [Slovenia] defeated Samantha Stosur [Australia] & Sabine Lisicki [Germany] –  6/3, 6/1
• Mixed Doubles Final [Sunday]: Jurgen Melzer [Austria] & Iveta Benesova [Czech] defeated Mahesh Bhupathi [India] & Elena Vesnina [Russia] 6/3, 6/2.    [TheAustralian Paul Hanley, with partner Su-Wei Hsieh [Taipei] lost their Mixed Doubles semi final on Saturday against Mahesh Bhupathi [India] & Elena Vesnina [Russia]  2/6, 6/3, 5/7]

and the two big Aussie results:-

• Boy’s Singles Final [Saturday]:  Luke Saville [Australia] defeated Liam Broady [GBR]  2/6, 6/4, 6/2
  • Girl’s Singles Final [Sunday]: Ashleigh Barty [Australia] defeated Irina Khromacheva [Russia] 7/5, 7/6 sealing an Australian junior double titles for the first time.

Meanwhile, must make mention of the efforts of some of Australia’s former champions – Todd Woodbridge and Mark Woodforde are no strangers to Wimbledon finals’ days, having won six Wimbledon doubles titles. They made another appearance in a final, only this time they were playing with different partners and in different events. Woodforde teamed up with Australian compatriot Pat Cash and they successfully defended their Gentleman’s Senior Invitation Doubles title with a 6-3, 5-7, 10-5 victory over Britain’s Jeremy Bates and Sweden’s Anders Jarryd. But his former partner in crime, Woodbridge, had to make do with the runner’s up position in the Gentleman’s Invitation Doubles. The Australian, who joined forces with Swede Jonas Bjorkman, comfortably took the first set against Paul Haarhuis and Jacco Eltingh 6-3, before their opponents fought back to claim the second by the same score line and force a champions tiebreak.  Bjorkman and Woodbridge, who have won three men’s Wimbledon doubles titles. looked to be on course to add another trophy to their collection when they raced to a 7-5 lead, but the Dutch team clawed their way back clinch the match 3-6, 6-3, 13-11 on their second match point’.

And of course, there was the second day of the Tour de France. Update: Tour de France: Stage 2: Time Trial  [Sun 3^nd July]:  Les essarts [Team Time Trial, 23 kms –  result saw 1^st: Team Garmin-Cervelo [24.48]. 2^nd: BMC Racing Team [+0.04], 3^rd: Sky Procycling [+0.04]. More importantly, the overall standings after 2 stages of the race see Australia’s Cadel Evans just 1 second be3hind, in 3^rd spot  –   1. Thor Hushovd [Norway]: 5.06.25; David Millar [GBR]: 5.06.25 [both from Team Garmin-Cervalo, and 3. Cadel Evans [Australia] with the BMC Racing team on 5.06.26.

My night ended on one comforting note – a text message from Susan at around 11.25pm to let me know she had arrived in Bendigo!!

I spent the bulk of today at home, with the thought of a drive across the top of the city tonight, despite the attraction of a concert at the other end, left this writer feeling a little distracted throughout the day. Received my first bit of  contact from the family for almost a week – Jodie reminding me of dinner for Susie’s birthday, on Sunday evening.  Went for another late morning walk – with threatening weather predicted, I thought I had better get that out of the way before the conditions changed my mind about going!!!

Another big football game at the Melbourne Cricket Ground [MCG] this afternoon – Carlton versus the Richmond Tigers. Over the years have attended some classic finals matches between these two teams, but these days I tend to avoid games at the MCG, and despite the delayed TV coverage this afternoon, was quite content to watch from the lounge chair. Don’t think anyone from the family went today. The quarter by quarter scores below, tend to tell the story of the match. After Carlton’s unexpected loss last weekend to the West Coast Eagles, and because of the traditional rivalry between today’s two combatants, it was a bit of a danger game for the Blues. I needn’t have worried – Carlton dominated from the start, and eventually went on to create their biggest ever score against the Tigers, exceeding the score of 29 goals 9 behinds in the 1972 Grand Final – a match that I watched the first three quarters of, dressed in a suit in preparation for a wedding I was to attend later that particular afternoon [not the wedding party’s fault – they planned their wedding for the first Saturday in October, a week after the football was supposed to have been finished, but a drawn match in one of the early September finals, saw the Grand Final moved into October, as it was last year – in those days, ‘nothing’ would stop this fan from going to see Carlton play, and especially in a Final!!]. Anyway, today, Carlton thrashed Richmond in every position by every measure!  Say no more, the scores tell it!

Carlton Blues:              5.2.32                    11.7.73       20.13.133         FINAL:   28.16.184

Richmond Tigers:        1.4.10                      4.6.30         6.8.44              Final:      12.9.81

From the ‘culture’ of football to the ‘culture of music’, and more precisely tonight, classical music!  It was Concert No. 2 for the 2011 season by the Heidelberg Symphony Orchestra, performed in the acoustically perfect environment of the Ivanhoe Girls Grammar School Performing Arts Centre. I have no doubt discussed this orchestra on previous occasions – widely recognised as one of Melbourne’s most acclaimed non-professional orchestras, which manages to attract many elite musicians to perform with it, as with tonight’s performance. They have toured through much of Europe at different times. Their annual concert series [four per year] features a wide repertoire from the most demanding symphonies, challenging guest artist concerto performances, to much loved theatre and orchestral classics. I was sitting there tonight, and wishing and wondering how we could get a symphony orchestra to be formed in Sunbury – something the calibre of Heidelberg would be  magnificent, and for me, would save this long Saturday night drive four times a year!!

I mentioned the acoustics of the Grammar School Centre above – there was a ‘presumably’ almost totally blind elderly gentleman sitting near me, and he commented to me that the organisers had on previous occasions always given him a seat down at the front of the audience area [basically the bottom on a level with the orchestra, whereas we were sitting up near ‘the roof’ at the top of that section. He asked to be moved, and the fact that because of his poor eye sight, the organisers had assumed he would be able to see more from the front seat, this gentleman in fact, preferred to sacrifice that, because the sound at that level was far inferior to the acoustics we were enjoying up the top. I think he might have been a bit of an extreme case, as I’m not sure all concert goers would be quite as aware of the difference!! Can’t say myself, I’ve say down the front!

Tonight’s program was titled ‘Czech-Mate’ and accordingly presented music by Janacek and Dvorak, both Czech composers, the latter, the better known of the two of them. Program began with Janacek’s composition named ‘Zarlivost’, of 6 minutes duration, and principally based on a song called Zarlivec or ‘The Jealous Man’, apparently originally written as the overture to his opera ‘Jenufa’, but later discarded for that purpose, becoming a separate concert piece. I was actually not familiar with it, but is was a vigorous and bright start to the night’s program.

Then followed Dvorak’s ‘Cello Concerto’ of which I was more familiar. This featured one of those ‘elite’ guests – cello player, an Australian, Thomas Rann [actually playing a violincello’, slightly smaller than a regular cello. Performed in three movements, the guest was no doubt excellent at his craft, and received sustained applause at the end. Personally, he didn’t impress me a great deal in respect to his ‘on stage persona’ – he didn’t look comfortable in his seated position, and had an air about him, when he was not playing with the orchestra, that almost displayed disinterest in what the other musicians were doing! That is no doubt a totally unfair suggestion, but it was certainly the impression he left me with, little things like constantly rubbing his hand on his trouser leg [perspiration perhaps], and other little mannerisms which annoyed this listener/viewer. When he was playing, he virtually hugged the instrument into his body as he crouched into it! And yet, he has performed internationally in front of kings, queens and prime ministers, so who am I to judge him!!! I just won’t be rushing out to see him perform again!! Meanwhile, in respect to the concerto itself, Dvorak is reported to have said ‘The cello is a beautiful instrument, but its place is in the orchestra, as a solo instrument it is not much good. I have written a cello concerto, but am sorry to this day that I did so, and I never intend to write another’.  Critics consider that an odd quotation from a man who wrote what is considered to be one of the most beautiful cello concertos every written. Certainly, when attending the concerts by the Australian String Quartet, I get particular enjoyment from the occasional solo pieces by Rachel Johnston on her cello in that qwuartet.

After interval, minus the guest, we had the full orchestra present a wonderful interpretation of Dvorak’s Symphony No. 9 [subtitled ‘From the New World]. Again, of 40 minutes duration [as with the Cello Concerto], this was beautifully performed, and presumably as Dvorak intended [or perhaps not], makes use of the American spiritual genre in the creation of the memorable melodies – as Dvorak himself is quoted as saying ‘In the negro melodies of America, I discover all that is needed for a great and noble school of music’. Some of ‘those’ melodies which upon a carefully listening can be gleaned from the performance include ‘Swing low sweet chariot’, ‘Goin’ Home’, parts of some Longfellow’s ‘Hiawatha’, and even a theme in part of the 4^th movement reminiscent of ‘Three Blind Mice’ [quite distinctive in fact]. I particularly loved the 2wnd movement [the ‘Largo’] and was so taken by it tonight, that I immediately determined to re-arrange my Sunday morning program in order to include a playing of that movement.

A short encore at the end of the program [by an American composer, whose name temporarily slips me, though I have played him myself   –   ahhh yes, it was Leroy Anderson!!], was a bright finish to an entertaining night!! Outside, I expected cold and miserable weather conditions – in fact, it was quite mild, and I subsequently had a pleasant drive home, about an hour away. At home, surprised to find that Susie was there – not expected un til tomorrow,  It was her birthday on Monday, and it seems she had really only returned from Bendigo for her family dinner tomorrow night – she was intending to drive back north afterwards [which as usual worried me, particularly with the weather due to deteriorate on Sunday!!]. Nevertheless, it was good to see her, even if only briefly, and to find her at home, upon my return!!

I rather enjoy this not having to rush up of a morning, and drive halfway across the city every day, think I could get used to it, but not yet, especially with a view to a few rather busy weeks I have ahead of me!! So it is simply too early to get into too much of a relaxing mode just yet.  But I’m pleased at the opportunity these times give me for a daily walk. Yesterday’s medical check-up confirmed that my current weight is the lowest it has been for a decade or so, so in one respect, I must be doing something right!!

As for today’s date, amongst other things, it means potentially a major change in the way parliament will be operating. As a consequence of last year’s Federal election, the new Senators who were elected,. Officially take up their positions today, and those who were defeated last August, left their roles yesterday, officially. Senators are elected for a six year term.  The outcome of the new Senate situation sees four new ‘Green’ senators take up their seats, meaning that the Greens will; have the balance of power in the Senate, and because they have ‘got into bed’ with the Labor Government [or is it the other way around?], the Opposition Coalition will not be able to block any measures of the government at the Senate level, unless the Greens support them, highly unlikely. In fact Bob Green, Greens leader, has already suggested that should the Liberals win the next election, they will be hampered by a Senate opposition, which so long as the Greens and Labor team together, legislation not supported by those two groups will not get through!!

The Senate has 76 seats, and as of today it will be comprised of 31 Labor members, 29 Liberals, 9 Greens, 5 Nationals, 1 Independent senator, and 1 from the Democratic Labor Party. This means no side of politics can win a majority of 39 seats in the Upper House [Senate] without the support of the Greens, which at this stage can be expected to favour Labor in most circumstances.  The leader of the Greens is Bob Brown./He  has been a member of the Senate for the past 15 years and became the Greens parliamentary leader in 2006. The 66-year-old former doctor and Tasmanian Wilderness Society director has been recognised as the first openly gay member of Australian Parliament. He has campaigned against deforestation and nuclear energy, while backing same-sex marriage, the rights of asylum seekers and action on climate change.

I guess I will wait and see how this ‘new’ arrangement turns out. Generally, I am not in favour of a minor Party [such as the Greens] been given the balance of power over two major parties, and the fear is that this power has the potential to be used incorrectly, and against the broad interests of the community. On the other hand, perhaps the community has only itself to blame because of it’s inability to clearly decide between the two major parties last August, and in the process, electing new ‘Green’ Senators  –  it is only natural that for a minority government to succeed, of the nature we now have, it should depend on minor groups sand/or independents in order to run government. The Liberal Party is in no confusion about what this all means, and from their online media report today, we read that     ‘Already in a formal alliance with Gillard Labor, the influence of the Greens moves to a new level from today as they gain control of the balance of power in the Senate.  Bob Brown is on the record about the Greens’ agenda  “The Greens are about recreating Australia for the new century street by street, community by community, city by city.”   The Greens want to transform Australia root and branch – not for the better, but for the worse. Their goal stretches well beyond introducing a job destroying economy-wide carbon tax that will push up prices and add further cost of living pressures on already struggling Australians and their families’  That media release then goes through an extensive list of taxes and social reform agendas amongst other things, which I won’t detail here, but which, as far as the Opposition is concerned, provide numerous examples  of the extreme policies that the Greens want to impose on Australia. Actually, some of the social changes which have been hinted at in Green policy speeches, etc make interesting reading, here’s a few of them:-  not all exactly extreme, but with some cause for concern in places.

• End the Northern Territory Indigenous Intervention;
• Legalise cannabis for medical use;
• Support needle and syringe exchanges, and medically supervised injecting rooms;
• Ban on junk food advertisements during children’s television viewing hours;
• Limit Commonwealth power to override territories legislation;
• Give 16 year olds the right the vote;
• Enact a Bill of Rights;
• Full public funding of elections;
• Change the national flag.

So, it will be interesting to see just what kind of success the Greens have in achieving those aims, as well as the numerous policies they have articulated in respect to taxes of various kinds, etc. From what I read, they are a tax orientated party, which doesn’t auger well for the ordinary citizens of this country, who already face  a heavy burden of a wealth of taxes!! I am particularly interested in whether the current approach of constant negativity by Opposition leader, Tony Abbott will be modified  to any degree over the next few weeks.

Meanwhile, I have just scanned  a very interesting, but lengthy article from the ‘Election blog’ of political analyst, Antony Green [no connection to the ‘Greens Party’] on the subject of the possibility of a Double Dissolution of Parliament, when both the House of Representatives and the Senate are dissolved together, and full elections are held for both Houses. In a normal election, only a half Senate election is held, hence the arising of the kind of situation referred to above.  Unfortunately, Antony’s ‘little’ piece was quite long, otherwise I would have included it with this contribution. I shall retain it for future reference, when and if the subject arises. The double dissolution was devised by the 1891 Constitutional Convention as a mechanism for resolving deadlocks between the House of Representatives and the Senate. Only six of Australia’s 43 elections have been double dissolutions, and only the 1974 double dissolution produced a joint sitting. Despite the state-based origins of the Senate and the double dissolution provision, disputes between the two chambers have always involved party politics rather than state issues.

No visitors here for a week – I think Jodie has fixed her computer problems, so she had no incentive to come over and borrow Susie’s computer while the latter is away – now due back on Sunday according to her advice to me late this afternoon [in response to my enquiry]. Another quiet Friday night ahead of me!  The Men’s Wimbledon semi finals were being played tonight  –  I had the tennis on in the background, though was busy with other things for most of the time.  Men’s Singles Semi Final results were:

Rafa Nadal [Spain] defeasted Andy Murray [Britain] 5/7, 6/2,6/2,6/4, and
Novak Djokovic [Serbia] defeated Jo-Wilfried Tsonga [France]  7/6, 6/2, 6/7, 6/3

Both matches pretty well ending as expected though I was hoping that Murray would have come through against Nadal  – looks like Britain will have to wait another year for a Wimbledon winner!!!

 

 

On such a date, I should be at the office, especially for my last ‘end of financial year’ occasion as a full time employee!!  However in fact, I’m having a couple of days off, let’s call it a deserved rest, with a couple of medical appointments included. All is organised on the work front end of year situation, and most of the work in that respect will be taking place next week anyway! So took advantage of all that, and did not rush myself this morning!  Although, having being an early riser most of my life, one always feels that the day is been wasted, if one stays in bed too long of a morning! But at least commitment was missing today, and after some late viewing of the Wimbledon tennis, today came at an opportune time.

Today’s emails included another one of those DNA connections through the Genebase system, though really, no form of permanent connection has ever come of that very broad based catch up with ‘very past’ ancestors, and certainly from that point of view, I’ve achieved very little in the 18 months or so since I signed up for that much publicised DNA test, aimed at discovering one’s ancestral origins, though much beyond the ‘family history research’ I’m currently engaged in.  Genebase  claims to allow you to search  for immediate family lines!!  That might perhaps happen rarely through the family tree details that members are able to place on the site, but from the DNA ‘match contacts’ you are advised of from time to time, well, nothing has certainly arisen from that direction.  At least today’s ‘match’  had a photo with the name, like my own profile, a younger chap from Germany! But as with most of the previous matches, probably little point in contacting him, as any kind of reply is seldom forthcoming. Interestingly, another online request came to me from a current Face Book friend, who was originally a ‘penfriend’ from the old ‘letter writing’ days [‘pre emails] – apparently, she was seeking details of those old penfriend organisations, as she had  another friend who wanted to join up. While I wonder at how much they are used these days, I would imagine that there is still some kind of ‘international penfriend’ organisation still active, will try and find it for her!

One reason for being home today, was to attend an annual ‘diabetes’ assessment at the local medical clinic. Overall, things not going along too badly, and generally under control, so long as I keep it that way. Interestingly, a couple of years ago, the weight was a bit of a concern, out of balance with height etc, but it seems my efforts over the period since then, despite a few ups and downs have brought that correlation almost together, and we haven’t got far to go, before the actual weight is where my doctor suggested it should be a couple of years ago!! My aim is to be there by the 18 October!!

Apart from the little medical trip, and a bit of food shopping, it was a relatively quiet and peaceful day for your personal essayist here. Would have like to have got onto some reading, but my work on bringing the family history records up to date and into some kind of printable version seems to be dominating a lot of my spare time at the moment.  No visitors all day, and the mail only consisted of my latest cd selection of songs from the AMRAP organisation which I now feature on a Monday night.

Today’s media was paying a lot of attention to the political ramifications that will arise here in Australia when the 1^st July arrives tomorrow, and I shall touch on that tomorrow. Also a lot of praise been extended to Bernard Tomic for his ‘losing’ efforts at Wimbledon yesterday, generally regarded as a star of the future!! Let’s hope it happens that like, and he doesn’t ‘lose his way’ along the road as so many of our young up and coming sporting stars do these days, as other things in life become more of an attraction, or perhaps\ distraction!! Of course the big news from Wimbledon yesterday on the broader front was the defeat of Roger Federer, by the French player Jo-Wilfried Tsonga – the first time Federer had lost in a Grand Slam from being two sets up, losing 6/3,7/6,4/6.4/6,4/6  Despite the loss, Federer, who turns 30 in August, remains confident he can add to his Grand Slam total of 16.  “I think I definitely can, yes. I wouldn’t be here if it wasn’t the case,” he insisted.  “I think I’m playing well. I thought my game was plenty good enough this year to win the tournament. Unfortunately there’s only one that can win it, and the rest go home empty-handed.”  It was a second successive quarter-final loss at Wimbledon for the Swiss former world number one, Tomas Berdych the man to beat him last year, and Federer’s last Grand Slam triumph remains the 2010 Australian Open.

Tonight, the Women’s Singles semi finals were played – I watched part of the first game, but opted for another reasonable sleep as the clock went past 11.30pm!   In those matches, fifth seed Maria Sharapova swept past unseeded German Sabine Lisicki 6-4 6-3 to romp through to the Wimbledon women’s final, while eighth seed Petra Kvitova battled past Victoria Azarenka 6-1 3-6 6-2 to reach her first Grand Slam final.  The Czech, also a semi-finalist last year, was utterly dominant early on from the baseline with her crisp and accurate hitting. Belarusian fourth seed Azarenka, whose yelping noise when striking the ball has caused amusement and annoyance at the grass-court Grand Slam, stormed back in the second set though as Kvitova struck eight unforced errors, but she couldn’t maintain the comeback. Personally, I find it totally distracting and unpleasant to watch a match where the female player is engaged in so much on court screaming and grunting, another reason I switched off tonight, as Azarenka was playing!!

I realise that I do makes various contributions  on the case of Australia’s ‘refugee problem’, so when the following statistics were sent to me,  I felt the need to record these details for future reference, and just in case there is an interested reader.  Like we say ‘off air’ at the radio, if you don’t like what you are listening to, the solution is simple, switch off!! Same advice applies here.

 

On the 20 June 2011 it was recorded that the  UN REFUGEE FIGURES SHOW ASYLUM FEARS UNFOUNDED.

‘UN figures released today confirm that Australia’s share of asylum applications remains at just 1% of

the global total.

UNHCR Global Trends 2010, released today to mark World Refugee Day, reveals that the number of

people displaced by persecution and conflict rose by 400,000 last year to 43.7 million. Of these 15.4

million are refugees, 840,000 are asylum seekers and 27.5 million are displaced within their own

countries.

Of the 10.55 million refugees under UNHCR’s mandate, 75% come from just 10 countries of origin –

Afghanistan, Iraq, Somalia, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Burma, Colombia, Sudan, Vietnam,

Eritrea and China. Just 10 countries host 62% of these refugees. They include Pakistan, Iran, Syria,

Germany, Jordan, Kenya and Chad.

By contrast, Australia hosts 21,805 refugees according to UNHCR, just 0.21% of the global total. In

2010, Australia received 1.04% of the world’s asylum applications and, as at December 2010, hosted

0.45% of the world’s asylum seekers. Australia’s contribution to refugee resettlement is more

substantial, being ranked third in the world with 8,516 refugees welcomed last year.

Refugee Council of Australia CEO Paul Power said the statistics brought much-needed context and

realism to the shrill and unbalanced national debate about asylum seekers.

“Few people outside Australia can understand why there is so much political division in Australia about

asylum policy, given that Australia’s share of global need is so small,” Mr Power said. “These figures

reveal that Australians should ignore politicians and others who try to whip up fear about the nation

being ‘swamped’ by asylum seekers. While some Australians make so much fuss about a comparatively

small national challenge, much poorer countries across in the Middle East and Africa and the Middle

East put our country to shame by showing much greater generosity towards people attempting to

escape persecution and torture.

The actual tables of statistics  relating to the above followed, but I won’t burden readers with a set of charts and tables!! I think the point that is being made in all this, is summed up in the last sentence above. We don’t know how well off we are, in contrast with the ‘refugee’ problems faced in many other parts of the world!

Meanwhile, on the same subject, a few days later, another pro-refugee support organisation called ChilOut [whose primary aim, as the name might suggest, is to get all refugee children out of detention].

Last Thursday, ChilOut released our report ‘No Place For Children: Detention on Christmas Island’ at Parliament House. The report was launched by Judi Moylan MP (Coalition) a long time supporter of ChilOut’s work, as well as ChilOut board members Dianne Hiles and Jo Hind. The report was written after Dianne Hiles and Jo Hind travelled to Christmas Island to investigate the conditions on the island for children.
The executive summary of the report states:
Australia’s mandatory detention regime has been found to be arbitrary. For all people who do not hold a valid visa, it is the first, not last, resort. This is its ultimate point of failure: the system is fundamentally flawed. While it imprisons children as a first resort and for indefinite periods of time, it contravenes international law and common sense morality. Children should not be locked up. Ultimately the government must recognise this and legislate to prevent the implementation of policies that breach Australia’s legal and moral obligations.
ChilOut visited Christmas Island in April 2011, and has grave concerns about a variety of risks that children in detention are exposed to there. If Australia is unable to keep children safe in off-shore facilities for which it is wholly responsible, what hope is there of human rights standards being maintained in facilities managed on our behalf in other countries? The immigration detention regime does not keep children safe and presents significant risks to their ongoing wellbeing.

I notice a comment was made today I think, by the Federal Immigration Minister expressing pride that the government had met it’s commitment to have all refugee children out of detention by the end of June  – well, not quite all of the children, apparently as an aside, he did mention that there were still 325 children to be moved from Christmas Island and other centres!!!  As ChilOut says ‘Unfortunately, not all children are being released by the 30 June deadline. We do not know what the Minister intends for the rest of the children in the long term . And without legislative change, there is always the chance that new children will end up back in detention’. Like the GETUP organisation, ChilOut is also seeking volunteers and financial support to help with their campaign.  One has to wonder at times what would happen to the many disadvantaged and sidelined groups in our society were it not for the work and efforts of these volunteer support organisations, which by their very nature have to depend themselves on the generosity and support of the broader community. So much of what they do – the question must be asked, why are not governments providing for these things?  A question that I don’t really have the answer to.

 

By ‘off-colour’, I mean unwell! After the radio show last night,  while it was almost 1am before I got to bed, I thought I felt fine at that stage. But I was awake again within an hour, and was suddenly feeling decidedly unwell.  It felt like a form of pain from a chest infection, only mild, but enough, I must admit to leading to a small degree of ‘panic’  [I guess, somewhere along the lines of the ‘panic attacks’ that both my sons have experienced at different times].  I know my thoughts went to the heart, and while I felt reasonably certain that was not the problem, my mild sensations of panic and concern, and the fact that I was alone, didn’t help matters a great deal!!  So I guess I was awake for the next 3 hours – was actually not keen to go back to sleep.  Two cups of black tea, had a bit of a soothing affect to some degree, while the tennis on the TV – well, I’d obviously missed earlier, another great win by our Bernard Tomic, who won his way into the quarter finals on Wednesday night, and couldn’t get much enthusiasm for the matches that were on at this time of the morning

I guess it would have been nice to have been able to forget work, and simply remain at home  this Tuesday – I thought of it, but that old bugbear of commitment came into play, so instead, I simply slept a little longer [when I did get back to sleep], and rang in to say I would be a bit later than usual. I must say that for most of my day in the office, I continued to not feel as well as I would have preferred – nothing serious, just that feeling below the surface that something was not quite right! And another radio show to do this evening, but much earlier, and a shorter version tonight.

Putting aside notes about health and work issues, there have been a couple of interesting ‘animal’ documentaries on the TV over recent weeks dealing with various forms of the ‘ape’ and ‘monkey’ world, and in the course of those programs,  we were reminded of Jane Goodall.  Dr Jane Goodall is an internationally-acclaimed primatologist, environmentalist and UN Messenger of Peace. She is also the best-selling author of “Hope for Animals and Their World” and “Reasons for Hope: A Spiritual Journey”. Goodall began studying the social organization of chimpanzees in 1960, in what is now Tanzania, under the mentorship of famed anthropologist and palaeontologist, Dr Louis Leakey. Her work at Gombe Stream would become the foundation of future primatological research and redefine the relationship between humans and animals. In 1977, she established the Jane Goodall Institute, which continues the Gombe research and is considered a global leader in the effort to protect chimpanzees and their habitats. “Roots & Shoots”, the institute’s global environmental and humanitarian youth network, has groups in more than 120 countries. In 2002, Goodall was appointed to serve as a United Nations Messenger of Peace, then reappointed in June 2007 by Secretary General Ban Ki-moon. In 2004, she was invested as a Dame of the British Empire and in 2006, received the French Legion of Honour as well as the UNESCO Gold Medal.

The interesting thing about Jane Goodall, was that she  grew up with chimps from a young age and has been studying them, in her unique and unorthodox manner, since the early 60s. Because she was not scientifically-trained, Goodall observed things that others may have overlooked.   Instead of numbers, she used nicknames for her favourite chimps. Fifi and David Greybeard, she believed, displayed unique and individual personalities. This unconventional idea became the foundation of our present-day understanding that it isn’t only human beings who have personality and rational thought, and emotions like joy and sorrow.  Certainly watching the documentaries about the chimps and some of their other family members, it was not hard to see the reality of that kind of reasoning in many of the interactions between the various members of the family group.

In contrast to the comments at the beginning of this contribution, Bill was feeling okay by the time he returned home this evening, after another 2 hours on air. A brief exchange of text messages with Susan over a couple of minor matters, a light meal, some tennis, and not too late a night – in fact, while only of six hours duration, my sleep would be uninterrupted!  Rare for this guy!

Following his email of a couple of days ago regarding their cycling trip in Japan, I had a brief message overnight from Robert –  –  ‘Weather has been great for last 3 days and great riding through beautiful country side; but may change again tomorrow (weather not country side).  Those hot baths get addictive after a 100+ km ride!  Two more  days riding’.  I believe they will be back in Australia at the weekend.

Meanwhile, the ‘Earth Team’ group, which I used to be a ‘semi-part’ participant of a few years ago [think I went to 2/3 meetings] continue to be very active in trying to promote environmental practices, and ways of living. It’s not just the scientists, politicians and ‘greenies’ who are pushing issues in that respect, but many other groups and organisations. The ‘Earth Team’ is associated with the Uniting Church of Australia, and one area they have tried to promote over many years, is the use of Fair trade products by Australian consumers. Fair trade is an organized social movement and market-based approach that aims to help producers in developing countries make better trading conditions and promote sustainability. Fairtrade is about better prices, decent working conditions, local sustainability, and fair terms of trade for farmers and workers in the developing world. By requiring companies to pay sustainable prices, Fairtrade addresses the injustices of conventional trade, which traditionally discriminates against the poorest, weakest producers. It enables them to improve their position and have more control over their lives. According to Wikipedia, the movement advocates the payment of a higher price to producers as well as higher social and environmental standards. It focuses in particular on exports from developing countries to developed countries, most notably handicrafts, coffee, cocoa, sugar, tea, bananas, honey, cotton, wine, fresh fruit, chocolate, flowers and gold. I think there is at least one coffee lounge establishment here in Sunbury which sells only ‘fair trade’ coffee, along with a number of other items which come under the above categories.  Anyway, the latest email I have received from the Earth Team group notes that   “Over $3 million has been invested in Ghanaian cocoa growing communities since Cadbury launched its Fairtrade certified Dairy Milk chocolate range. This has helped improve the lives of more than 45,000 farmers and their communities. Thanks to everyone who has contributed by buying fair trade”.  It may not be felt that the movement would achieve much success in our kind of consumer driven society, but with numbers like that, affects are possible in areas of the world where such assistance is valuable.

While not quite related to the Fair Trade issue, I like a little quotation that appeared in  the  Earth Team’s email,. Which simply said  –  “Like water, be gentle and strong. Be gentle enough to follow the natural paths of the earth, and strong enough to rise up and reshape the world. ”  [attributed apparently to someone named Brenda Peterson].

And while on the subject of the environment the GETUP campaign team are not resting on whatever successes or otherwise they might achieve – today, they had left Tasmania behind and were up in the far north west of Australia, in the Kimberleys. More correctly, at the moment, they are looking for support from the community to actually create this new campaign  –   as far as I can see, aimed at keeping the area as a kind of national heritage site, in preference to allowing mining companies and other developers to take it over. In describing the Kimberleys, they remind us that    ‘The Kimberley is almost twice the size of Victoria, and one of the rarest environments on Earth today.  This large-scale relatively undisturbed reference site will be critical for understanding how regeneration of ecosystems might occur in the face of climate change.  It is one of the last great Indigenous homelands with 47.7% of the population identifying themselves as Indigenous’.  But GET UP haven’t forgotten Tasmania, and in the same breath   ‘In the Styx Valley of the Giants in Tasmania – home to the tallest hardwood trees on earth, some of these giant trees are being quite literally blown up. The trees are so huge loggers can’t safely fell them with chainsaws, so they use dynamite to bring them down before they are woodchipped and shipped overseas to be made into paper.   In one logging coupe in the Styx – TN047A – which is due to be logged in the next 3 months, Tasmanian devils were captured on infrared film foraging at night for food. Tasmanian Devils are at real threat of becoming extinct. But the habitat of these devils could be saved by the agreement reached last week between the logging industry and environment groups. This agreement could see the immediate protection of up to 570,000 hectares of high conservation value forest if the government commits to fully fund it’.   GETUP is pushing for the government  to support the industry agreement, and  because  they  have just over a week left to influence the Federal and Tasmanian governments before they make a crucial decision about whether to act, the organisation is calling for financial support to meet the costs of an advertising campaign before that happens.

Back in my ‘real world’, today was Committee Meeting day in the office, so normal routines were all over the place, but thankfully, I wasn’t required for the meeting itself, just had to make sure there was some lunch available. While tonight, I headed off to the radio station again, for the second of my new late Monday night show. Despite finishing at midnight, I think I am going to regularly feel like continuing behold that time – the variety and different genres of music that I am trying to promote is a format that I really enjoy presenting, and while 3 hours may seem a long shift on air, I generally feel enthusiastic enough to continue. However currently, we have a three hour limit on shows performed by individual presenters, and I have to stand by that requirement. The other factor of course, is that I need to be up in the morning for another day’s work!!  I generally feel pretty good at midnight, but 6 hours later, is generally a different matter!!!