Scomo takes Australia to war Pastor Scott Morrison has committed Australia to war in the Middle East. He has sent Australian warships, aircraft and special forces half way round the world to the Straits of Hormuz to “protect international trade” and the “freedom of shipping”. Morrison has joined the US war party against Iran. Ignoring…
Political dirty tricks at Melbourne Olympics in 1956 and Sydney 2000 SYDNEY Sun-Herald, 1986-2007 Searching through personal papers I came across volumes of material I had collected over the years on the Olympic Games and the Swiss-based International Olympic Committee (IOC), the disgraced agency that runs the worldwide sports extravaganza every four years. Buried in the…
Whistleblowers jailed as US and UK attack press freedom Julian Assange is in jail in London and Ms Chelsea Manning, formerly Bradley Manning, is in jail in Alexandria, Virginia. Assange is an Australian-born journalist and founder of Wikileaks while Private first class Manning is a transgender American soldier, turned whistleblower. Together they blew the lid…
John Gorton goes to Oxford OXFORD, England, February 1932 Brasenose College at Oxford University is famous for educating an elite to be the future prime ministers, judges, governors and Whitehall mandarins of Great Britain. For 500 years, the sons of the aristocracy (women were admitted for the first time only in 1974) were sent to…
Townsville floods – a bleak history of political neglect For the first time in my lifetime, Townsville is in the news. Not just the local or national news, but internationally as well. A biblical level of flooding has ruined thousands of homes, farms and businesses – and brought forth a deluge of politicians seeking votes….
Once reviled Dr Martin Luther King is rebirthed as all-American hero If you thought we had problems choosing how and when to celebrate Australia Day, spare a thought for Americans who have just been marking Rev Martin Luther King Day. About 15% took part – mainly Democrat politicians, black civil rightists and leftists – while…
National symbols – why they matter and how they change Australia Day used to be called Empire Day and then Independence Day. Adding to the confusion the date has changed as well. Some people think it celebrates James Cook’s landing in Botany Bay in 1770 while, in more recent years, it is meant to mark…
Bye bye Sydney Morning Herald – Hello dumb-ass television The front pages of The Sydney Morning Herald and The Age in Melbourne told the story: the plundering of Australia’s two most venerable newspapers by Channel Nine and Rupert Murdoch media is done and dusted. The newspapers, with a collective history of news reporting of more…
How Brexit and Trump changed the world Two unrelated events on either side of the Atlantic – Britain’s referendum vote to leave to European Union (Brexit) on June 23, 2016, and Donald Trump’s presidential election victory five months later on November 8 – have changed the face of global economic and politics. Commentators have treated…
Climate clock is ticking away Mort Rosenblum, aged 74, is a prolific American author, award-winning journalist, editor of the International Herald Tribune (1979-1981) and ex-bureau chief for Associated Press (AP) in Congo, Nigeria, Malaysia, Indonesia, Argentina and France. He has furiously condemned those world political leaders who failed to take a stand against climate change…
