Author: Alex Mitchell
-
Why I feel like an outsider in Paris
SO many of our well-travelled friends say, “Paris is my favourite city in the world.” I wish it were mine too, but it isn’t. I love its charm, excitement and layers of culture but, on other hand, I feel an outsider. No, the Parisians don’t make me feel an outsider even though they have a…
-
The Euro-fantasy crashes into a wall
As our Euro-Star train from St Pancras was pulling into the Gare du Nord, German Chancellor Angela Merkel was arriving for dinner at the Elysee with the new Socialist Party President Francois Hollande. Today (Thursday) they both trooped off to Brussels for yet another Euro-summit. The whole Euro thing has become part circus, part nightmare.…
-
Ecuador protects Aussie Assange
Julian Assange remains lodged in the Ecuadorian Embassy in Knightsbridge while the Correa Government decides whether to grant him political asylum. Meanwhile, the WikiLeaks founder remains committed to standing for the Australian Senate whenever the next Federal Election is called. Whether he can campaign on the ground or not will depend on his circumstances but…
-
Queen to shake hand of IRA
There will be a moment of history this week when Queen Elizabeth shakes hands with Martin McGuinness, first deputy minister of the north of Ireland. The piquancy of the occasion is that McGuinness was the former chief of staff of the IRA when it was accused of blowing up the Queen’s cousin, Lord Mountbatten. Mountbatten…
-
Keep calm and carry on
AT school in Townsville just after World War Two we used to sing “There’ll always be an England” at the top of our tiny voices. The robust patriotic song, written in 1939, looks a little shakey in 2012. In Britain today most people accept that the country is on its knees but citizens – at…
-
After Fairfax: what’s the price of a free press?
The shocking overnight news from Fairfax – 1900 job cuts and press closures in Sydney and Melbourne – comes like a bolt from the blue. I’m lying. It was entirely predictable. Australia’s oldest newspaper group has been run by dolts, social climbers, profit gougers, chancers and failed business types for at least 30 years. Fairfax…
-
Changing times
I first arrived in London 45 years ago on the P&O passenger liner Oronsay. It was a six-week trip that cost me 200 bucks. I spent my first night in the Mount Pleasant Hotel, a two-star lodging previously used as a hostel for drunks and down-and-outs. This time I arrived on Royal Thai Airways (Brisbane-Bangkok)…
-
Join the journey
ONE of my literary heroes, Robert Louis Stevenson (Kidnapped and Treasure Island), once said: “For my part, I travel not to go anywhere, but to go. I travel for travel’s sake. The great affair is to move.” In the past I shared the great man’s view, but not now. Travel for “travel’s sake” is tourism and, to…
-
Guess who’s coming to dinner
THE right-wing H R Nicholls Society will hold its 32nd annual shindig in Melbourne today with the usual conga-line of trade union haters.Guest speaker at tonight’s dinner will be Kathy Jackson, national secretary of the Health Services Union.Yes, that’s the Ms Jackson who is leading the campaign to have Craig Thomson, Labor MP for Dobell,…
-
More on Labor’s fake Sydney “primary”
Linda Scott, Labor’s candidate to oppose Sydney Lord Mayor Clover Moore at the September election, has form.She was Labor’s candidate to oppose Ms Moore for the seat of Sydney at the State Election in 2007.In the run-up to the election Scott received a generous $20,000 campaign donation from Kristine Keneally, MP for Heffron who eventually…