More Sanctions......

The  "cat and mouse " continues...

Hairier and scarier

North Korean men have reportedly lost yet another freedom of expression: the right to a decent haircut, with reports of new rules forcing them to imitate Kim Jong-un. (ABC news report 27.March)

"Grace notes"

Tony Abbott reintroduces knight and dame honours for Australians

(Acknowledgement to Ward Kimball, Disney cartoonist).

Epic Boat Star

Quite a tow job

Right to be a bigot

Australia's Attorney-General George Brandis has defended the Government's plan to amend a key part of the nation's racial discrimination laws, saying people have "a right to be bigots".

From ABC "Just in " news published on web 24th March 2014.

Sanctions

Things that seem like good ideas at the time

There are times when supreme confidence and ego take over one's psyche.

depending on how much one has had to drink there are time when our boozer could be forgiven for thinking he can do anything, face anything at anytime. But then that's just the booze talking. In Henry Fielding's classic novel, later made into a movie,  Tom Jones, the author Fielding makes the observation

that in his view, drink does not alter the nature of a man, it just reveals it more clearly.
Regardless , there are things that should never be attempted no matter how confident and assured you are.

an uneventful day

Re-labelling?

Seen in Shanghai ...is the breed now called Bejingnese ?

Dancing in the dark

Better than being glued to the TV

Quite appealing the way they pass the time in China. Walking through a park on a hot, sticky Shanghai evening came across this group of people passing the time away with some ballroom dancing. A ghetto blaster , appropriately tuned into dance music, provided the accompaniment.

An Australian in Paris

Apologies to Gershwin

Reported in the Press last week, Paris' atmosphere has become heavily polluted .They are taking measures to counteract the problem .

Capital Protests St Patrick's day Australia

The prime Minister Tony Abbot claims he was unaware of protests at Go0verment policy In Sydney, Melbourne and other capitals. Protests were against the current asylum policy, cuts to health and education and the same sex marriage issue. 


To be sure! Sex can't be all the same. You have to experiment with different positions!

 Mr Abbot claims the only march he was aware of was the St Patrick's day parade in Sydney.

Ducking the issue

Out for a duck

Duck hunting season opens in Victoria today. Protesters or unauthorised persons are forbidden to approach within ten meters of a duck hunter in a designated hunting area or risk a hefty fine.

There are rumors that some ducks have been recruited to patrol designated areas to warn protesters.

Something a little different

Kids

Wonderful to see a child involved in something. They are totally focussed and unaware of what's going on around them. It's something we lose as we grow older. They're also so convinced that hat they behave designed is perfect and requires immediate attention.

What price elegance

Global dressing down

Once upon a time , travellers dressed up to travel. If one went down in the North Atlantic at least one did it with clean underwear and properly attired bodies so the morgue would not be shocked at the state of your personal hygiene.
Today, it's the opposite. People dress down and differently. Yet everybody looks the same , as if  hordes of little scruffy upmarket models with jeans dirtied in Bengal, T shirts sweated over in China and Pakistan and expensive runners with more component parts than an aircraft, have been emptied into airport lounges. Keeps globalisation going, we can only assume.

Identity Crisis

Passport anyone?

Recently , at great expense and inconvenience for many citizens, countries have been going to extraordinary lengths to update our passport systems. Not only have prices skyrocketed but alternative arrangements have been made sometime forcing people to travel hundreds of miles to renew their passport.

Unfortunately it's a "must have" item but a visit to the passport office and one's confrontation with the faceless and cold stratosphere of officialdom is as welcome as an al fresco café in a hurricane. What do the citizens get for their money? At the moment it seems to be a theft of their identity.

What about the GST?

Putting it out there to see..

The Productivity Commission is the Australian Government's principal review and advisory body on microeconomic policy, regulation and a range of other social and environmental issues. Its role, expressed simply, is to help governments make better policies in the long term interest of the Australian community

The Productivity commission is  monkeying around with tax talk again...although the former Treasurer head is now a private citizen, he does like to be in the limelight. Talk of the "inevitability"of GST (VAT, in the UK, TVA in Europe) increases was swiftly shot down by the government as well as the opposition...Let's see??





 .

DA..DAH!

Be afraid

The Australian Foreign Minister Julie Bishop has agreed to join in the pressure to be put on Russia.

Loonies running the asylum

Tea and ?

The ABC reported today that the Department of Immigration has been ordered no longer to use the word "sympathise" in ministerial correspondence. Cute!

Cold War

Ice cold in fact....Gather Sarah Palin's been at it again. She suggests a bomb will settle the crisis in Ukraine. Tea parties are really more her thing.

Entitlement

Buzz words....the big chiefs are using this often.

Seems we are no longer "entitled" to things. The Australian Treasurer, Joe Hockey has confirmed we no longer live in the age of entitlement thereby putting to an end the long line of entitlement believers that probably started with captain Cook.
It's over, kaputski, finito! Just like that!
Do politicians feel entitled to their allowances and perks? I wonder .
Anyway it's the new "buzz" , the new corporate speak. Sounds good, too!
Understand Gina Rinehart has started using it. (For those of you unfamiliar with the Australian hierarchy, Gina is a magnate of considerable wealth and girth. Her companies dig up a lot of stuff. Fairly (?) influential she carries a lot of weight in various boardrooms and on bathroom scales).

..and before I go

Hungry anyone?

Look at the size of this Dutch Croquette..  that's a normal size (actually slightly larger) plate!

Time out

Taking a couple of days off..relos visiting

Ukraine

On again, off again panic

For the moment everyone is gathering their breath as the Russians have said their troops are there "just in case". There might be more round the corner.

What price growth?

 

Zombies? Who needs 'em?

From Time Magazine website "List of worst Inventions" March 3

 
The Jane Austen Monster Mashup Novel It started with Pride and Prejudice and Zombies...............................

Personally, don't know why we have to watch more zombie movies..

There are so many of them out there in the cocktail circuit.

Cambodia /Australian diplomatic visit

Further to the previous post just a small addendum, an extract from CNN/Time website dated 28th February:-

"The government of strongman Prime Minister Hun Sen has endured for some three decades, engorged on rampant corruption and typified by gross human rights abuses. “For far too long, Hun Sen and his colleagues have been getting away with violence, human-rights abuses, corruption, and media and electoral manipulation without serious internal or external challenge,” former Australian foreign minister Gareth Evans wrote ."

 

 

'Nuff said.