Fit as a flea

Hope it doesn't come to this?

A caring society ?

Mediscare

A while ago while waiting my turn in a frantically busy medical centre, I watched the harried receptionist deal with incoming arrivals in  between incessant phone calls and doctors' demands for files. Each new person was greeted with a perfunctory "Which doctor?" One aged pensioner who had got up very early that day replied in like manner "No, any normal doctor will do thank you!"

Although small at this stage , the new levy for surgery visits has the potential to become a permanent feature . Very rarely do governments abolish revenue raisers. In addition to increased patient's expenses, the bulk billing rebate to GP's has also been reduced.
In the future the various states are facing appreciable funding cuts Io their medical and educational funding. This raised the issue of the states perhaps being forced to augment income , increasing residents taxes to meet the shortfall. Protests are loud and clear at this moment but from past experience, I would not be surprised to see this resistance fold like a house of cards. Political expediency is vicarious with too often the devil being very much in the detail of any agreement designed to save face,
High school education, higher education and health are all being adversely impacted in the future. The noise earlier in the year about GST (Vat or TVA) increases was not without foundation. These lobbied ideas are so sneaky they blaze a trail across the sky.
In the U.S the hue and cry over Obama care is not solely due to the inefficiency of the system but the basic principle of care for all. The Clintons had real trouble with this one. Here's hoping we never feel the same way.
Rather than an expense,  health and education are investments with little immediate return but the long term benefits are much more valuable.

Can they?

Football Fest 2104

             O.K. folks here we go again!
             World cup football or 'soccer 'as it is know here.This generates emotions which only people of steel can control effectively. Some years ago it was the Dutch who were renowned masters of the game. It was a strange era and I recall how elated, joyful and over the cheese were they whenever any continental team beat any English or Scottish side. It was football politics. Now of course the centre of football gravity has moved very firmly into the Latin camp.
             I attended many games when the boys were growing up.For years the eldest lost practically every match until the the final season when they clicked and won every game outright. Had to wait five or six years of shivering sideline presence to achieve the winners feeling.
             Even at these junior levels, emotions were close to the surface. I recall one very keen, put it that way, mother tripping up an opposing team's winger with the handle of her umbrella. She was sent packing. Another time a father waltzed onto the pitch brandishing a pistol and verbally assaulting the ref. This match was cancelled; another instance of zeal was practised by a bunch of twelve year olds  who sat the ground in rows, with headphones ,while they listened to recorded pep talks from their coach.
             We watched the last world cup in a private venue and could have sworn that the referee and commentator were absolutely and completely biased towards the other side. It was group telepathy gone hideously wrong. All us were surprised to find that in the outside world nobody else agreed.
             One of the earliest supporters of soccer in the world of the media was the SBS (Spoecial broadcasting Service) who,k over the years,  secured a comfortable niche in this market until the commercial channels woke up to the fact that maybe there was something in this game after all. The SBS is a multi lingual station , broadcasting in more that seventy languages both on radio and TV. In their early days they showed contiental wovies,, which at the time were considered 'risque' ,k definitely avant garde. Together with their love of soccer they came to be known as the "Soccer Before Sex" media station. No longer such a distiction as even the mildest of U.S. films would have our grandparents popping their false teeth in amazement.
             Australia has been placed in the "death draw" round , playing such notables as Holland, Spain and Chile. Much bravado is being displayed by the socceroos. Surprises,k however,  can and do happen in sport .It's a bit like going to bed and finding a set of badgers there..alost impossible but not beyond the realms of possibility. Let's watch and see. More long nights ahead.

Much ado about an awful lot

Not a few social commentators have remarked there is a willingness to react to adverse news or events by force. In its own way there's a resurgence of patriotism and can explain, in part , the rise in numbers of dissatisfied voters in the recent European elections. Despite the merging of national boundaries, laws and identities , cultures feel under threat. Education and travel have not changed things that much.things don't change that much. Identity is inherent in the tribal roots of human nature .
An article in one of the U.K. national Sunday papers even managed to link this loss of identity within Europe to the opening of the refurbished Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam ; a recent article in The Economist argued that many are unhappy with the EU but not sure exactly why.
Samuel Johnson once remarked that patriotism is the last refuge of the scoundrel. It clouds judgement and outcomes causing diplomats to fail at their calling. (That's a new "buzz" word..outcomes: we want outcomes. Outcomes also are no longer worrying  but concerning).
Senior Australian military officials have recently remarked that the annual Gallipoli remembrance ceremonies in Turkey are becoming a major side show, thereby losing significance , with a increasing number of those attending being  youthful hangers-on  of their grandfather's or great-grandfather's experiences.
Currently there's an increasing number of military parades and ceremonies, almost weekly it seems.
This might or might not be a "man thing". However the increasing influence of women whether or not in the workforce, politics or the legislature might be a counter balance. Dunno. Maybe. Golda Meir in Israel , a tough old cigarette smoking Amazon , Indira Ghandi in India and recently Margaret Thatcher serve to refute this as a convncing argument.  
 For the moment however I am safe. I can still open bottles or screw caps off jam jars but when I lose that ability my days are numbered.

Sydney the Rocks

The Rocks city side ( one of mine)

Southern end of the Harbour Bridge is popular with teenagers and young adults, particularly on a Saturday night when getting smashed seems to be the object of the exercise. It's quite a historic place with the old wool sheds and storage spaces now converted into restaurants, bars and other eating places. There's also a market which is open all day Sunday and most days during summer.
You only really get an idea of the size of the bridge from this angle..it's a massive piece of engineering.Standing beneath it is awesome.

I once caught a sailing boat cruise from just behind those buildings. It was interesting but slow, slow,slow. It must have been both frustrating and a pleasure to travel in days of yore; like the difference between modern airliners and the old airships. The captain was fascinating enigma. Couldn't work out if he or she was a he or she. Long hair, long purple fingernails (polished) made it hard to determine gender while the uniform and voice was a unisex camouflage

To get back to the Rocks, as the area is known, of course it is not only the place where people go to let their hair down; there are a number of expensive hotels and shops that lure disembarking passengers who interrupt their world wide cruises.
Anyway..just a piece of blog as I will not be able to devote as much time as I would like to this exercise for the next couple of days.
It's like everything else when you are at your busiest a whole lot of work , new work, drops on your desk and off you go, like a blue-arsed fly. Often wondered why blue-arsed flies are so busy. Anybody enlighten me?
Write soon..

Getting to Know You

My Lord and Master

It's come to a coup.
Another one, the latest instalment in a long battle between supporters of ousted former Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra,  after months of protest seeking to oust her government. and opponents backed by the royalist establishment. With a population of some 65 million people , the problems in Thailand are political, economic and cultural. The unrest in the country has been simmering for almost a decade if not more.
India, on the other hand, appears to be a bastion of democracy.With a population that dwarfs that of Thailand the new Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi holds sway, for the moment at least , over 1.27 billion souls.

In both countries poverty in rural areas is marked and the difference between the middle class and rural dwellers is as wide as ever if not widening.
(Radio news stations, barely fifteen years ago referred to rural residents as "peasants" .Hopefull this is no longer the case. There would have been an outcry causing George Brandis , yes, he of the call to all bigots, to blush,  had Australian farmers been referred to as peasants) !Stone the crows!

In Thailand , resentment at the corruption and protection of the inner circle of those in power has been at the root of the current  ongoing unrest  with economic and cultural inequities following closely behind, While there is violence in India it is for the moment localised and not directed at the government as such. There was however a surge of emotion and anger at the recent cases of rape and violence against lone women.

While the West seems to be struggling with the excesses of the Church , becoming even more secular and pragmatic, religion still plays and important role in the Asiatic countries where democracy lurches and gropes for success. The appeal and power of religion appears to cause immense problems for many Muslim countries but less so for Asian Muslim nations.

It appears that the current bogeyman is power and corruption, even in China where steps to prosecute bent officials have been increased. The GFC (Great Financial Con) had at its roots the excessive power and corruption of many financial institutions and individuals. In the aftermath many were spared or even assisted because of their perceived importance  It seems that the old adage that power corrupts and absolute power corrupts absolutely is very much still in vogue.

Interesting to note that recent reports have put Vladimir Putin's personal wealth at something in excess of $30 million. Perhaps Kim Jong-un,Supreme Leader, might take note although he could  be perfectly happy with his popular haircut ( he suffers from a fear of barbers) , raising unicorns or kidnapping a South Korean film director to direct a North Korean Godzilla epic. Our dear leader also took part in the direction.

Panda-ing to the U.S

Bear Hug

It's been a bit of a quiet time for China.

After the Malaysian Air disaster, focus has been on the Ukraine, Russia and Crimea. Attention is once more turning to the adolescent superpower.

There are accusations flying around re Chinese military officials hacking into U.S companies'
computer systems and the subsequent theft of sensitive material. The Australian press is also keen to tag along..advancing similar claims..a sort of keeping up with the Joneses. I'd like to add more on this trait but have been criticised for being too long winded with this blog  (not from a reader )  so I'll keep it short.

Of course there is little doubt that espionage is a tit for tat business. I don't imagine the U.S. is not as pure as the driven slush when it comes to espionage  or cyber spying.

It was of course a frightful thing to happen, the disappearance of the Malaysian Airlines Boeing with more that 200 people on board. It might well be one of those mysteries that last for years although the current salvage team are confident something will be found within the year. Here , the Chinese were also actively involved and their ships scoured the ocean for days. Unfortunately  a few seamen call Ping  fell overboard and their retrieval caused not a little confusion with news reporters Apparently a number of Pings were located and retrieved.

It's an awful and sad business for all those involved, while there has been a fair amount of skull-duggery mainly to cover up gross errors and inefficiencies by those authorities responsible. A messy affair with the pilots' reputation being torn to shreds in their absence.

To conclude while on the subject of things Chinese , here is a photo taken by my son while he was working in Shanghai.
Luv it!

OMG!

Sydney living

The Harbour City

It has its problems but Sydney is quite a city. 
Arriving here many moons ago , in winter, we saw more sunshine during the supposedly "cold"months than we had the previous summer in Europe. There were disadvantages and the adjustment to a different way of life were enormous . Rule numero uno was to reply enthusiastically to anyone who asked what we thought of Sydney  that we loved it! We once made the mistake of openly being critical of the things we found different , to which the blunt  reply was "Well, you'd better shape up or ship out!' Fairy nuff! (Translation : Fair enough; as a Uni professor once pointed out , we run words together like it was going out of fashion . Eggnisher for example is air conditioner ,which we had to use quite a bit this summer, and narsen parsee is nice and spicy when eulogising on various curry condiments available).
Accents can and do vary. Original Aussies can identify a Melbourne, Adelaide , Perth or country drawl with ease. Then, on the other hand , as one columnist wrote,  you can be "flayed with diphthongs" when visiting one of the expensive, very expensive (10% off for additional siblings ) schools. Oft, when catching a taxi from the airport to the city,  unwary travellers are subject to a stream of the vernacular that makes heads spin.

This is something very Sydney ( and perhaps the rest of Oz as far as I am aware ) in that everyone likes to know what you think of Australia. I can't for the life of me imagine anyone in Dundee, Scotland asking that question.It would be met with a bemused expression or at the worst by much rolling around accompanied by gales of laughter. Sorry Dundonians. A friend of mine remarked once ( himself a Scot not Scotch) that in his travels he had never met anyone who actually lived in Dundee. They had fled. Much has happened in Dundee since those prehistoric ages but the memory of what it was like still lingers.

To get back to Sydney,  one of the lesser known benefits is that on a Sunday,  transport passes ( Family Passes) are available that allow travel all day wherever and whenever the fancy takes you for the princely sum of $2.50 p.p. 
It allows you to see much of Sydney you would never really visit. It is mooted that those who live on the North Shore never really go South and vice versa. The western suburbs is where the rough diamonds and salt of the earth live , while the Eastern suburbs...well, let's just say they are special.

The painting ( one of mine) is a view of the City which was done in Balmain,  quite a trendy sort of place where the aspiring right people live; a bit arty farty although once rough as guts. Being a peninsular, house prices there are some of the most expensive with correspondingly vast mortgages (and parking fees). Still quite democratic though,  another good Aussie trait . You've got to give it to 'em, mate! The way that mate is used would fill a book. Perhaps more thoughts on that later.

Just Fun

An ursine "Nutcracker" 
Or  "I can see all the way to Kiev  from up here!" 

Violence in any form

Putting this up with a slight sense of hesitation.
The problems of the Church and institutions has been in the news more often than not. Certainly over the past few months things have come spewing out as witnesses or victims have come forth to give evidence to the various commissions and bodies that have been set up to deal with these practices.
One thing is patently obvious: that the vast majority of perpetrators or predators are male. It is seemingly not confined to the church but also to those areas where adults have complete control over the children e.g. boarding schools ( many of these cases of abuse are hidden and not talked about) as well as celebrities etc etc.
Abuse is not merely sexual but physical, mental or any other form of bigotry that twists the minds of those who condone and encourage such behaviour.
Ghandi once famously remarked that poverty is violence in a pure unadulterated form.
It wasn't so long ago, perhaps less than thirty years that a child's evidence was ignored as juries were instructed to  favour the denials of the accused ; it was considered that adults were more likely to tell the truth than youngsters.
What is also clear is that the gender of victims is not confined purely to the males but to both sexes; it's distressing to realise that many are and will continue to be subject to violence in one form or another,
It is fortunate that the perpetrators are in the minority. Of all the priests and adults who exist,  those who actually commit these crimes are a small percentage. Many people do good work and are not known or recognised as such.

The stuff that dreams are made of

Narendra Modi (of India) dreams of bullet trains and new cities. Can he succeed? asks the Washington Post May 16th 2014 

 

Personally, don't think so..not without some form of  harness anyway!

Summer Memories in Oz

Summer's been a little warm this year. The delights of a summer in this part of the world include beach,pool and more of the same.
For the unwary or new arrivals there are a a couple of things to look out for. Maybe three, apart from funnel web spiders , sharks , salt water crocodiles (known affectionately as salties ) , box jelly fish and snakes, that is. In the face of such adversity, it's surprising that our population is increasing .

Beach

Hot sand, hot tarmac and prickly lawns

caused by

Tarmac

 those nasty little buggers called bindis which stick uncomfortably to your bare feet. They are almost impossible to get rid of. A bit like the current government (for the foreseeable future at least).

Bindi 

There's more underway

Not to worry .I am doing this:-

or this:-

or even this

 But not to worry..more IS on the way

Credit where credit is due

The Money Blog in the UK edition of the Guardian  highlighted how, today, we are moving more and more towards a cashless society.

In summary Patrick Collinson, the author, emphasised that with cash there is tighter control between the consumption and purchasing. , accentuating the pain of paying. This is not dissimilar  to breaking into a $50 note: the next thing you know it's gone and all that is is  a few bits of heavy change and if lucky maybe a gold coin or two.  

There's a buffer between buying and the pain associated by means of the credit card or whatever plastic you use. It's a "buy now, pay later"syndrome which delays the crunch and "ouch"factor of the bill. 

The trouble with cash is ithat once in your pocket, it tends to disappear, vanish.. This I'll willingly admit ismy downfall. I rarely have cash on me for that very reason but find myself in all sorts of strife when boarding a bus, many of which are pre-pay, or buying a newspaper although with the way things are going newspapers will be up there with the best of our daily needs in terms of expense.

Cash is also a far more telling sign of a person's wealth. I can recall when first starting out barely having two pennies to rub together but once a month I would treat myself to a meal in a restaurant , one of which cost a bit more that I had anticipated. I left behind something like 20c as a tip, in change. As I walked out of the door the waiter called out from behind me "You've left your bus money behind!"

Probably the best use of credit cards is as a cash flow adjustment or when purchasing larger items and amounts where the card offers some protection in terms of returns, guarantees etc etc.

Whatever it is , cards versus cash will become less and less of a problem as we all move towards credit , bit coins (never understood those) or maybe even bartering.

Schooldays heaven or hell??

Campaign urges boarding schools to stop taking young children

After an article in last week's Observer Magazine about abuse claims, campaigners call for end to children being 'sent away' (from the UK Guardian 11/May.2014')

Could not agree more with the article. I attended boarding school from a very early age and dislike it intently. Not for me. There were however those who loved it and revelled in the immature "Boy's Own" masculine herd gatherings. I joined in, because peer pressure said I should but at the back of my mind always was the thought that the pack leaders were "suss". All I can conclude is that it is not for everyone and if parent's can afford the shekels to shell out good luck to them, It all probably boils down to the individual. 

Extreme Weather

Severe depression Joe

Last mention, promise, of the budget.
There's a severe storm brewing over ACT...the map below shows the system and its intended path for the coming months, Good luck,all. Bit feeble but there's a ring of truth about it.

Search for eternal youth

There have been reports in the Press recently regarding experiments on mice. Apparently if older mice are injected with the blood of young mice, the effects are interesting The older mice are more energetic and  seem mentally to be more alert.
This observation has led some people to believe that the elixir of youth eventually will be discovered. Of course it is hard to tell whether an old mice will change in appearance.
Older people obviously would be the ones who demand this product but the side effects are unknown,
Grandma and Grandpa could find themselves flush with a sudden surge of libido. Imagine if you will Nan and Cramps having a bit of confit dámour in the bedroom ( maybe on the kitchen table between the ketchup and HP sauce) when they would a break and nibble on a piece of hardened cheddar. On the plus side this would not be a problem as their teeth would be growing,  albeit only two; further trouble might have them  composing themselves, breathless and struggling with  entangled tails .
Boggle.

P.S. Unclear why Dracula wears a dinner suit..perhaps some oblique reference to the blood-thirsty upper class in days of yore?

Half empty?Half full? Neither,,always full full!

Optimism

One of the things that visitors to Oz often notice is the pervading sense of optimism,No half measures. In Europe it's not hard to find gloomy expressions and worried frowns.Must be the weather. No such problems here..Sunny,sunny, sunny!

Heavyweights

News Update

Paying for Pain

Sans commentaire

Scottish Referendum

You may or may not be aware, in September (the 18th to be precise) Scotland will vote to either remain a part of the United Kingdom or secede and become ostensibly an independent entity.
This idea has been around for a long tme but it is one of the peculiarities of this age that the more educated we become the more aware we are of who we are, My father who passed away a number of years ago was a keen proponent of this idea arguing that Scotland had the resources and ability to hold its own, The venerable HSBC was affectionately referred to , in years gone by, as the Home for Scottish Bank Clerks,The Bank of England was founded by a Scotsman ( and the Bank of Scotland by and Englishman),
It's hard to say at this stage who will win; either the home rule guard or those who would like to keep the status quo. For my part I am ambivalent as I have not lived there for oinks.

Moody s however has forecast that should Scotland leave the United Kingdom their credit rating would be downgraded to "A " e.g.on a level with Botswana, Needless to say both sides are keen at this stage to remain within the EU. With their canny sense of economics I doubt if the Scots would be too worried by Moody's forecast.