I like Minns. And it’s not just because he’s a good sort. So sue me. We’ll see whether he shuts…
Open Thread – Wed 1 Nov 2023
- Guest Post: Wally Dali- Archibald Prize predictions
- TULIP versus ruinous Labor
- Open Thread – Weekend 18 May 2024
- Bumtree #15
- Bumtree #14
Mmmm. Food for thought.
No frost, but it was cold enough. Lit up the fire to run all day.
Gillard certainly loved a slush fund. Next best thing to buried cash in the backyard. Nothing much changes.
THIS WEEK IN CULTURE #193 (rumble.com) An early clip shows that grotesque thing and member of the squad, pressley, the…
Have loony Syrian and Iranian proxy Hezbollah made their “big announcement” they promised?
They were promising one on Friday 3rd – maybe 3 PM their time so what, it should come through at 11 PM tonight if they haven’t pushed their timetable ahead?
Re the Muslim 20% of the population in Israel:
Yes, I noted lots of muzzies in Israel way back in the 1980s when I was there. I was travelling on my own (I wanted to go to Holy Land for Christmas – family didn’t) , so I had impudent young male muzzies inquire “where is your husband?” & ply me with dirty postcards when I was solemnly walking the Via Dolorosa in contemplation.
Young muzzies also threatened to stone a young Australian couple who were holding hands on Temple Mount.
Historic condemnation of the world’s largest democracy: India is no longer just “sitting on the fence”?
Marks & Sparks didn’t mean to offend the hamarse adjacent
in their stunning and brave
Fuq Your Christmas Traditions Christmas Ad.
https://www.nytimes.com/2023/11/02/world/middleeast/hezbollah-hassan-nasrallah-israel-hamas.html
Interesting to see what this lunatic does.
Pope Francis confirms he will attend UN’s COP28 ‘climate change’ conference in Dubai
woke is not anti-colonization. woke IS colonization
the first rule of woke club is: “you’re pretty much everything you claim to hate”
The Times of Israel photos of the armoured D9’s are extraordinary.
Gypsie caravan is an inadequate description of these monsters that look like your grandkids leggo constructions. In a couple of photos you can just see the operator looking insignificant in the enormous deck house. Lonely work.
But they are doing God’s work.
They would be excellent urban renewal tools in certain parts of Sydney.
I see those two yobbos of ME appearance who disrupted the Bondi commemoration of the kidnapped have been located and fined by police.
Which was quick. Already known to them perhaps?
Yep.
I suppose he’ll “offset” the flight’s carbon emissions with dodgy credits from Verra.
Popcorn time (Paywallian):
Any Cats attending?
Great news General Dot, put down the gin for a moment.
Yesterday, 5 X F-16’s, (disassembled), were moved from Poland to Ukraine.
This is the great game changer that the puppet clown and yourself have been waiting for.
Forget the M777’s, Switchblade drones, Leopard II’s, Challenger II’s, Abrahms, Atacms, and of course the depleted Uranium shells sent by the UK, this time they have got the real deal.
Moscow by Xmas, right Dot?
There is one confusing point however, provided they are not destroyed on the ground, who will fly them?
The Ukraine pilots, last I heard, were still learning English.
So, ……, I’m guessing, once they are put together and the swastikas are painted on, it will be “volunteers” from, ……., Poland or Romania.
‘elensky better get cracking on his victory speech.
Pope Francis.
I wouldn’t piss on him if he was on fire. I’ll find the link again, maybe? … he defended pedo’s
Censorship is full bore atm
Russia is using North Korean armaments (the idea that the Russian economy is not struggling is fanciful; cheap fuel only gets you so far), is in a static war with a country with 1/4 of its population and has no functioning blue water navy.
I never made promises for Ukraine “winning by Christmas” and the longer it goes on the more Putin’s reputation is damaged.
The idea that F-16s and modern western MBTs aren’t going to make a difference is delusional. Russia are employing more Wagner cannon fodder again. You think this is more credible than F-16s that won’t be delivered until perhaps April next year?
Russia has to press this lack of progress hard now as a PR issue because the new platforms will make a difference.
Russian air defence is being systematically destroyed. North Korea cannot resupply this.
The really funny bit is trying to make out the Abrams tanks are garbage.
What’s the kill ratio for Abrams again Vasily?
Dot
Nov 3, 2023 9:21 AM
BS!
MSM knob gobbler.
For those who know who he is Dr Mark Hobart has a big day in court today.
“Fake” vaccine exemptions, eh?
When are they going to charge the makers of the fake vaccines?
Oh, yes….they have immunity.
Salvatore, Iron Publican
Yes – just because we don’t put it into fancy language, doesn’t mean we’re wrong – and it certainly doesn’t mean the Upper Classes are getting it right.
I highly doubt that.
If you can’t find it, you ought to apologise.
A ‘review’ of the ARC (Alliance for Responsible Citizenship) conference, with reservations.
What is considerd lower class?
Dot
Nov 3, 2023 9:49 AM
More BS from you. STFU!
Pope Francis Declares ‘Pedophiles Have a Special Place in Heaven
Dot:
It’s pretty funny you bring up the gay stuff again. You’re the idiot who said something like “I’m not gay but if I was I’d root you, but I’m not”.
WHAT?????
That must have been a two bottle day for you Dot, that definitely wasn’t me.
Ref Gaza:
Even those pulling the strings for Biden, are now saying perhaps the US should allow humanitarian aid into the place.
Not for any caring purpose mind you, but simply because they will take a bath politically in several key states at the next election.
I will repeat what I said about Israel:
“Entering Gaza is not in the best interest of Israel.” It antagonises their enemies.
Erdogan, (with the 2nd largest Army in NATO), has made several stringent statements recently.
These are specifically about the IDF moving into Gaza.
Egypt has approx 300,000 troops at the southern border of Israel.
Syria and Turkey have had strained relations for a decade at least, but they have been galvanised by the IDF incursion.
The longer this incursion goes on, the worse the result is for Israel. Whether you like the propaganda that emirates throughout the muslim world or not, is irrelevant, because it is what they think that determines what occurs.
The wider the conflict spreads, the worse it is for Israel.
If Turkey enters the fray, would the US, (the largest Army in NATO), attack them?
I think they probably would.
Would the IDF then reinforce the northern border? Where do those troops come from? The US has only 2,000 SF in the area.
What if Egypt then acted?
My point here is clearly speculative, but it is merely to show how things could very quickly get out of hand for Israel and I haven’t even touched on resupply for the IDF, losses or Iran.
Calmer heads than Netanyahu need to be in control, for Israel’s sake.
Here’s what the Pope actually said.
https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/europe/pope-paedophile-priests-children-god-vatican-b2336786.html
Like having a murderer confess and serve 20 – life. You are helping them.
Sickening.
Muddy
I can only assume they are either shit scared of the Jewish response, or like the Russians at the start of WW2, they’re waiting for the Polish eastern front to be stripped of forces to fight on the western front.
If they’re smart (Ha Ha!) they’ll stay well clear of the Jewish lines.
“Things could very quickly get out of hand for Israel”.
They did on 7/10/23.
Time to go Michael Corleone on any Islamic arsehole country that looks sideways.
Or just wait for Flood pt 2.
Good question.
James Woods
@RealJamesWoods
Why in God’s name is this federal government literally assisting the overt violation of federal immigration law?
Bag lady news.
Fate of Australian women and children in Syrian refugee camps decided in Federal Court (3 Nov)
Not sure yet if that means they have to remain in Syria. I hope so. Maybe they should try Mr Biden, he seems keen on their coreligionists. It’d be a long way to walk from Mexico City to Texas in a black burqa though.
House approves GOP’s $14.3 billion Israel aid package
and
House GOP passes Israel aid bill offset by IRS funding cuts
This would be very good news, especially with the IRS offset, but it’s not going anywhere with Biden already stating that he will veto it.
They have two landing vessels (three at a stretch) that could & land c. 400 troops each.
In the unlikely event that they made it to Gaza, that is.
Erdogan’s “stringent statements” are for domestic purposes only.
This is great!
Clay Travis has offered a million dollars to have a boys high school team play against the WNBA team and prove that men shouldn’t be competing in women’s sport.
Bare feet are racist.
The Project’s Waleed slams ‘white Australian’ habit (3 Nov)
Grossed out by bare feet? That sounds kinky.
“We’ve got both kinds.”
Squaleeeeeeed is such a bullshit artist. He married a white women, a very white woman.
The Groogs is strong with this one.
Yep. Sticks out like a chemtrail in a clear blue sky.
Calls terrorism a minor irritant.
Complains about white people not wearing shoes in shops.
You left out the best bit…
True it was the other bloke who started posting recently, has similar sentiments about Israel, went through basic training at roughly the same time and also brings up gay stuff for no reason at all.
Hmmmm……..(could be Grigory playing games too).
This is a lie. They have liquidated much of the Hamas command as well as the terrorist paramilitary. Why do you want to stop Israel from doing this? Why do you want to push these views here?
You are saying Turkey will travel through Syria and Lebanon to fight Israel over Gaza.
This is high-level moonbattery.
That’s not true. Hamas may be ended as an entity.
You’re an anti-western loon (kayfabe or not) whose sole purpose here is to demoralise us.
Yet you have a Napoleon complex and mock anyone who disagrees with you as “General”.
Your judgment of people is as bad as your shilling of third-world armies.
“Calmer heads!” – such a weaselly term. You can’t nominate anyone else and you are being insincere.
My comments about the Australia One party still stand if this is just Grigorian sockpuppetry (sickpuppetry) and some other congeners are just bitter clingers from the Freedom Furniture Forum.
I’d say the “banter” is scripted.
I love green propaganda.
2023 Toyota Corolla Hybrid new car review (3 Nov)
So you can save $205 per year buying a hybrid Corolla? Which costs $12,000 more than the basic ICE Corolla? Let’s see 12,000 on 205…why it would only take 58½ years to break even! By which time you replaced the battery seven times.
Not sure exactly whether that $205 is a saving or just the servicing cost. Maybe the latter. On the other hand for a basic Corolla 6.5L/100km would be about right, and to catch the $12 grand difference at $2/L you’d have to drive 240,000 km. Whereupon the battery would be certainly on its last legs.
It would be funny if Grigory was posting as a former 20+ year career ADF officer with an AASM.
Stolen valour and all that.
oodles Romanoff
Nov 2, 2023 9:05 PM
We seem to be marching headlong over the economic cliff with full brass band and uniformed girls twirling sticks.
Most agricultural industries have hit a brick wall. Lamb prices are back 30% year on year. Beef 45%. Wool has crashed to the point where unless you are running merinos the return doesn’t cover the cost of shearing.
My council rates increased 9% this year. Insurance 16%. Fertiliser/fuel/chemical/electricity/fencing material cost rise averages have been well above cpi over a rolling 3 year period.
And of course interest rates have been driven up to supposedly battle a rampant inflation rate driven, not by demand, by an ideological pursuit to decarbonise our economy.
Anecdotally I’ve heard over the last 2 weeks that;
-vineyards are bleeding money and laying off workers;
-rural merchandise store trading has come to an almost standstill,
-real estate agencies being inundated with beach house owners looking to off load,
oodles,
beach house owners offloading would probably be Land Tax – my NSW Land Tax $21,000 this year – Federal Govt losing a lot of Income Tax
Calls terrorism a minor irritant.
Complains about white people not wearing shoes in shops.
… says the Egyptian-Australian muslim race hustler, who has devoted his media career (on a TV channel no-one watches) to stirring up social division.
No-one else (except the ABC) would ever give him a job as he’s a recipe for poor ratings.
Way beyond sickening.
The Greens are making an undisguised play for the Western Sydney vote. While holding a tatty figleaf over their undergraduate nasty bits:
Waddawewant?
Wendawewannit? By the next election…
Sure sweetheart. And then die in their rat run 24 hours later, when the IDF pumps in a fuel/air mixture…
OldOzzie
If they ban Air B&B a lot of these expensive places on large mortgages are boned. George Gammon did a doomer video on the same issue in America.
Incidentally, a friend of a friend of mine has before 45 managed to buy a house in Avalon on a mortgage; doesn’t work and can support himself and pay the mortgage from the Air B&B revenue.
Now Mainstream In Australia – Perhaps Now Australian People will learn about their Muslim Arabs Australians and what they and the Australian Labor Party, Greens, Some TEALS including Pediatrician Monique Ryan etc support
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-12703453/Hamas-killers-roasted-babies-oven.html#comments
Hamas killers ‘roasted babies in an oven’ during October 7 terror attack, Israeli first responder claims
. Asher Moskowitz posted a video detailing what he saw after the Hamas attack
. He says he helped carry bodies into a facility where victims were identified
496 Comments and not many (none seen so far) supporting Hamas & Palestinian Muslim Arabs
The Grumman Hellcat had a sensational kill ratio in the PTO.
That doesn’t mean it would’ve done just as well in the ETO.
If you can’t understand the difference between superbly trained crews
engaged in manoeuvre warfare with complete air superiority
in the Sandbox, where they could go seal clubbing at 3000m
versus the knife fight the Ukies find themselves in, you can’t be helped.
Greens Adam Bandt now openly supporting the complete eradication of Israel.
Friday, 03 November 2023
The graphic is clear.
‘From The River, To The Sea’.
The obliteration of Israel – replaced by an Islamist, Arab ‘free’ Palestine.
Teh Project doesn’t have a great record for people looking to launch themselves as public pundits. Ask Prof van Wrongselen (or his lawyers).
The Ten Network is a tax dodge for the US CBS network (via a subsidiary), which explains why it rates even more poorly than the ABC.
In other words, the Ten Network is designed to lose money for tax purposes.
Sorta snap, Humphrey.
Well done wali applying your razor sharp phd level intellect to the big issues.
Very very few people walk around with bare feet.
You might see a few more beachside.
If he wants to go hard on hygiene maybe he should start discussing using rocks instead of toilet paper.
White people mop and vacuum, and they put their babies in nappies.
Bespoke
I’ve no idea. I think it’s a self selecting system like aboriginality. No proof required, just what one believes.
Squaleeeeeeed is such a bullshit artist. He married a white women, a very white woman.
Yes he is and she appears to be one of those vacuous types that just love the exotic, playing dress-ups and raising her finger to her parents. Classic 40-year-old going on 14.
Has there been any info on the claimed “heavy casualties” the US and Israeli SF unit took while on a recon mission the othe other week.
Claim made by Col Doug McGregor (whose views I am lukewarm to).
I thought the news would be well and truly out by now.
I’ve been saying for a long time it was a stalemate and there should be a peace agreement with disputed territories having legitimate plebiscites. Getting enough competent peacekeepers from genuinely neutral countries would be hard.
What are you left with? Ireland? Japan? The Swiss?
That’s another reason why the war coming to an end might be difficult. Forget rejection of peacekeepers out of national pride anyway, where would they come from?
No one knows how long the war might go on for. It could end today or drag on for a long time. Who expected the Yugoslavian wars to last so long? To be honest, I thought Russia would roll Ukraine within 8 weeks.
I object to the idea that (objectively vulnerable) superior firepower not making a difference at all, versus the Russian idea of throwing Wagner back in as cannon fodder.
Sam’s fried.
Anyone not Greens, Liars Left, indig or muesli?
NOOOO!
It’s fake news, they’re gonna let him out because he’s funding the corrupt Ukraine war in an effort to thwart Russian democracy!
I don’t hate Jews, I just ask questions and blame them for everything bad.
Wonder if Squalid Wally makes his missus wear sandles to bed. Can’t have barefeet, makes muzzies go boom.
Ireland has once again shamed itself over Israel
On Middle Eastern Affairs, Ireland has long been the EU’s weakest link
ROSS CLARK
The most charitable interpretation you can put on the demand by Irish foreign minister Micheál Martin for a ceasefire in Gaza is that he sees Ireland as a kind of global Mother Theresa, with the power and influence to acts as a neutral intermediary and bring peace between the world’s sworn enemies.
I hate to break it to him, but Ireland’s attempt to drag the EU into demanding a ceasefire is not going to bring peace. All it is going to achieve is to make Ireland look ridiculous.
Soon after Martin made his latest plea, Hamas official Ghazi Hamad made his own intervention. Terror attacks like that of 7th October – i.e. the shameless murders of civilians – will continue until Israel has been annihilated, he said.
Of course, there are many civilians who have lost their lives in Gaza as a result of Israel’s air strikes and ground invasion, and that is a tragedy. Israel must do everything it can to minimise civilian casualties – not easy given that Hamas has embedded itself in residential areas.
But you can’t treat Israel and Hamas as if they were military powers whose rivalry has got a little out of hand and which might be brought to their senses as a result of an appeal from western statesmen.
One is a democratic country, the other a terrorist group led by fanatics who are not going to engage in reasoned negotiation.
Were Israel to put down its weapons at this stage, all it would achieve is to allow Hamas to regroup – and stage another surprise atrocity, as they have pledged.
You would think that Ireland’s foreign minister, of all people, would know that if you want to negotiate with a terrorist group it is first going to have to recognise that its enemies are not going to agree to be annihilated.
The Good Friday Agreement only happened after the IRA accepted that Northern Ireland was part of the United Kingdom and that this will only change as part of a democratic process.
It was pretty unpalatable to see the likes of Gerry Adams and Martin McGuiness given the red carpet treatment, but by 1998 they had adopted a very, very different position compared with that of Hamas now.
It isn’t just Micheal Martin, though. Long before Hamas, Irish governments were cosying up to Yasser Arafat and the PLO.
To mark the 50th anniversary of Six Days’ War the Palestinian flag was flown from Dublin City Hall.
On Middle Eastern Affairs, Ireland has long been the EU’s weakest link, trying to persuade it to adopt an unashamedly pro-Palestinian position.
Immediately after last month’s terror attacks Ireland was one of three countries – along with Denmark and Luxembourg – reported to have attempted to water down the EU’s condemnation.
The Irish foreign ministry denied it had objected to the EU calling Hamas a terrorist group, but stopped tellingly short of using that terminology itself – saying only that all member states were signed up to the EU’s statement.
Sorry, Ireland, but if you want to pose as the world’s lofty-thinking peacemaker, Norway has grabbed that slot for itself.
The current Norwegian government, too, seemed to have a bit of a problem with calling Hamas a terror group, and had to be dragged into it by the opposition.
But at least Norway has a longer and more convincing history as a global peace-broker.
Why the need for investigations if you’ve already decided they are war crimes?
https://www.skynews.com.au/australia-news/the-wiggles-hit-out-at-city-of-bunbury-for-playing-hot-potato-to-deter-homeless-people-from-public-stage/news-story/05eeb055c61a4103c013d3dcacb61fa8
Apparently also had the effect of waking up Jeff.
maybe someone with more knowledge of the history of Israel can correct me here, but I understood the green line‘ agreed to after the 1948 Arab/Israeli conflict was only an demarcation line, and (per wiki.)
The homeless in Perf are a huge problem.
They’re violent, abusive dicks.
Muslims don’t wear shoes/sandals inside the house; they regard it as unclean.
That’s the sub-text behind his rant – white Australians go barefoot at the shops but wear shoes inside the house, i.e. they are unclean.
Having to ask the question isn’t a good start.
..
Feet washing before prayers.
It has a religious element to it, this foot thing.
Relax. Baz is on it.
Barefoot in the Park is a horror movie for Squalid.
There’s a few keen barefoot and thong wearers in the bush but they usually run short of a toe or two.
Anybody seriously believe the Israelis want to go back to the days when Israel was less then ten miles wide at it’s narrowest point, and the Jordanian artillery used to shell the oil refineries at Haifa?
I got pulled up for being bare foot and wearing Okanuis in a Monetary Economics lecture. You can read too much into these things.
Dot you sound like mutley and his TDS, on a daily basis about the wonderful Ukes. The puppet state of the demonrats, the war machine, the backhanders to Sniffy Joe. Any day now. You’ve really been taken in by Western media. All that hitech gear that the ukes can’t use. The crappy junk that the ruskies use should have been overrun by now. I hope that nato doesn’t want its gear back coz you can guarantee its been sold to African despots or the chinese to steal the technology. I don’t have much of a clue whats happening but if you read its wonderful you know its not.
The real Covid scandal is emerging right in front of the inquiry’s nose
Britain could have escaped the horrors of lockdown, but nobody pulled apart the doom models driving it
FRASER NELSON
The Covid Inquiry might be too obsessed with trivialities to get to the truth behind lockdowns, but it’s starting to creep out anyway. Lady Hallett’s inquisitors have so far focused on the rude words they have been able to dig out of people’s private WhatsApp messages, showing little interest in the written evidence submitted. But it’s quite a treasure trove. It’s starting to become clear that there was a moment where Britain could have avoided lockdown – and, crucially, how panic set in.
Let’s go back to when much of the world had copied the Wuhan lockdown, with two major exceptions: Britain and Sweden. In both countries, public health officials were reluctant to implement a lockdown theory that had no basis in science. Ditto the case for mandatory masks. The public had responded: mobile-phone data showed millions were already staying home. Could you really put an entire nation under house arrest, then mandate masks, if you had no evidence that either policy would work?
Sweden held firm, but Britain buckled. It was all decided in 10 fateful days where, thanks to inquiries in both countries, we know a lot more about what happened.
The written evidence submitted by Dominic Cummings is one of the richest, most considered and illuminating documents in the whole Covid mystery. He was, in effect, the head of staff to a prime minister he viewed with despair, even contempt. He has since admitted that he was discussing the possibility of deposing his boss within “days” of his 2019 general election victory. So he was prone to taking matters into his own hands, trying to circumvent what he regarded as a dysfunctional system and an incompetent PM.
His frustration, at first, was directed at the public-health officials who resisted lockdown. Sage advisers were, at the time, unanimously against it. Even Prof Neil Ferguson fretted that lockdown might be “worse than the disease”. Was this the cool, firm voice of science – or the blinkered inertia of sleepy Whitehall? Cummings suspected the latter and commissioned his own analysis from outsiders, whose models painted a far more alarming picture. He knew these voices would be dismissed as “tech bros”. But, he says, “I was inclined to take the ‘tech bros’ and some scientists dissenting from the public-health consensus more seriously.”
There was no Sage modelling until quite late on but, soon, models and disaster-graphs were everywhere. Cummings’s evidence includes photos taken in No?10 of hand-drawn charts with annotations like “100,000+ people dying in corridors”. He says he told Boris Johnson that failure to lock down would end in a “zombie apocalypse movie with unburied bodies”. The PM asked him, if this was all true, “why aren’t Hancock, Whitty, Vallance telling me this?”
It’s a very good question. Cummings told him the health team “haven’t listened and absorbed what the models really mean”. Soon, Neil Ferguson’s doom models were published – and making headway across the world. Britain’s scientists fell in behind the modellers.
It was a different story in Sweden where Johan Giesecke, a former state epidemiologist, had returned to the Public Health Agency and was reading Ferguson’s models in disbelief. Remember mad cow disease, when 4 million English livestock had been slaughtered to prevent the disease spreading? “They thought 50,000 people would die,” he told his staff. “How many did? 177.” He recalled Ferguson saying 200 million might die from bird flu when just 455 did. Modellers, he argued, had been calamitously wrong in the past. Should society really be closed now on their say so?
On March 18, Cummings had asked Demis Hassabis, an AI guru, to attend Sage. His verdict? “Shut everything down ASAP.” On the same day, Giesecke’s team in Stockholm was pulling apart Ferguson’s models, finding flaw after flaw.
When some Swedish academics started to call for lockdown based on Ferguson’s work, Giesecke agreed to go on Swedish television to debate them.
As did Anders Tegnell, his protégé. They gave interviews non-stop, in the street and on train platforms, making the case for staying open. They showed it was possible to win the argument.
No one was picking apart the models in Britain.
No one could: there was shockingly little transparency. Even Cabinet ministers were kept in the dark.
One internal report said Covid patients would need up to 600,000 hospital beds; the actual number peaked at 34,000.
The PM was told that 90,000 ventilators were needed: in the event, it peaked at 3,700.
The extra ventilators ordered in this panic (at a cost of £569 million) ended up in an MoD warehouse in Donnington.
The virus, we now know, was falling before lockdown: as Sweden suspected, the public’s behavioural change was enough.
The wasted money was nothing compared to children needlessly denied education, the 8 million NHS appointments that never took place or, as we learnt this week, the mental-health impact of lockdowns.
Only later did we find out that the virus had been forced into reverse before we locked down, due to people behaving sensibly and staying home: something the “tech bros” and modellers failed to properly factor in.
The panic was on a false premise. Lockdown was a social and economic wrecking ball that never needed to swing.
We know, now, just how close Britain came to avoiding this. But we’d have needed a government machine better able to see through dodgy models.
Given the huge public pressure to lock down, it would have taken a persuasive and respected figure to make the case against.
Simon Case, the Civil Service chief, made a good point in one of the leaked emails: leadership could only have come from the PM.
He was changing his mind daily.
So in this battle between science and panic, science never really stood a chance.
Britain’s Covid Inquiry has years to run: Sweden’s was over some time ago.
It unearthed an email that Giesecke sent Tegnell, just after Denmark and Norway locked down and pressure on Sweden was at its peak.
It was a quote from a Swedish diplomat in 1648: “An nescis, mi fili, quantilla prudentia mundas regatur”. Underneath, he included a translation:
“Don’t you know, my son, with how little wisdom the world is governed?”
It could be the closing motto to this whole tragic affair.
I did no that Roger, I was being facetious.
You can see why Albo was keen to have the States exempted from any Covid inquiry. Sir Humphrey would approve.
The one saying Cassie had a job to do here bringing her knowledge to a wider audience, perhaps moving beyond the Cat to do that. Someone else has suggested an Op Ed for the Oz for her. I think she could write for them a great Letter from Sydney detailing what it is like to be Jewish in a ‘gas the Jews’ town.
Farmer Gez
Nov 3, 2023 11:14 AM
Barefoot in the Park is a horror movie for Squalid.
There’s a few keen barefoot and thong wearers in the bush but they usually run short of a toe or two.
Farmer Gez
goatshead bindeyes had a tendency when stood upon in barefeet in the bush, to make you wear shoes
I’m due out for lunch. Just dropped in but haven’t yet caught up with this morning’s Cat.
The West need to rethink how they view war. IDF being advised by Western Govmints to show restraint, abide by the rules or war, give daily updates on progress and be available to respond to criticism. Meanwhile the dark side see no need to engage in such nonsense. Reminds me of previous conflicts : Vietnam, Afghanistan, now this. We learn nothing as we try to appease left wing meja.
War is an awful business. Unfortunately a lot of people have to die in order for one side, hopefully the other side , give up or dissappear. Hamas continue to use human shields. The western powers are unwilling to call it as a war crime.
IDF should just keep going and if they feel the need to light a candle and move civilisation forward again. The meja and Western Govmints can please themselves.
Salon
@Salon
MAGA and Christian nationalism: Bigger threat to America than Hamas could ever be
https://x.com/Salon/status/1720108596585713705?s=20
https://www.salon.com/2023/11/02/maga-and-christian-nationalism-bigger-to-america-than-hamas-could-ever-be/
I am without speech.
Now that the political left (Slime, Liars, commos, etc) have openly come out as anti-semitic fascists, is it time for them to admit that the Nazis were really leftards?
OK….but it provided an opportunity to point out where Waly was coming from, just in case anyone missed it: Muslim chauvinism.
From last night’s comment…..
That a people has such a thing as a Burial Society (I missed the Hebrew word), and the service that society provides, especially in this situation, speaks volumes for the humanity and civilisation of that people. Ancient traditions of decency and compassion should still have their place in humanity. Our modern western world has lost so much, I think.
It’s called the Chevra Kadisha, which means “burial society friends”. In every city, in every town, in every shtiebel, in every shtetl where there are Jewish communities, large or small, you will find a Chevra Kadisha. In fact, even before a synagogue is erected, Jews are commanded to build a Chevra and a mikvah (a purification bath).
The Chevra is made up of men and women (almost always religious) who prepare and clean the bodies of dead Jews according to Jewish tradition, and they also protect those bodies from further desecration (deliberate or not) until the bodies can be interred. No body after death is ever left alone. Before burial the body will be cleaned, dressed for burial (in Israel it is a shroud), and minded until the body is interred in earth.
In Israel there are special religious organisations who go to tend the bodies after accidents and terrorist attacks, and those bodies can be in whole or in fragments. Each body part is treated with the utmost respect and care, and each body part will be identified (as much as possible) and buried (Judaism does not allow for cremation). After enduring decades of terrorism, particularly in the early 2000s when there were weekly bombings, these people are experts but it’s a gruesome business. However these religious people regard it as a mitzvah (commandment) and I take my hat off to them. I can only imagine the horror they came across in southern Israel. They would have arrived shortly after the army…..so as to tend the dead and injured as quickly as possible. In Judaism we bury the dead as soon as possible. There are quite a few reasons for this, but the primary religious reason is that only when the body is interred in soil will the soul be set free to return to Hashem (God). One the burial happens, you start the mourning process. It is called sitting shiva. Shiva is when families, friends and community come together to pray (say Kaddish) and to pay their respects to the deceased person.
This was why I was glad that the body of Shani Louk has been found (even if only a small part of her once beautiful body). Because now she is being treated with the respect denied to her by those Nazis from Gaza. I hope she’s been buried or will be buried soon, and her soul will be free to return to God.
Arab leaders don’t care about the Palestinians
The support offered by governments in the Middle East does not extend to taking in any refugees
IVOR ROBERTS
President Biden claimed credit this week for talking to Egyptian President Sisi “to convince him to open the door” – a door that has remained resolutely shut since the Israel-Hamas conflict began nearly four weeks ago.
Egypt’s miserly approach to admitting refugees from Gaza is disappointing but not surprising.
The Arab world’s response to the Palestinian drama has down the decades been long on rhetoric but short on meaningful and constructive action, such as offering to take in Palestinian refugees in significant numbers.
For many Arab countries, the Palestinian question has frequently threatened to become a domestic problem, which they are disinclined to import.
And there is a disconnect between public opinion in many countries in the Middle East, seen in the demonstrations in support of the Palestinians, and the key Arab governments.
Jordan had a civil war, also known as Black September, in 1970 after Israel’s victory in the 1967 Six-Day War led to 300,000 Palestinian refugees fleeing there.
As the Palestinian militants, the Palestine Liberation Organisation (PLO), established themselves in Jordan, they came increasingly into conflict with King Hussein’s Hashemite monarchy, who they sought to overthrow.
After a bitter internecine conflict, the PLO finally surrendered in July 1971 and was allowed to relocate to Lebanon.
This didn’t end well, either. Lebanon had been home to tens of thousands of refugees since the creation of the state of Israel.
The PLO’s arrival vastly increased the numbers, destabilising the already delicate institutional balance between the various confessional groups there.
The PLO, not surprisingly, became involved in the long-running Lebanese civil war until the organisation was in turn expelled by an Israeli invasion in 1982 and it relocated to Tunis.
In 1994, the Palestinian leadership returned to Gaza and the West Bank before splitting in 2006, with Hamas ruling in Gaza and the UN-recognised Palestinian Authority governing the West Bank.
Egypt under Abdel Fattah al-Sisi is no friend of Hamas.
The group is an off-shoot of the Islamist organisation the Muslim Brotherhood, whose leader, Mohamed Morsi, was briefly Egyptian president in 2012 until he was overthrown by Sisi the following year.
(The Brotherhood has now been declared an illegal terrorist organisation not only in Egypt but also in Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates.)
While Sisi talks the talk about not wanting to indulge wishes to remove Palestinians to Sinai, he has in truth more than enough to worry about domestically as it is.
The Egyptian economy is teetering on the brink of bankruptcy and the consequent social unrest poses enough security concerns for the Egyptian leader without an influx of Palestinian refugees.
Saudi Arabia has the space and the money to accommodate many thousands of refugees if it wished, but Mohammed Bin Salman has his own development plan, Saudi Vision 2030, to diversify economically, socially and culturally.
A massive refugee influx doesn’t feature.
One country that has stepped up to the plate is the UAE, which was also among the first countries in the region to open diplomatic ties with Israel under the US-brokered Abraham Accords in 2020.
It has just announced that it will treat 1,000 children from Gaza. While a welcome step, it is a drop in the ocean.
As for the Arab League, it has received a request from Saudi Arabia and the Palestinian Authority for an emergency summit to be held on November 11.
Yet few will be holding their breath in the hope of a major humanitarian gesture, such as taking in, even temporarily, a large number of Palestinian refugees, not just 1,000 children from Gaza.
There will certainly be strident declarations of support for Gaza.
But the reality is that the rhetoric would appear to conceal a sense of guilt.
Arab countries’ solidarity with the Palestinians has never been channelled into finding any kind of constructive solution to what has been an intractable and, to their governments if not their people, a profoundly unwelcome problem.
As for the two-state solution agreed by Israel and the PLO in 1993 – rehashing a UN-approved partition plan of 1947 rejected by the Arab states – its time will come again.
But, sadly, not before a good deal more blood has been shed.
Sir Ivor Roberts is a former British ambassador
Anybody else give a rodent’s ringgear? No, me neither.
“Are we the baddies?”
..
It must have been an interesting time in the Kremlin when they were planning the “information” part of this war.
“Sergei, how do we overcome all this “Russia, Russia, Russia! hysteria on the American left? After four years of anti- the Donald Trump media and extreme Russiagate experience, I do not think the Democrat will be receptive to our messaging. And the Republicans are always patriotic and supporting the military. We have no hope of reaching them. Who can we appeal to over there”?
“Actually, Tatiana, I think we may be able to sway a segment of the American right to our thinking, I have been doing some preliminary work on this very topic”.
“Really Sergei? Tell me more. I am intrigued with your surprisingly novel ideas”.
“You see, they have the culture wars and the transvestitism, and we may make some progress precisely on this front with those they call the “red pilled”.
“Red pilled? What is this”?
In 1991 Kuwait expelled 300 000 Palestinians after being liberated from Iraqi occupation.
The PLO had backed Iraq & the Palestinians were regarded as disloyal personae non grata.
Go Bronwyn! Albo the Trot.
2 Nov 2023
Former Speaker of the House Bronwyn Bishop says there is “nothing you can believe” that Prime Minister Anthony Albanese says.
Ms Bishop criticises the PM for his inadequate response to the sharp rise of anti-Semitism in Australia.
“He speaks out of the side of his mouth … there is not truth there,” Ms Bishop told Sky News host Sharri Markson.
“Somebody writes quite good speeches for him sometimes – he goes off script and that’s what you get.
“He’s just plain old Albo the trot.”
Preach it.
They appear to be an equal mix of indig (part, not full-blood) and Poms.
How many more times doe the Palis have to reject a “Two State” solution, before it sinks in that they aren’t interested in co-existing with Israel?
Indeed. But hypocrisy aside, he happens to be right.
I see an increasing number of people in shops and shopping centres, for example, with no shoes. This is disgusting, arrogant and childish – and was always commonly understood to be prohibited.
That was in Bunbury.
If they played Nickelback in the Perth CBD, all the derros would be heading for the ocean.
???
No. Ukraine is far from perfect. It had a terrible reputation before the war.
It’s just the literal Russian government mouthpieces like Simplicius being ejected all over here I find eye rolling on top of lionising Putin who is absolutely terrible. He’s a terrorist: he murdered Litvinenko as punishment for publishing this book:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blowing_Up_Russia
Blowing Up Russia: Terror from Within (Russian: ??? ???????? ??????, FSB blows Russia up) is a book written by Alexander Litvinenko and Yuri Felshtinsky.[1] The authors describe the Russian apartment bombings as a false flag operation that was guided by the Russian Federal Security Service to justify the Second Chechen War and bring Vladimir Putin to power. The story was initially printed by Yuri Shchekochikhin in a special issue of Novaya Gazeta in August 2001[2] and published as a book in 2002. In Russia the book was prohibited because it divulged state secrets, and it was included in the Federal List of Extremist Materials.[3] However, it was published in more than twenty other countries and translated into twenty languages.[4]
George Bush didn’t go ahead and murder the producers of crap like 9/11: Loose Change, did he?
The “shelling Russian civilians!” meme is a turd too. Both sides had collateral casualties (about equal). However, almost 10% of that was from MH-17 being shot down, most of whom were neither RU or UA citizens. The shelling only started after Putin’s LGM set up fake “independent” governments.
Most of the graft is happening in the US. A lot of the “aid” goes to Beltway lobbyists, let alone the MIC.
Albanese speaks out of the ‘side of his mouth’: Bronwyn Bishop
PS – From the Comments
– He speaks out of “the side of his mouth”? Well that’s a new name for what he actually speaks out of.
– It doesn’t matter how he says words. The problem is that the guy has no idea about anything including his own country
– Albo, Australia’s worst PM needs to voted out next election.
– Albaneses a Genius !!! After all his overseas jaunts and his failed referendum he’s just realised that most Australians are struggling with the cost of living crisis bought on by this crazed Government.
Labors only plan seems to be to make electricity so expensive that no-one can afford it.
For the sake of Australia and our international reputation ALBANESE’S government needs to be A ONE TERM GOVERNMENT!!!?
– Albanese is the weakest prime minister australia has ever had.
– There is something seriously wrong with or political system when an absolute flog can become PM of this country. It’s an embarrassment.
– Albo and the Labor party are weak as pi55….we all saw what happened , and most of us know right from wrong , most Aussies would support Israel…..
– The errand boy.
– He doesn’t know what is the truth. He is a gutter politician.
– since when did we change the word arse with mouth.
– God help us ,imagine him in china
– Albogreasy. Sitting on the fence. Again.
Yeah….it annoys me too.
Along with tattoos, piercings, foul language in public places and the often ill-advisede clothing choices of overweight women.
Sometimes you even get all of the above in the one package!
But it’s his introduction of race into the problem and the religious sub-text that offends me.
He couldn’t just say, “When some of my fellow Australians…”?
Well it has changed over the years, Bear. And has nothing todo with money or influence enymore.
Australian Labor Governments at Work – And you wonder where your Tax Money Goes?
NSW Premier is hiring an ‘Executive Director for Truth and Healing’ to be paid up to $339,000 – and you have to be Indigenous to apply: ‘Voice by stealth’
. NSW government advertise job to advance truth and healing
. READ MORE: Job to advance ‘treaty and truth-telling’ comes with a $533,000 salary
The NSW Premier’s office is hiring an executive director to lead the government on ‘truth and healing’ in the wake of the failed Voice to Parliament referendum.
The role is reserved solely for Indigenous and Torres Strait Islander candidates, and commands a salary of up to $339,000.
A newly posted advertisement for the role says the successful candidate will be ‘responsible for enshrining the voice of Aboriginal people in strategy, plans and programs’ in government.
‘This role will focus on leading truth telling to embed healing and celebrate culture.’
Despite Australia’s resounding rejection of a constitutionally enshrined Voice to Parliament, this high level government role will be in charge of ‘developing an incubator team for future reform initiatives’ surrounding ‘truth, treaty and Voice’.
Truth, treaty and Voice are the three pillars of the Uluru Statement from the Heart. While the Voice was considered the first avenue to pursue, the ‘culmination of the agenda’ is actually the development of treaty and truthtelling mechanisms.
NSW Premier Chris Minns has now been accused of trying to ‘implement this by stealth’ by Prue Macsween – against the wishes of the Australian public.
Dugald Saunders, leader of the NSW Nationals, told 2GB’s Ben Fordham he only learned about the role when the program alerted him to it on Thursday, and said it appeared a particularly short recruitment window.
The job advertisement was posted on October 20 and closes on November 12.
Australians took to the polls on October 14 and voted against a Voice in the constutition 61 per cent to 39 per cent.
Throughout the campaign, treaty and truth was one of the key drivers of concern within the general public, as was the lack of information about the scope of the advisory committee.
Mr Saunders warned the short application window could indicate the department ‘had people in mind’ for the role, and pointed out the salary would be more than what some ministers earn in the Minns administration.
‘It’s a very odd time to be appointing an Executive Director for Truth and Healing when we’ve just had a referendum which was a very definitive answer,’ he said.
‘The Premier has mentioned nothing about this at all.
‘At the moment, cost of living is everything. Truth-telling and healing, at the moment, is not what to focus on.’
Back in August, a similar job advertisement from the Victorian government and exclusively revealed by Daily Mail Australia sparked outrage, and a warning shot from Senator Jacinta Nampijinpa Price that the hefty salary could be an indicator of what was to come with the Voice committee.
Maybe muslims in Australia are enthusiastic wearers of shoes indoors but I’ve seen plenty of photos of barefoot muslims.
None is better than one.
islam a religion of rules
It’s starting to feel like 1975 all over again.
“I see an increasing number of people in shops and shopping centres, for example, with no shoes. This is disgusting, arrogant and childish – and was always commonly understood to be prohibited.”
Agree.
Some Joy im the World
Lisa Wilkinson ‘might be done’ at 10 after messy legal fight with Paramount
A senior Paramount executive has identified one telling clue that Lisa Wilkinson won’t be returning to Channel Ten screens.
Channel Ten, which is owned by Paramount, unveiled its 2024 content line-up at its Upfronts event last week and Wilkinson, 63, was not featured.
‘This might signal she’s done,’ a Paramount insider told The Sydney Morning Herald on Friday.
Preach it Bronny.
Amy Schumer has been marked for destruction by the Borg because she had the GALL, to stand by Israel.
Here is some jism’st calling out to any waitstaff who were frightened when Amy gave them the Jewish Stink Eye when they were serving her.
there’s also a rule that you must sometimes not wear shoes because mo didn’t.
Being concerned about bare footed people is trivial and petty.
The Joys of Muslim in Australia
Nine-year-old girl shot in her pyjamas marks disturbing depths of Sydney’s underworld war
. Girl, 9, shot in her pyjamas during bungled gangland hit
. Two men have been charged over shooting in Sydney’s south
A nine-year-old girl caught up in a violent underworld shooting is now too terrified to leave her bedroom after she was shot in the hip by an alleged gunman.
The little girl had been wearing her Dr Seuss pyjamas when Mahmoud Rizk and his alleged accomplice arrived at her home in Connells Point, south Sydney, in a black BMW sedan just before 5pm on July 8, 2022.
As she and her two siblings helped their mother unload Woolworths shopping bags a series of bullets suddenly rang out with one hitting the little girl in the hip.
As she lay bleeding on the ground she asked: ‘Mum am I going to die?’
The alleged gunman had been looking for a Brothers 4 Life gang associate, a criminal group founded by the feared Hamze family, the Daily Telegraph reports.
NSW Police still don’t know who organised the planned hit, considered to be one of the worst shootings in the history of Sydney’s gangland war.
NSW Police Detective Superintendent Grant Taylor said at the time, it would have been ‘very difficult’ to mistake the pyjama-clad girl for an adult man.
The little girl now relies on walls and furniture to help her move around and is too traumatised from the incident to leave her bedroom.
According to a statement of agreed facts, she suffers long-term nerve damage, walks with a permanent limp and has to rely on a ileostomy bag.
Her siblings were unable to go on a school excursion to Luna Park after their peers expressed fears they would be shot at if they came.
I remember my grandmother telling a story about taking my uncle to town in the 1930s barefooted. She was admonished by passers-by. Of course the reason he was barefooted was because they were very poor.
I agree though, it’s a poor unhygienic habit.
What time does the F1® Sao Paulo Grand Prix 2023 start for Australians?
Round 21 of the 2023 FIA Formula 1® season.
Hezbollah exists where it does at the indulgence of the Lebanese and Syrian governments.
Neither of those governments wants to take a nip at the rear end of a pissed-off Israeli doberman lest they suffer the inevitable timely, brutal, and costly lash-back.
Hezbollah (and Iran) are in a precarious position as guests and so do what their hosts insist on.
I grew up with most kids discarding shoes, sandals and thongs for most of the summer unless the sidewalk was too hot. Different now, though.
It’s more a concern about the decline of public standards of etiquette and behaviour in general.
Voluntary adherence to public standards indicates respect for your fellows.
It has a terrible reputation during the war. Its principals are robbing the joint as we speak. You’re a very bright person, Dot, but your new acceptance of Big Gubberment neocon bullshit stories is surprising.
rosie
Nov 3, 2023 12:02 PM
I remember my grandmother telling a story about taking my uncle to town in the 1930s barefooted. She was admonished by passers-by. Of course the reason he was barefooted was because they were very poor.
I agree though, it’s a poor unhygienic habit.
rosie,
I disagree, I was barefoot till I went to school – used to love roaming the bush below us in barefeet – still prefer barefeet today
Cassie of Sydney
Nov 3, 2023 11:31 AM
Thank you, Cassie.
A nine-year-old girl caught up in a violent underworld shooting is now too terrified to leave her bedroom after she was shot in the hip by an alleged gunman.
The little girl had been wearing her Dr Seuss pyjamas when Mahmoud Rizk and his alleged accomplice arrived at her home in Connells Point, south Sydney, in a black BMW sedan just before 5pm on July 8, 2022.
As she and her two siblings helped their mother unload Woolworths shopping bags a series of bullets suddenly rang out with one hitting the little girl in the hip.
From the Comments
– Sydney has never been safe since the USA told Australia they had to take in those from the failed state Lebbanon.
There are men who refuse to attend school and get an education and then a job but would rather do crime and then sit around planning more crimes. I hope the Judge gives him a long sentence but that never seems to happen any more which is why more and more women are being killed. A man treats prison as a free holiday not something to be feared and often they are out in under five years.
– this is what labor voters are voting for
There is a whole world of barefoot shoes. The theory sounds plausible.
Lucy in the sky with diamonds, or at least large rocks.
NASA’s Lucy spacecraft discovers 2nd asteroid during Dinkinesh flyby (Phys.org, 2 Nov)
Doesn’t say but it looks like the orbital radius is about a mile. I have no idea how that could possibly occur, must’ve been a near perfect kiss a very very long time ago. Some nice images, especially as this asteroid is just an appetizer for the main game of looking at Jupiter’s Trojans.
Like womin showing ankles?
legitimizing Wally’s racist and patronising is concerning to me Roger.
Eh?
Not sure how you got to that conclusion.
I have also that The View has not been renewed.
This should see Whoopi reduced to her proper place standing at the side of main roads wrapped in a blanket shouting at the traffic.
An “alleged” gunman? Was she shot by something other than a gun? Or was the gun wielded by the family dog?
I think you’re referring to my comment, Lizzie. It ended up TOTP last evening.
Hello to both you and Hairy.
H B Bear
Nov 3, 2023 12:15 PM
I was barefoot till I went to school – used to love roaming the bush below us in barefeet – still prefer barefeet today
There is a whole world of barefoot shoes. The theory sounds plausible.
H B Bear,
I have a pair of original vibram fivefingers barefoot toe shoes, but still prefer bare feet
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=JkcXRC4HZqc
Jeez there used to be a shopping centre in Newport or Avalon called the bearfoot Boulevard. Ali just wanted to have a shot at white people. I thought it was illegal actually.
Police in the mushroom murder case have asked for and been granted a five month delay while they examine evidence.
The woman has been charged…you’d expect them to have all their ducks lined up.
I’m referring to walking around shopping centres, catching public transport etc, not at the beach.
Think barefoot in the bush is foolish for other reasons.
Roger, C.L saying Wally’s bigoted statement was correct only served to ligitamize it.
Clear enough?
It’s not coded language when I use it.
Dirtbag Pommy pol who got suspended by the labour party
for using “between the river to the sea” at a hamarse adjacent protest
is suing a Tory pol for besmirching his good name because
between the river and the sea isn’t the same as
from the river to the sea sentiment wise.
Apparently.
Nothing wrong with bear feet. Although deck shoes are preferable in summer.
And let’s not forget the dumpster fire that was once the career of Lisa Wilkinson.
It was bindi eyes and hot bitumen that stopped me
Horsehocky. The US did nothing of the sort. Someone needs to educate themselves about the ‘Lebanese Concession‘ of Malcolm Fraser.
Oddly, the screening process of these “refugees” seems to have been un-interested in their possible membership in the terrorist groups which helped destroy their home country of Lebanon.
Good riddance.
Mother Lode
Nov 3, 2023 12:20 PM
This should see Whoopi reduced to her proper place standing at the side of main roads wrapped in a blanket shouting at the traffic.
She is a disgusting human being. The amount of crap she has spewed from her mouth is legendary.
Ugly fat pig.
Internal documents reveal collapse in Qantas brand, trust
Kylar Loussikian and Ayesha de Kretser
Qantas has slumped behind arch-rival Virgin on all measures of brand trust, pride, “love”, value and transparency, damning confidential figures presented to senior managers show, revealing the extent of damage to the airline’s reputation this year.
The material, marked “prepared for internal discussion”, shows the proportion of consumers who would consider flying Qantas domestically has fallen so low that it is only two percentage points above that of its low-cost Jetstar subsidiary, and 19 points below that of Virgin.
The documents, dated October 12 and obtained by The Australian Financial Review, show the percentage of consumers who said they trusted Qantas had fallen from 70 per cent in August to just 49 per cent.
In that time, consumers who trusted Virgin rose from 53 per cent to 59 per cent.
Qantas will hold its annual meeting of shareholders on Friday, and major investors, including the Future Fund, indicate they intend to vote against not only the company’s remuneration report but also the re-election of marketing executive Todd Sampson to the airline’s board.
Qantas has been the focus of customer animosity after a sharp increase in fares and a deterioration in on-time services since the end of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Alan Joyce resigned as the airline’s chief executive in September, two months early, after Qantas was accused by the competition regulator of misleading customers by cancelling flights and not telling them,
Mr Joyce’s successor, Vanessa Hudson, has repeatedly said she intends to repair the airline’s reputation. Qantas has abandoned plans to cancel flight credits accrued by customers during the pandemic, and will have to spend hundreds of millions of dollars shoring up services.
Ben McGarry, a fund manager at Totus Capital, said Qantas had been “over-earning”.
He said improving customer service and replacing an ageing fleet was “going to be expensive and going to impact margins and the capital position and the ability to pay for dividends and buybacks”.
“I don’t think Qantas is a buy by any means at this level,” Mr McGarry said. “We still have a short position. Some of it is in the [share] price, but not all of it. It could be a struggle for a little bit longer.”
‘The crisis is ongoing’
Separate internal documents obtained by the Financial Review show Qantas management was warned that its “reputation, levels of trust, admiration and respect (were) substantially below levels recorded one year ago” in June.
In a presentation dated June 8, RepTrak outlined “pathways to recovery” including “improving perceptions of conduct, offering value for money, meeting customer needs, having a positive influence on society, as well as being seen to have an appealing leader”.
At the time, RepTrak, which monitors Qantas’ reputation and provides advice to management, said its surveys showed a significant decline in ratings for “meets customer needs” and “good value products and services”.
The rating for “strong and appealing leader” fell 8.6 percentage points to 58.3 per cent in the 12 months to the end of March.
“The crisis is ongoing with RepTrak’s ‘signal’ of a reputation crisis remaining and customer perceptions on key drivers more than 10 points lower than a year ago,” the presentation, also marked confidential, reads.
The more recent figures, described as the Brand Health AU Domestic Study, were circulated to senior managers including several who have since left the business.
It shows only 43 per cent of consumers – who had flown domestically in the past 12 months or intended to in the next 12 months – said they were proud of Qantas. That was down from 59 per cent in August.
Forty-nine per cent of consumers said they were proud of Virgin.
Chris Newtown, a former executive director of responsible investments at IFM Investors who now advises industry funds, said the Qantas board should be prepared for Virgin to snare disgruntled customers. “The board will need to be watching what happens if Virgin really do go full throttle to attract both corporate clients and frequent flyers,” Mr Newton said.
The internal data shows only 39 per cent of consumers said Qantas was “transparent with its customers”, the lowest level since the measure began in March last year, when it was at 57 per cent.
During that time, Virgin’s rating has increased from 46 per cent to 52 per cent, the document shows.
A Qantas spokesman said that it “shouldn’t come as a surprise that our brand has taken a hit in recent months”. “A significant amount of work is already underway to fix pain points and earn back their trust, and we’re seeing that reflected in the most recent brand research,” he added.
The airline said that the internal measures had improved since mid-October and the company was now ahead of Virgin on pride and value scores.
The collapse of Qantas’ reputation has created significant pressure on Mr Sampson’s re-election to the board. Already, Qantas chairman Richard Goyder has flagged that he intends to leave next year, as have Jacqueline Hey and Maxine Brenner. The latter two are scheduled to leave in February.
Ownership Matters, an influential proxy adviser, and the Australian Council of Superannuation Investors have both recommended a vote against Mr Sampson. The former Leo Burnett chairman joined the board in 2015.
Angus Hewitt, an analyst at Morningstar, said it would be difficult to model the damage to Qantas’ brand. “When we look at a company’s sustainable competitive advantage or its economic moat, we don’t think Qantas or any airline has a moat. I don’t think any customer is rusted on,” he said.
“Travellers aren’t dumb, by and large they know air travel is a commodity and when there is a mismatch between what they’re paying for and what they receive, they’ll switch,”
he added. “Customers don’t care who the CEO is, they care about whether their flight arrives on time, if their luggage arrives with it, and they care about the price they’re paying.”
The worst one is Russia has a legitimate claim to parts of or all of Ukraine because of a faked WMD claim.
The “American biolabs!” were typically benign and every single oblast voted for Ukrainian independence in the early 1990s.
Reminds me of something Bush, Rice and Powell said about Iraq.
Worst of all, the Americans were fed BS by Arab informants and deluded themselves.
Putin knows full well he’s lying.
Russia then simultaneously clings to the Minsk agreement but also insists the Ukrainian President at the time was illegitimate.
The cognitive dissonance and gaslighting is off the charts.
I’m not going to defend corruption in a state known for endemic corruption but evidence outside of clickbait would be illuminating.
In the long run Putin has damaged Russia’s military ability except to fight a short and megacide level nuclear war and ruined the possibility of a reunification of prior Rus states for decades of not centuries.
I was sneered at for pointing out Russia has 3% of the industrial output of the EU and USA. I was told Russia had literal factory cities that would crank out thousands of Armata T-14 tanks.
That never happened. There was no pincer movement. Zelensky has not fled to Miami. The war didn’t end last year after their winter ended. Bakhmut didn’t change the course of the war and Advika probably won’t either.
Every single promise about Russian success has fallen through until the war became trench warfare.
Perhaps I’m not objective as I think but I don’t have a litany of sneers that have blown up in my face – far fewer than the “pro Russian” people here.
Here’s a bonus for everyone – I won’t talk about Ukraine or Russia until Boxing Day at least.
Perhaps I’m paranoid but…
There are many leftards calling for Marcia Langton to be our next Governor-General.
While this seems, from their view (not mine), a noble call, I wonder if it is more sinister.
The Governor General is the ultimate voice and has the power, legally, to appoint Prime Ministers, Ministers, agree to any Bills introduced that have appropriations, give Royal Assent to passed legislation, represent Australia as our Head of State.
Conventionally, and apart from other powers (like war powers), the GG can reject any of these things legally but this has not been done historically. If Langton were given the GG job she’d be able to do any of these things “on behalf of indigenous Australians.” Could you sincerely disagree with her? /sarc
Now, yes, if she were to start to meddle Kerr-style, Elbow could get on the blower to Charlie, but how would he look in front of his parties, and the luvvies, for rejecting “indigenous representation” (the very thing he’s staked his future on)? Especially if Marcia take a “light meddling touch” where she simply rejects Bills seeking appropriations for “further consideration regarding indigens?” ….hard to reject.
Emptying your mind can turn you into a vegan.
Practicing mindfulness can help people make heart-healthy eating choices, new study shows (MedXpress, 2 Nov)
A new word for narcissistic navel gazing: interoceptivity! Which came first the veganism or the vacant cranium? They don’t have a smugness score in the study. I suspect the increase in that index would be even greater.
Wonderful comment Cassie. It brought tears to my eyes.
Why does anyone listen to a single damned thing Squalid Ali says?
I know he is touted as an intellectual sort of Channel 10, but for that mob high IQ just means opening the door before trying to walk through it 90% of the time.
I suppose channel 10has to pay to get his name out. They really should flag it as ‘Sponsored Content’.
Never tried them. Some reports say the 5 toes stuff is a bit extreme. I have a pair of Camper peu , although I didn’t buy them specifically as barefoot shoes. Which must make me some kind of weirdo.
You keep saying this Tom, but it doesn’t make sense to me.
Can you explain in detail what the benefit is for Paramount to actively seek out an “investment” to lose money?
When are we going to Do Something about the patriarchy?
The PM can basically sack the GG then the back up guy can sack them too if it was unreasonable. Or vice versa. The King acts on their advice. (Which is why the elitist republican model wasn’t a big deal legally, it was very similar).
It might be at the cost of a general election but Langton won’t have that level of power. An incoming Dutton government could tell her to FO basically. It’s not as if she’d issue writs again after being politely asked to get lost.
CL wrote, “hypocrisy aside”; he wasn’t legitimising Waly’s viewpoint but moving the discussion onto general ground. That’s how I read it.
OldOzzie
Nov 3, 2023 12:27 PM
H B Bear
Nov 3, 2023 12:15 PM
I was barefoot till I went to school – used to love roaming the bush below us in barefeet – still prefer barefeet today
There is a whole world of barefoot shoes. The theory sounds plausible.
H B Bear,
I have a pair of original vibram fivefingers barefoot toe shoes, but still prefer bare feet
PS H B in 1950 there weren’t any barefoot shoes – it was Clarks Black School Shoes chosen after Foot X Ray
Channel Ten, which is owned by Paramount, unveiled its 2024 content line-up at its Upfronts event last week and Wilkinson, 63, was not featured.
Oh I don’t know. Maybe Ten could use her to introduce a late night Friday horror movie. They used to call it the Creature Feature in the 70s. Maybe they could call it the Creature Feature introduced by the Creature with Spakfilla.
Me thinks no matter what the ME governments say it is only for domestic consumption. Remembering the population is largely uneducated. They live by islamic decree but have to do certain things the government tells them. Privately the governments will be happy Israel is going after humus. It removes a thorn in their side and reduces the mullahs power. Someone said about the attack was to destroy the accord between Israel and Saudi. This was my take on it also. Iran is in a precarious position domestically, anything to take the eyes of the population off the mad mullahs is what was required.
Knuckle Dragger
Nov 3, 2023 11:42 AM
LOL Sheep Shagger. C. U. in the N. T.
‘Too few’ German Muslims have condemned Hamas
– vice chancellor Robert Habeck said “Islamist demonstrations” across the country were unacceptable
Germany’s Muslim community has not done enough to condemn the Palestinian militant group Hamas, which carried out a deadly attack on Israel on October 7, Vice Chancellor Robert Habeck said.
“The scale of the Islamist demonstrations in Berlin and other cities in Germany is unacceptable and needs a tough political response,” Habeck said in a video address published on Wednesday.
“This is also needed from the Muslim associations. Some have clearly distanced themselves from the actions of Hamas and from anti-Semitism, and have sought dialogue.
But not all of them – some have been too hesitant to do so, and it’s been too few overall,” the vice chancellor added.
Habeck stressed that Muslims living in Germany must be protected from “right-wing extremist violence,” but, at the same time, “they must clearly distance themselves from anti-Semitism so as not to undermine their own right to tolerance.” He went on to denounce those who “downplayed” the Hamas attack, which claimed the lives of 1,400 Israelis, mostly civilians, as an “unfortunate incident.”
Germany has seen a surge in anti-Semitism in recent weeks, including an attempt to firebomb a synagogue in Berlin. On Tuesday, the country’s leading tabloid Bild published a 50-point manifesto titled “Germany, we have a problem!” The newspaper warned about the growing level of extremism in society, including hatred of Jews.
She’s been “sacked” sacked?
There is a constitutional royal prerogative to overturn legislation that has never been used. The Prime Minister has that power like any implied (constitutional or inherited) nationhood power (like border control before various immigration acts took those prerogatives away [forever?]. That’s something the GG can never exercise.
That would interesting.
Old law is repealed under said power (or Langton refuses to appoint a maaaate to the bench which is what happens now).
GG L sacks PM because “power doesn’t really exist” and appoints caretaker goober.
PM is re-elected and goober resigns.
L is fired after having PM sworn again at Yarralumla.
Dot, am just saying (as a former Trot), these folks would try anything on to dismantle, destroy or create any “crisis” toward the utopian ideal.
Real Deal, remember Deadly Earnest? 😀
Hold on to your seats. It’s sh*ts over F1! … the most boring motorsport on the planet
900 HP Sprint Cars.
—-
World of Outlaws NOS Energy Drink Sprint Cars | Dirt Track at Charlotte | Nov. 2, 2023 | HIGHLIGHTS
Bruce of Newcastle
Nov 3, 2023 12:37 PM
Emptying your mind can turn you into a vegan.
Practicing mindfulness can help people make heart-healthy eating choices, new study shows (MedXpress, 2 Nov)
“Improvements in our self-awareness, of how different foods make us feel, of how our body feels in general, as well as our thoughts, emotions and physical sensations around eating healthy as well as unhealthy food, can influence people’s dietary choices,” he said.
I prefer fruits such as grapes by the bottle. Glug, glug, glug, sip, sip, sip.
Allegedly and apparently, the delay for a moida beef is somewhere in the vicinity of three months. Usually this is for certain technical evidence to be fully collated (as opposed to the brief picture it gives initially), identifying potential defences and/or alibis and negating them before the matter goes to committal.
It is said that trying to do this during a committal or trial – while possible – is a torturous process that ends up weakening the case.
The ‘examining evidence’ would (I think, in this case) largely consist of waiting for tox results from the victims, and potentially cross-checking them against tests run on the survivor/s of previous mushie-related shenanigans.
Guaranteed that Mushie Woman’s digital history – who she called, texts, personal movements, internet history – will have been examined for years previous to these events. This takes time as well.
She got three counts of moida, and five of attempted moida – which are said to all involve previous attempts of similar (alleged) poisonings on the ex-hubby. Each one of those will have to be subject to the same process as the actual moidas, as detailed above to get those charges over the line.
I suspect that Mushie Woman has sung like a boid. This explains charging her now, rather than waiting until all those results come pouring back in the months to come.
It also means the song Mushie Woman delivered has corroborated existing evidence the jacks do have.
Gorn, gorn, gonski.
Anyone who used to watch Star Trek TNG would remember Whoopi’s insufferable gues character, Guinan. Preachy, otherworldly and dressed in an outfit that did not enhance her train wreck physiognomy she added nothing to a show stacked with pompous old socialists like Patrick Stewart.
Roger
As he is an arrogant muesli, Squalid Wally is probably unaware that the “shoes off inside the house” is also an Indian and Chinese practice.
tried them – kept getting stuff caught between my toes.
I now live in a pair of Merrell vapor gloves. I’m not a runner, they’re the only shoes I’ve actually gone and bought at exorbitant price when my first pair wore out.
Great for everything — including bushwalking, once you get used to being careful where you place your feet. Maintain good strong ankles and arches!
This is just passive-aggressive trolling.
Besides which, I very much doubt she’d be prepared to abide by the conventions that govern the position.
Why tanks need infantry screens.
Presumably the initial bit of derring-do was to knock out the anti-RPG gadget.
Somebody’s been doing their homework.
rallying – viewed from the side of the road – beats all these hands down.
Cassie, thank you for expanding on this.
My impression from that interview was one of a compassion and respect that seems to be subsumed by the convenience of how we care for our dead in many cases today. It’s a commercial process in so many ways, all dealt with by others (caring and professional in my personal experience, but a commercial transaction at the same time), out of our sight and care, and only the individuals involved can make it the personal matter that it really is.
I’m not expressing this well, I know.
Not me Roger. Wally is a toxic race baiter and shouldn’t get a free pass. Evan inadvertently.
Besides it is trivial and petty concern.
Next you’ll be complaining about blue singlets and Woodstock cans.
I bought some Merrell waterproof hikers for my venture into the Arctic. Thought I’d have to break them in but were fine from the first step. I will report on snow and ice performance.
I hate the cold and the cold hates me. But I’m up to the challenge!
I should add that all the Great Predictions relating to Mushie Woman were generated by my computer Aristotle, which I built myself in 1983 from plywood and hundred-mile-an-hour tape.
Subscribe now!
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The reason given was to “examine her computers”, KD.
Not good enough.
And the magistrate quite properly told them so, although he subsequently granted their request.
Yeah, not really wanting to promote this but I guess we’re all adults, so click on this link at the risk of your own sanity. Warning: You cannot unsee these images and videos.
http://www.Hamas-Massacre.net
Again, I note: I’m not promoting this site but if anyone thinks Israel needs “restraint” – you can send those sickos this link. I’m sending a link off to Wong’s office as we speak.
(This post was a lotta sweary words but I had to cut it back as there’s a time for war… and swear words not often uttered).
… but obviously not enough to understand how a shaped charge works as he laid that RPG warhead 90 degrees off from the target.
The damage it might have caused could be fixed with a can of filler putty and some spray paint.
Anyone who used to watch Star Trek TNG would remember Whoopi’s insufferable guest character, Guinan. Preachy, otherworldly and dressed in an outfit that did not enhance her train wreck physiognomy. She added nothing to a show stacked with pompous old socialists like Patrick Stewart.
Woodstock?
De gustibus non est disputandam.
Loosely translated, ‘Whatever tipple floats your boat.’
duncanm
Nov 3, 2023 1:02 PM
So many people getting slammed. Not posting the clips. Too graphic.
At many QLD primary schools the kids went barefoot. My Mum made me wear shoes which resulted in me being picked on as a snob.
We all played rugby barefoot. Some kids were even good goal kickers without boots. Whenever I tried that I was limping for a week.
qaStaHvIS wa’ ram loSSaD Hugh SIjlaH qetbogh loD
Yes indeed, Calli! He pops up on an old TV Facebook page. The actor did a good job of playing a dour old character from a haunted house.
I get it. Justice delayed is justice denied, and all that. However:
They seized this computer yesterday. You do not (apparently) just download an entire hard drive onto a USB and bring it into court. You don’t even print out half a dozen pages from it and bring it into court.
Everything on that hard drive, as I mentioned, will be analysed and cross-checked against Mushie Woman’s known actions and movements to form part of the prosecution case.
Everything in it also needs to be certified by a certified digital expert as not having been tampered with – that is, that what is on that hard drive is exactly what’s been presented.
Then all that evidence also needs to go to the defence before the court date, and in enough time for them to look at it and work out what defence (if any) they will raise from that evidence.
It takes time, and 20 weeks – I am told – is not that far a deviation from the standard twelve in these circumstances. Especially for a series of moida and attempted moida charges that go back a number of years.
I’m just (allegedly) telling it. Not selling it.
100% she was charged now, instead of six months from now because she spilled her ample guts, and what she said correlated with what the cops had on hand at that time.
The Economist – The Middle East
Why Israel must fight on
Israel’s bombardment of Gaza is taking a terrible toll. But unless Hamas’s power is broken, peace will remain out of reach
Israeli forces are entering a hellscape of their own making.
One in ten buildings in Gaza has been pulverised by Israeli aircraft and artillery. Over 8,000 Palestinians have been killed, many of them children. Shortages of fuel, clean water and food, imposed by an Israeli blockade, pose a growing threat to the lives of many thousands more.
Around the world the cry is going up for a ceasefire or for Israel to abandon its ground invasion.
Hearing some Israeli politicians call for vengeance, including the discredited prime minister, Binyamin Netanyahu, many people conclude that Israel’s actions are disproportionate and immoral.
Many of those arguing this believe in the need for a Jewish state, but fear for a Jewish state that seems to value Palestinian lives so cheaply. They worry that the slender hopes for peace in this age-old conflict will be buried under Gaza’s rubble.
Those are powerful arguments, but they lead to the wrong conclusion.
Israel is inflicting terrible civilian casualties. It must minimise them and be seen to do so. Palestinians are lacking essential humanitarian supplies. Israel must let a lot more aid pass into Gaza.
However, even if Israel chooses to honour these responsibilities, the only path to peace lies in dramatically reducing Hamas’s capacity to use Gaza as a source of supplies and a base for its army.
Tragically, that requires war.
To grasp why, you have to understand what happened on October 7th.
When Israelis talk about Hamas’s attack as an existential threat they mean it literally, not as a figure of speech.
Because of pogroms and the Holocaust, Israel has a unique social contract: to create a land where Jews know they will not be killed or persecuted for being Jews.
The state has long honoured that promise with a strategic doctrine that calls for deterrence, early warnings of an attack, protection on the home front and decisive Israeli victories.
Over the past two decades Israel lost sight of the fact that Palestinians deserve a state, too. Mr Netanyahu boosted Hamas to sabotage Palestinian moderates—a cynical ploy to help him argue that Israel has no partner for peace. Instead, Palestinian suffering became something to manage, with a mix of financial inducements and deterrence, kept fresh by repeated short wars.
On October 7th Hamas destroyed all this, including Mr Netanyahu’s brittle scheme.
The terrorists ripped apart Israel’s social contract by shattering the security doctrine created to defend it. Deterrence proved empty, early warning of an attack was absent, home-front protection failed and Hamas murdered 1,400 people in Israeli communities. Far from enjoying victory, Israel’s soldiers and spies were humiliated.
The collapse of Israel’s security doctrine has unleashed a ferocious bombardment against the people of Gaza. The reason is an attempt to restore that founding principle. Israel wants its 200,000 or so evacuees to be able to return home. It wants to show its many enemies that it can still defend itself.
Most of all, it has come to understand that, by choosing to murder Israelis regardless of how many Palestinians will die in Gaza, Hamas has proved that it is undeterrable.
The only way out of the cycle of violence is to destroy Hamas’s rule—which means killing its senior leaders and smashing its military infrastructure.
The suggestion that a war which entails the deaths of thousands of innocent people can lead to peace will appal many. In the past one act of violence has led to the next.
That is indeed the great risk today.
However, while Hamas runs Gaza, peace is impossible.
Israelis will feel unsafe, so their government will strike Gaza pre-emptively every time Hamas threatens.
Suffocated by permanently tight Israeli security and killed as Hamas’s human shields in pre-emptive Israeli raids, Palestinians will be radicalised.
The only way forward is to weaken its control while building the conditions for something new to emerge.
That starts with new leadership for both sides. In Israel Mr Netanyahu will be forced from office because he was in power on October 7th, and because his reputation for being Israel’s staunchest defender is broken. The sooner he goes the better. His successor will need to win a mandate for a new security doctrine. That should involve a plan for peace and reining in Israeli settlers, who even now are molesting and killing Palestinians on the West Bank.
The Palestinians need moderate leaders with a democratic mandate. At the moment they have none. That is partly because Mr Netanyahu boosted Hamas, but also because Mahmoud Abbas, the president of the Palestinian authority, has sidelined potential rivals.
The question is how to stop Hamas or its successor from seizing back control of Gaza before fresh leaders can emerge from fair elections.
Hence, the second condition for peace: a force to provide security in Gaza. Israel cannot supply it as an occupying power. Instead the strip needs an international coalition, possibly containing Arab countries that oppose Hamas and its backer, Iran.
As we have argued in previous leaders, creating a coalition that all sides can agree on will take committed leadership from the United States and a leap of faith from the region.
And that leads back to the condition that makes all this possible: a war to degrade Hamas enough to enable something better to take its place.
How Israel fights this war matters. It must live up to its pledge to honour international law. Not only is that the right thing to do, but Israel will be able to sustain broad support over the months of fighting and find backing to foster peace when the fighting stops only if it signals that it has changed. Right now, this means letting in a lot more humanitarian aid and creating real safe zones in southern Gaza, Egypt, or—as the best talisman of its sincerity—in the Negev inside Israel.
A ceasefire is the enemy of peace, because it would allow Hamas to continue to rule over Gaza by consent or by force with most of its weapons and fighters intact.
The case for humanitarian pauses is stronger, but even they involve a trade-off.
Repeated pauses would increase the likelihood that Hamas survives.
Nobody can know whether peace will come to Gaza.
But for the sake of Israelis and Palestinians it deserves to have the best possible chance.
A ceasefire removes that chance entirely.
LOL.
Very true, indeed.
When I say pops up, it’s just old production stills. I assume he’s long since joined the choir invisible.
Lysander
Nov 3, 2023 1:12 PM
Yeah, not really wanting to promote this but I guess we’re all adults, so click on this link at the risk of your own sanity. Warning: You cannot unsee these images and videos.
http://www.Hamas-Massacre.net
Thanks Lysander,
link copied into my Notes file of Palestinian Gazan Hamas Atrocties to keep reminding people
Beatles “new” song released last night:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AW55J2zE3N4
It’s not bad but I don’t think it’s a chart topper.
But at least Norway has a longer and more convincing history as a global peace-broker.
They were comprehensively booted by the Sri Lankans when they discovered
that they were passing tactical information to the Tigers and working against Sri Lanka’s interests internationaly.
When the incoming Government established the policies that led to the defeat of the Tigers, the second point was; ‘no Scandinavians’. A policy I believe to be applicable universally.
Their only mistake was not to include ‘or Irish’.
The Economist – Narendra Modi has shifted India from the Palestinians to Israel
The pivot reflects Indian domestic politics and new interests in the Middle East
Foreign news usually gets short shrift in India.
Yet for the past month the country’s television channels have been dominated by wall-to-wall coverage of events in Israel and Gaza, mostly from Israel’s perspective.
News anchors in bulletproof vests stand in the desert delivering breathless reports on the aftermath of Hamas’s atrocities in Israel on October 7th.
Talk-show hosts restage the Palestinian terrorist group’s attack from Gaza with toy soldiers and miniature bulldozers. Weeks into the war, coverage remains intense.
The media’s fascination with Israel’s plight and retribution coincides with a marked shift in the Indian government’s stance on the conflict between Israel and the Palestinians.
It has moved from backing the Palestinians to more or less unqualified support for Israel.
The pivot is based on a realist reappraisal of Indian interests in the Middle East.
It has also met with strong public backing from Narendra Modi’s domestic supporters, which is gratifying for Mr Modi’s government ahead of state elections this month and a general election next year.
In the past, like many countries in the global south, India tempered any expression of support for Israel with expressions of concern for the Palestinians’ plight. No more.
Mr Modi took to X (formerly Twitter) within hours of Hamas’s assault to express his horror at the “terrorist attacks” and declare that “we stand in solidarity with Israel”.
It took five days for India’s Ministry of External Affairs to reiterate, in response to questions from reporters, that India continued to support a two-state solution to the conflict. On October 27th, in a departure from its usual voting record, India abstained as the un General Assembly adopted a resolution calling for a humanitarian ceasefire in Gaza; it objected that the text did not condemn Hamas’s assault.
The shift reflects India’s growing defence and commercial ties to Israel.
Co-operation between the two countries has been deepening ever since Israel provided India with military help during the Kargil war against Pakistan in 1999.
That was long before America took a serious interest in military co-operation with India. Over the past decade India has bought missiles, drones and border-security equipment (and probably surveillance software, though it has not admitted this) from Israel, making it the Israeli defence industry’s biggest foreign customer.
A bromance between Mr Modi and Binyamin Netanyahu, Israel’s prime minister, has deepened the relationship.
So has the two countries’ shared preoccupation with fighting terrorism, especially the Islamist variant.
Explaining the abstention in the un vote, Subrahmanyam Jaishankar, India’s foreign minister, said in a speech on October 29th that India took a strong position on terrorism “because we are big victims of terrorism”.
India has also been increasing its ties with Gulf Arab countries, especially Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates. And it can ill afford to alienate them; it depends on them for much of its oil and goodwill towards an estimated 9m expatriate Indian workers.
Yet the fact that both countries have recently moved closer to Israel has allowed Mr Modi to effect his shift with alacrity.
Even in the current crisis, the Saudis and Emiratis appear reluctant to allow the events in Gaza to cause a rupture in their long-term rapprochement with Israel.
Domestically, the Modi government’s pivot is essentially all upside. The Congress-led opposition has condemned it; leaders of India’s 200m Muslims have heavily criticised Israel’s military response.
Yet the Indian middle-class that mostly backs Mr Modi is especially concerned about Islamist terrorism.
Its members look on Hamas’s attack and recall the tragedy Mumbai suffered in 2008, when Pakistani Islamists killed 175 people and wounded more than 300 during a four-day rampage. It included an attack on a Jewish community centre in the city, where the terrorists murdered the rabbi and his pregnant wife.
There is a small risk the government will overplay its hand. As the civilian death toll in Gaza rises, India’s Arab partners might turn against the Israelis and their backers more aggressively. Mr Modi has latterly hedged against that possibility. He has reached out to Palestinian leaders, offering Indian condolences and humanitarian aid.
Meanwhile, his Hindu-nationalist henchmen are unrestrained in using the conflict to stoke the Islamophobia that has propelled their party’s rise. Even if Mr Modi’s pivot becomes difficult abroad, it will probably help him win elections.
Idiots!
Birds in the United States and Canada will no longer be named after people because the previous selection process was “clouded by racism and misogyny”, the American Ornithological Society has announced.
The organisation will rename 80 species next year due to their associations with controversial historical figures, including slave owners and white supremacists.
Birds that will be renamed include Audubon’s shearwater, a tropical seabird widespread in the Atlantic Ocean that honours John James Audubon, a 19th-century slave owner and perhaps America’s best-known ornithologist.
Townsend’s warbler and solitaire will also get new names. John Kirk Townsend, who died in 1851, stole skulls from indigenous graves and believed they were racially inferior.
Oz
Qantas remuneration report gets 83pc protest vote
Ayesha de Kretser
Awarding Qantas chief executive Vanessa Hudson long term incentive plan (LTIP) has gotten significant backlash with only 76.16 per cent of investors in favour.
The broader remuneration report gets a staggering protest vote of 82.98 per cent – leaving NAB the dubious honour of biggest-ever but a stunning reversal of fortunes for the airline.
“This is obviously a very clear message from shareholders,” says outgoing chairman Richard Goyder.
23 mins ago – 1.20PM
Qantas’ remuneration plan in focus
Next up is Qantas’ remuneration plan, which is on track to rival National Australia Bank in receiving the biggest ever rebuke from shareholders.
NAB is believed to hold the record for large ASX-listed companies when 88 per cent of investors voted against its pay plans in the wake of the Royal Commission into banking misconduct, which cost chairman Ken Henry and CEO Andrew Thorburn their jobs.
Qantas has withheld the remaining balance of 2022-2023 short-term incentive plan rewards until “all the facts” emerge, chiefly with respect the ACCC’s investigation into the airline for deceptive and misleading conduct when it sold tickets on 8000 already cancelled flights.
Outgoing head of the remuneration committee chairwoman Jacqueline Hey reminds the meeting that shareholders strongly backed plans to reward Alan Joyce for the airline’s recovery from COVID-19.
Hey says Qantas fully achieved long-term incentive plans in terms of its total shareholder performance versus a basket of peer airlines. The board is allowed to clawback LTIP, she says, acting on facts and “fairly”.
Shareholders have complained the board has not done enough to sanction executives for mistakes already made, including the illegal sacking of workers.
Todd Sampson saved at Qantas AGM
Todd Sampson is up next – the most contentious.
Todd Sampson tells the meeting “This is when my experience, especially with a new CEO, will be most valuable.”
There’s a question from the phone: “What reasons does Mr Sampson have for completely misreading the zeitgeist over recent years? ”
But he survives with 66.02 per cent of the votes.
Belinda Hutchinson safely waved through at Qantas AGM
Former QBE chairman Belinda Hutchinson – who has been on the board since 2018 – says part of the past five years have been some of the most challenging in the airline’s history.
Hutchinson says Qantas is at a pivotal moment in renewal of the company’s board and fleet.
Goyder inadvertently raises the possibility that Hutchinson could be in the mix to become the next chairwoman of Qantas in response to a question over whether she will be part of the process to appoint a replacement for Goyder.
He claims she does not need to go through the specifics of what she has learned through the period of Qantas turmoil.
Hutchinson is safely waved through with 92.68 per cent of the vote, with 7.24 per cent of shareholders delivering a rebuke for her role on the board over the past five years.
Vanessa Hudson eases through with more than 99pc approval
Qantas chief executive Vanessa Hudson, who must stand for election as a peculiar trait of the Qantas Act (listed company CEOs are directly appointed to boards as per ASX-listing rules) gets more than 99 per cent approval, despite objections from the Australian Shareholders Association.
The two new directors put up since May, to replace the retiring Michael L’estrange and add industry expertise are easily elected.
Former American Airlines chief executive Doug Parker received 98.66 per cent support, while career public servant and Challenger/ASX Limited director Heather Smith gets 99.36 per cent.
Goyder declined to answer questions about whether Smith was a member of the Chairman’s Lounge during her time in the public service and the close influence of Qantas in Canberra, labelling them “irrelevant”.
Goyder declines answer on PM’s son chairman lounge membership
Outgoing Qantas chairman Richard Goyder has declined to answer whether awarding a Chairman’s Lounge membership to Prime Minister Anthony Albanese’s son counted as “corrupt conduct”, given that he was a student and appeared no other reason for his membership.
Goyder shuts down questions at AGM
Outgoing Qantas chairman Richard Goyder has shut down questions about his ethics after a shareholder suggested that Alan Joyce pumped up the share price at an investor day two days before selling his shares.
The shareholder wanted to know what Qantas knew about the ACCC’s investigation, but Goyder told the event to shut down his microphone.
The Australian Financial Review revealed that Qantas had received two information notices at the time Goyder approved Joyce selling $17 million worth of shares.
But the chairman refused to discuss the ethical implications, reacting angrily to suggestions the decision to allow the sale was unethical.
That Slave boy, Waleed, better check with his local Mosque. According to the hadiths, the prophet Mo, was often barefooted.
Myself I prefer the grains like corn, rye, malted barley.
If your into westerns this is a worthwhile 2hrs filler .. BONE TOMAHAWK .. it’s from “Tubi” an online free streamer …
https://www.imdb.com/title/tt2494362/?ref_=fn_al_tt_1
My passion for going barefoot does have its limits. People who ride motorbikes and motor scooters in thongs are antitoeic.