The political catwalk

Ed Milband, the leader of the British Labour Party, recently got into a tizzy (rather in the manner of a certain on-again, off-again Australian Prime Minister on the subject of misogyny) because the Daily Mail pointed out his father was a Marxist. (By the way, has anyone else noticed the resemblance between Miliband fils and the Cbeebies star Mister Maker?)

Further or Alternatively reveals a further development. Not only was Ralph Miliband a Communist, but he was also a cat killer. In Australia we like to recruit the slayers of moggies for high political office themselves, not just their sons. Malcolm Turnbull sued and won when that story was first published. Ed Miliband seems to take it in better part:

The stitch up

One of the great pleasures of the Australian Constitution is its observation of the proprieties. For example the Prime Minister is not mentioned. This might seem odd but the constitution is drafted in such a way as to give rise to the Westminster system. It does not explicitly state all the rules – with the scope for endless quibbles based on infelicitous wording to which that would give rise – instead, the unwritten rules are simply imported into our system.

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The Attack on Kirribilli

On 26th January 2013 the peaceful Sydney suburb of Kirribilli was assaulted by land, sea and air.  This resulted in no loss of life for the defenders and no change to their system of government. The assault was no doubt commanded by the military dictator of New South Wales.* In other news the government of Queensland put tanks into the streets of Brisbane, doubtless to quell unrest, as part of the imposition of martial law.

*Actually Professor Marie Bashir is a lovely lady, it is just that the photo of her in military uniform is irresistible.

A few years ago this would have been about text messages (or: Another Reason to steer clear of Facebook)

Oh yes please. I would like the "comedians" on the misnamed Footy Show* to remove a photograph of my child from the internet to make fun of it by comparing it to some cabbage eared loon. Sign me up to Facebook AT ONCE!

Yes I know it's David Knox – who has never expressed a non-standard opinion on anything – but any stick will do with which to beat the Farcebook. If you prefer, here is The Australian.

*Given the Australian predilection for Rugby League and AFL (q.v.) it should be The Handy Show.

A reason to go to Canberra

Further to the story from two weeks ago last year about a beer from a massive international brewery (named after the state of Victoria) winning a prize at the Royal Queensland Food and Wine Show the small brewers are striking back with the Small Brewer's Beer Festival.
"People have no idea how extremely competitive and ruthless the beer business can be, it really is war. And the big breweries don't take any prisoners. So instead of competing with them directly at other beer festivals we thought we would hold our own and just not invite them."
It's on 9th March. So plenty of notice then.

A winner for teetotallers

Late last year*  the William Bull Brewery of New South Wales won the Grand Champion trophy at the Royal Queensland Food and Wine Show with its India Pale Ale. It is described as a "limited release". So limited you can't buy it anywhere.

Mind you:
… Victoria Bitter caused a massive upset by winning the Crermalt Australia Champion Queensland Beer of Show. Mr Chant said it was eligible for the award because it was brewed in Queensland.
So the upset was because something named after the state of Victoria won an award for Queensland beers. Nothing to do with the fact that it tastes like another yellow liquid chilled practically to zero.

*(I know, I know. Shocking delay, I'm catching up on this backlog, only eight more to go after this one).

More cricket pitches!

36-Dish Australian Telescope Array Opens for Business

The Australian Square Kilometer Array Pathfinder (ASKAP) is now standing tall in the outback of Western Australia, and will officially be turned on and open for business on Friday, October 5, 2012 . This large array is made up of 36 identical antennas, each 12 meters in diameter, spread out over 4,000 square meters but working together as a single instrument. ASKAP is designed to survey the whole sky very quickly, and astronomers expect to do studies of the sky that could never have been done before.

Just think. Thirty-six dish based cricket matches going on at once (at 40 secs):

The gentlemen at Parkes never actually used the dish for cricket, since despite its size it is actually a precision instrument.

Following the example of the locals

TRH the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge recently spent some time in Brisbane on their way back from a tour of the Pacific Islands.

To be precise they spent 90 minutes.
Kate and Wills saved the best for last on their royal tour to Southeast Asia and the Pacific: 90 fun-packed minutes at Brisbane Airport. 
The international terminal has a multitude of attractions including five cafes, an RM Williams store, and countless seats on which young lovers can sit and stare out the window to watch the wondrous world of aviation unfolding on the tarmac.
Our heroes, Kel Knight and Kath Day-Knight, once did something similar.
At the airport, Kath and Kel learn all flights are grounded but they soon realise the airport is as much fun as a holiday. They spend two days at the airport - shopping in the stores, sleeping in the lounge, sneaking into the VIP area to steal food from the kitchens - and eventually realise they don't need to go on a plane to come home, and that if you're bored there are always the moving escalators.

Our cousins across the Tasman

I daresay many Americans are unaware that Australia fought in the Vietnam War. I daresay many Australians are unaware that the Kiwis went too.

On 12th May 1968 the Australian 1st and 3rd Battalions flew to an area about 30 miles north of Saigon. They were setting up a "fire support base" codenamed Coral for an area of operations codenamed Bondi (the names all came from Sydney beaches). This was the Australian contribution to an American operation designed to draw the communists into battle in an area through which they passed to attack the South Vietnamese capital. The landing was chaotic, as recounted by Paul Ham in Vietnam: The Australian War (note "Dustoff" was the radio call-sign in the Vietnam War for an airborne evacuation of a casualty, typically by helicopter).
Meanwhile, Captain Michael Bindley did his best to coordinate the landing zone. Yet nerves frayed. Soldiers noticed a 'funny' — as in strange — atmosphere so unlike the usually boisterous mood. Tempers flared in the intense heat. One private threatened to shoot another, after a dispute, and a New Zealander collapsed from heat exhaustion. When a US observer asked why the man's buddies had not called a dust-off, Bindley replied, "I can't explain New Zealanders to you, but I'm sure he'll be all right."

Naming South Australia

Somebody was asking I was boring somebody about Adelaide names. Tim Blair attributes the observation of the peculiarities of the names of Adelaideans to Alex Buzo. Examples (some of them spoofs, d'uh): Bright Greene, Pullen Hare, Falkland Waugh, Clayvel Badcock, Steele Hall. Blair also passed on a method of creating your own name for when you move to that bright thrusting city of the late 1950s. All this comes up again because somebody thinks South Australia should change its name (note to non Australians, Adelaide is the capital of the state of South Australia). Naturally Blair is on the case.