We only have one daily newspaper in Brisbane, Australia. Our “Courier-Mail” has a habit of getting facts wrong and then correcting them in fine print where hardly anybody would find it. I believe that if a paper makes a mistake then it should print its corrections on the front page. Continue reading
What Pisses me off
Protecting your child from bullies.
There has been an intolerable spate of bullying in Australian schools. I’m not one for statistics because they are misused, but apparently 70% of senior students in our schools consider bullying a problem. See what I mean by a silly stat? I would have thought that 100% would regard it as a problem, but there you are. Your child has been bullied and so you do the right thing. You go to the authorities who should be protecting him or her. But the school headmaster and the police are derelict in their duties and nothing is done about it. So what should you do about the problem? Continue reading
Royal Variety Performance 2007
Sleaze has once again reared its ugly head even in this most prestigious British event. A comedian must be pretty desperate for a laugh if he has to resort to pointing at his crotch and raving on about dogs being attracted to its odour. Continue reading
Celebrities and Perfume
We used to have exquisitely romantic names for perfumes such as “Chanel No.5”, “Arpège”, “Evening in Paris’, and “L’air du Temps” by Nina Ricci. Those names evoked glamour and passion and when I dabbed them delicately along the pulse points on my wrists I felt as if I were transported to a place where life was special.
This week I visited a perfumery. There are still some classic perfumes but there is also an irritating addition to the range. Continue reading
Can’t spell, can’t talk, can’t write
What a coincidence! Last night (see previous post) I lamented the decline of teachers and today the paper is full of articles on school standards. Two such articles are “Uni gets tough on command of English” (The Australian, Dec.19) and another (also from toady’s “Australian”) which announces “Grammar tests return to classroom.” This second one says that in May the government will include an extra “language convention test” on spelling, grammar and punctuation in its national literacy test. Forgive me for asking, but aren’t grammar, spelling and punctuation an integral part of literacy already? Continue reading
Hamas has chutzpah
Who but Hamas would burn the American flag, call America “The Great Satan”, torch effigies of President Bush and yet have the chutzpah to ask the U.S to help them? Continue reading
Muslim school cheats government
The news that the Muslim Ladies College in Perth has been closed down by the government and its acting director charged with fraud is not as shocking as it should be to me. Continue reading
Interactive restaurant. A testimonial.
If you already know what an interactive restaurant is then you are way ahead of me. What I do know, however, is that when I go to a restaurant, I would like someone else to prepare my food. Call me old-fashioned but going to a restaurant means I don’t wanna cook. Continue reading
Fifteen minutes of fame is too long.
When Andy Warhol said in the Sixties “In the future everyone will be world-famous for 15 minutes,” I didn’t get it then and I still don’t get it. It was a throw-away line by an overrated “artist” who enjoyed saying and doing stupid things. There was one thing, however, that he wasn’t stupid at Continue reading
The ugly face of competitions.
Anyone who thinks that beauty pageants have anything to do with beauty are seriously kidding themselves. It’s all about competition and what should be a celebration of beauty brings out the basest in human nature. Continue reading
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