1.Peace is being constantly being postponed in Gaza.
It could be Netanyahu wants to maintain wartime status so he can
stay in power. Israel wants to finish off Hamas in Gaza. Hamas wants a return
to its pre-war rule of Gaza – always hostile to Israel. More extreme Israeli
right wing coalition partners want to replace Netanyahu. What do you think?
2.Russia’s“peace” proposals are to keep Crimea and the
eastern Ukrainian territory it invaded. Ukraine and most other countries
want Russia to withdraw from Ukraine. So there is no peaceful common ground for
Ukraine either. Would anything else work?
3.Is a name Playground Proof to avoid
bullying? As the Paris Olympics nears one recalls Australian swimmer of old like Lorraine
Crapp. Now we have swimmer Ariarne Titmus. and who can forget
tennis star Thanasi Kokkinakis?! All grandparents should steer their
kids away from calling their newborns such male first names as: Cedric, Grover,
Puck, Phelony, Elmo, Hunter, Heinrich, Humphrey, Herbert, Adolf, Donald, Jesus,
Archibald, Mortimer, Rufus, Marmaduke, Wilbur or Dudley. Girls shouldn’t be
burdened with: Gertrude, Gretchen, Hilda, Gerta, Bertha, Drusilla, Wolfurga,
Moira, Prudence, Faith, Charity, Hortense, Myrtle, Clotilda and the worst, in English, is probably Ute
(pronounced, in German, Ootah, and not an Australian ute, short for light truck utility).
4.Dutton’s
climate policy is aimed at driving a wedge between the Greens (no new coal/oil/gas
projects) and Labor (backing such projects and accepting carbon capture mythology).
Meanwhile Dutton has a small target approach. Dutton’s climate policies appease
climate sceptics in the Coalition’s own ranks. He can target the costs and
difficulties of Labor’s renewable policies – all the while asserting the
Coalition’s nuclear policies will magically achieve the same, be almost
cost-free, and benefit from being in the far distant future.
SOAPBOX
5.I actually love whales. Australia’s Humpback Whale population increased from 200 when
commercial whaling ceased in the 1960s, to around 80,000. Around 35,000 humpbacks
migrate up/down our east coast and 45,000 on our west coast.
6.Bird flu strains are always around. But a particularly bad strain,
called H5N1, which started in 2020, has reached Victoria. This has lead to egg
shortages and price increases there. Has anybody noticed egg price rises or
scarcity?
7.Chinese Premier Li Qiang's (pronounced "Changs") visit to Australia this week. Diplomacy is a compromise – pleasing no-one. Cheng Lei, the news anchor-woman detained in China for 3 years, has become a stand up comic. In Melbourne, mid June, she joked about the “rent-free accommodation” and weight loss program provided by her Chinese gaolers. She added – for the first time in her life she actually wanted to put on weight.