Grr-owl

Only takes you 17? Unlucky...

It's not my opinion. I wrote it because Brukie and Burgo said it, and given Burgo is involved, it may indicate that Tomlinson will be out for not as long as we have come to accept.

On a somewhat positive note, Brukie and Burgo have said on their podcast that 6 months is plenty long enough for an ACL. Neither is sure why in the AFL a year is taken for granted. Other sports, 6 months.

Well, it would matter because the opposition would probably score more, but with BBB in we should score more too, especially if we maintain that pressure. I wonder whether that's part of the rationale of bringing BBB in....

Not to be cynical, but this may be one time in which a political party's bid for votes actually is a good thing for everyone. Additionally, it has the benefit, for them, of stealing the Labour Party's lunch. As far as I'm concerned it doesn't matter which party does it, but a focus on getting Australians into good jobs is the key to a better future. 17,000 jobs have gone in education. Although that sounds tragic, and it is, a lot of those were crap jobs, meaning casual exploitative position in which people were hired for 8 hours and given 16 hours of work to complete (I'm exaggerating, but you get the idea), often servicing international students whose demands (natural, understandable demand from their POV) were the root of practices that were crippling the system, like the larvae of a parasitic wasp. I have a feeling that people from the US, Japan, Aus, probably the UK and hopefully Germany have been in behind-closed-door discussions for some time about the limits of privatization and the consequences of off-shoring jobs....

They'll have to go over Lever, or around, as we did to Grimes.

But they don't have the equivalent cultural strings to pull, as the CCP does. Otherwise they surely would have by now created a largely stable democratic Latin America that was a reflection of the US. Instead it's a shambles. It's like they meddle and meddle without ever really going the whole hog or pulling out. A half-arsed hegemony perennially ineffective in achieving it's aims.... Perhaps its the cultural differences which really matter. There is a school of thought that says democratic institutions developed in the US as a result of the indentured labour system. That is, most european immigrants, majority female, went as bonded servants, working five years without pay, but receiving board and 25 or 50 acres of land at completion of the contract, their's to keep or trade. It was a once in a lifetime opportunity to acquire property. Having become landowners and therefore people of social consequence, they wanted a say in how their land was used, and so was born modern democratic institutions. The situation in Latin America was different. Land was distributed to an aristocracy and immigrants had no power to acquire it. Most immigrants were slaves, far more than went to Nth America. No land equalled no power. On a related subject, with the majority of immigrants being females, there was a shortage of males. Among slaves, however, there was a shortage of females. Marriage between slaves and indentured servants was very common and the children of such unions were considered free. Eventually, as the powers that were clung ever more tightly onto an economic system that was fundamentally inefficient, they began to make distinctions between white and black, eventually outlawing marriage between black males and white females so as to ensure that children of slave marriages remained in the chattel system. This happened at the beginning of the 19th century as opposition to slavery was taking hold. In other words, the slavers dug in deeper and deeper on an economic system that had been superceded, leading eventually to the breakdown in society that was the Civil War. Let's hope the neoliberals aren't so tough to shift.

Just took a look. Very nice. Of course, the tax cuts shoot them in the foot, but perhaps they will be watered down. Makes for a significant change form the typical neo-liberal con re govt spending -- saying they have to cut it while simultaneously borrowing huge amount to 'stimulate' an economic system that wouldn't need stimulation if it actually worked.... Read the speech on the ABC site, where I also found this: https://www.abc.net.au/news/2021-04-23/anu-unveils-162-million-budget-deficit-due-to-covid-19/100089624 When things go pear-shaped, which they are atmo and may continue to be for some time yet, those international students aren't coming back, leaving the govt as the only body in a position to fund the universities. There should be at least two positive knock-on effects: 1. Disempowerment of CCP co-opting intellectual elites. 2. Restoration of academic standards But the govt is going to need those taxes....

Hope it's not 7 as I'm wary of complacency.... Gotta keep competitive types on their toes a bit. Eg Grundy. But yeah, he's not going anywhere and he's a gun, so give him good money and a fair amount of time and continue to build around the rock.

Bob, this is correct. A super smart tactical shift that works. To counter it, teams employing Richmond's tactics will have to reallocate resources, and that necessarily weakens them.

Yeah, Telstra is a perfect example. I am struck though by the way the neo-liberals have sent jobs overseas in search of greater profits. This has been the driver of the rise of China - cheap labour on a massive scale. Why couldn't Latin America perform the same role? Not that I think it is and would be a good thing for the world, necessarily, certainly not for American jobs, but it would certainly be good for Latin American elites plus a significant portion of the population, as has been the case in China: 200 million lifted out of poverty, with 95 million of those being CCP members. Is it the lack of a binding polity that prevents it from happening? Could the US play that role in the same way that Beijing & Shanghai federal govt forms a layer of authority above essentially independent states such as Guandong and Fujian? Or is the US power simply not that great? Does the situation illustrate the limits of democratic capitalism? If the US were more authoritarian, and pegged its credibility to the economic rise of Latin America the way the CCP has pegged it's credibility, would it happen? Fundamentally, I get the sense that the end of new-liberalism is nigh. If Biden is pegging the US economic resurgence to American jobs the way his plan has been presented, it indicates a fundamental shift. Of course, that doesn't mean he can pull it off....

I'll bring the Middle East in and together we'll create the Dee-aspora.

I guess they're thinking that they're helping them somehow.... I would have a thought a pool of cheap labour and untapped resources on the doorstep should be a positive thing for an industrialized country. Is it the failure of the culture to produce rule of law, civil society, democratic institutions etc,. which means they never prosper, or is it just down to the US?

Just quoted so you'd get a notification. Interesting battle going on in the US now. Biden is pushing a less-than neo-liberal agenda... Was surprised and a little pleased to see this BBC article referring to Reagan and Thatcher. Seems its gradually becoming newsworthy to understand neo-liberalism as an approach that is not necessarily inevitable. I can't remember the words Thatcher used, but it was along the lines of "there's no other choice....." https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-56903805 Now we'll see the soul of the Republican party, if there is one. They want to make America great? Make the investment....

No amnesia. Just not convinced that a civilization is defined by its worst face. There's positive and negative, no matter what, and for me the positive outweighs the negative.

How does the sponsorship come into it?

Got to think what happens if the opposition get him too... Imagine Brisb, Tiges, Dogs or Port, with him added.

We can do polls here can't we? Let's work on the question. First draft: Q: Would you prefer 'fan activation' such as lights, music and qtr time shenanigans to bugger off so we can enjoy the footy?

Perhaps just adjusting to being in unfamiliar territory..... positive.

You mean that the lights and music increase the atmosphere??? Bollocks. Everyone just turns away wondering who likes it.

Excuse me what is your point here? Sandringham Footy Club is still in the Blood Celebrated at least 3 Flags down there at The Beach Oval before the AFL killed the Comp Port Melbourne were the serious enemy Point was I was making a not-very-funny joke...... 60's+70's+80's being a max of 30 years throughout which you said you "grew up," and then on turning that back on myself having had an extended adolescence..... No offence.... ?

Is that what it's called...? Wow. Turn it off. All of it. No music, no lights no boundary sprints, no flying on the tackle pad thingies..... Australians want an entertaining game of footy. It's not baseball... For any Aussie who hasn't been to a pro baseball game, don't. It's all signing and chanting and cheerleaders. The game barely comes into it.

My 2c is that HPM's come with a 2-3 year plan. So he's in the 2nd year of that. If he sees a flag coming, he'll probably see it through. If not, ....

Dear Sir, It seemed to take a long time for you too grow up. Extended adolescence? Took me 30-odd years to mature as well.....

That's what I saw. In the past we would eventually be caught with the ball, closed down for space. This what happened during the opening burst. But then, yes, we adapted, and instead of resorting to a long-down-the-line-game, which (though we have the talls to be good at it) is a defensive reaction that means a side is being dictated to, we simply got enough troops around the ball and worked it into space for a smarter kick. This is a minor strategic masterpiece; rethinking an accepted part of the game and making it work. It will differentiate us and work to our advantage as long as others fail to recognize it, as have Hardwick and King...