Grapeviney

Feeling very disconnected from the World Cup (I don't have Foxtel). I think they made a big mistake giving the broadcast rights to pay TV and allowing Channel 9 to cherry-pick the handful of games it wants to show. All the games should be on Gem or Go at least, even if it is Afghanistan versus whoever. Chris Gayle hit a double ton today and all you get is 15 secs on the news. The excitement that should accompany an event of this magnitude is totally missing.

The strange thing nut is that the Libs themselves have long known that Abbott's judgement is questionable and that he has a penchant for going off half-cocked. He did not get a single vote when he stood for the leadership after the demise of the Howard Government and he only beat Turnbull by a solitary vote when he replaced him as opposition leader, despite Turnbull's disastrous polling.

I think the advent of the 24-hour news cycle has really changed - and hurt - politics Earl. As you say, how would the likes of Keating and Howard fare in today's environment. Howard was allowed to be opposition leader 3 times, and a failure year after year, including losing an election - a period of grace to grow and improve which would never be granted in the climate of today's rabid political reporting. The Bulletin featured Howard on its cover one week with the huge headline: "Mr 18 per cent. Why does this man bother?" Headlines like that today are fatal. Beazley was allowed to fight two elections and was still a legitimate contender at various stages of the next three parliaments. These days, you have a bad week and your neck goes on the chopping block. Agree with you on Hockey, too, he (and Abbott) really blew it, in many ways.

The more I listen to Shorten the more I am convinced he is a phony. Even when he raises legitimate points / issues he sounds insincere and it's as if he does not believe a word coming out of his mouth. Like Abbott, he will do and say anything to advance his own political interests; I suppose in a way this is the story of modern politics on all sides of the fence. It's depressing, though, not knowing from when or where the next proper leader is going to emerge.

I think you're short-changing him adc, making it sound as though all he does is go for the big marks. It's an observation that was justified perhaps in 2012 or 2013 but not last year. You don't finish 6th in the b&f on the back of a few speccies.

It's irresponsible. But Shorten's just copying a tactic which Abbott himself perfected - opposition for opposition's sake. And as it says in the Bible, in Politicians 21:6: Ye shall reapeth what thou have soweth

Hope we insisted on a clause that he wear his MFC jumper in all future acting appearances and when he's at the Logies.

^^ The walkout was very poor form ht The media compound it by reporting on the politics of it all, rather than the policy. The walkout got just as much as time - if not lots more - than the substance of the report. It was the same issue with the HRC's kids in detention report - all we heard was the politics, nothing on its contents.

On which planet have they come back strongly? One's yet to play a game, the other hasn't been able to string them together. You're missing the point; it's got nothing to do with ability, and everything to do with them being high-end draft picks who were hampered early on by injury. I'm not blaming all our problems on these injuries, or our shite record over the last decade, but most objective people - including the footy journos, it seems - would agree we've been stiff with injuries in recent times. Hogan and Petracca alone is enough to validate that opinion.

You don't have to go back 20 years to appreciate that we've had bad luck in recent times with our draftees / new recruits. Hogan, Toumpas, Blease, Tappy and Strauss were all hampered by serious / long-term injuries in their early days. Heck, even both papers this morning started with the line that "Melbourne's cursed run of luck with injuries has continued"..

Your despair is justified nut - it really is one of the great intractable problems of our society. Unfortunately, we seem content to pay lip service to the issue while, in reality, what we are doing is putting it in the too-hard basket. I made the mistake of watching Q and A last night - plenty of discussion about the two drug traffickers facing execution, and plenty of discussion about kids in detention, and half the show devoted to a leadership spill that happened a week ago, but not a single word or question on why many indigenous Australians are still living in 3rd world conditions. If white Australians were being incarcerated at the same rate as they are, or achieving the same literacy and numeracy scores, or killing themselves at the same rate, or had the same unemployment levels, there would be a national outcry. Instead there is a national silence.

One of the groups I've been working with is doing exactly that, Crompton. They've signed a partnership with Rio Tinto to establish a mine training centre in northeast Arnhem Land, as they look to provide the locals with the skills to work in mines in the NT and elsewhere. They're also setting up a bauxite mining operation on their land which would, ultimately, see mining profits go directly back into their community, as well as providing a jobs / career path. I heard a number of people - all of them non-Indigenous - have a real go at Pearson over his promotion of such ventures and partnerships, basically saying that they were forfeiting their cultural and traditional legacy and relationship with the land by chasing the almighty capitalist dollar. Such criticism riles me no end; it's hypocritical that white man is allowed to enjoy the fruits of financial wealth but Indigenous people should remain 'pure' and 'untainted' by the modern world. I haven't read Pearson's book yet (like you it's on my shelf) but I have read several times his Quarterly Essay from last year about rights, race, reconciliation and recognition. It's a terrific essay, and he's a powerful writer with an impressive intellect. I don't always agree with what he says (although I do in the QE piece) but I find his arguments captivating nonetheless.

Interesting that Abbott yesterday flagged his strongest support yet for the introduction of Twiggy Forrest's "healthy welfare card" for income management for welfare recipients. Not sure how it really differs from the 'Basics Card' which was brought in as part of the NT Intervention, which doesn't allow you to buy booze, or gamble etc. Nova Peris and Noel Pearson had somewhat different opinions on it when the Forrest Report came out last year. http://www.abc.net.au/news/2014-08-05/nova-peris-noel-pearson-debate-aboriginal-income-on-qanda-nt/5649010

It's funny, I agree with you nut, the constant preaching is tiresome, but it feels churlish to say or think that when, at least at the outset, their intentions must have come from a good place; ie, the desire to use their incredible fame / reach / audience to bring attention to various political and social issues. Then again, if you're forking out big $$ for concert tickets, i guess you have a right to feel annoyed if you get a lecture instead.

Still a very awesome OP

I've done a bit of work in communities around northeast Arnhem Land over the past year Crompton and it was as you described: 1.25 litre bottle of coke from around breakfast time, fried food, burgers, pies. And I don't mean that in a disparaging way - what fresh and healthy food there is, is expensive. There were some really good initiatives on the go where I was but also others which were clearly not working. As I understand it, it's like that in many communities around Australia; some programs working, others less so.

All this talk about joints in a training thread makes me think of Geoff Hayward. "Marijuana?" "No Laurie, hash. It wasn't just any seagull - it was the prince of seagulls!"

http://www.abc.net.au/news/2015-02-11/close-the-gap-initiatives-failing-in-key-areas-mundine-says/6084512 Many MPs in Canberra today were wearing Close the Gap badges; like that's really going to help. As the latest report shows, we're not making much progress in ending the disparity between Indigenous and non-Indigenous Australia in all the key social indicators such as health, education, employment etc. Each year this report comes out, we talk about it for a few days (if that) and then it's back to business as usual. It's just incredible that 'the gap' is still so great - never mind the fact that there even is a gap - in this day and age and in this country.

or a tail of woe ?

Consider this your first and final warning SW - if you don't know how to state your case without belittling another poster's opinion then you won't be allowed to post here at all. As others in the thread have pointed out, rudeness isn't welcome and won't be tolerated on this site.

Here are Joe Hockey's extremely convincing arguments to stick with Abbott: "He's a genuinely good human being. It's a very difficult period to govern anywhere in the world." No Joe, it's not. In fact the reverse is true; in footy parlance, Abbott has been kicking with a 10-goal breeze at his back but is still 15 goals down. As the AFR pointed out: "Gillard had her flaws as leader but she also had it a lot harder than Abbott. Gillard and her colleagues were savaged daily by the News Corp tabloids and the shock jocks, they were opposed by the powerful lobbies representing business, mining, energy and gambling, and she was being actively undermined by Rudd and his supporters. Abbott was undermined by nobody and News Corp and the lobby groups were on his side. This is his work."

My expectations are suitably low. I'm worried that the poster accused more than any other of wearing rose-coloured glasses also seems to have very low expectations.

Now that you've explained the process, I'm doubly shocked at how good it sounds. I've got friends who make electronic music via file-sharing but it's obviously a truckload easier to do with computer music than acoustic stuff.

Great track ht, i really dig it. I mainly listen to electronica these days but this is the kind of gear i used to love rocking out to. Reminded me a bit of The Angels (a good thing in my books). Surprised that it's been artificially arranged (if i can call it that) with musicians on separate sides of the world; I mean i know it can be done but it sounds very organic, like two guys just jamming in the studio. Did you do the production etc ?

Nothing says freedom like beach cricket !