Australia
Much discussion has been had recently – mostly media engineered discussion to coincide with Australia Day and the launch of News Ltd’s new nationally syndicated Taste section – on the subject of Australia’s national dish.
In years past dinner meant a slab of charcoaled fatty steak and three kinds of over-microwaved veg. Food was once the subject of much inattention and is now our newest obsessive interest. However, no one is sure exactly what Australia’s national dish is – or if we even have one – and there has been an awful lot of to-ing and fro-ing about it.
Traditionally lacking in a food culture to call our own that doesn’t involve a well-done steak (and with the majority of the Australian population having little knowledge of indigenous eating habits beyond the witchetty grub) generations of immigrants to our shores have introduced stir-fries, pastas, curries and many more culinary masterpieces that make up the wonderful multicultural cuisines eaten across Australia.
Our American friends remember The Alamo, we see Gallipoli and North Africa among defining moments in national pride and self-sacrifice against seemingly insurmountable odds.
These initial bloody defeats led state and nations on to ultimate victory against powerful foes.
It’s drawing a long bow to compare any of those to the political battle now being fought on global warming, but one prominent climate realist has done that, and it’s sure to grab some attention.
Continue reading "It’s El Alamein revisited as climate war heats up" »
Latest 2 of 191 comments
View all comments-
Carl Palmer says:
@Rachel says:02:04pm | 31/01/10 Thanks Rachel, agree with Wayne, big read but very worthwhile. Very scarey indeed Read more »
-
Carl Palmer says:
@ Mark Duchamp says:03:47am | 31/01/10 Thank you. You are spot on. The only problem now is to get others to understand “the Agenda”. Read more »
The story of the ‘great Australian sickie’ made it around the world this week, spreading the fallacy that half a million Aussies faked sore throats and tummy bugs to get a long weekend.
Direct Health Solutions – apparently a ‘leader in Positive Absence Management and Corporate Wellness Solutions’ (what the?) – was given a massive free kick with their Australia Day absenteeism ‘estimate’.
Then the Retailers Associations’ Scott Driscoll really got the headlines pumping, labelling the sickie-takers ‘unAustralian bums’.
Latest 2 of 59 comments
View all comments-
MC says:
I agreed what Jim said in his comments. Post management did not tried to help their injured and ill workers. verbal abuse and different sort of terrrible ways that they used to treat their injured or ill workers are far more than the public to understand. if you not work… Read more »
-
peter says:
well done jim metcher for seeing it through the workers eyes i find it quite disgusting that employers readily assume if your off work sick your just a bludger anyway times are tough these days i can’t afford to take time off unless i am really ill. Read more »
A few days ago on this website, editor David Penberthy wrote to explain why, as he put it, “Australia Day is rubbish”. Well, not to come across all Sam Kekovich, but I reckon he’s full of it.
According to Penberthy, this annual celebration - which nicely bookends a silly season that begins with the running of the Melbourne Cup - is a shallow glorification of all that’s wrong with this country, “a half-witted contest to see how much meat you can eat and how much grog you can sink.”
As if there’s anything wrong with that.
The fact is that no free country spends its national day navel gazing. Instead, they hook on to some element of their individual creation story and use it as an excuse for a piss-up.
Continue reading "We can’t spend our national day bemoaning our history" »
Latest 2 of 184 comments
View all comments-
Jay Rodger says:
NSW alone has residents that speak over 220 different languages. Having counted less than 20 people in that poster, that leaves at least 200 ethnic groups unaacounted for (assuming each person IN the poster speaks a different language). Sometimes you just have to be sensible and not look for the… Read more »
-
Makeme says:
Citizen - I’m sure some one else would like to take my place, but aren’t we just so lucky we have flag waving bogans to keep those nasty refuge’s out? Because clearly poor black people are far inferior to the poor white people who already live here. Leah - if… Read more »
It’s Tuesday @ The Punch.
Australian youth radio station Triple J (then known as 2JJ) made its first broadcast today in 1975.
Latest 2 of 13 comments
View all comments-
bec says:
Old schmold. He is a gem. I’d rather someone older who had personality and intelligence than youth and dickheadery. On that note, why did they give the drive timeslot to the Doctor and not to Steph Hughes, who is piss-your-pants funny and fantastic? Not that McDougall is a bad presenter… Read more »
-
Nos says:
I’ve always listened to Triple J and I can’t imagine listening to anything else. On those occasions when I have a full day listening to any other stations I’m bored to death hearing the same Pink, Rihanna and Beyonce songs 15 times a day. Triple J is always about finding… Read more »
It’s Tuesday @ The Punch
Maurice Gibb who played keyboard, bass and percussion for the Bee Gees died today in 2003 at the age of 53.
Latest 2 of 3 comments
View all comments-
Bassist says:
Never seen a base. What kind of instrument is that? Read more »
-
stephen says:
Was he the ugly one ? Read more »
What really defines these three aspects of our society: Its race or colour? Peace or violence? Street crime or racial crime?
You might have thought that race, peace and street crime are more commonly seen in our society. People generally do. But take a second to think about your answers.
To my mind, every person who lives in Australia should be given a ‘fair go’, an ideal that many Australians aim to hold. Australia was built by immigrants, and the influence of immigrants stretches broadly throughout society.
Continue reading "We need to face up to the reality of race based crime" »
Latest 2 of 41 comments
View all comments-
Bill says:
Interesting to see ten Australians listed as being killed in India. Let’s hope we see the same Punch ‘outrage’ shown about Indians being killed here. I also want to hear from Amit, but I bet we won’t. Read more »
-
LuckyLady says:
This article is sickening. The Punch must be desperate for journalists to publish this. The reality is, we don’t know who has committed these crimes. It may be other Indian students for all we know. I come from New South Wales and the people here are very tolerant of all… Read more »
Twenty20 is like a box-office smash hit – overloaded with action, drama and emotion.
And like any blockbuster, crowds are flocking to cricket grounds to soak up the electric atmosphere of Twenty20.
There’s a saying in business that you find out what people want and you give it to them – in bigger doses.
Continue reading "Why Twenty20 will knock traditional cricket for six" »
Latest 2 of 24 comments
View all comments-
Bradley Menace says:
How about we slash tennis to best of five games? What about trialling 30 min footy games? How about 10m swimming pools? What is your obsession with changing a perfect game already Julie? You’ve lost me, i’m never reading thjis site again. Read more »
-
SLF says:
Having just watched one of the most enthralling test matches ever, in a packed lunch room, I have to agree that Test Cricket is well and truly alive and kicking. A superb game that had everything and is evertyhting 20:20 is not Read more »
HOW many Test innings have we seen fail as Aussie batsmen reach the nervous nineties?
Too many, I’d say.
Boxing Day is often a cricketer’s field of dreams - the biggest day on the Test calendar.
Latest 2 of 6 comments
View all comments-
Julie Tullberg says:
We tend to measure a failed bid for a century when players are dismissed in their 90s. As for obtaining 100 runs, if the batsman wants a century, has the skill to score a century and can handle the opposition’s attack, he will score a century. It’s as simple as… Read more »
-
Lauren says:
I’d say a good 70% of the people in the MCC cheered when Watson was sent off, myself included! Such a sore loser. Read more »
As a child of the 1980’s I experienced a huge wave of nostalgia reading about Mike Leyland’s death this morning.
Only 68 Mike Leyland is believed to have died from complications arising from Parkinsons disease, a battle he had been fighting for about three years.
Parkinsons disease is a degenerative neurological condition that affects approximately 30, 000 Australians. Symptoms can include abnormalities of movement, such as tremor and muscular rigidity.
Latest 2 of 12 comments
View all comments-
Keith Leyland says:
I’ve just recently found out that I’m related to Mike and Mal. I’m very sad to learn of his passing. Can someone pass on my condolences as I don’t have any contact details? Second cousin Keith Leyland Originally from Liverpool just like Mike and Mal Read more »
-
stephen says:
Mr Leyland inspired me to sit in front of the tele. and watch Hogan’s Heroes. Nice chap, but a bit dull. Read more »
There’s further evidence today of the growing contempt that modern managers of sporting codes hold for fans of their games, with English cricket managers begging the crowd to be nice to Ricky Ponting when he walks to the middle in the fourth Ashes Test, getting underway at Headingley in a few hours’ time.
For a measure of how patronising and unnecessary this is, look no further than Australian batsman Shane Watson, who says the booing Ponting gets from the crowds is to be expected - and something players enjoy, even thrive on, when playing in England.
Cricket managers in Australia have shown a similar pattern of growing discomfort with what ordinary people consider a good day out. When the Poms were last here, the Barmy Army’s trumpeter was kicked out of the Gabba for playing his instrument, despite getting prior approval to blow it. (He’s been banned from the Headingley Test, too.)
Continue reading "Boo to English cricket bosses. And the Aussie ones, too" »
Latest 2 of 13 comments
View all comments-
harry says:
i think what we need is standing terraces; only joking but this whole thing is ridiculous. let the crowd boo. it is funny because the only people complaining about the crowd are the upper/middle classes. it is disgusting that they think they are better than us. it is great because… Read more »
-
Julie Coker-Godson says:
Bring back the bugler, I say: Bring him back!!!!!! Read more »
While the Australian media is working itself into a frenzy over the jailing of Rio Tinto executive Stern Hu, the public seems to be forming a more pragmatic view of our relationship with China.
The Federal Opposition’s attempts to whip up a new round of dog whistling over the arrest have fallen on deaf ears as the public accepts there are things that are outside the power of even a Mandarin-speaking Prime Minister.
But the failure of the Hu jailing to bite with the public may speak to a broader maturing in out attitude towards the emerging superpower to which our fortunes are so closely tied.
Latest 2 of 10 comments
View all comments-
Albert Fish says:
Stern Hu is not an Australian citizen. Some time ago the Chinese government downloaded the entire website: http://www.basicfraud.com and then got some advice upon the issues raised from a number of internationally recognised universities. The Law School at Cambridge has always been most helpful in that regard. Read more »
-
johnv_au says:
I want to know what law he broke and when that law was made maybe just after Rio refused under great pressure from goverment and public opinion to sell a large stake in its australian operation to the state run chinalco Lets set up india and taiwan and sell to… Read more »
PIGS might fly. At least that’s what many Australians believe their chances are of being struck down by swine flu.
Epidemics have a habit of incubating fear and panic. But in cyberspace many people are just getting sick of what they perceive as excessive hype over the swine flu.
While health authorities have been issuing warnings about health and hygiene practices, quarantining suspected flu carriers and closing schools, the measures have been met with skepticism by bloggers to major Australian news forums.
There is a widely-held belief coming through online comments that Australian authorities are over-reacting to the seriousness of the influenza.
Continue reading "Pigs might fly: What we’re really thinking on swine flu" »
Latest 2 of 15 comments
View all comments-
Paddy says:
The panic seems to have subsided here in Japan now that people realise the symptoms are no more serious than your average non-porcine flu. It is called “shingatai infruenza” (new type flu) here. I think the authorities don`t want to associate it with pigs in order to avoid a widespread… Read more »
-
Robert says:
There seems to be a compelling political convenience in hyping up swine flu, which currently has a lower than average seasonal virulence and morbidity, at a time where state and federal governments have spent the family fortune and plunged their respective constituencies into serious long term debt. Read more »
Recent posts
The latest and greatest
Transparency policy not so candid in practice
Transparency’s all the rage these days. And accountability. Politicians and public servants promise… Read more
Most commented
The talk of the town
- What voters really think of Tony Abbott's religion 216
- Why there is no International Man’s Day 182
- Token ceremony openings must be brought to an end 88
- The Senate protects us from bad government 84
- Don’t bring your kids and other supermarket rules 67
- Ignore water, ignore women 66
- Why stop at binning welcome to country and prayers 61
- A lower voting age risks a lower voting standard 47
- Why are people so unkind, to Lada Gaga 41
- Yes to housing affordability, but don’t take my home 41
Punch live
Up to the minute Twitter chatter
Don't bring your children and other "rules" of supermarket shopping. Got a gripe or two of your own? Add to my list: http://bit.ly/dBWydm
What voters really think of Tony Abbott, great piece by Nic Christensen & Tina Tek: http://bit.ly/bvLWSz#thepunch
Gentle jabs to the ribs
Breaking news: Something is going on
Is this the greatest ever send-up of 24-hour news? Warning: contains strong language and hilarity. From… Read more
Latest 2 of 12 comments
View all commentsAdd your comment