Awards
With the relationship between Australia and India increasingly testy, Julia Gillard wants to send a signal that our countries are still close, and that Australians respect Indians.
Her solution? Bestow an honorary award on Sachin Tendulkar, the second best batsman after our own Don Bradman ever to play the game of cricket.
Leaving aside the obvious argument that such awards should go to those who toil diligently for this country, rather than those who make our bowlers toil for wickets, Tendulkar doesn’t deserve this because the last time he set foot in Australia he was belligerent and disrespectful.
Continue reading "A little masterstroke of diplomacy, but a dumb idea" »
The BBC has compiled a list of 12 Female Faces of 2011 (one for each month) and guess who took out the final spot?
Angela Zhang who at the age of 17 discovered a nanoparticle that kills cancer cells? Nope.
Eman al-Obeidi, who defied Muuammar Gadaffi’s regime by confessing to the foreign press that she had been beaten and gang-raped by members of his militia? Nope.
Continue reading "BBC’s panda propaganda is utterly bamboozling" »
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Sindiswa says:
My little dog Sumo (dontcha love that name?!) hates gteitng his baths too. They take all of 5 minutes (hes small) but he is such a baby that once the bath is complete, he bundles up in his towel & demands through puppy eyes and sad faces that I hold… Read more »
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Craig of North Brisbane says:
Because, god forbid the achievements of any women who do not provide you with eye candy are highlighted. Perhaps Eman al-Obeidi could do a bikini photo shoot and you’d be more appreciative? Read more »
This is not about Natasha Stott Despoja. She seems like a perfectly reasonable person who worked hard while in politics. It doesn’t make her someone who deserves a medal.
While we are at it, the same can be said for Ralph Willis, John Anderson and Bob Debus.
We have to stop handing to medals to politicians as some kind of little extra reward for long service. Why are they getting medals for doing the job we are paying them to do anyway?
Continue reading "Gongs shouldn’t belong to this throng of nongs" »
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Tom says:
Every pollie deserves an award for putting up with the whinging whining Australia’s who are on display through this thread and yarn Read more »
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Rod says:
The only thing Liberal Politicians need is an audible Lie detector.. then we will always know exactly where they are Read more »
Ant Sharwood says: Karl strikes the right chord
Mornings are busy at my place. Brekky, early Punch work with the laptop, school lunches to make, whingey kids, the double dropoff, you name it. As you can imagine, there’s not a lot of time for brekky telly. In fact, it’s banned.
So obviously, I’m hardly the best person to judge Karl Stefanovic. I don’t think I’ve ever actually watched more than five minutes of Today. But just as most people judge politicians on fleeting impressions, Karl has always impressed me when he’s flickered across my radar.
I like Karl. He’s homey without being dumb. He’s intelligent without being a know-it-all. Tough balance to strike, that.
Continue reading "Karl Stefanovic: The good, the bad and the Logie" »
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The North Face Clearance says:
This design is steller! You certainly know how to keep a reader amused. Between your wit and your videos, I was almost moved to start my own blog (well, almost…HaHa!) Wonderful job. I really loved what you had to say, and more than that, how you presented it. Too cool! Read more »
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Septimus says:
What do you know, Karl’s an arse…who knew? Where’s the relative now? http://www.news.com.au/entertainment/celebrity/logie-star-karl-stefanovic-really-raised-the-bar-on-flight-to-the-royal-wedding/story-e6frfmqi-1226049474047 Read more »
Not planning on spending three hours of your life watching Ricky Gervais gamely work his way through his agonizing but compelling monologue, or realising Robert de Niro needs a script to sound intelligent?
Here’s a rundown of this year’s Golden Globes.
1. If there is one lesson to be gleaned from today’s glitz-fest it is this – smart girls get the bling.
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Mayday says:
Too true. In a general national sense the British tend to be self depreciating by nature whereas the Americans self appreciating. Read more »
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macca-d says:
Agreed. And what did they expect anyway….it’s Ricky Gervais! Read more »
Restaurant award season is finally over. But I’m wondering if anybody really cares outside those who won gongs from the Sydney Morning Good Food Guide this week, The Age version last week and Gourmet Traveller the week before.
Certainly, there has barely been a blip in the blogger or Twitter sphere.
Once again, the old-media appointed arbiters of taste have taken one for the team by eating the finest foods known to Aussies with the usual predictable conclusions: plenty of excellent but very very expensive restaurants in Sydney; only two of these in Melbourne plus lots of very good moderately priced restaurants; not much else in Australia. Forget Tasmania.
Continue reading "Restaurant awards are the nation’s silliest private party" »
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Vernon Brabazon says:
From my experience in journalism, I would suugest that if restaurants stopped giving freebies to journalists in order to encourage them to write about their menus, then there might a lot less written about such places. Read more »
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Stefano says:
tandah says: 09:17am | 10/09/09 IHamburger! Hamburger! - Australian’s say ‘hamburger’ not burgers! @ tandah Yo, bro, fries with that? Dude! Sides? How quickly is our language being ruined? Very quickly! Read more »
The Australian system of industrial awards and related legislation (the documents that set minimum conditions of employment) are perhaps the most complex in the world. Only the most dedicated students of industrial relations could possibly cope with trawling through these insanely confusing documents day after day.
The former Howard Coalition government knew that this was a problem for business, in particular small business. The confusing red tape that stops enterprise and workers from getting on with the job simply had to be cut back.
The Coalition decided that we would overhaul the complex system of awards, to reduce complexities and make things simple – we called it “award rationalisation”. Unsurprisingly, given Kevin Rudd’s “me too” agenda in the 2007 election, a similar proposal came from Labor – except they called it “award modernisation.”
Continue reading "No award for Gillard on her overhaul of awards" »
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Steve of Cornubia says:
Ok, so we have a small factory employing twenty people and the kindly Labour party wants the lowest paid, say the cleaner, to receive a pay rise to $18/hr. Fair enough, eh? However, now he/she is earning more than the guy who looks after the works van, so he’ll need… Read more »
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Ben says:
Contributing to the issue of small business viability is that many small business people are like hobby farmers. Often very successful people in their fields think owning their own little business will be a romantic experience and discover it to anything but often resulting in inadvertent industrial issues. If these… Read more »
The recent fiasco of Lou Richards rejecting an AFL lifetime achievement is evidence of a deeper cultural malaise.
The AFL is awards happy.
No major sporting competition in the world doles out more medals, trophies, plaques and back-slaps on a weekly, monthly, annual and perpetual basis.
Continue reading "It’s the YAY-FL, where every player wins a prize" »
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Mona says:
The NFL the about the same amount of trophies. Vince Lombardi Trophy Lamar Hunt Trophy George S. Halas Trophy Most Valuable Player Coach of the Year Offensive Player of the Year Defensive Player of the Year NFL Offensive Rookie of the Year Award NFL Defensive Rookie of the Year Award… Read more »
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bob says:
Please get your facts right if you are to be considered reputable as Lou already has a lifetime award but was rejected for a legend status due to his average playing record, and the “other athlete” would seem to be that minnow of the pool Stephanie Rice. Read more »
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