Wednesday 12th October: A cold snap here in Tasmania and a South Westerly wind blowing in, seemingly direct from Antarctica. Not something that the inhabitants of Long Dry or Cloud would have to worry about!
Tuesday 13th October: Time to vote in our local elections and help choose a Mayor and five councillors. One of those standing is a ‘Duke’ of somewhere called Avram. Hmmm. I have met two Dukes but I wouldn’t have thought they would be interested in being a Mayor! John Wayne was nicknamed the Duke and I reckon he’d have made a good mayor for Sorell in the early nineteenth century when it was a little like the Wild West. With the shootings in Devonport last week and gunfire in Launceston last month perhaps Tasmania’s North still wants to be wild!
Sunday 23rd October: A couple of days now since Colonel Gaddafi met his end. It is amazing how naive either the world’s media or the so called ‘ international community’ (UN, governments, NATO etc.) or both are with regard to events in Libya and the entirely predictable if distasteful way in which the one time “Emporer of Africa” died. The almost fifty dictators ruling countries that are signatories of the UN charter and a bunch of international lawyers are really the only ones with a realistic complaint. Does anyone honestly believe that all societies are as equally ‘advanced’ in cultural and behavioral terms as each other? Look to the Balkan conflicts, London riots, ethnic cleansing in Africa etc. etc. and then tell me you were surprised at how events unfolded in Libya. Unlike Iraq, Libya’s war was a ‘civil’ war and I suspect that Gaddafi’s murder was ultimately more humane, in terms of a speedy demise, than that of Charles the First of England!
Tuesday 25th October: The vote in the UK’s House of Commons over the EU referendum issue raised an interesting ethical consideration regarding patriotism. At what stage does a representative of the people put his country before his party? No doubt many party members under communist regimes had to seriously consider the ethical nature of their role but most democracies operate under party systems where members of a Parliament or Congress are expected to toe the party line or suffer the (relatively mild) consequences.
Wednesday 26th October: Interesting that the French rugby team have been fined for approaching the Kiwi’s Haka during the World Cup Final. It could have been worse, one of the French team said they got close enough to kiss them. Imagine the mayhem….