The PR Blog

We all know how annoying those pesky telemarketers are. They cleverly conceal their Australian accents by pretending to be Philipino or Indian but they don't fool me. They are always named Kevin or Jimmy or Tiffany, but never Raj or Aanah. But, whoever they are and wherever they call home, one thing is for sure: we are heartily sick of hearing their voices on the end of the telephone and telling us that our internet is about to be cut off.

To be honest, I have been wondering if that is where Monty went wrong. Kevin or Jimmy rang and said that the internet was being cut off and Mont probably abused the well intentioned telemarketer and slammed the phone down. A few hours later, the phone and internet were gone. 

Last night I watched the 2007 movie “ The Last King of Scotland. “ At the beginning, there was the inevitable “inspired by true events” and what followed was a story that was certainly inspired but not necessarily by true events.

It was about a bloke called Idi Amin who was a brutal and crazy dictator ( true ) who ruled Uganda under a regime of tyranny and oppression ( true ) and ended when an Air France airplane carrying 250 passengers to Paris from Tel Aviv was hijacked by terrorists. The Israeli mission to rescue them, known as Operation Entebbe was also true but beyond that, it was a load of Hollywood stuff and nonsense.

“Zero emissions” requires no diesel, petrol or gas-fuelled cars, trucks, tractors or dozers and no burning of coal or gas for electricity generation. But without nuclear power or a massive increase in hydro-electricity, green energy will not support metal refining or manufacturing, and domestic electricity usage will be rationed. “Zero emissions” will also force closure of most cement plants, mechanised farms and feed lots and will demand nuclear or wind-powered submarines, destroyers and bulk carriers.

Among those who’ve watched the tragic and needless lockdowns unfold over the last 11 months, a frequent question has come up: what if the coronavirus had spread, but had never been diagnosed or detected? Would life have been any different absent the discovery of what has caused a massive global panic among politicians?

It’s not an unreasonable question. Really, ask yourself what politicians and nail-biting media members would have done 100 years ago if the virus had revealed itself. Since work was a destination for realistically everyone, there’s no way there could have been lockdowns. People would have revolted.

Back in the Great Depression when the Jarrow March took place, the unemployed workers of the closed shipyard in South Shields walked from the north of England to London to protest the loss of their jobs. their livelihoods and their ability to feed their families.

It was known as the Hunger March.

Today, as the Governments around the world close down coal mines, oil pipelines and people's ability to earn a living, I cannot help but wonder why we have hundreds of thousands globally being cast out of work while our governments invite millions in to feed off the taxpayer's teat. In other words, you and me.

Australia is being bled of jobs as are other nations around the world. This time around, will it take hunger marches to change things? Or will it, like Jarrow, mean nothing?