In writing this article I am indebted to an elderly friend who was cleaning out his family home in preparation for a move to a retirement village. He gave me a book published in 1944 written by an ex-Qantas employee named E.Bennett-Bremner. He wrote it as a dedication to Qantas staff who served in perilous areas in the dark days of 1941 and 1942 and who received little or no recognition because they were all civilians.
In recent years Qantas has fallen from grace in the public perception for a variety of reasons but I think it is true to say that top management no longer enjoys the support of the public or its staff that made it the icon that it once was although shareholders should be eternally grateful. On reading this book one is again filled with pride at the loyalty, dedication to duty and the service to Australia by the staff of our national airline
Albanese's Three-Pronged Attack to Take Your Land & Home: The Voice, RBA cash rate + ‘Shared Equity Scheme,' and Mass-Immigration.
“We have a unique but rapidly shrinking window of opportunity to learn lessons and reset ourselves on a more sustainable path… We have a golden opportunity to seize something good from this crisis. Its unprecedented shockwaves may well make people more receptive to big visions of change.” - King Charles III (then Prince Charles), June 2020Charles Stuart was born in London, UK, on May 29, 1630 and was the eldest surviving child of Charles I and his French spouse Henrietta Marie. Following the execution of Charles I by order of the British Parliament in 1649, Charles was proclaimed King Charles II. However, the British Isles were governed by the Rump Parliament, of which Oliver Cromwell was a member.
Charles sought to reclaim the kingdom but was defeated by Cromwell at the Battle of Worcester in 1651. Charles escaped to Europe and spent the following nine years in France, Holland, and Spain. In 1653, Cromwell dismissed the Rump Parliament and assumed control of the kingdom, which had previously been renamed as the English Commonwealth, as Lord Protector for life.
30 minutes of truth bombs’ is how one Twitter user described Liberal Democrat John Ruddick’s maiden speech to the New South Wales (NSW) Parliament, last Wednesday 28 June.
Indeed, Ruddick, who left the Liberal Party in 2021 after public disagreements over the Party’s handling of the pandemic response, said out loud in parliament what many Australians have been saying for some time now – at first privately, around dinner tables, but increasingly more publicly, over workplace water coolers or at the pub, as saying the obvious becomes more socially acceptable.
Read more: YouTube Censors Australian Politician’s Maiden Speech to Parliament
It was about 30 years ago when I was living in a tiny town in the Channel Country. It was a Sunday morning and I got a phone call from a hospital about 14 hours away. My daughter was in their care and suffering from a particularly nasty viral infection in her lungs. Could I perhaps come as soon as possible? She had Meningococcal pneumonia.
She was a young Nurse. A kind and caring young 18-year-old. In training.
Alone, so far from home.
As a Mum. I needed to be with her.
So I started my journey to do what I had to do: be with my daughter. Because that is what mothers do.
Up in the far north of Australia, at the pointy end, there are crocodiles. Little crocodiles, bigger crocodiles and bloody monster crocodiles, some reaching near thirty feet in length. I have seen them at all these sizes, in their environment, from Red Island Point up near the pointy bit of the Cape, down to Cairns, and of course, they are further south too, but my area of interest in those days, long ago, was from the pointy bit of the Cape to just south of Cairns
.Once upon a time, long, long ago, PP worked for a government department, in a job that required PP to visit and remain in indigenous communities for one week, back to the office for one week, then live in another indigenous community for one week, continuously, for well over a decade.
Humour is as old as humanity itself. I am not sure if our ancient ancestors, clad in loincloths and whipping up another batch of ochre for their cave paintings, found amusement in the absurdity of life. But they must, sure as faith, be having a laugh at us now as we launch from one accusation of racism to another. They must think it very amusing that we now rate our value as humans on how long we have lived in a country when, back in the day, no such thing as a country even existed.
We were all part of the same brew, just painted with a different dye.
But back to humour, the point of today's ramblings.
Read more: The Best Medicine on the Planet - Laughter. Is That Why it's Banned?
Independence Day, also known as the Fourth of July, is one of the most significant holidays in the United States.
It is a day filled with patriotic fervor, fireworks, parades, and barbecues, as Americans come together to commemorate the nation's independence. But what is the history behind this iconic celebration? I believe it is more. Much more than that.
The story of Independence Day begins on July 4, 1776, when the Second Continental Congress, comprised of delegates from the thirteen American colonies, adopted the Declaration of Independence.
Read more: The 4th of July - a Day that Means More than Fireworks, Fun and Festivities
Yes, let’s be honest. The days when the Italians, Greeks, Poles, Hungarians, Poms and Chinese all packed up and headed downunder or over yonder bear no resemblance to the current influx of migrants.
The 3 phases of population growth can be loosely tied down to the pre World War II, post WW2 and the here and now.
Society has changed and societal expectation has shifted from what ‘they can do for us ‘ to ‘what we can do for them.’
Read more: Settlers and Citizens, Immigrants and Invaders....... It is Time to be Honest
That was how speeches used to start many years ago.
I shudder to think how someone would even begin to speak today. The lunacy that has hijacked our world has become so bad that I often wonder how public figures commence a speech at all.
No one is brave enough to say what a woman is and people are afraid to announce that they have a boy or a girl. Having a son or daughter is no longer celebrated. In fact, I often wonder if the word " child " is next on the list of banned words.
People like me are so angry at what has happened to our world, and it seems that our governments are encouraging the downfall of everything we have worked towards.
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