The Brotherhood Pretence



Some idiot got in the way. 

Doddery old fool.

They traded barbs in an invisible realm.

Meanwhile, the world was born anew everyday.

Old Alex went to the memorial service for Vittorio, the legendary viper tongued owner of The Piccolo who he had first encountered in 1967, 1968, as a young and somewhat precocious 15-year-old. He had celebrated his 16th birthday at the Piccolo.

Like so many others, the Piccolo formed a legendary spot in his own personal history, and a legendary spot in Sydney's bohemian history. There will never be another like him they said, but this time it was true.

Videos and images here: 

https://www.facebook.com/groups/1084090558358598

As for Australia and the election, nobody liked them, nobody believed them, and nobody even bothered talking about the crapola. Rubbish V Rubbish with a sideload of garbage, as his son put it.

A disengaged electorate is a dangerous electorate, because they don't fall for your lies anymore.

And the truth, that you the overlords have squandered every last opportunity presented to you while at the same time you betrayed and pillaged the very people you were meant to serve, it was all too difficult to bear. Much less acknowledge.


MAINSTREAM HEADLINES

SKY NEWS

Independent candidate Matthew Camenzuli, who is challenging for Mr Bowen’s set of McMahon, said the Energy Minister “must think people are ridiculously stupid” to not notice the staggering hike in power bills.

“I think it is ridiculous, Bowen must think people are ridiculously stupid, at the end of the day we can all see our power bills are going up and up and up and up,” he said on The World According to Rowan Dean.

“The more he is doing what he says he is going to do, the worse things seem to be getting.

“There doesn’t seem to be any light at the end of the tunnel except that of an oncoming train.”

GUARDIAN AUSTRALIA

Revealed: nearly 2m hectares of koala habitat bulldozed since 2011 – despite political promises to protect species

Guardian Australia is highlighting the plight of our endangered native species during an election campaign that is ignoring broken environment laws and rapidly declining ecosystems

ABC

Labor's Fiona Phillips is fighting to hold Gilmore against a renewed challenge from Liberal Andrew Constance.

With a well-backed Independent also in the race, preferences could once again decide the outcome.

What's next?

Attention will turn to shifting voter sentiment and whether preferences will tip the balance in one of the country's most marginal seats.

SBS

Australia's AUKUS deal — estimated to cost between $268 billion and $368 billion — is facing pressure as a United States senator says the country is "having trouble getting these ships and subs on time, on budget".

Under AUKUS, Australia is set to acquire three nuclear-powered Virginia-class submarines from the US in the early 2030s, before a new fleet of boats is built for delivery from the 2040s.

The deal lasts until 2075, and countries can cancel the contract with one year's notice.

NEWS

Watch out, Gout Gout.

In a stunning era for Australian sprinting, fellow Queenslander Lachlan Kennedy has set the second fastest time for the 100m in the country’s long athletics history on Friday night.

THE NEW DAILY

Neither tariff-driven cost blowouts nor the influence of controversial billionaire Elon Musk will blow up Australia’s nuclear submarine deal, Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has vowed.

It comes amid reports that a US lawmaker on a Senate armed services sub-committee has said more than a third of the steel and aluminium that went into ships and submarines came from partners, including the UK and Canada.

MACRO BUSINESS

Victoria’s budget drowns in bureaucratic waste

The expansion of Victoria’s public sector workforce is a major driver of the state’s mounting debt.


SPECTATOR AUSTRALIA

Poor white trash

We were warned our living standards would crash

The threat of becoming the ‘poor white trash of Asia’ no longer seems like averted fate. It feels like a creeping reality.

In contrast to Hawke’s economic summit, upon his election, Prime Minister Anthony Albanese convened a summit to gather support to reregulate the labour market thus signalling a reversal of 30 years of productivity-enhancing reform. Albanese then intensified the efforts begun under Howard to destroy Australia’s massive comparative advantage in cheap energy by replacing reliable coal-fired power stations with ineffectual and unreliable intermittent energy. The result was a massive increase in Australia’s energy costs, culminating in a more than 8-per-cent fall in living standards since the election of the Albanese government.

CRIKEY

Grifters or true believers: Will minor right-wing parties surge this election?

Pollsters don’t give right-wing grifters much of a chance in this upcoming election. But with major party support reaching all time lows, is the moment ripe for a right-wing boost?


THE NIGHTLY


Anthony Albanese has revealed he trusts Donald Trump but has also warned the US President his pro-fossil fuels policies and foreign aid cuts will affect American influence in the Indo-Pacific region.

Mr Albanese also said it was important to remind the US President, who campaigned to “drill, baby, drill” that climate change remained the “entry fee” to the Indo-Pacific in an era of strategic competition.

“I am concerned as well about climate change policy,” he said.

“Taking climate change seriously is an entry fee to influence in the Indo Pacific.”

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