Wednesday, July 02, 2025

In which there's news of a feud, Dame Slap is above the faraway tree again, and then it's off to Glastonbury with troubled young thing Zoe...


A couple of 'better late than never' notes on matters which previously crossed the pond's mind.

This in relation to EVs and why the Chinese are eating the lunch of car manufacturers around the world, most notably the United States, deep in the grip of a luddite who can marvel at the way there's a computer in the car: Ford's CEO says China's EV progress is 'the most humbling thing' he's ever seen

  • The CEO of Ford has said China's EVs are "far superior" to what the West has to offer.
  • "It's the most humbling thing I have ever seen," Jim Farley said at the Aspen Ideas Festival.
  • Farley praised Xiaomi's maiden electric vehicle, the SU7, last year after testing it.

And so on and on at the link, and so to Robert Kennedy, a prize loon, a sign of the times in another area where the United States is now deep in loser territory...


Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. gave a rambling interview on The Tucker Carlson Show Monday, going deep into anti-vaccine rhetoric, accusing Anthony Fauci of “creating” COVID-19, and admitting that the Trump’s trade wars are “hurting” people and businesses.
Kennedy suggested that former President Joe Biden preemptively pardoned Fauci—who led the government response to the COVID-19 pandemic as the director of National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID)—because “he had a lot of liability on creating coronavirus.”
Pushing the unproven theory that the virus leaked from a lab in Wuhan, China, Kennedy pointed out that the facility had received funds from NIAID. But when Carlson asked what the rationale would be for engineering such a deadly virus in a foreign lab, the health secretary had no answer.

And so on and on at the link, which also provided a link (*archive) to this yarn...

Barking mad, but that's the new United States  ... 

And so to note Media Watch on the Lattouf matter, Journalist Antoinette Lattouf has won her blockbuster legal showdown, so what does it mean for trust in your ABC?

In fact, the ham-fisted sacking of the radio presenter was spurred by news of an imminent article in The Australian about Lattouf’s comments on the conflict
and the dread of external criticism: 
… Mr Oliver-Taylor sought to mitigate the anticipated deluge of complaints and criticism of the ABC … 
… the decision was made to appease the pro-Israel lobbyists who would inevitably escalate their complaints about the ABC employing a presenter they perceived to have anti-Semitic and anti-Israel opinions … 
- Justice Darryl Rangiah, Federal Court of Australia, Lattouf v Australian Broadcasting Corporation, Judgment, 25 June 2025

And so on and on at the link, and who were the Australian Zionist Daily News doing their work for?Why, it was a particularly nasty, virulent and vindictive Zionist lobby.

And who were the pro-Israel lobbyists who had access to the ear of ABC upper management, while ordinary Australians can only make a complaint online?

Michael Bradley wondered in Crikey in The identities of pro-Israel lobbists in Lattouf vs ABC are suppressed for 10 years. Why?, Though inherently controversial, suppression orders are a common feature of court proceedings — often appropriately applied, and sometimes too freely. (*archive link)

While at Crikey, see the keen Keane's Gaza protesters cop a beating while criminals run increasingly rampant: It’s Chris Minns’ NSW, In NSW, violent crime and especially crime against women is surging — but the Minns government appears more interested in cracking down on pro-Palestine protests (*archive link)

Here, have a Golding to celebrate ...



Oh and apparently it was the hottest Wimbledon opening day since records began. (Not to mention Italy limits outdoor work as heatwave breaks records across Europe).

Stand by for the dog botherer to comb back through the past to discover that the air was was like a furnace and the heat doth make players weary back in 1519 when Henry VIII showed his skill at Royal Tennis, thereby proving nothing had changed since then ... and climate science? Why, 'tis but a religious cult... 

As explained by Dorothea McKellar's immensely popular Renaissance ballad, which begins "I love a sunburnt king, his beauty and his terror, the wide brown mango leader for me".

Oh and as a further bonus, Leon and King Donald have resumed their grudge match. Talk about being caught between a rock and a hard place for the elephants ... but the pond backs the fascist over the ketamine-fuelled fool. Always go the fascist over the oligarch, see Vlad the sociopath.

Well that was a long preamble, full of links intended to distract, on the basis that others might find the hive mind as troublesome, irksome and wearisome as the pond does.

Back to the pond's core business, and what are the vindictive and nasty reptiles up to this day?



There you go, pretty much as expected, a splash bashing cardigan wearers, two stories bashing renewables, and at the very bottom, a story beating up the proposed super changes yet again.

Oh and there was a note about the "bomb cyclone" currently happening, something of a reversal, what with the reptiles' previous ploy having been to disparage the use of the term (any hint of climate change in action is too shocking for a reptile to bear).

Over on the extreme far right there was the usual motley mob, with Dame Slap on top of the digital world ma...



Groan, not Glastonbury again, and apparently the crowds the pond keeps seeing on BBC music clips are joyless and lefties, the bloody lot of 'em...

Given those options, the pond decided on another delaying tactic, and to do what it rarely does, dive into a reptile news story, but only because it came via the WSJ and only because it was about that feud:



Besides, Meridith McGraw's effort was rated as only a three minute read by the reptiles, under the Oz header The Trump-Musk feud reignites over Republicans’ megabill, Musk pledged to start a new political party and Trump threatened to punish his former ally’s companies as the President’s ‘Big Beautiful Bill’ narrowly passed the Senate.

The reptiles were so pleased they began with an AV distraction: The feud is back on. Billionaire Elon Musk threatened to create his own political party, and President Trump fired back.

The pond loves the smell of feuding fascists in the morning...

The feud between President Trump and billionaire Elon Musk reignited this week, with the billionaire Tesla CEO attacking Republicans’ “big, beautiful bill” and pledging to start a new political party, and Trump threatening to use the power of the federal government to punish his former adviser.
Shortly before the Senate narrowly passed Trump’s signature legislation, Musk, in a volley of social-media posts, argued the bill was fiscally irresponsible and said he would back primary challenges to Republican lawmakers who supported the legislation.
“Every member of Congress who campaigned on reducing government spending and then immediately voted for the biggest debt increase in history should hang their head in shame!” Musk wrote on X, his social-media platform, on Monday. “And they will lose their primary next year if it is the last thing I do on this Earth.” Later, he said that if the legislation passes, he would form a new political party, called the America Party, “so that the people actually have a VOICE.”

Okay, the pond will freely concede it's not as fruity as the puppy killer yarn Kristi Noem Says Cannibal At Himself on ICE Deportation Flight (that's an *archive link), but it did give the reptiles a chance to feature another AV distraction,  Sky News contributor Kristin Tate discusses Elon Musk forming a new political party if Trump’s bill passes through the Senate. “Elon Musk isn’t going to get any support from leftists,” Ms Tate told Sky News host Danica De Giorgio. “Democrats in this country can’t stand him, so Musk would be better off trying to sort of shape and influence the Republican Party from the outside.”



It was a bigly feud with many caps:

Trump, early Tuesday morning, hit back at Musk, who for months led the administration’s Department of Government Efficiency cost-cutting effort. The president, writing on Truth Social, raised the prospect that he could eliminate contracts and other benefits that the federal government gives to Musk’s companies.
“No more Rocket launches, Satellites, or Electric Car Production, and our Country would save a FORTUNE. Perhaps we should have DOGE take a good, hard, look at this?” Trump wrote. “BIG MONEY TO BE SAVED!!!”
Speaking to reporters on Tuesday morning, Trump said he might take a look at deporting Musk, who was born in South Africa. And he threatened to use DOGE to look into federal subsidies for Musk’s companies. “We might have to put DOGE on Elon. You know what DOGE is? DOGE is the monster that might have to go back and eat Elon,” Trump said.

In the spirit of an ABC finance report, Leon provided a graph...



Fancy Elizabeth Warren agreeing with Leon, as the WSJ outing  carried on...

Trump argued that Musk is “very upset” about the legislation because it ends federal subsidies for electric vehicles such as those made by Tesla. Musk has said his opposition to the legislation centers on its overall cost, not the electric-vehicle subsidies.
Responding to Trump’s threats to punish his companies and consider deporting him, Musk wrote on social media on Tuesday morning, “So tempting to escalate this. So, so tempting. But I will refrain for now.” Tesla shares fell in morning trading following the back-and-forth between Trump and Musk.
Later, Trump reiterated his threat against his former ally, telling reporters: “I think what’s going to happen is Doge is going to look at Musk, and if Doge looks at Musk we’re going to save a fortune.” He added: “I don’t think he should be playing that game with me.”
The Senate passed the bill early on Wednesday (AEST) after a mammoth 24-hour “vote-a-rama” by just 51 votes to 50, after JD Vance cast a tie-breaker vote.
Republican leaders had struggled to corral support, as Democrats offered dozens of challenges to the most divisive aspects of the package.
Senate Majority Leader John Thune was able to turn around two moderates considering siding with Democrats, to deliver a 50-50 vote, with the Vice President breaking the tie.
The sprawling text now heads to the House of Representatives, where it faces unified Democratic opposition and multiple Republicans baulking at slashed health care and food aid programs for poor Americans.
The exchange of words between Musk and Trump is the latest twist in a tumultuous relationship between the two powerful men. A political union that began as a bromance took a turn after Musk left his role as the head of DOGE in late May and ramped up his criticism of the legislation. The attacks grew personal in early June when Musk suggested that Trump should be impeached, argued that the president’s tariffs would trigger a recession and sought to tie Trump to convicted sex-trafficker Jeffrey Epstein.

Then came a final joyous moment of delirium, of what had been but would never be again, of belly buttons in the air, Trump and Musk's unlikely political marriage exploded in a fiery public divorce in June. Picture: AFP



And so to a final gobbet, a performing last rites...

The president shot back that Musk “went CRAZY” and suggested that he is suffering from “Trump derangement syndrome.”
Since then, the two have had little contact. And Musk, who spent roughly $300 million to get Trump elected to the White House, is now looking for ways to support Republicans who have defied the president by voting against the bill.
Musk wrote on X that he would support Rep. Thomas Massie, the Kentucky Republican who infuriated Trump by opposing the GOP megabill. Trump’s political advisers are discussing backing a primary challenger to Massie.
Trump told reporters upon arriving in Florida he isn’t concerned that members of Congress will be swayed by Musk and his money.
“I think what’s going to happen is DOGE is going to look at Musk, and if DOGE looks at Musk, we’re going to save a fortune,” Trump said. “I don’t think he should be playing that game with me.”
Wall Street Journal

Here, have a Golding to celebrate ...




And so back to domestic reptile business with Dame Slap, briefly top of the reptile digital world ma...



The pond is always iffy about attending Dame Slap's school above the faraway tree - so much scolding and smacking - but when she's scolding and smacking Liberal womyn, what's not to love?

The valiant fight for Angus, the beefy boofhead from down Goulburn way in the header: Forget quotas, it’s mediocrity that’s killing the Liberals, If the Left can’t point to an emoting female leader who won a few elections in a row, why would the conservatives think one will work for them? An Australian version of Ardern? No thanks.

A slap for Susssan in the caption: So-called moderates inside the Liberal Party, including new leader Sussan Ley, are eager to think that a gender face lift will make the Liberals great again. Picture: NewsWire / Martin Ollman

A helpful hint if you can't find the faraway tree: This article contains features which are only available in the web version, Take me there

So to the smacking, which headed towards a severe spanking for anyone in search of a hug...

If embracing gender quotas will solve the woes facing the Liberal Party right now, then get moving. Draw up the quota policy today, please. If that’s what it takes to defeat the Albanese government – and bonus, toss out teal MPs in inner-city seats – there’s not a minute to waste.
Welcome to another round of the Liberals-must-have-quotas. So-called progressives – inside and outside the Liberal Party – are nothing if not opportunistic and shallow. The ABC has shifted gears from its usual breathless activism about gender quotas to orgiastic. The Labor government is excited to have the conservatives distracted by another interminable gender debate. And the so-called moderates inside the Liberal Party, including new leader Sussan Ley, are eager to think that a gender face lift will make the Liberals great again.

It's great, because this grating will likely ensure a long sojourn in the wilderness, as the reptiles insist on the Libs attending to Sky Noise down under for lessons from Danica, Sky News host Danica De Giorgio has torched the Liberal Party going “woke” with their proposition to implement gender quotas. Opposition Leader Sussan Ley has claimed she would consider a quota system to solve the gender equity issue in the party. “It is a victim narrative,” Ms De Giorgio said. “Quit the identity politics crap or go left.”



The pond notes the use of "woke" and will in due course fulfil its contractual obligations in relation to the word, but for the moment must press on with Dame Slap's scalding scolding...

Alas, gender quotas are a shallow prescription for a much deeper problem. The Liberals are irrelevant today because they are mediocre. It’s that simple. Mediocre policies. Mediocre team. Mediocrity through and through. The mediocre don’t recognise they’re mediocre, of course. So, when Liberals say they are committed to a merit-based selection process, whether overlaid with a gender filter or not, what they are really promising is more people like them. A quality candidate might risk showing them up.
The problem with applying a gender quota is that, in one fell swoop, the party will draw from an even more shallow pool of mediocre people who just happen to be women.
The Labor Party celebrated 30 years of affirmative action last year, but notice a man is leading the federal Labor government. The last woman to lead Labor federally – Julia Gillard – is best known for calling her male Liberal opponent, Tony Abbott, a misogynist. The sisterhood loved it, but Labor hardheads haven’t raced to test another female leader on the electorate.
Don’t believe the tosh from female politicians who don’t succeed that voters have something against a female leader. The reason is closer to what Timothy Lynch wrote last November: “The progressive faith in gender before talent has given us women who just aren’t very good and/or aren’t very popular.” Think Hillary Clinton. Think Kamala Harris, whose combined double dose of identity politics – namely race and gender – translated into her securing fewer female votes than that old white bloke, Joe Biden, did.

Think? Not while Dame Slap runs through routines that seemingly never get old in the hive mind, Former US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton speaks at the Democratic National Convention.



Dame Slap carried on with her heroes, men of course, except for that foolish Malware fop...

Abbott won a landslide election victory in 2013. Scott Morrison won the 2019 election. Neither bloke was regarded by the political pundits as attractive to female voters. In the middle was Malcolm Turnbull, allegedly the dream candidate for female voters – who took the party backwards at the 2016 election.

Speaking of the onion muncher, did anyone see that Crikey yarn about what he's done for the Liberals of late, much like Dame Slap is doing here?

Charlie Lewis put it together under the header Tony Abbott loves to fail — and it keeps impacting politics, He’s had a shocker, frankly. An absolute mare. (*archive link)

Sometimes the symbolism in a situation is so prominent, so unavoidable, it feels downright needy. Per Guardian Australia, right-wing lobbyist group Advance is courting donations “from deceased estates with the blessing of former prime minister Tony Abbott as part of its latest efforts to fundraise for its campaign war chest”.

Charlie listed so much winning...

  • Failing to make Peter Dutton prime minister
  • Failing to push Angus Taylor and Jacinta Nampijinpa Price into Liberal Party leadership
  • Failing to stop the NSW abortion bill
  • Failing to make the NSW takeover committee

But he did agree there might be one really big win ...

Winning on quotas?
As a part of her whole “make the Liberal Party electable again” thing, Sussan Ley declared this week that she will be a “zealot” for recruiting more women to the Liberal Party.
She stopped short of using the “Q” word, but plenty of people — Abbott included — were happy to blast the word anyway. Abbott appeared on the ABC this week to (shockingly, just shockingly) concede that he is “very much opposed to quotas”, adding that they are “contrary to the merit and what should be at the heart of our Liberal conservative philosophy”.
The entrenchment of a disproportionately male representation (and the resultant electoral cost) has to count, so far, as a success for Abbott. We will watch with interest if this holds.

It's holding Charlie, it's holding, Dame Slap is in the trenches with the onion muncher, fighting dangerous womyn at every step. 

They'll have to prise quotas from her cold, clammy dead hands...

Falling into the Left’s trap of seeing everything – especially the last election – through the prism of gender won’t help the Liberals win back government. It will distract them. It also insults female voters.
It’s true that certain demographics of female voters – young women and university-educated women – are, right now, more inclined to vote for so-called progressive parties or candidates. But it would be a mistake to think that female voters will naturally be left-leaning voters forever more. Female voters were once more inclined than men to vote for conservatives. The pendulum could swing back again.
A few blackouts, skyrocketing energy prices, higher taxes to fund spiralling debt might change the voting pattern of even the most ardent teal-voting women of a certain age. As the facts change, intelligent people – including women – may change their minds about who to vote for. A more volatile electorate can work in different directions.
We’re told that introducing a gender quota is little different to other factors that already sideline merit. Factional issues, for example; geographical ones, too. So, what’s the big deal having one more priority – gender – overlaying merit? Oh, but it is a big deal.

How could the reptiles resist a snap of Kamala Harris?



They couldn't and it kept Dame Slap in a rage of womyn fear and loathing...

Every factor that comes ahead of merit guarantees more weak candidates and more lacklustre policies. The Liberals already have plenty of male politicians who are not very good and/or not very popular. Instead of institutionalising gender-balanced mediocrity, the Liberal Party ought to be trying to get rid of factors that shift merit into second, third or fourth place.
When politics was less fractured, John Howard’s Liberal government attracted a primary vote of 47.3 per cent in 1996. That dipped to 31.8 per cent at the May election. When a party can’t rely on tribal loyalty any more – that has gone out the window as politics has fissured – then it’s going to take a stronger Liberal Party machine, along with policies and people far better than their Labor counterparts, to win government.
We ended up with an Elmer Fudd character, to quote Australia’s most famous former street sweeper, Shaun Turner, running the country because, in an age of hyper-professionalism, the Liberal Party is a horse-and-buggy outfit of amateurs and part-timers, bereft of resources. The ALP, by contrast, has now assembled a huge, modern professional organisation with vast financial and human resources.
The closest analogy is that of a third division side playing Manchester United in the FA Cup final. Once in a blue moon the amateurs might win, but under normal programming the behemoth should cruise to victory.
The disparity in resources has been a long time building and has many causes. One obvious factor is the symbiotic relationship between the ALP and the unions, and the naked quid pro quo each delivers the other. The ALP has taken innumerable policy decisions that have enriched the unions, from mandating the role of union-dominated industry superannuation funds to industrial relations laws that protect union roles and privilege.
For example, for years the ALP rode shotgun while the CFMEU amassed what we now know, thanks to a KordaMentha forensic examination, to be simply outlandish riches. The ALP fought the Australian Building and Construction Commission at every turn while the CFMEU gathered some $310m in assets.
In return, the unions deliver not only cash for campaign expenses but workers to man polling booths, jobs for politicians out of work between elections and retirement sinecures on the boards of industry super funds. Being a union-backed ALP politician is a lifelong gravy train of sinecures and preferment opportunities.

Don't expect any response from the pond, because all the pond can do is roll around in pleasure, as the reptiles offered a visual contrast, Jacinda Ardern, Margaret Thatcher





How Dame Slap hates all that touchy feely huggy muck, how she loves a woman who can really fuck a country in style, so much so that little England still hasn't recovered...

For Liberal politicians, let alone Liberals seeking preselection or preselected candidates, there is no cushy income protection. Tim Wilson, who knocked off a female teal MP by running his own campaign, won back Goldstein because he attracted backers who staked him. Roanne Knox in the Sydney seat of Wentworth and Tom White in Curtin in Perth put their business careers on unpaid hold while they campaigned and now have no party-sponsored fallback. Both are quality candidates who would have immediately taken the Liberal Party, and its policies, up a notch in firepower.
How the Liberal Party can build a permanent funding source, permanent job infrastructures and permanent support networks is a big topic. Until the conservatives try to address those fundamental weaknesses, its contest with the ALP is AFC Richmond v Manchester United.
It’s understandable that the Liberals chose a female leader after the May election loss to try to rebrand the party. It was slim pickings, after all. But playing the gender card will likely backfire on Ley. Her early routine, veering from folksy I-feel-your-pain feminist to hectoring head girl, is insulting to women who are searching for something deeper than matching chromosomes. Ley should be zealous about finding sensible policies not on offer from the Left. Why would voters vote Labor-lite when they can get the full-cream version from Mr Fudd? If the Left can’t point to an emoting female leader who won a few elections in a row, why would the conservatives think one will work for them? An Australian version of Jacinda Ardern? No thanks. Let’s raise the bar. We might just get an Aussie Maggie Thatcher.

Sorry, Susssan, you'll probably do better than a lettuce, but by how much?

What a shame, especially as the bull was standing by to help out ...



Elbows up Canada, as with a sob the pond turned to bitching about Glastonbury with a sigh and a sob ...



The header: Glastonbury is just the latest front in joyless Left’s culture war, Even before Covid, the arts were being quietly taken over by the most joyless enforcers of the woke Left who drained everything of its fun and libertine spirit.
The caption: Glastonbury, supposed haven of peace and euphoria, has become the stage for death chants and terror flags.
The mystical injunction: This article contains features which are only available in the web version, Take me there

Of course the pond noted the use of "woke" in the header. 

How could the pond not? 

And so the pond immediately had to fulfil its contractual obligation to the word, for its previous use, and for the uses to follow...



Duty done, the pond could turn to fuckhead Zoe, tragically old before her time ...

One of my most vivid memories of a music festival is Australia Day, 2011. I was 16, surrounded by sweaty, chemically enhanced bodies in the Boiler Room at Sydney’s Big Day Out. I’d taken the Greyhound two hours from Newcastle and blown most of my hard-earned waitress wages on a $200 ticket and a wildly impractical outfit that consisted of short shorts and a bikini top. I can still hear my dad’s voice, his typical humour ringing through: “where’s the rest of that?”
There I was, a teenager thrilled to be playing adult, with no parents, no teachers, just music, noise and freedom. Raving to South African hip-hop duo Die Antwoord, whose transgressive style and trash-glam aesthetic mirrored South Africa’s version of our bogans. Yet despite being proud Afrikaners, no one suggested their show be boycotted or cancelled for being white “settler colonialists”.
No one mentioned apartheid or genocide, and no flags were waved, aside from the Australian flag, which often was draped around the sunburnt shoulders of a drunk girl or tattooed on to the chest of a burly bloke.
These days I’m still wearing short shorts but little else remains the same. The Australian flags are gone; you’re likelier to see a Palestinian one, but more on that later.

On the upside, this opener gave the reptiles a chance to sate the appetite of their aged demographic, always up for a look at vulgar youff prancing about, Big Day Out, like so many festivals, has folded.



How could the pond shrink that goodly image? She's a patriot, feel the vibe...

Back to poor Zoe, in the depths of despair ...

Gone are the days of doing anything remotely fun or celebratory on January 26. In fact, gone are many festivals in general. While demand was so high that in 2011 the organisers added another show on January 27, by 2014 ticket sales had tanked and Big Day Out, like many festivals, folded. Then came the Covid pandemic, which gutted live music and the arts.
But something deeper has shifted. Even before Covid, the arts quietly were being taken over by the most joyless enforcers of the woke Left who drained everything of its fun and libertine spirit.
Take Glastonbury. Last week marked its 55th year. The festival’s founder, farmer Michael Eavis, launched it in 1970 with £1 tickets and free milk for festivalgoers. He chose Worthy Farm at Pilton – his family’s working dairy farm – as the venue, saying at the time: “There’s a kind of euphoria down here. It’s away from the awful realities of life. It’s a nice place.”
I doubt he imagined that, 55 years later, this supposed haven of peace and euphoria would become the stage for death chants and terror flags. But that’s exactly what happened.
Last weekend, punk rap duo Bob Vylan led the crowd in a chant of “Death to the IDF”. It was followed by Kneecap, a Northern Irish rap trio named after an IRA torture tactic and known for peppering its sets with anti-Israel slogans. One of Kneecap’s members recently was charged with a terror offence after waving the Hezbollah flag on stage and shouting “Up Hamas, up Hezbollah”. I can only imagine how Haim – a delightful pop trio of Jewish sisters with an Israeli father – must have felt performing alongside them.
Apologists for this reprehensible and deeply un-fun behaviour will try to tell you it’s simply about criticising Israel’s military, but don’t let them fool you; they don’t just mean the IDF. They mean Zionists: Israelis and Jews. After Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, we saw some Ukrainian flags in the crowd but no acts shouting “Death to Russia” or “Death to the Russian army”.

Stay true, Zoe, and BTW did you see that story in Haaretz?: 

'Unelected Clerics': Netanyahu's Son Compares Israel's Judiciary to Iran's Ayatollah Regime in Fringe Interview, In an interview, Yair Netanyahu promoted deep state conspiracies, comparing Israeli Supreme Court justices to a system backed by left-wing elites seeking to 'dismantle Zionism.' He claimed, 'Israel's governing system is very similar to the Iranian model'

Deeply weird, Zoe, and what an inspiration for you, as you flinch from Jeremy Corbyn, left, and Glastonbury organiser Michael Eavis appear onstage in 2017.



It seems the prematurely aged and completely joyless Zoe is at odds with all y'artz...

Right now Glastonbury is in the spotlight but soon it will fade – replaced, no doubt, by the next controversy. And judging by the current trajectory, it’ll likely be another one where Jews are made to fear for their physical safety.
We know this isn’t new. The arts have been festering in their own ideological swamp for years. Fahad Ali – yes, the one under police investigation for tweeting “F. k sanctions, I want Zionists executed like we executed Nazis” – also was behind the 2022 Sydney Festival boycott. The crime? A $20,000 sponsorship from the Israeli embassy. He and the Palestine Justice Movement Sydney claimed, among other absurdities, that the donation made the festival unsafe for Arab and Palestinian artists.
After witnessing musicians shouting for death on stage, this looks even more ridiculous now. But as a result of their woke tantrum, more than 100 artists pulled out, 10 per cent of the program vanished and the festival banned all future foreign government sponsorship. So much for claims that the arts are underfunded. I guess these Israelophobes would prefer no art to art made with the help of dirty Israeli money.
It’s not only music and theatre. After a humble trivia night at our local pub, my fiance ended up on Sky News after we were threatened by a woke wannabe comedian turned trivia host. The moment he strutted out in a Bernie Sanders T-shirt and started ranting about everything from Elon Musk to Israel, we knew any hope of levity was gone. To make an unfunny night even worse, this Israel-obsessed trivia host took to Instagram to mock my fiance about losing family in the Holocaust.

It wouldn't be a reptile bit about music would it, without lovely Rita, meter maid, turning up ... Sky News host Rita Panahi says Glastonbury has come to symbolise just how “hateful and divorced from reality” the left has become. British rapper Bobby Vylan – whose real name is Pascal Robinson-Foster – of punk duo Bob Vylan, led chants of “death, death to the IDF” at the Glastonbury music festival over the weekend. The Israeli embassy in the UK said it was “deeply disturbed” by the chanting on stage at the festival, which has been widely condemned by artists and global leaders alike.



And so to Zoe attempting to match our Henry with Roman references ...

Since October 7, even Nazeem Hussain, one of Australia’s best-known Muslim comedians, has pivoted from jokes to lectures about white Australia and Israel.
Historically, Jews have funded and shaped the arts. Without Jewish artists such as Leonard Bernstein, George Gershwin, Steven Spielberg, Franz Kafka and Philip Roth, we wouldn’t have the cultural backbone of modern Western art.
Jewish Australians have done the same here. Despite making up just 0.46 per cent of the population, they have contributed hundreds of millions to the arts. Frank Lowy alone has given more than $350m. Marc and Eva Besen founded the TarraWarra Museum of Art. Jeanne Pratt backed Monash’s theatre program. John Gandel funded Museums Victoria. Naomi Milgrom gave Melbourne its MPavilions. These are the names behind the National Gallery of Victoria, the Melbourne Theatre Company and more.
The Romans understood that shared public spectacles – festivals, games – built social cohesion. Events such as the Ludi Romani or Saturnalia brought everyone together across class and creed. But as Rome declined, so did Romanitas, the civic pride of being Roman.
Today, the West feels much the same: drained, brittle, ashamed of itself. What once brought us together has become yet another front in the culture war.
Zoe Booth is a content director at Quillette.

Says a mindless culture war warrior, deep in the trenches for mass starvation and ethnic cleansing and never mind Twelve days in Gaza:what happened while the world looked away?

At this point the pond thought of providing a link to BBC Music on YouTube, which has been featuring a lot of Glastonbury material, on the basis that it would piss Zoe off.

But then the pond decided to really piss off Zoe, and possibly the world, by featuring a soppy, sentimental Lewis Capaldi at Glastonbury ...


 


And they say mournful power ballads are dead while the joyless leftie crowd sobs their woke tears.

You'll survive Zoe, and thank you for reminding the pond why Quillette is completely off the pond's reading list.

And so to wrap up the day with an immortal Rowe ...



Why it's just like the weather in Sydney, perhaps an explanation, perhaps even the cause of it ...



Wait, this just breaking, this just in ...

Thanks to the Orange Orangutang's spouse, the pond is shortly getting the hell out of here.

By way of email came this splendid news...

Mrs Melania Trump
YOUR FUND

Oh poop, oh joy, oh bliss ...

This message is being sent to you by the United State of America representatives. If you receive this email in your spam/junk folder mail then move it to your inbox mail before responding to me so I will be able to receive your email.
This message is coming to you from Mrs. Melania Trump. I am writing to inform you about your Bank Check Draft brought by the United Embassy from the government of Benin Republic to the white House Washington DC and has been mandated to be delivered to your address as soon as you get back to me with your below information.
Home address:..................
City:...................................
Phone number...................
Your check contains the sum of $60 million USD.
Send a direct text to me on the phone but do not call because I'm always busy and won't have any time to answer your call. send text message to xxx   or WhatsApp message to WhatsApp number which is xxxx  send your full information to my private email which is  xxx

Well you couldn't expect the pond to relay the details before the pond has cashed in ...

I will be waiting to hear from you with your full information immediately you receive this good news, thanks and God bless you. Remember to move this message to your inbox mail before you can respond to my email address which is xxxso I can be able to receive your email
Remain Blessed,
Email:  xxx
Yours faithfully
Her. Excellency Mrs. Melania Trump.

Blessed, the pond has been blessed by Mrs Melania, and who could blame a grifter and snake oil salesman for attempting a con job, when the grifter in chief himself is showing the way?




Tuesday, July 01, 2025

In which the bromancer, Dame Groan, Mein Gott and the Lynch mob take to the stage for a reptile gig ...


The pond confesses that Kneecap and Bob Vylan had passed the pond by, and their escapades at Glastonbury had eluded the pond until a cluck-clucking and tut-tutting by James O'Brien hovered into view on YouTube and he offered an analysis, which, inter alia, wondered why some people appear “more offended by a rapper than by what's happening in Gaza.”

The pond knew immediately that "some people" would include the Australian Zionist Daily News, the  reptiles in the hive mind at the lizard Oz, and sure enough ...



The performers, in a bid for notoriety, had also attracted the attention of the Lynch mob, and he was in the mood for a lynching, and to hell with the killing field in Gaza ...

The pond should make an honourable mention of Ben, still packing the heat, albeit way down the bottom: 

EXCLUSIVE
Albanese ‘blowing up our defence hopes’
By Ben Packham

Sorry Ben, the pond issure it's an astonishing EXCLUSIVE, but when the pond looked over to the extreme far right, the pond knew what had to be done...




Some might wonder at the pond's excessive, almost uxorious devotion to the bromancer, but he was top of the digital world ma, however briefly, and the pond just had to know what he thought of the New York mayor race ...

No point wondering, as if the pond couldn't guess the complete predictability of a man who could swallow human flesh and sip on human blood,  so the pond dived in...



You might think that the header contains a slur about King Donald, a combative extremist making wild, extremist promises: Democrats not immune to Trump-style populism, If Zohran Mamdani wins the New York mayoralty, he’ll demonstrate one effective Democrat response to Trump: be equally combative and make wild, unrealistic promises. But having extremists dominate politics is terrible for America.

But search the text and you'll find absolutely minimal attention to King Donald,  with the bromancer a tremendously skilled elider, while the opening image provides conclusive proof of Mamdani's extremism: Zohran Mamdani takes part in the 2025 NYC Pride March.

Eek, he's off with the gays, which is worse than the pixies to the lizard Oz hive mind.

Now to be fair the pond's idea of New York mayors mainly comes from the movies, such as the original and infinitely better, Taking of Pelham One Two Three,  (Gesundheit!) with other contenders fitting the stereotype admirably - Adams, deeply mired in corruption and an obsession with rats, and Cuomo, deeply mired in Covid incompetence and offfensive sexual behaviour - not to forget Rudy, who's alleged war on crime degenerated into living the life of a disbarred wannabe populist drunk ... 

But the bromancer wanted to do a slam dunk, and so he was quickly off to the bigoted races...

The conventional wisdom is that Donald Trump’s election victory last year, in which he won, for the first time, the popular vote as well as the Electoral College, was a signal of profound change in America’s political culture. I’m not saying I entirely endorse the conventional wisdom but here it is: Trump’s victory means a turn to the right by the US electorate and a turn against the left.
We passed Peak Woke. The Politically Correct were in retreat. Muscular nationalism would replace limp liberal internationalism. Tariffs were in, globalisation out. Energy independence in, climate change actions out. Drill, baby, drill! As well as winning the white working class, Trump did better with racial minorities than previous Republican presidential candidates. His support surged especially among young men of minority racial backgrounds. Trump didn’t win a majority of these voters, but he won a bigger minority of them than previous Republicans.
He stole a demographic Democrats thought they owned. Trump also represented regular fellas, Joe six-pack, left behind by liberal elites.
The next step in this analysis is that to recover electorally, Democrats will move to the centre. We’ve seen this movie before. Ron­ald Reagan established conservative hegemony and the Democrats eventually got the White House back only when they chose a southern conservative, Bill Clinton. As Arkansas governor, Clinton was an enforcer of the death penalty and a proclaimer that “the era of big government is over”.

It's already clear where the bro is heading with this one, only briefly halted by a snap of the Cantaloupe Caligula, flanked by the usual servile minions, lackeys and flunkies, President Donald Trump speaks in the Oval Office at the White House.



The bro was also at the movies ...

I’m not so sure we’re going to see that American movie this time. To effect long-run change in the political culture, you need a big win and sustained success in office, and for the losers to recognise the new culture. It’s not happening so far. I present as Exhibit A the astounding triumph of 33-year-old Zohran Mamdani in the Democratic primary for New York mayor. Mamdani trounced the grizzled former governor of New York state Andrew Cuomo, who enjoyed massive financial backing. It’s as if radical congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez beat Joe Biden in the 2016 Democratic presidential primary.
Mamdani is a socialist and an extremist, a former rapper with almost no serious job experience, though in 2020 he won a seat in the New York State Assembly. In his own words, he’s “a progressive Muslim migrant”, which, according to him, makes him Trump’s worst nightmare.
In fact the Republican presidential candidate in 2028, whoever that may be, would pray to have an opponent like Mamdani. It can’t be Mamdani himself because presidents have to be born in America. If Mamdani wins the mayoralty, he’ll demonstrate one effective Democrat response to Trump: be equally combative and make wild, unrealistic promises. But having extremists dominate politics is terrible for America.
Mamdani is a long-standing member of the Democratic Socialists of America. His hatred of Israel is intense. At college, he founded a branch of Students for Justice for Palestine. The day after the horrific Hamas massacre on October 7, 2023, this group’s national body hailed “the historic win for the Palestinian resistance”. Mamdani did later condemn the Hamas mass­acres. As a rapper, Mamdani performed lyrics praising Hamas fundraisers. He favours the boycott of Israel. He supports laws restricting American Jewish char­ities sending money to Israel. He wants to “globalise the intifada”. And he accuses Israel of genocide, apartheid etc. He supports Columbia University’s anti-Israel demonstrators and says he wouldn’t send police to such demonstrations. Yet hate crime in New York is overwhelmingly anti-Jewish.

Yep, no mention of the ethic cleansing of Gaza, and even worse, the shameless cad dared to crack a cheap joke and score a laugh at billionaires...

Democratic Socialist Zohran Mamdani made an appearance on NBC's Meet the Press after winning the Democratic primary last week to become the New York City Mayoral candidate. Mamdani was asked by NBC host Kristen Welker if "he believes billionaires have a right to exist," and responded with a laugh saying “I don't think we should have billionaires.” “I don’t think we should have billionaires because it is so much money in a moment of such inequality,” he said. “Ultimately what we need more of is equality across our city, state, and country.” “And I look forward to working with everyone including billionaires to make a city that is fair for all of them.” Mamdani's victory of the Democratic nomination sent shockwaves around New York City as he is a Democratic Socialist who campaigned on radical policies. New York City has the most billionaires in the world with 123 amassing a net worth of $US759 billion living in the city according to the New York Post.



Sheesh, Mamdani, where would we be without a regular dose of vulgar comedy?



The bromancer carried on ranting ...

He’s a Jeremy Corbyn-like repeat demonstrator who long supported “defund the police”. He’s modified that position and also tried to avoid mentioning Israel in the primary campaign. He’s not running on those policies. But they demonstrate what a genuine, longstanding extremist he is. Critically, none of these offences against elementary political decency has disqualified him, or even hurt him, in his mayoral campaign.
He will be the official Democrat candidate in November, with endorsement it seems from all the party big wigs. The Democrat normally wins in New York.
The specific policies Mamdani proposes as mayor would be disastrous for the endlessly fascinating but grossly dysfunctional Big Apple. He promises a big increase in city corporate taxes and state income taxes. He promises to freeze rent increases for a giant slab of New York’s apartments. He promises free childcare and free buses, and a $US30 an hour minimum wage by 2030. He’s a passionate climate change activist and demonstrated against gas power stations. He wants the city to own and run low-cost grocery stores, presumably at a loss.
Mamdani hasn’t won election for mayor yet. And it’s not his exotic extremism he’s running on but his impossible promises. He’s a good campaigner, smooth, clever, articulate, very effective on TikTok, the son of a Columbia academic father and an acclaimed filmmaker mother. He’s the ideal liberal hero of progressive undergraduate fantasy. Mamdani’s program is pure left-wing economic populism. It’s tricky to define populism properly. Sometimes populism involves popular wisdom, but sometimes it involves simplistic and wildly unrealistic solutions to complicated problems, a despairing impatience with reality.
Rents too high? Freeze them. Groceries too expensive? Get the government to sell them at a loss. Climate change? Ban gas. Government deficits? Raise taxes, again and again and again. The essence of left-wing economic populism is that it’s totally divorced from economic reality. Freeze rents and apartments go off the market. Make the minimum wage too high and low productivity jobs dis­appear altogether. Ban gas and electricity prices rise while power becomes unreliable.

Cue another snap, Former US President Bill Clinton and former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton listen as President Donald Trump speaks after being sworn in as the 47th President.



Ah slick Willy, now there's a centrist role model, and you get your intern blow jobs for free ...

Do these all at once and businesses and well qualified individuals flee New York for Florida, Georgia and Texas. A lot of right-wing populism is like this too. Disappearing industries? Impose tariffs. The working class doing it tough? More government benefits. Deficits? Promise more welfare, more spending on almost everything, tax cuts and a balanced ­budget.
Mostly, right-wing economic populism, like left-wing economic populism, can’t be delivered. One promises more spending and a balanced budget. The other promises more spending, more debt and no consequences. Neither of these combinations can apply in the real world. American politics is about motivating the base so extremes do well. Both sides, when they win, win narrowly. So instead of the Democrats moving to the centre, you could get failed right-wing populism followed by failed left-wing populism, each side winning narrowly, with half the country always bitter about election results, always denying the other side’s legitimacy.
We have very dysfunctional politics in Australia, too, but we do our dysfunction a bit differently. No Western politics is working well at the moment.
In America, you could for quite a long time get a dizzy and bitter rotation of fairly extreme populists unable to deliver on the economy, searching for enemies, demonising their opponents. Mamdani, like Trump, is an authentic New York creation. He offers nothing good to America or to the broader inter­national political culture that needs American leadership and tends to follow American examples, for good and for ill.

And Cuomo? And Adams? And King Donald himself? 

Not really a cheep or beep from the bromancer, but luckily TT was on had to provide a 'toon sumary...



Of course the pond could have turned to Paul Krugman scribbling in his Substack We’re All Rats Now, Time to take a stand, again, against racism:



And so on and on, but enough already, it's time for the economics stylings of Dame Groan ...



The header for Dame Groan going right off, and managing a five minute read, or so the reptiles said: Sure, boost supply, but don’t forget the backyard is still king, Parents’ preferences for detached housing with a backyard have not noticeably changed over the years. Yet so many politicians are keen to impose their housing preferences on citizens.

The reptiles blessed Dame Groan with an image which would pass for AI slop: The preferences of parents for detached housing with a backyard have not noticeably changed over the years. Picture: iStock

There was also the magical injunction: This article contains features which are only available in the web version, Take me there

The pond should note at the get go, the pond never has the slightest interest in the Groaning. 

A year doing economic history and studying Sir Lewis Namier cured the pond of all that, but her Groaning always stirs correspondents, and so, somewhat cynically, the pond always makes room ...

Dame Groan began in sentimental, nostalgic tone...

Some people have outside dogs. My parents had outside children. We were steered out the back door after breakfast and expected to play in the backyard – or a neighbour’s backyard – for most of the day. We would also run up to the local park. It had to be raining cats and dogs for an exception to be made.
When the light began to fade, all the children in the area wandered back to their respective homes to consume the meat and three veg served up for dinner every night. There weren’t any a la carte offerings in our house. We didn’t get a television set until I was 10, even though they were available. We were then allowed to watch for only 2-3 hours each week. According to my parents, television was either a waste of time or dangerous. They probably had a point.
In case you think I’m just being sentimental, let me use data to highlight the fact that the preferences of parents for detached housing with a backyard, even a small one, have not noticeably changed over the years. With Australia’s temperate climate, it’s not hard to understand this preference. Repeated surveys consistently indicate detached housing is still the overwhelmingly preferred housing type, with around 60-70 per cent of the population opting for this choice. Semi-detached housing accounts for around 10-15 per cent, with apartments favoured by around 15-20 cent, depending on the survey.
One particularly interesting survey asked homeowners of detached housing in a new outer Melbourne suburb whether they would like to swap their dwelling for an apartment with a similar floor plate closer to the CBD. More than three-quarters preferred their current arrangements.
It’s not as if the politicians don’t know this; they would just rather impose other housing options on desperate citizens because high-rise apartments close to railway stations and often with no parking suit their political agendas. Terms such as “unsustainable urban sprawl” and the “corrosive impact of NIMBYism (not in my backyard) are thrown into the argument. These slogans support heavy-handed housing policies that simply ride roughshod over the preferences of homebuyers and existing residents impacted by unwelcome developments.

The reptiles interrupted with more visual slop, Victorian and NSW politicians wax on about the advantages of high-density living close to the CBD. Picture: Nikki Short/NewsWire



The pond had to concede Dame Groan's point. The thought of having her nearby in an apartment block was a terrifying prospect, and imagine her as chair of the body corporate.  

The pond suspects that even in a detached housing neighbourhood, the pond would like to be at least half way down the street from her, and preferably in another block ...



The pond should perhaps note it has recently spent time in an apartment block in Melbourne, left over from Adolf's Normandy fortifications, and it's actually been quite fine, but what would the pond know?

In both Victoria and NSW, the politicians wax on about the advantages of high-density living close to the CBD. The NSW Premier foresees a time when living in parts of Sydney will be like living in Brooklyn or Williamsburg in New York. Similar utterances are made by government Victorian ministers.A cynic might wonder whether people really want the New York lifestyle, shootings and all, but demonstrating political “leadership” on housing is in vogue at this point.
The Minns government has been explicit about siding with property developers over NIMBYs and their local government allies. There is a high degree of irony in fact that The Sydney Morning Herald frequently carries commentary favourable to high-density housing developments while containing separate stories about the worrying prevalence of defects in new apartment buildings and the expensive frustrations for owners with body corporate arrangements.
It has been estimated that well over half of recently built high-rise apartments have serious problems that require rectification, including waterproofing, cracking and mould. There have been instances where large apartment buildings have had to be abandoned.
Body corporate arrangements are often opaque and favour the developer. It is not uncommon for developers to stack the committee in the first instance – unsold units provide them with the numbers.
New owners find it hard to be heard and related party connections between developers and service providers are often undisclosed. In the worst-case scenario, owners are forced to stump up for a call to make necessary repairs that should have been the responsibility of the original developer. It’s not clear that the legislative solutions to any of these problems have been effective.
Add in the fact that most newly constructed apartments have only two bedrooms and it doesn’t take a high IQ to understand that couples with families are not attracted to this type of living. Of course, those who are locked out the housing market may end up taking what is on offer, even it doesn’t really meet their preferences. In fact, that’s the political plan. In turn, the size of their family is likely to be determined in part by the housing options available. Is it really any surprise children living in these apartment buildings spend hours on their screens – forget the 2-3 hours a week? Both the absence of a backyard and the lack of any convenient green space make this the only alternative for hard-pressed parents.
There is also the point that buying an apartment is a dud investment compared with a stand-alone house. According to James Kirby of this newspaper, over the past decade, the selling prices of stand-alone houses have done twice as well as units – rising 80 per cent against 38 per cent. More recently, two-thirds of properties sold for a loss in the March quarter of this year were units.

Forget the notion of different horses for different courses, it's Dame Groan's way or the high way, featuring more visual slop ... Repeated surveys consistently indicate detached housing is still the overwhelmingly preferred housing type. Picture: Gaye Gerard/NewsWire



Of course if you wanted land and a relaxed life style and cheap housing, you could head to the bush, but Dame Groan will have none of that ... it's Toorak, Vaucluse, or nothing ... 

Of course, you don’t have to have an economics degree to realise why this is so. The value is in the land rather than the building and stand-alone houses are always likely to outperform apartments. All this begs the question why so many politicians are keen to impose their housing preferences on citizens, rather than facilitate the fulfilment of their genuine preference for detached houses.
There are a variety of answers to this question, including the favouritism Labor governments typically show to union-dominated sectors of the building industry, including high-rise apartments. Until recently, the construction of stand-alone homes was largely undertaken by non-unionised subcontractors.
There is also the unwillingness by both state and local governments to fund the infrastructure needed to service new housing estates. Roads, water, sewerage, parks, schools and the like are required but local governments have often found themselves short of the funds to cover many of these expenses, even when upfront taxes are imposed on developers.
One unfortunate consequence has been underserviced new developments, particularly in terms of accessible roads. The assumption that there is under-utilised infrastructure in the middle suburbs regarded as ideal for high-rise apartments has also proven to be unfounded. The fact state governments have egged on the federal government to facilitate high migrant intakes has meant that demand has inevitably outstripped supply. Many politicians simply fell for the ruse that high-density housing is the only solution.
In the past, surging demand for housing was simply met by the private sector servicing the preferences of first-home buyers with a very small addition of public housing. After all, we have had periods of rapid population growth.
Today, there’s a dizzying array of government interventions, including low-deposit schemes, shared equity schemes and a step up in public housing investment. There is a distinct possibility these schemes will founder and expose taxpayers. Just watch this space.

And here's the pond's real beef with the Groaning. 

Every Tuesday she turns up and yet every Monday there's Mein Gott, and the pond always misses him. Why, reptiles, why are you so cruel, so unkind?

Dammit, the pond is always up for a bashing of vulgar youff. Cast off Dame Groan, make roomfor the Gottster ...



The header for a more sensible - ie 3 minute read - according to the reptile clock: Entitled young workers are a risk to productivity, New research has revealed trouble in the engine room of our economy, with family business owners saying productivity is a big problem, and attitudes of younger staff are to blame.
The caption for the incredibly shitty image, because the reptiles can no longer be bothered giving a jog to young graphics designers: Family business researcher Ross Cameron says the majority of employing business owners say productivity is a problem in their business. Picture: iStock
The irrelevant advice: This article contains features which are only available in the web version, Take me there

After the preliminaries, Mein Gott went on his vulgar youff rant ...

What is happening to the emerging generation of young employees?
Collectively the nation’s biggest employers, Australian family business owners believe that, unlike previous generations, too many of our young people have an “entitlement mentality”, and it’s devastating productivity.
Family business researcher Ross Cameron says the majority of employing business owners say productivity is definitely a problem in their business. And they blame the attitudes of their young staff.
Many see the implementation of technology, including artificial intelligence, as the way to reverse the culture and lift productivity.
My guess is, very few young employees understand that their employer is unhappy. Nor do they realise what is about to happen to them.
When Jim Chalmers calls together industry bodies to discuss productivity in August, almost certainly missing from the ranks will be enterprises from Australia’s business engine room – family enterprises.

Jimbo got dragged in, by way of rant and snap, Jim Chalmers should include family businesses in productivity forums. Picture: David Clark



And so to a real moaning, whining and caterwauling ...

To fill the gap, Cameron has just finished a wave of productivity research among small and medium enterprises around the country, asking them about productivity and what they are doing about it.
He concludes that the overwhelming productivity focus of SMEs is on staffing. They find it difficult to employ people in Australia and, regrettably, increasingly difficult to motivate staff.
And when things don’t work out, it creates even greater problems. They have arrived at a solution – embrace technology.
It’s summed up by one business owner who said: “We’ve been investing in improving for a long time. I’ve taken $1.5m in costs out of the business without impacting on revenue, mostly through AI, robotics and offshoring. I hate to say it, because I’m very pro-Australian, but it is very hard to make the case to employ in Australia. Before looking at some of the reasons for the change in young employee attitudes, here are some of the comments from family business owners which highlight the problem.

  • “The desire to work hard has gone … it’s hard to find people that want to work full-time … after Covid-19, everyone seems to have slowed down … it’s like pulling teeth to get them to do the job they’re employed to do … they just don’t seem to have a sense of urgency to get stuff done.”
  • “We have some really great staff members who work hard, but there are also some who, for example, will roster themselves off because it’s their birthday or even their boyfriend’s birthday. If I ever did that when I was 23 I wouldn’t have had a job! It’s just this sense of entitlement that they have. You’ve got to manage it, but it’s hard.”
  • “What would improve our productivity would be a complete overhaul of the award system. The award system puts a stupid amount of restrictions on what our staff can do in terms of their work hours.”
  • “The days of giving people feedback can now be considered as bullying. There’s a lot of stuff you can’t say and do, and as a result things don’t get corrected, so it’s a very delicate position we’re in.”
  • “I used to have a rule of thumb that you’d have 80 per cent of people out there actually working – like producing the business’s income – and 20 per cent at ‘head office’ managing it or secretarial or whatever … But I’m starting to think that with AI it will change, it will be more like 90/10 per cent.”

The flow of impeccably shitty, deeply nauseating images continued, The community has invested substantial sums in trade education. Picture: iStock



That set the mood for a final bitching ...

Cameron does not offer reasons for the changing attitudes. One of the employers quoted above blames the education system for not preparing young people for work. There has certainly been an increase in non-work related cultural subjects and less emphasis on “success” achievers.
While that might be a contributing factor, the community has invested substantial sums in trade education.
I suspect a deeper reason is that clearly marked out career paths are much harder to find, and the advent of AI is going to make that worse.
Politicians at all three levels, plus the banking rules, have deliberately made it difficult for young people to buy a dwelling and raise a family. Instead of looking after our next generation, we have been enriching existing homeowners.
And there is the threat of climate change, which adds to a sense of living for the present rather than the future.
The abundance of jobs, particularly government-related jobs, reduces loyalty to a particular employer.
The industrial relations legislation has emphasised the rights of employees, rather than linking the success of the business with the rewards of the employees. That creates a vicious circle.
We have ahead of us a generation that is totally unprepared for what is going to happen to them in the new era of AI. It could be a brutal awakening.

Really? If those really shitty graphics are any indication, the brutal awakening is already here ...

And now to the apocalypse, in keeping with Golding's considered plan, which all the reptiles followed this morning ...



In case of made-up rapper crisis, bring hammer or Lynch mob...

Of course the pond had to cover the Lynch mob covering Glastonbury, it was only innate pond perversity that lead to him appearing last on the reptile set...



The pond should note for all the apocalyptic bluster, the Lynch mob could only manage a three minute read under the header Glastonbury is why Trump and Farage are leading a revolution, When it doesn’t flood at Glastonbury, a little piece of me dies. I could not wish more misfortune on a gathering that has come to symbolise Western ennui.

The caption: Under the bland Glastonbury festival motto of ‘hope, unity, peace and love’ lurks a disdain for working-class people.

The reptiles seized on the Lynch mob hysteria as a way of slipping in all kinds of visual distractions...

If the Church of England is the Conservative Party at prayer, then Glastonbury is the Church of Woke at play. Can there be a more concentrated form of hyper-liberalism anywhere else on the planet?

Sorry, the pond has a contractual obligation whenever that word is mentioned, and must offer its very own visual distraction:




Do carry on like a bad outing in a bad English comedy franchise ...

The Hindu Kumbh Mela festival, the world’s largest, commands less fervour. Muslims on their hajj to Mecca look agnostic in comparison. Judaism’s Wailing Wall lacks the virtue on display in sunny Somerset.
When it doesn’t flood at Glastonbury, a little piece of me dies. I could not wish more misfortune on a gathering that has come to symbolise Western ennui. Not even the anus mundi, that is the Eurovision Song Contest, which I so wanted Israel to win this year, comes close.

He watched Eurovision? What a gormless, mindless twit ...

Cue the first distraction, British Prime Minister Keir Starmer and Glastonbury organizers said on Sunday they were appalled by on-stage chanting against the Israeli military during a performance at the festival by Punk-rap duo Bob Vylan. Julian Satterthwaite with more.



The Lynch mob returned for just a couple of mindless, incredibly stupid lines...

When the Edward Gibbon of the Decline and Fall of the West appears, in around the 29th century, he’ll include a chapter on Glastonbury. It was when Western civilisation gave up, seeing its enemies as more deserving of support.

WTF? A rapper is up there with Caligula and Nero? 

Hang on, didn't the Empire somehow manage to lurch on to Marcus Aurelius and Rusty?

Never mind, it was only verbiage so the reptiles could slip in another visual distraction, People gather to watch an act on the main Pyramid Stage at Glastonbury Festival.



Carry on Lynching ...

With two Jewish leaders fighting wars for civilisation in Ukraine and Israel, Glastonbury chose to offer a platform to tuneless Jew haters and the political genius that is Gary Lineker – fired from the BBC in May for inadvertently posting that Jews were rats.

Genocide in Gaza is a war for civilisation? Some civilisation, as the pond wondered how you might be in the West Bank flying any sort of flag ...

The Pride flags that adorn every corner of the Glastonbury fields could fly only in Israel.
Glastonbury this weekend blended a deep self-loathing of the West while maintaining all the privileges it makes possible.

The reptiles immediately flung in another AV distraction, the mob that gave the world the Cantaloupe Caligula 2.0: The Heritage Foundation’s Margaret Thatcher Centre Director Nile Gardiner discusses British music act Bob Vylan after the punk duo urged “death to the IDF” at the Glastonbury music festival over the weekend. “Absolutely disgraceful scenes at Glastonbury over this weekend. Appalling,” Mr Gardiner said. “I think this is a demonstration of how far society has fallen in the UK when you have rappers advancing pro-death messages full of antisemitism … it is absolutely grotesque.”



It never occurs to the Lynch mob to wonder what role a genocide, still unfolding, might play in all this...

Israelophobic bands were applauded the loudest by 30- and 40-year-olds (the average festival attendee is 40) who could hold a Middle East Glastonbury nowhere except in Israel.
On October 7, 2023, Hamas chose a progressive music festival in which to make clear its genocidal intent. The Izz al-Din al-Qassam Brigades, Hamas’s military wing, arrived by land and air. The images remain haunting.

You won't find any mention of this sort of update ...(per Haaretz per AP, 7 hours ago at time of writing)



What you will find is another offering of reptile click bait, Bob Vylan performs on the West Holts Stage, during the Glastonbury Festival.



The Lynch mob asked a question...

Where was the minute’s silence at Glastonbury to honour the young men killed and women raped and kidnapped on that terrible day?

... and so did the pond ...

Where was the minute’s silence in the reptile hive mind to honour the 500 and more Palestinians killed while trying to avoid mass starvation?

Never mind, the pond is used to the hypocrisy of the Melbourne Uni prof ...

Piling left-wing hypocrisy upon middle-class privilege offers us a window into the appeal of alternatives. Donald Trump has given us one. For too long, a decadent elite preached the virtues of globalism, trans-nationalism and mass immigration. The result was an economic and cultural decline for pretty much everyone else.
Nigel Farage, Britain’s Trump (and the American President’s friend), is now more likely to be prime minster than is the leader of the Conservative Party, Kemi Badenoch. Farage’s Reform UK members did not fill many fields in Somerset. They did fill ballot boxes in the May local elections.
This populist revulsion with the Glastonbury elite is, of course, grounded in economic dislocation. But Trump-Farage populism is more than class envy. It requires the mutual contempt of the propertied elite to give it power.

The reptiles slipped in another distraction, US President Donald Trump listens as Nigel Farage speaks during a Make America Great Again rally at Phoenix Goodyear Airport.



Back to the radicalised Prof, perhaps ready to acquire a 'made in China' Trump phone, with its golden glitter ...

Under the bland festival motto of “hope, unity, peace and love” lurks a disdain for working-class people.
Pulp’s Common People (the greatest pop song of the 20th century, I reckon), and a Glastonbury mainstay, has long concealed a progressive antipathy toward the actual common people.
They are not celebrated so much as controlled. Mass immigration diluted the working-class culture of England’s northern cities. Trendy redefinitions of the family could be funded in the homes of the Glastonbury set. They produced an epidemic of divorce and fatherlessness suffered by poorer children.

Sheesh, impossible to unpack all that fear and loathing, so the reptiles sent along another AV distraction, featuring the Ming the Merciless mob...Menzies Research Centre’s Freya Leach discusses the “pure hatred” going on at the Glastonbury Music Festival. “People that definitely need to be a little smarter are some of the people that performed at the UK music festival Glastonbury,” Ms Leach said. “Performances that are not music, not art, just pure hatred.”



Take a chill pill Freya.

The pond is possibly too old for all this, because the pond can remember the days when the Rolling Stones, even The Beatles, likely The Who, heralded the destruction of western civilisation, most likely by the end of the week...

The Lynch provided some hope ...

The traditional pastimes of working-class people – football especially – are now subject to progressive campaigns, from anti-racism to LGBT armbands. The implicit message: you can have your proley fun but, remember, we are watching you.

Football? Would you like some brain damage and dementia with that? Though possibly it explains the Prof because he seems only to be talking about soccer...

But when that elite parties at Glastonbury, there is no equivalent censor. Instead, every anti-British, anti-Israel, anti-western sentiment is indulged or excused. Gary Lineker is promoted to public intellectual.

To be fair, the Lynch mob is also promoted as a public intellectual, when really he routinely sounds like an hysteric serving as a gobbet provider between visual distractions, Members of the security forces continue to search for identification and personal effects at the Supernova Music Festival site, where hundreds were killed and dozens taken by Hamas militants near the border with Gaza.



Time then for the final nauseating gobbet of righteous indignation ...

It is, of course, a long way from Somerset to Appalachia geographically but less so culturally. It was a left-wing sociologist (is there any other kind?), Arlie Russell Hochschild, who explained better than any other commentator the Deep Story of those who found themselves in opposition to everything the Glastonbury elite symbolises.
Hochschild lived among the men and women of Trump’s base. They wanted to reclaim the certainties of faith, family and flag. No one sings songs from these common people at Glastonbury. But they possess a sense of identity deeper than the metropolitan identitarians so keen to deplore them.
There is a lesson here for parties of the right: do not assume the cultural dislocations of ordinary people can be assuaged by just giving them stuff. Rather, make them actors in the great drama of rebuilding a civilisation. That mission will inspire the songs of the next generation. The current generation died in Glastonbury this weekend.
Timothy J. Lynch is professor of American politics at the University of Melbourne.

In short, and to borrow Godwin's word, what a fuckhead.

The prof's generation died with the mango Mussolini, and to celebrate that passing, here, have an immortal Rowe ...



It's always in the detail, and what a fine collection were at the Mad Hatter's party ...




The pond did so like the teapot ... and the caterpillar's mighty fine, chugging away on his preferred brand of 'rooms...

And here's a few more celebrations of King Donald by the immortal Rowe which the pond thinks it missed while down in the deep south ...