Sunday, May 01, 2022

In which prattling Polonius and our Gracie lead the indie way, with a truly awesome Dame Slap bonus ...

 


The pond sometimes yearns for the good old days, when its Sunday meditation would feature the Pellists in the Terror. 

The angry Sydney Anglicans in search of complimentary women would also get a guernsey ...

These days the pond has to settle for getting its religious kicks from watching Under the Banner of Heaven, a rather cumbersome outing making obvious points, but which the pond will stick with simply for the chance to share more moments with Mormons ...

Thus far only two episodes have dropped and the point of the exercise is painfully obvious, and in any case - spoiler alert - the outcome will be known by anyone familiar with the source Jon Krakauer book, but still there's plenty of talk of keeping women in their rightful place, more than enough to please an angry Sydney Anglican ...

Or the pond could have a mystical secular experience by reading Marina Hyde ...

How long were the last days of Rome? By some estimates, about 200 years, so I hope you’re sitting comfortably after a week in which: a female MP was baselessly branded an exhibitionist; a male MP was accused of watching porn in the Commons chamber; it was reiterated that 56 MPs are reportedly under investigation for sexual misconduct (three of them in the cabinet); and an MP recently convicted of child sexual assault was revealed to have put in a forward-dated resignation letter, ensuring he’ll collect his full April salary. Meanwhile, the prime minister remains under police investigation over a number of allegations that he broke his own laws to attend parties. Rome-wise, we could have another few thousand weeks of this. Don’t worry – it’ll feel longer...

There's always an alternative religious experience on the weekend ...

Meanwhile, it's on with Polonius, prattling in his usual anguished way about indies, the ABC, love,  pain, hating the colour teal, and the whole damn thing ...






Ah yes, the bloody ABC and the besotted Polonius, who spends way too much time watching the ABC. So much tiresome pedantry, and so little time ...

Couldn't he just switch off every so often? What is it with this bizarre paranoid obsessive compulsive desire to watch the ABC endlessly, and then blather on about all the subtle plot points? Couldn't he have just settled for watching Neighbours and setting up a fan page? Soon it too will be an antique and worthy of an antiquarian's attention ...







As usual, Polonius's obsession with Godwin's Law, the ABC, the colour teal and all that stuff fails to note that his own chums thought nothing of breaking the law ...













After that little effort, is it any wonder that Godwin's Law retreated to a cupboard and wasn't seen or heard from again, until Polonius decided to drag it out and dust off the Sydney mould and the moths ... and so on with the heretic hunt ...






The pond must count this is a remarkable failure by Polonius. He dances around the point, but nowhere does he say that the ABC doesn't even have a single conservative voice in its ranks ... 

Did the meme key on his keyboard stick, or did senility cause him to forget this week? Never mind, the reptiles could have saved some space and the pond's sense of ennui by simply poaching a Wilcox ...






Meanwhile, our Gracie also took a look at the teal, with a study of Kooyong ...

Whenever Kooyong gets a mention the pond can't help but think of the colt and his missus ...








Grand days and a Trove of memories ... and how are things going now, with old regret got clean away ...?







Why it almost sounds like our Gracie was in on the fix ... and especially pleasing to the pond, because when in Melbourne, the pond started in North Fitzroy, before spending time in Toorak, so all this is evocative stuff ...








Oh dear along with all that talk of terrible Josh, the reptiles had to insert a shot of comical Josh? Dear sweet long absent lord, what desperate politicians will do to attract attention ...













And so to our Gracie, not quite calling the race, but hinting it might be worth placing a small bet on an outsider long shot, because you never know in the lucky country...






A close one for the new colt from Kooyong? Ah well, there's always sheets that need to be advertised ...

And so to a genuine delight, an astonishing pleasure, for the pond's bonus ... Dame Slap getting agitated about public assets, in a way only an IPA chair could manage ...






Well that's not quite right, thanks to the LCP, Darwin's port was leased to Chinese interests, but back to the truly sublime comedy about publicly owned assets and here you need to head back to Crikey, 8th September 2002 ...






And then why not leap forward to Crikey on 13th September 2007 ...










Talk about the good old days when privatisation was all the go and some made out like bandits ... but now on with the delicious irony ...








Say what? Sydney airport was in public ownership? You mean Max the axe ran a public monopoly, as opposed to running its users into the ground?

Where did all this academic blather come from?









Silly academics ... that should have been public ownership impact ... please, allow Dame Slap to explain ...





Did Dame Slap suddenly repent of her many sins? Did she don sackcloth and ashes? Has she gone full socialist, or at least is giving a clarion cry to the joys of public ownership of assets? Will she go fully rogue by calling on the government to step in and take action?

Oh bliss, oh poop, can it get any better? Yes, we must have government action. Enough of that talk of government getting in the way. Please Ronny Raygun, get out of the way, in Dame Slap's present crisis, government is the solution to her problem ...






Sorry, with a leap and a bound, the entire concept of private ownership is magically transformed into public company ownership ... 

That's how you can blather about public stockmarkets, as opposed to private hands!

And so a super fund made up of people contributing their funds becomes the devil, and people buying shares somehow the public body politic.

Only on planet Janet, way above the faraway tree, where the IPA has set up public offices too ...

The pond hasn't seen or read anything stranger or more bizarre since the days when Flinty was out and about talking about a crowned republic ...

...as a “commonwealth under the crown”, Australia is already a republic, a crowned republic.

Yes, yes and private shares sold in a private company on a stockmarket is public ownership run rampant ... and never you mind at the rorting that went on in the golden age of privatisation ... Dame Slap and her then partner did very nicely thank you, and that's what being devoted to the public good is all about ... because if it's personal good, it surely must be public good, right?

And as for the elephant in Dame Slap's IPA bedroom - unions - please, pass the privatised jam ...

And after all that the pond is glad it broke glass and saved an infallible Pope for a Sunday emergency ...








14 comments:

  1. I looked at what was accessible on the Flagship site this morning - but did not see mention of the story of the millennium. How did it not take up the entire electronic front page - even edging out the Klive kurrency?

    It comes from a reliable source, right up there with Alan Jones in understanding the science of lasers, and a regular on Sky - who revealed on her Twitter, last night -


    Prue MacSween
    @macsween_prue
    Another revolutionary Aussie invention. Thankfully supported by Govt. HB11 Energy, a company in Adelaide, has developed next generation laser fusion to produce unlimited safe, clean & reliable energy. Beating the world & building a huge industry to export globally. Outstanding.

    - so - straight to the HB11 website to get the rest of the amazing revelation -

    It tells us - ‘HB11 Energy’s research demonstrated that its hydrogen-boron energy technology is now 4 orders of magnitude away from achieving net energy gain when catalysed by a laser.’

    and

    ‘However, the project was performed at the LFEX petawatt laser facility at Osaka University in Japan due to a lack of a local high-power laser facility, meaning Australia has a long way to go in creating sovereign capability in this critical industry, according to HB11 Energy.’

    Wonderful - how do us punters get a piece of the future, with a stream of capital gains that should see us buying up the superyachts of former Russian oligarchs just to have somewhere to stay as we watch the Great Barrier Reef restore itself?

    HB11 has thought of that, and in another part of their website -

    ‘Investor Update – Series A now open to Sophisticated Investors

    Thanks to those of you who have expressed an interest in investing in HB11 Energy. We are pleased to announce that HB11 Energy is now raising capital!

    We are seeking to raise USD$20m to fund the next stage of research as our global scientific team moves to meet a series of science and engineering milestones to take us closer to making nuclear fusion a commercial reality.

    Note: It is difficult to do a retail offering for a company at our stage of development, so if you do not currently qualify as a Sophisticated Investor, please know that we are looking at how we can involve you in the future.’

    Oh well, we might lack sophistication - but we will have electric power being generated so cheaply the companies won’t bother to meter it. A win win situation even for the unsophisticated.

    ReplyDelete
  2. HB11: "its hydrogen-boron energy technology is now 4 orders of magnitude away from achieving net energy gain when catalysed by a laser.’ "

    Wau, only 4 orders of magnitude away - they'll have that all sorted in just a century or two. But wait ... oh no ... "supported by Govt." Oh no, the IPA and Queen Slappy will never allow that ! That's just setting it up to be privatised by an industry super fund !

    Besides, just like that other technology "supported by Govt", carbon capture and storage, it will never work either.

    But this might:
    Forrest plans 1GW thin film solar factory in Australia to build “green energies at scale”
    https://reneweconomy.com.au/forrest-plans-1gw-thin-film-solar-factory-in-australia-to-build-green-energies-at-scale/

    ReplyDelete
  3. This morning's 'Insiders' has the $loMo bar graph on 'inflation' in slightly better focus. The bars, from the left of the image, are labelled United States, Germany, United Kingdom, New Zealand and - I am fairly sure - Canada. But - calibration of the vertical axis starts - not at zero - but at 3. Even at that, the images do not correspond to what $loMo said as he waved it about, but it is an up to date demonstration of 'lies, damned lies, and statistics' (and I leave it to the 'Wiki' for entertaining discussion of who might be credited with creating the phrase).

    I guess he learned the technique in 'Marketing Statistics 101'.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. And it all might mean something if "inflation" was a real variable, and not just a made up number estimated differently in different places.

      Delete
    2. and best not to think about - let alone investigate - how the Australian 'unemployment rate' is obtained.

      Delete
    3. Maintaining sanity consists of not thinking about insane things, you reckon Chad ?

      Delete
  4. So Gracie tells us that "Frydenberg's mercurial interventions to the state's pandemic response were seen by many as medically irresponsible, civically undermining and morally disloyal." And that was on his good days. But nonetheless somehow "Frydenberg has a lot going for him with the people of Kooyong." And what does that say for the citizenship attributes of Kooyong voters ?

    But at least "the problem is the type of Liberal Party that Frydenberg represents. Scott Morrison, Peter Dutton and Barnaby Joyce are a massive drag on the vote." But just not "massive" enough to ensure he's put out to pasture this time. However the Kooyongians are beginning to suffer existential angst: "What there is though, is bewilderment at needless social division, and at the way knowledge, science and education is openly despised and derided, within the Liberal Party of today."

    So, welcome to Roopie's world of reptiles, Gracie and Kooyongians; it was about time you joined the State of Objective Reality Party.

    ReplyDelete
  5. The Slap was on about her favourite bete noir today: Polonius has the ABC, the Doggy Bov has climate change, the Bromancer has tanks and the Slap has Industry Super Funds. But then, as the web informs me, the ASX has a market capitalisation of around A$1.6 trillion, making it one of the world's top 15 listed exchange groups and superannuation assets totalled $3.5 trillion at the end of the December 2021 quarter.

    Super funds have total assets of more that twice the stock exchange companies, so no wonder they're spending up big. What else can they do with all that money ?

    ReplyDelete
  6. Hi Dorothy,

    Marina Hyde alludes to the ‘Mail on Sunday’ story that a female Labour MP was able to distract the notoriously unflappable Boris by some Basic Instinct style leg crossing;

    https://www.theguardian.com/media/2022/apr/27/mail-on-sunday-editor-rejects-meeting-with-speaker-over-angela-rayner-story

    What seems amazing to me is that when you attempt to find a picture or indeed any information (nada on Wikipedia) about David Dillon, the Mail on Sunday’s Editor, there is ‘bubkis’ (a bit more Yiddish for The Bromancer to try maybe).

    The Mail papers probably publish more paparazzi pictures and exposes than the rest of the UK press put together. So how is it possible for one of their most senior editors to have managed to avoid any media intrusion for what is probably decades in ‘Fleet Street’.

    Does David Dillon even really exist?

    DiddyWrote

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. There's a bit about him here, DW:
      Who is David Dillon? Low-profile Mail on Sunday editor takes centre stage
      https://pressgazette.co.uk/david-dillon-who/

      Delete
  7. GB - I had not thought to comment on the Dame this day because - the, er 'content' was so predictable (even though she tried to be abstruse in her writing) and - it never makes much sense. Of course, she would not even hint at better ways to do what she was railing against - but, to take the Norwegian example, the global fund is directed to invest almost anywhere but Norway, for good reason. Their other pension fund does invest through the stock exchange in Norway, but is limited to holding no more than 15% of any one company.

    Oh, and on that matter of members of super funds in Australia having no control over how their funds are managed - I maintain a couple of very active files for correspondence with my main fund, and particularly note the papers I receive for the regular votes on who we might entrust management of our assets to. Perhaps the Dame might consider doing some actual journalism - like, I dunno - if you are railing against particular kinds of superannuation - (and assuming you, are not secretly a member of, say, a university provident fund, or ABC board members') you might ask some of your friends about their actual experiences with their funds.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. So you reckon she might actually have 'friends', Chad ? But "doing some actual journalism" ? This is Dame Slap you're talking about ?

      Delete
  8. Hi Dorothy,

    I wonder what Janet (I love public ownership) Albrechtsen makes of The Murdoch Clan’s outsized voting power at News Corp (the organisation paying her a wage)?

    https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/business/business-news/news-corp-murdoch-voting-power-cap-poison-pill-terminates-poison-pill-terminated-1235018482/

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. The pond loves the way that story ran, as a bid to suggest that the Murdoch clan were now under control ...

      Rupert Murdoch’s News Corp said Wednesday that its board of directors has authorized a $1 billion stock buyback program, terminated a shareholder rights plan, also known as a “poison pill,” which is a defense against hostile takeovers, and struck a deal with the Murdoch family to cap any increase in its voting power.
      The moves amount to a limit on the vast influence that the Murdochs have over the company as it positions itself as a buyer, recently embarking on a spending spree to acquire assets including publisher Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, finance paper Investors Business Daily and data provider Oil Price Information Service for more than $1.5 billion altogether.
      The media company’s deal with the Murdoch Family Trust “limits the potential accretion of voting power by the Trust and Murdoch family members through market purchases or as an indirect result of repurchases by the company of shares of Class B common stock,” News Corp said. “The stockholders agreement provides that the Trust and the company will not take actions that would result in the Trust and Murdoch family members together owning more than 44 percent of the outstanding voting power of the Class B common stock, or would increase the Trust’s voting power by more than 1.75 percent in any rolling 12-month period.” ...

      Yep, you can now get acquired by News Corp and the Murdoch clan won't have a chance to sink their teeth into you, and if you buy that story, the pond has a Murdoch empire to sell you ...

      Delete

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