Category Archives: australian media

January 18, 2022 · 11:25 am

Covid Immunity: Issues ….. Growing Experiences

Maani Truu, in ABC Net, 17 January 2022, where the title reads “Can you catch COVID twice? Or does it give you greater immunity?”

Central Coast resident Mitch Rogers has just come out of two weeks of complete isolation, which he says was “pretty tough”. After contracting COVID early this year, the 32-year-old, who lives by himself, retreated to his Umina Beach home to ride out the symptoms. They ended up taking 14 days to subside, double the mandated seven-day isolation period.

 

More and more Australians have now had COVID-19. But that doesn’t mean they’ll never catch it again. (Pexels: Pixabay) Continue reading →

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January 16, 2022 · 11:02 am

Paul McNamee steps into the Djokovic Courtside Drama

Paul McNamee in The Age, 15 January 2022, where the title reads “Djokovic an easy target in anti-vaxxer witch hunt”

Clearly, the outcome of the Federal Court case on Sunday has implications for Novak Djokovic. How about for the Australian Open?

The Australian Open is far and away Australia’s biggest international sporting event. Hosting all the world’s best tennis players in arguably the best sporting precinct in the world, it generates close to one billion dollars in economic impact for the state of Victoria. It puts Melbourne front and centre on the world stage for two weeks but, this year, for all the wrong reasons.

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January 9, 2022 · 11:35 am

Djokovic and the “Secretary-Bird”

Michael Roberts

When my wife and I went on a Safari tour in Zimbabwe in the 1990s I was fascinated by sightings of a “Secretary Bird” through my binoculars. The official identity of this strange figure  was “Sagittarius serpentarius.”   But, in my reading and juxtaposition, its upright walking stance simply indicated a prim and proper secretary persona.           

When I first saw Novak Djokovic on the tennis court, I immediately associated the two figures.  Maybe a strange leap; but it is a fixed asociation im my mind –one which did not, and does not, degrade my admiration for Djokovic’s tennis. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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January 5, 2022 · 2:35 pm

Australian Government’s Covid-Policy as Totally Shambolic

Dr. Kerryn Phelps, in The Guardian, 4 January 2022, where the tile runs  thus: “A shambolic mess’: the only example Australia is giving the world now is how not to manage Covid”

Where did it all go wrong? How did Australia go from being the envy of the world with our best practice public health measures, low case numbers, a prepared health system and an economy ticking along nicely to what can only be described as a shambolic mess?

The only example Australia is providing to the world now is a warning about what not to do with the Covid-19 pandemic.

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December 30, 2021 · 4:53 pm

The Horrendous Record of Western Manipulations in Recent World History

Fair Dinkum, responding to the Global Times item in Thuppahi entitled “China on the World Stage: A Judicious Assessment,”….. https://thuppahis.com/2021/12/30/china-on-the-world-stage-a-judicuous-assessment/

We need to move to a new narrative about China, but also a new structure for the world, and not allow Western defence or military establishments to play language games over China, just because the rise of China doesn’t suit them. To take one example, in an article published in the US “Defense & Foreign Affairs Strategic Policy” journal this year titled “Cold war Redux: The West Loses Africa’s Horn” – just thinking about the title says much about colonialism. From the 18th to the 20th centuries, African nations were colonialised and carved up by the Britain, France, Portugal, Germany and Belgium for their own selfish gains. They did the same in Asia, the Middle East and South America. They were all Western powers.

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December 4, 2021 · 11:16 pm

Fascist Australians pressing the Murdoch-Morrison Juggernaut Campaign vs ABC and BBC

A Concerned Australian in Email Note to Thuppahi …who has added the highlighting

This afternoon …. Saturday 4th November …..  these right wing Nazis attempted to enter the ABC in Southbank Melbourne with a view to shutting it down.  The Vic Police prevented them achieving their goals. They are part of a growing extreme movement which the Federal government support  tacitly, which wants the ABC shut down.  Murdoch is calling for this and  also shutting down the BBC.  These Nazis only want the Murdoch media, Fox and Sky to be heard. The Federal Government approves because the ABC is the only thing in Australia holding the government to account, and they dislike any criticism.  I have to say Morrison is going off the rails and slowly turning Australia into a fascist state. The distance between Nazi ideology and right wing Liberal politics in Australia is very thin.  Continue reading →

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November 25, 2021 · 11:41 am

Fascist Strands in Australian Anti-Vac Campaigns?

Julia in Sydney… in MEMORANDUM to Michael Roberts, 

ONE: …..

Hi Michael, I have some very strong views about the  anti-vaxxer ‘freedom’ movements that are going on.” I think they are mostly comprised of people who are 1. afraid of the vaccine because they have no idea of what they don’t know (see: Dunning-Kruger effect) and/or 2. buy into too many conspiracy theories in their misguided search for making sense of the world around them and/or 3 hold very strong right-wing neo-libertarian ideology. 

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November 17, 2021 · 11:36 pm

The Red Crabs: Amazing Phenomenon on Christmas Island

Christabel, Fiona, Cat and Connor in November 2021 … with frontispiece pix  from Samantha Wright

One of the top ten natural wonders of the world, according to David Attenborough, is happening right now in the thriving rainforests and deserted beaches of Australia’s Christmas Island. Christmas Island is globally significant, home to a wealth of unique and rare sea birds, land crabs and marine life. There are few comparable unspoiled tropical environments left in the world.

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November 10, 2021 · 12:09 pm

Roger Byard at the Cutting Edge in Forensic Pathology

University of Adelaide Newsroom, October 2021, where the title runs  “GUARDIANS OF THE DEAD PODCAST: TRUE STORIES AND FASCINATING CASES FROM A WORKING FORENSIC PATHOLOGIST”

Professor Roger Byard has opened up his case files and trawled back through his personal recollections for a new podcast from The Advertiser and the University of Adelaide, Guardians of the Dead, which sheds a light on the macabre but fascinating world of forensic pathology. “I say that pathologists are almost the guardians of the dead, because we are the last doctor to look after this person and this is a person,” Professor Byard , Chair of Pathology at the University of Adelaide, said. “Father, mother, brother, whatever. They’re part of a family and there are people who will miss this person for a long time so we have tremendous responsibility in this.  Particularly for parents who’ve lost a child or a baby, they want to talk to me… they just want to eyeball the person who looked after their baby. And so I can look at them and just say ‘this is not (just) a case. This is your dead child. And we can’t imagine what you’re going through, because we’re so saddened by it.”

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October 26, 2021 · 11:34 am

Misreading the Asian Political Scenario: Ameer Ali’s Six Misconceptions

Fair Dinkum

Ameer Ali’s essay of 6 June 2021 in the Colombo Telegraph [reproduced recently in Thuppahi ……… https://thuppahis.com/2021/10/24/betwixt-india-and-china-little-lanka/) suffers from three fatal flaws. First, there is a failure to identify his political affiliations and to show some understanding of how this might influence his opinions. Second, by failing to do so, he presents his claims and arguments as if these were absolute truths. Third, he fails to critically evaluate US, Indian and CBK interests and intentions. He presents a false representation of what is occurring in the world today in the context of US efforts to demonize China as “a threat” in an attempt to undermine its rise. He makes a dangerous recommendation as to how Sri Lanka should manage India and China interests by urging the government to join the US confrontation against China. He is clearly a cheerleader for CBK and the anti-Rajapakse crowd in Colombo.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

In this response essay, I will unpack six claims made by Ameer to explain why each are blatantly false.

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