This edition of pcbycp proudly sponsored by Lucas Electrics.

Dear reader, incredibly, our heroes are still ALIVE!

Will Benny Boy be enough to save them?  Or is the stand-off with the Centurion their final curtain? Curtains or drapes, there’s still a chance, and with a chance, they may yet prevail. Read on for another curtain raising episode deep from within the irradiated wastes of Maralinga, where you don’t need a reading lamp to read at night. 

Implausibly though it may sound, our heroes are still alive.  Whether by fate, circumstance or sheer bloody mindedness they prevail, And whilst they prevail, there is still HOPE!

We sought sponsorship from HRH Prince Andrew, but he was busy installing a fernery atop Fergie’s head. (HRH points to Alex Downer in fishnets whilst preparing Fergie’s equipage, something he learnt in the Falklands)

But is this hope a forlorn hope? Or just another played-out routine that’s gonna end up being hopeless! Like Coalition Climate policy. That hopeless? Or perhaps just a sensible regulated energy market, that doesn’t gouge ordinary citizens? Perhaps somewhere in between?

They prevail, and whilst they still exult in their freedom, there is cause for cautious optimism. 

We return to the standoff between our heroes and their protector, Australia’s most decorated and renowned soldier, ‘Benny-Boy’ Roberts Smith. Will this be their last stand? 

‘Its moving’! Terry exclaimed, ‘And it’s coming towards us, what are we gonna do’? 

Our then Foreign Minister performing; ‘Daddy wouldn’t buy me a Bow-Wow’, at the annual Tory cross-dress ball.

‘I dunno, stand still and see if we can communicate with it, perhaps it’s here as a force of protection? There’s only one way to find out’! And quick as a flash Benny Boy knelt down, threw his back pack down and fished around inside the utility pockets before removing a small mirror. With deftness of touch trained in the field he orientated the mirror towards the sun and with the palm of his other hand, began to flap, (Not tap) out a signal by semaphore, by primitive hand – held heliograph, a message in morse. 

Alex gifting Jose Ramos Horta a signed copy of his rendition of; ‘Daddy wouldn’t buy me a Bow- Wow’, John Howard at rear checking to see if the little bloke has been bugged properly by ASIO.

Alex’s specially adapted espionage attache case. Two seemingly harmless ‘transmitter dolls’ named ‘Pistol’ and ‘Boo’.

Dear reader, though it is not commonly known, morse us still used to this day by Australia’s foremost intelligence agencies, the Signals Directorate, and management of Crown Resorts Barangaroo, to transmit high level intelligence information vital to Australia’s interests. Because of this we at pcbycp have decoded top secret transmissions from the same sources that bugged the East Timor Embassy during the Timor Sea oil negotiations. We are happy to say that then, as now we see Alexander Downer still at work for the Federal Government in giving us the edge on how tin-pot nations to our north whom we regularly exploit, screw and bully may be swayed by an evil and militaristic China. As it is well known that our forward defence policy in curbing an angry, militaristic domineering evil is dependent upon patronising and dismissing their petty concerns in the interests of the coal, oil and defence lobby.  We asked, (via morse) what plans our former Foreign Minister had with the ‘Five-Eyes’ arrangement but he was employed elsewhere as stand in for HRH Prince Andrew for the Order of the Garter Investiture in London. Once again proof of his far- reaching vision and self-sacrifice. We can only hope that his unstinting work is amply rewarded to further postings of real value in the future.  We return to our saga……

A job for Alex post politics?

‘I dunno, it’s still moving, and I don’t like the look of this’. Under Benny’s guidance they stood stock still and watched transfixed as the lumbering ponderous hulk of the Centurion rumbled quietly towards them. They could see the rich black smoke issuing from the exhaust as the Meteor, possibly over worn by years of service burnt off a crude mixture of oil, petrol and soot. Clearly, it needed an overhaul but was still after all these years  still serviceable. Ces scratched his chin, and exclaimed, ‘Jeez this disproves the unreliability of Lucas Electrics, after all these years still functioning, I don’t get it’?

 ‘Its simple’! exclaimed Terry, ‘there aint any rain. No water can get into it’. 

As a GG, to carry in the tradition of John Kerr?

‘You’re right that’s the spirit of Lucas Electrics, they weren’t designed for hot dry and arid environments, yet they were guaranteed to fail in wet ones. Is this a paradox at work? Perhaps if Lucas had only sold products to arid environments they may still be in common use-age’?

‘Yes Terry piped in;  and perhaps then, the Empire may have prevailed’? 

At the mention of Empire Benny- Boy paused in setting up his signalling equipment and reverentially kissed the service ribbon, the scarlet ribbon that signalled the highest attainment for valour, courage and decency,  ‘Yep I liked the sequel, ‘The Empire Strikes Back, to whit his peers politely being of a mature disposition, chose to politely ignore. 

To strut once again, a COLOSSUS on the WORLD STAGE!

‘Yes I see what you’re coming at’! Quent opined; ‘Perhaps as the fall of the Roman Empire was attributed to lead pipes and the Empire being a ‘Denarii short of the Sestertius’, if Lucas had only distributed to hot and arid climes, the North West Frontier would still be in our hands?And those parts of the Suez lost in 56, and those bits of the darkest bits of Africa’? Their collective minds boggled as the ‘What-if’s’ just grew, like the Coalition’s urge to go FULL-ON Nuclear since they lost the Federal Election.

Indeed, there was a hypothetical construct that needed teasing out, but sadly there was precious little time. Was Lucas the downfall of the Empire? Or was it something much more insidious, we hadn’t the time to ruminate nor hypothecate.

‘I dunno Ces whispered, it’s still headed right for us, unless we do something. 

But could they do something? 

Or to harness and nurture the souls of those in torment who have been dispossessed and flung into the wasteland of oblivion? What destiny awaits? And do we care?

Was something, all they had? 

Find out in our next enigmatic episode, ‘Did Lucas prompt the fall of Empire in its hour of need?, or ‘was ever in the field of human conflict so little dis-owned by so many?

This episode is sponsored by Camel Cigarettes!

We return to our saga

Dear reader as you may recall……. we left our heroes exalting in  the fresh taste of freedom. Freedom, that for all intents and purposes, though irradiated at Maralinga, is nonetheless freedom of sorts and better, way better than being mere prawns to the evil machinations of Dutto and Sophie. 

Terry poses as a ‘Camel-man’ in the olden days!

But, as Benny-Boy, arguably Australia’s bravest soldier ever, debates the meaning of a life without blowing up things and rolling wops off cliffs, he’s gladdened by the prospect of another chance to have a crack. And be of use. Not to his countrymen and the glory of ANZAC, but to help his mates Terry, Ces and Quent who he’s grown fond of.

Camel has a proud reputation of KILLING since 1915

And so we find them at the threshold, Benny-Boy once their jailer, is now their protector. Just as Sophie the most powerful woman in politics is on the board of the Fair Work Commission to help lowly paid workers not loose their wages through the insidious creep of inflation. Because Sophie, may have EMPATHY! Indeed although it is mere conjecture it must be said that even psychopathic killers can be fond of their pets, their favourite hunting knife, their AK47 and evince deep compassion for those things that have special relevance to them. So, it is not improbable that Sophie, the woman of case-hardened steel may possess hidden from public view her entire life, a tincture of ‘Compassion”! And this carefully guarded secret may be unleashed and at any time to astound and confound the public at large and prove now that Dutto reigns supreme a softer voice within conservative ranks.  Because,  there is still a shed of compassion at large within the ranks of those who choose conservatism and bludgeoning punishment, and ROBODEBT as a first principle above empathy and understanding. 

We live in hope, but what of our heroes, ? 

Camel sponsored the ‘Camel Corps’, a glorious annal from the pages of ‘ANZAC’!

We return to the irradiated sands of Maralinga and prepare for a stand off with a lone Centurion Tank. 

‘Bugger me, it really is a Centurion” Benny stroked the stubble on his chin and fingered the pistol grip of his AK 47, the one that had served him so faithfully at Tarren Kwot. ‘I dunno, the turret may turn and the barrel may move , but it’s arguable as to whether there’s anything down the spout, I mean 105 mm ammo is hard to come by these days.’ 

Camels liked to wash down there Camel’s with a flagon of beer. Seen here at Beersheba.

‘But can we risk it’? Quent enquired nervously. ‘I mean it’s been sitting out here for over sixty years and whoever is in it surely must have better things to do than just sit around waiting for us’? ’Yeah, but, nah but, with the “Drums of War” beckoning, we have no idea who it may be, since Andrew Robb took that job with Land-bridge and took the 750k a year salary for selling the Darwin port things aint been the same, We’ve been on high alert’. 

‘Boney’ pioneered Camels in Egypt as the ‘Ship of the desert’ as he’d lost all his real ships in Aboukir Bay.

‘High alert’? Quipped Terry, ‘I’ve been on high alert since the fifties and I can tell ya, nothing ever happened’. Terry lit up another Camel and passed the packet round. Although there was a stationary tank, muzzle pointing to us, Terry still had time for another fag. It was something quintessentially laconic and Australian about that. Just as our forebears had remembered to have another pipe-full of Havelock and swig of whiskey before clearing the land of native stragglers. 

‘Yeah’, Benny replied sternly,’ but things are different nowadays, the feds have put in very severe restrictions on foreign capital acquisitions’. 

A little know postscript, some Camels were patriarch white supremacist racists who aided the Confederacy in their lost cause so they could develop ‘Replacement Theory’.

‘Like what’? enquired Ces. 

‘Well for example, you have to prove on the documentation before you buy into Australia that you’re not laundering money, have no links to the CCP and don’t have a recent, (at least two weeks) association with the High rollers Lounge at either Crown Casino, Crown Resorts or Barangaroo. And, as a final stipulation that you have never had dealings with Mick Gatto, Sam Dastyari, or Andrew Robb in the past seven days! They’re pretty strict regulations, and it shows that Australia is prepared to stand for PRINCIPLE’!

‘But is principle enough’? Ces sounded exasperated by his own circumstance, ‘we’ve been the past year trying to find out who the evil penis wielding oppressor was who so cruelly defiled our tea- lady Ms Culthorpe as a parliamentary intern and we are still no closer. How much is principle worth, when at the end we’re stymied by powerful forces determined to keep the truth from the public?. It’s all, Ces, sighed with a measure of heart- felt exasperation,’ it’s all a bit Witness K or Julian Assange’. ‘Assange what’? enquired Terry? ‘Oh Assange, the bloke who got done for telling the truth’.

‘ Oh’ Terry replied, ‘that can get you into a whole lotta trouble, and the worst of it is, once the truth is out there’s no telling what damage it might do’. 

John Curtin saved Australia through the deft use of Camel’s and whiskey.

Just then the tank, immobile, daunting, and mysterious began to move. 

Has the tank got one up the spout, or is it just on manoeuvres? Who is inside the tank and why is it there in the first place? Find out in our next tracked vehicle episode, ‘A phalanx short of a Centurion’, or ‘Quo vadis ici Vladimir?

Ms Culthorpe, (our tea-lady) before she was seconded to our federal parliament as an intern was an expert on morse.

We return to our saga

Dear reader as you may recall……. we left our heroes exalting in  the fresh taste of freedom. Freedom, that for all intents and purposes, though irradiated at Maralinga, is nonetheless freedom of sorts and better, way better than being mere prawns to the evil machinations of Dutto and Sophie. 

Terry was also no slouch in morse, see here converting ‘Drums of War’ into Morse!

But, as ‘Benny-Boy’, arguably Australia’s bravest soldier ever, debates the meaning of a life without blowing up things and rolling wops off cliffs, he’s gladdened by the prospect of another chance to have a crack. And be of use. Not to his countrymen and the glory of ANZAC, but to help his mates Terry, Ces and Quent who he’s grown fond of.

And so we find them at the threshold, Benny-Boy once their jailer, is now their protector. Just as Sophie the most powerful woman in politics is on the board of the Fair Work Commission to help lowly paid workers not loose their wages through the insidious creep of inflation. Because Sophie, hidden from public view her entire life, may have a tincture of ‘Compassion”! And this carefully guarded secret may be unleashed and at any time to astound and confound the public at large and prove now that Dutto reigns supreme, there is still a shred of compassion at large within the ranks of those who choose conservatism and bludgeoning punishment, and ROBODEBT as a first principle above empathy and understanding. 

NBN upgrade, three Morse Keys in One!

We live in hope, but what of our heroes, ? 

We return to the irradiated sands of Maralinga and prepare for a stand off with a lone Centurion Tank. 

‘Bugger me, it really is a centurion” Benny stroked the stubble on his chin and fingered the pistol grip of his AK 47, the one that had served him so faithfully at Tarren Kwot. ‘I dunno, the turret may turn and the barrel may move , but it’s arguable as to whether there’s anything down the spout, I mean 105 mm ammo is hard to come by these days.’ 

‘But can we risk it’? Quent enquired nervously. ‘I mean it’s been sitting out here for over sixty years and whoever is in it surely must have better things to do than just sit around waiting for us’?

Ces enjoys one of Terry’s Camels whilst tapping out ‘Drums of War’ for transfer to heliograph.

‘Yeah, but, nah but, with the “Drums of War” beckoning, we have no idea who it may be, since Andrew Robb took that job with Land-bridge and took the 750k a year salary for selling the Darwin port things aint been the same, We’ve been on high alert’. 

‘High alert’? Quipped Terry, ‘I’ve been on high alert since the fifties and I can tell ya, nothing ever happened’. 

‘Yeah’, Benny replied sternly,’ but things are different nowadays, the feds have put in very severe restrictions on foreign capital acquisitions’. 

‘Like what’? enquired Ces. 

Young Ces practising morse on the family farm beyond the black stump.

‘Well for example, you have to prove on the documentation before you buy into Australia that you’re not laundering money, have no links to the CCP and don’t have a recent, (at least two weeks) association with the High rollers Lounge at either Crown Casino, Crown Resorts or Barangaroo. And, as a final stipulation that you have never had dealings with Mick Gatto, Sam Dastyari, or Andrew Robb in the past seven days! They’re pretty strict regulations, and it shows that Australia is prepared to stand for PRINCIPLE’!

‘But is principle enough’? Ces sounded exasperated by his own circumstance, ‘we’ve been the past year trying to find out who the evil penis wielding oppressor was who so cruelly defiled our tea- lady Ms Culthorpe as a parliamentary intern and we are still no closer. How much is principle worth, when at the end we’re stymied by powerful forces determined to keep the truth from the public? It’s all, Ces, sighed with a measure of heart- felt exasperation,’ it’s all a bit Witness K or Julian Assange’. ‘Assange what’? enquired Terry? ‘Oh Assange, the bloke who got done for telling the truth’.

Young Quent, lacked morse proficiency so practised on ‘Drums of War’ instead.

‘ Oh’ Terry replied, ‘that can get you into a whole lotta trouble, and the worst of it is, once the truth is out there’s no telling what damage it might do’. 

Just then the tank, immobile, daunting, and mysterious began to move. 

‘Its moving’! Terry exclaimed, ‘And it’s coming towards us, what are we gonna do’? 

Mike Pezullo, uses hand-signals and whispering to invoke via semaphore ‘Drums of War’!

‘I dunno, stand still and see if we can communicate with it, perhaps it’s here as a force of protection? There’s only one way top find out’! And quick as a flash Benny Boy knelt down, threw his back pack down and fished around inside the utility pockets before removing a small mirror. With deftness of touch trained in the field he orientated the mirror towards the sun and with the palm of his other hand, began to flap, (Not tap) out a signal by semaphore, by primitive hand – held heliograph, a message in morse. 

NBN roll- out in WA will be made by real injuns. Using real ‘Drums of War’!

Will morse be enough to uncover the purpose of the lone tank? Or will some other code be required to save our hapless heroes? Find out in our next indecipherable episode; ‘Is that morse you tap on your sweaty palms’? or…..’Is that a morse key in your pocket or are you just pleased to sue me?

Is it a Balloon Juice led recovery? What is Balloon Juice?

Dear reader, implausibly, we return to our saga. A long running saga?

Yes indeed, but not quite as long as Amber versus Johnnie, or even as long as Prince Andrew, or for that matter most members of the Royal family who’ve been filling gossip pages for years. Do we need a Royal family? Of course we do, otherwise we’d have nothing to believe in, and in times of war nothing to  DIE FOR!!!

Chinless wonders did you say? 

Is That  a slur on a great German family who just happen to live at Buckingham Palace when it’s not Deer season, Grouse season, Fox season, Horse racing season, and Visiting Tin- Pot nations still beholden to the spurious notion of Commonwealth Season?

Commonwealth? You might also ask.

Yes that’s those nation states still quite happy to have their natural assets hived off by multi nationals for obscene profits and those same corporations who pay no tax. 

A rort? 

The Coalition Climate Policy aka the ‘Crazy Gang’!

Is this GAS you’re talking about?

Not really just another example of the singular benefits of privatisation and the trickle down effect. And besides the Queen is 96, and there a swag of Australian Aged-Care providers who’ve got an eye on the family jewels. They could turn even Her Majesty’s frailty into a profit. It’s a rent seeking economy, and we’ve all got so much to gain from gas led recovery. Because at the end of the day it’ll be gas that fires up the crematoria. 

That’ll turn those tangible assets into carbon credits. 

Coalition Climate and Energy Policy report.

Give credit where it’s due. But what of our heroes? There’s a long trudge to the Maralinga aerodrome terminal and whilst they walk, freed just for a few hours from Australia’s most powerfully well-connected influencers, Sophie and Dutto, they debate for the first time the benefits of a gas-led recovery. 

We return to our saga……….

‘I dunno’, Benny-Boy was waxing philosophical, ‘we’ve come all this way, and with my skill gained on active service in Afghanistan, and sometimes’, he paused; ‘I wonder what it’s all for’? 

This hesitation from Australia’s bravest and most decorated soldier, a hero to kiddies across Australia and a beacon for Boy Scouts, ‘School Cadets, ‘ Level crossing supervisors on what heights can be achieved by active service in civilising Savages came as a bit of a shock.

‘Whaddya mean Benny’? 

A Gas Led Recovery?

It was Ces who tried to mollify Benny-boys soul searching. A soldier who does soul-searching can be a dangerous thing as Ces had seen service in Vietnam, and decided way back then that it was best to just get on with the job. 

‘I dunno’! Benny sadly said, ‘It’s just that I’d been thinking’. 

‘Thinking’? quipped Quent; ‘aint that a bit of a liability for a soldier’?

‘Yeah, but nah, but yeah, I’ve been thinking about what the point of it all is. I mean apart from looking after your arses, now we’re up on top I wonder what my mission, what my purpose will be in ordinary life’? 

‘You call this ordinary’? quipped Terry.  Here we are pushed from arsehole to buggery and you’re wondering about ‘purpose ?

Nev had the POWER to lead a GAS-LED RECOVERY!

‘Yeah, Ces added, ‘I’m sure there’ll be another disaster round the corner, and look at it this way’ you’ve saved us time and again, you used to be our gaoler, and now you’re our saviour. How good is that’?

‘Yeah’, Benny replied distractedly, ‘I know all that, but I’m used to being in the field and this walking with you lot, excuse me for saying it, ordinary blokes, just reminds me of the transition I will have to make away from the excitement of blowing things up and rolling natives off cliffs. I mean excuse me for saying it, but there’s not as much excitement’. 

‘Don’t worry Benny, there’ll be plenty of excitement soon enough, but for the moment just relish the peace. Isn’t that what war is all about? To enjoy the peace’? 

‘Spose’, Benny replied mournfully, ‘it’s just that would you believe it? From war good can come!

‘What? 

What good ever came from war’? Ces expostulated

‘I dunno’ Benny replied, ‘Galipolli’?

Barnaby’s head is so full of GAS it could EXPLODE!!

‘Galipolli, it was a fucken disaster’!

‘Yeah but it taught us mateship’! 

‘Bollocks, it became a legend because from start to finish it was a fuck-up like the entire First World War, what did it ever achieve’? 

‘I dunno’, said Benny, ‘it gave a lot of blokes medals’.

‘What the,  whats the use of medals?

‘I dunno. ‘People like getting medals makes em feel useful’.

‘Tawdry trinkets, that’s all they are’.. 

‘What, are you saying my V.C is a tawdry trinket’? 

‘No I’m not saying that, you earnt yours fair and square for rolling wops off cliffs, but the other stuff like AO’s and that rubbish’! 

In China theres over 1000 ways to say ‘EXPLODE’ and one of them is Barnaby!

‘Yeah, Im talking about war medals, 

‘Yes but Benny wouldn’t it be better if we didn’t have wars on the first place’? 

Benny’s stunned silence came as a silence. 

He hadn’t thought of a world without war and you could tell, that for the bravest soldier it made him quietly fearful. Though distinguished and brave his inner fear was palpable.  We’d discovered Benny’s  human side. It was deeply touching. 

Aussie Diggers investigate MASS TRANSIT in Vietnam

‘Well Benny don’t lose sight, cos look over there’. 

They were within a hundred yards, (we are thankful for the British Government in granting us the right to re-install imperial measurements) and sure enough behind the dilapidated terminal building stood a lone tank. It was an old Centurion tank left over for the fifties. You could hear the Morris flat four whirring away inside. If you didn’t know its the flat four as well as the twelve cylinder Meteor that operates the turret and the internals. And with barely a squawk, we noticed the turret turning, and the forlorn 105 mm gun point upwards, correct itself and then point straight towards us. 

‘Well Benny’, Terry said, ‘Your dreams have been answered I think we need your expertise’. 

And as though it never happened Benny’s worried face changed into a beaming grin, ‘Good-oh, we’re back in business’. 

What business? Will Benny lead our heroes to a Gas-Led Recovery?

Gorgon is Gas? Or us Gorgon another word for Tax haven?

Will it be funny business, or risky business?

Gorgons can turn you to STONE! A Stone-LED recovery? A Tax haven led recovery?

Find out in our next gas-led sequel:  ‘Is that gas you’re emitting fully franked’? Or ‘gaslighting works well in non regulated environments like our Federal Parliament ’

John Wyndham’s book was a bit like Lithium in that once ‘discovered’ as ‘useful’, it set off a chain reaction with unforeseen consequences.

Once again our indefatigable scribe for the distant North West Frontier, presents us with another fascinating insight into what makes Lithium tick.

From personal experience it’s what made my mother ‘tock’. For she was for a near lifetime dependent upon Lithium to stop her going looney. For being a manic depressive she was susceptible to stratospheric highs, and abysmal lows. Sounds a bit like Lithium these days will create another bi-polar disorder on the trans national front and a bit like John Wyndham’s; ‘Trouble with Lichen’, we’ll a be in a serious bit of trouble as everyone wants a piece of the action.  This piece is praiseworthy, cos not only does it tell us about Lithium, but it’s an introduction to Spodumene, Tantalite, and Pegmatite! These are not made up words they truly do exist, and if Frank hadn’t mentioned them wed all be just that little bit impoverished.  So in praise and post-script for a man called ‘Assange’ of which we’ve never heard of there’s food for thought. Read on…….

In Wyndham’s book, the properties of Lithium kept ‘ageing at bay’. Arguably very similar to Lithium keeping ‘Beijing at bay;.(it’s a poor joke we agree).

Amigos,

The world’s largest production of lithium is currently from pegmatite at the Greenbushes mine in Western Australia which is operated by a joint venture between Australian, Chinese and U.S. interests. The second largest producer of lithium is Chile from the salt flats of the Atacama region. The potential serious deleterious effect of the Chilean operations on the hydrology and local indigenous population is another story.

Mad scientists all over the world extol the virtues of Lithium!

In the 1970’s some Mt.Allan residents collected a kilogram of tantalite for Yuendumu Mining Company (YMC) from the surface at Twin Dams on Mt.Denison Station. From memory we sold it for an at the time not to be sneezed

‘Not only will it keep humanoid androids charged for longer, but it’ll stop em going crazy’!

at $130.

Photo of a huge beryl crystal at the Bumpus Pegmatite, Maine U.S.A.

The murder of dingo trapper Fred Brooks after whom the Soak was named, precipitated the Coniston Massacre in 1928, only a year after Harry Bumpus had opened his quarry on the other side of the world.

‘Just think, it sweeps’ it cleans, it does the dishes and it’s fully rechargeable’!

In the 1970’s during our stint in the Pilbara I visited an abandoned camp not far from Roebourne where beryl had been manually concentrated by Don McLeod’s Nomads Pty.Ltd.
To the best of my knowledge, beryl because of its use as a moderator in nuclear power plants had been declared a strategic mineral and the Nomads had taken advantage of this.

The Pilbara is an increasingly significant producer of lithium, which back then no-one gave a thought to. The only significant deposit of lithium being developed outside of Western Australia is Core Lithium’s Finniss project a mere 88km by road south of Darwin Port (leased to Chinese interests).

Early prototype Lithium charged autobots were unreliable and ugly.

In the last few years Bolivia experienced serious political upheavals which included killing of pro-Morales protesters by police. President Evo Morales was deposed to a significant extent resulting from allegations of electoral fraud spearheaded by the Organisation of American States (OAS). In 2018 the OAS’s General Secretariat’s budget was $US 85M. U.S.A.’s contribution to this budget was $US 50 M.

Europe’s largest potential lithium resources are on the…. wait for it… Ukrainian Shield.

Once is happenstance. Twice is coincidence. Three times is enemy action. (Ian Fleming)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bzsILbNB-iQ

Chau,

Frank

Probably too late but you may be interested:

GALWAY ALLIANCE AGAINST WAR

A reminder that we are running a zoom event tomorrow at 2pm Irish time countering the NATO/US narrative on Ukraine, plus the accompanying blanket censorship and McCarthyism. The line-up includes Noam Chomsky, John Pilger, George Galloway, MEPs Clare Daly and Mick Wallace plus two Irish journalists Harry Browne and Eoin Ó Murchú.

Recent versions of hominid ‘auto-bots; are much improved, but still require empathy deficit re-programming.

 

Organised by the Galway Alliance Against War and Free Assange Ireland

Meeting title: “If wars can be started by lies, peace can be started by truth.” 

Topic: Peace can be started by by Truth
Time: Jun 4, 2022 14:00 DublinJoin Zoom Meeting
https://us06web.zoom.us/j/83983486949?pwd=RjdoOUxzb2x3d2pIOHNObEtRMWNuUT09

Dear reader we return once again to our saga. 

MING was a GRATE LEADER! Not only did he beg the UK government to send nukes to Australia, but he pioneered dwarf mutant irradiated Eucalypts ( top RH corner) for the Bonsai enthusiasts.

We find our three sub- heroes Ces, Quent and Terry and their able saviour, (some might say part time nemesis) and protector Benny Boy Roberts Smith, arguably Australia’s most decorated soldier up on top. That’s it, after almost a year submerged beneath the irradiated wastelands of Maralinga, they’ve officially reached the surface, to find it, strangely deserted. That’s the funny thing about deserts there’s always a touch of desertification about. But, as they trudge towards the abandoned terminal that once, long ago teemed with feverish activity as Australia wrestled with the ‘Nuclear Age’, they wonder whether their quest, (to find the evil oppressor who had so cruelly defiled their tea-lady Ms Culthorpe on secondment to the Nations parliament as an intern),  for justice has been worth it. And thus dawns a deep seated discussion of a  philosophical and existential kind into the reason why.  Is it unreasonable to discuss the reason why? We have no idea, perhaps, with this instalment an answer may emerge, or like Coalition Climate policy submerge. Merge or submerge, any-fink can happen in the next five minutes… 

Read on….

‘Yup’! Terry demurred, ‘it’s funny, life has a habit of turning out different, there I was fifty, sixty years looking after ‘Radium Springs’, Australia’s first ever subterranean city and life just went on as usual up top and in the end I was just forgotten’!. 

‘Too right’! Quent Enthused, ‘you became a forgotten person’.. 

‘Yep’! Ces replied, ‘we all became forgotten people’. 

‘Ya know’!,  Benny Boy reflected;  ‘there’s a ring to that word, ‘the forgotten people’, like I’ve heard it before?

‘Nup’!, Ces replied, ‘whatever forgotten people may have meant in olden days Australia, it’s been forgotten, that’s at the core of being a forgotten person’. 

Churchill reads the transcript of MING’S greatest achievement, the sequel tune he composed on harpsichord and kettle drum to Rolf’s ‘Two Little Boys’!

‘Unless you’ve forgotten to call yourself a forgotten person’? 

Being a forgotten person? Quent chewed on the issue, there was something paradoxical about talking about a forgotten person, when even the act of talking about it meant that whatever it was that had been forgotten, hadn’t been quite forgotten. He proffered; ‘What is really at the core of it is the tendency to forget’?

‘In what respect’? Terry enquired.. 

‘I dunno , I’ve forgotten’.. 

‘Then whatever it was is totally forgettable, so….. 

‘I know’! Benny Boy wryly said, taking a puff on one of Terrys Camels.. ‘Forget about it’!. 

Dear reader, whilst they ruminated about the ‘forgotten people’ epithet, they felt the warmth of the sun and reflected on the surreal beauty of inland Australia, and rejoiced in the bounty that Atomic energy would unleash on Australia. And perhaps  for its native inhabitants a new opportunity to lift them from the grip of the stone age.

‘Well, we’d better start walking, cos if we don’t, that bloody terminal over there will disappear as if it were a mirage’. 

‘Yep, let’s make tracks, and just for good measure’, and with a professionalism of the highest order Benny proceeded to cover our advance upon the cracked, sandy, weed strewn hard- stand of what used to be the refuelling depot at Maralinga. The old terminal still welcoming newcomers cheerily as it had done since the mid fifties. As if, after all these years, nothing had ever really changed!

Children in the orphanage flock to hear Ming sing the entire ‘Two Little Boys’ song cycle.

Benny Boy, in the off chance of their nemesis Dutto or Sophie chose the stairwell and chambers as their route of pursuit,  emptied his back pack of Claymores, Torpex, Cordite, Gelignite and Roman Candles, (for artistic effect) and proceeded with fuse-wire, trip-wire and piano-wire to prepare the exit stairwell for demolition. 

‘I’ll put a five minute fuse on this lot and it’ll make sure that no one else ever uses that door’. 

‘Sounds good’! They all agreed and as they began trudging across the sandy space that was once a runway, they could hear Benny Boy whistling a few verses from  ‘Two Little Boys’, and  lighting the fuse and then following them with a quickened step..

As they approached the terminal they could see that it hadn’t been used for years and years. For a start, the flag pole was all rusty, and the wind sock at the end of the tarmac, just looked tattered and worn. ‘As it had run out of puff’, Ces Wryly remarked.   ‘Not far, I wonder if there’s any food on offer’?

‘Wouldn’t think so been abandoned for night on sixty years, 

I dunno could be some tins of baked beans or Spam? They can last centuries  and maybe even a few tubes of Vic in the fridge?

MING at the Maralinga control centre asks the operator if the console can record him sing ; ‘Two Little Boys’.

Dream on’, Ces replied, ‘there’ll be nothing, but there may be a radio receiver, and we can call for help’. 

With the word ‘HELP’ they all blanched. So far they’d been in a lot of trouble and not much help. Help had just become another four-letter word. 

Helplessly SO!

Will they find salvation?

MING was so Strong and Powerful an influence it’s no surprise then he had many pretenders in the Liberal Party. None of them gifted with his mastery of oratory, nor could they sing the entire ‘Two Little Boys’ song cycle without prompting.

Find out in the next desiccated episode, ‘Does Spam last a hundred years’? or ‘Baked beans may be pre heated at Maralinga’?

Dear reader,

The forgotten people was named 1949’s greatest ever speech by the editor of the Truth and the ‘Girl Guides Tribune’.

still in a state of shock as to the federal elections unexpected outcome we’re still hoping desperately that it may be a very minor win for Labor, who pushed by the Teal-dal wave of reformists finds itself in government. And yet Labor may still have a majority?

Like most voters of the insensible centre we hope they don’t make  the Liberals well and truly sidelined at the very least for the next three years. Cos with Super funds, vested interests and the status quo upheld in the Australian body politic, we are fearful that the Imperial Guard of the right- wing looney Coalition may fade from the public debate and become irrelevant. 

‘Good riddance’! you may say, we are inclined to agree. 

But without the likes of Tudgey, George, Clive, Barnaby, Matt and Pauline on the front pages, just for starters are worried about losing some of our star characters and then without their influence and vile personality dysfunction this blog may lose its relevance. 

With the loss of so many moderate liberals we’re increasingly fearful that the rat- baggers who’ve given us so much joy may be pushed into the shadows of looney right conspiracists and other adherents to the thrall of Murdoch. All of this may be lost to us. And be forgotten!

There is hope however, with Angus rumoured to be elevated as Shadow Treasurer we know that’s a huge tick for Cayman Island registered trust funds, and hope yet that great initiatives like the Murray Darling, and with a bit of luck healthcare, energy and aged -care policies may still be skewed by self interest. For without  base self-interest and greed out Royal Commission’s would lose their entertainment value. That would be a CURSE!

It was re- contextualised with a Hills Hoist converted in the 1950s to a ‘Tiemekangaroodownsport’ early warning radar display.

And with Dutto as the Opposition leader in waiting, there is still fun and laughter to be had. But the fear is, that with a new government actually listening, (this usually passes after a week or two) to the people in the street, there is a chance for real reform. But as the Chinese Premier Chow en Lai said so many years ago about the French revolution;  ‘its still too early to tell’!

But is it too early for our heroes? 

Find out in this next thrilling instalment, Maralinga or burst!

‘How far do you reckon it is’?, Ces wiped the dust from his mouth and pointed to the old terminal. 

‘I dunno’, Benny-boy said as he reached into his haversack for his field glasses ‘perhaps one or two k’, 

‘Well then,  what are we waiting for’?… 

‘I dunno’. Terry said quietly ‘But it’s a long long time since I’ve be up here and funny seeing it deserted. In its heyday this was absolutely packed with Canberra bombers, Bristol freighters, ground-crew and military personnel. All hell bent on delivering to Australia and the Empire the bounty of nuclear energy’!

‘Yeah Terry and a bit of the Big Bang theory’, said Ces with a tinge of irony.

‘Big bang’?,Quent queried,  ‘the Atomic Bomb that was just a sideline, we were really looking to unleashing its power for good’! Terry said that with a satisfied proprietal air.  We could tell he took great pride in keeping Radium Springs in good order. 

‘For good’, queried Ces?, 

‘Yeah, to make mighty inland lakes and build a mountain range across Central Australia to create rainfall and upgrade the sheep wheat belt, and make these desert sands the ‘bread basket’ of the Pacific’.   

We could tell that Terry was passionate. We felt humbled by his vision. Whereas we just had a conviction, that until the evil opressor who so cruelly violated Ms Culthrope as she performed her sacred duty as a intern tea-lady in Parliament was brought to justice, our passion, our determination , out integrity as human beings was unresolved. But Terry,  undaunted, was a man of vision. We listened in rapture as he described the vision of a Golden Age in raw, unquestionable Atomic Energy.

It was updated again for ‘Australian’s who lived beyond the ‘Barnaby Line’.

‘We were also going to blow up the Great Barrier Reef, convert it to Superphosphate and open it up as the worlds first integrated canal and real estate subdivision, under the name ‘Plutonium Ponds’. We had offers from Miami, Las Vegas and Manilla to build the worlds biggest casino, and then we had the great artesian bore breakaway!!

‘What was that’? Quent asked.

A bloody big hole in the ground’? Ces wryly remarked, 

‘No’! Terry replied;  ‘something much more visionary! 

‘We were going to blow up the entire arid wastes of Central Australia.  Move all the flora, fauna and natives off the site into a special compound called ‘Woomera- Ville’ where they could keep their primitive customs and beliefs whilst, (for a tourist entry fee capped at the CPI) could do something useful and generate tourism pounds!. And then through a succession of highly controlled blasts remove at least 1 km of earths crust to create a new inland sea. And from that opportunity, build a canal from Darwin to Adelaide. We called that the ‘Fark-en far Canal after the Chief Engineer, Sir Anthony Farken OBE from the Queensland Department of Inland Rivers,Policing, Gambling, Banana growing and Native Administration. The furthest and most far sighted far- canal EVER!!!!

And flood it! Thus opening up the potential for an inland transport hub using real ‘Mississippi style’ stern wheelers with real-estate opportunities for coastal development. The sky was the limit, and’……. ….. Terry paused in his soliloquy, 

‘What happened Terry’? Ces dryly asked, 

‘The….. the whole thing got put off, the Poms who supplied the nukes said they couldn’t do it’. 

‘Why? asked Ces, was it environmental, industrial’? 

‘Nup, they said; ‘capacity constraints’!, 

Both Churchill and Ming (R.G Menzies) warmed to the idea of an Atomic future for The Empires ‘white colonies’. (where even the black bits were bleached white by CSR and Bex Powders)

‘But I reckon it was jealousy, We really had a use for nukes in opening up the interior and I think that the Poms were miffed that we could use nukes for a power of good, rather than threatening wops in places like Egypt.You remember the Suez crisis was on’…

Our heroes paused to think about the unrealised potential, like the recent decade of stalled Climate response thanks to the Coalition’s bludgeoning obstinacy..another tragic waste of opportunity?….

‘Well then’, Benny-Boy wryly smiled, ‘I spose like our mission to bring the benefits of civilisation to Afghanistan it just didn’t quite work out that way’. 

Will it work our for our heroes? Does anything work out in the end? 

Find out in the next optimistically charged episode… ‘Sophie made it happen, lest we forget’!, 

Eric Abetz, a staunch supporter of ‘The Forgotten People’, and the ‘WHITE EMPIRE’. Enjoys a cup of Robur.

Or ‘I forget what it was I was supposed to forget about’. 

Dear reader, as you may recall incredibly our trio of heroes including Australia’s most decorated soldier ‘Benny-Boy’ Roberts Smith,  found themselves at last on the surface.

The Coalition now they’ve lost are big believers in recycling… Dutto as oppsition leader sounds like GOLD!

Somehow, by some miracle, or dare we suggest the agency of a greater being,( as this episode invokes the spirit of the Religious Discrimination Bill) they have been delivered from evil . 

An evil of such magnitude that Vladimir would be hard pressed to make it any evil- er. An evil so pronounced and so manifest in every corridor of the nation’s parliament that we wonder if things will ever be the same. Will the nation’s capital ever recover and return to some semblance of normality and will the evil doer who so heinously defiled Ms Culthorpe our tea-lady during her stint as parliamentary intern ever be bought to justice? Is there justice left when only the tea-leaves can suggest a future that’s not stymied by corruption, the stench of nepotism and croneyism.

Do not despair, there is hope. Not in the new government which may or may not have a mandate for accelerated change and accountability. No not that at all, the hope that Sophie, who crafted the Teal-nado through her sociopathy and obdurance may yet be recognised as more than just a vital board member of the Fair Work Commissioner. The question is can Sophie bounce back from her fight with Dutto and with her dozen other half million a year salaried Commissioners determine a fair wage increment for poorly paid workers? Will it been another twenty cents, as high as fifty cents, or maybe even a generous whole dollar? 

Such is the responsibility of those who must maintain standards so that lowly paid workers don’t get uppity. 

Barnaby must stay as Nationals Leader to remind the public…

Since the Teals stormed the winter palace, (Crown Resorts) there’s been a lot of uppity-ness lately. But rest assured not too much cos SCOMO sensibly stacked every board, commission and public agency with his mates just to make damn sure that change would not change anything. 

But try as he might there is STILL change afoot? 

That Sophie, unrequited, unrealised and unremarkable may yet still rise to the highest office in the land and become a director or even, may we hope a chairman of Crown Resorts or something bigger still, such as a fully fledged Secretary of the United Nations? You think that’s far fetched? With the world sliding into totalitarianism, it takes a hard nut to crack the likes of Vlad and Xi, and Sophie has got what it takes, an utter and compete absence of empathy or compassion. 

Just as Zac Rolfe must stay in the N.T as Australia’s bravest copper

How is Sophie and Dutto getting on? We return to our saga, our heroes temporarily reprieved and the king-pins Sophie and Dutto fighting it out for supremacy. 

‘Lets face it potato -head, you couldn’t get a bit part in a B grade horror movie cos you’re not even C or D grade’. 

‘Wanna make a bet, I’m gonna be the leader of the Liberal party. Under my agency There’ll be shiny new uniforms, Cool peaked hats, and shiny boots,!  I’ll change the national anthem, and edict compulsory military training for kiddies under the age of ten. As Gauleiter of Queensland, my reach will be….. Un…unreachable’! 

Sophie Scoffed, ‘You couldn’t reach the dunny brush to scratch your own arse if you tried, you’re a has-been Dutto and I’ve gotta tell you, the tide of  John Howardism has run out, and the whole party can’t wait to see the last of ya’!. 

To remind us how influential Sophie really is, as the Reason Why?

‘Aren’t you talking of yourself? Ya couldn’t win an election cos you were basically unelectable you look like a bean bag and your face is craggier than the Great Barrier Reef and the Crown of Thorns Starfish’! 

(Editors Note) Dear reader we apologise for this base invective, as you can see the quality of parliamentary debate had not improved, one can only hope with the new Federal Government there is a lift in standards. We can only hope!

‘Is that what you think’! And with a power beyond her size, she lifted Dutto up and flung him across the street. He landed with a ‘kerplunk’.  ‘I learnt the ancient art of ju-jitsu when I worked with Gina, and Ive got some moves you wouldn’t know’!

‘Wanna make a bet’?, And with that Dutto dextrously unclipped his standard Queensland Police truncheon, and flicked it across his shoulders. It landed with a loud ‘thwack’! Sophies face, (pudgy at best flashed pink and bruised) and you could tell, it must have hurt, because she went ‘Phwawwww’, and with an impulse faster than lightning, she retaliated by throwing a rubbish bin back at Dutto and it disgorged its dusty contents, long decayed and putrefied all over him. He wiped himself down, and in amongst the detritus noticed a newspaper article. He read it  distractedly, and then fixing on a discovery expostulated ‘LOOK AT THIS’!

One down, and only Tudgey remains as the stellar performer who introduced Robo-Debt!

‘Our lives depend on this, and if we don’t sort it out where in big trouble!!!

Sophie waddled over and read the piece, something about Radium Springs and Maralinga, and a little scrawl at the bottom, RG 201294 451. SW 321 12 k, NE 132 6 k… ‘So what Dutto! What’s the issue’?

 ‘Don’t you understand, RG 201294 is the secret unit developed by Mi 5 and the heads of Asio to quarantine mutants and, the RG 201294 refers to the sacred birth date of our eternal leader MING! This is highly classified, and in the 50’s if anyone outside of ASIO knew about it they’d, ( he searched for a suitable descriptor) would just disappear. These co-ordinates Give us the exact location of the Doomsday Box!

The Doomsday box?

Yes! the vital computer in which all the codes are kept and the activation switch for ‘Big Barnaby’.  

‘Big Barnaby’?, Sophie looked non- plussed, suspecting as most folk woud that the ‘Beet-rooter’ was active as a potential threat. 

‘Yes,  the worlds first ever positronic valve and wire-guided robot. And I know this because my father helped design it, and strangely, if you want to know,  (he spoke in a whisper),  it looks a bit like me’.. 

Sophie dropped the tyre lever she was about to hit Dutto over the head with and cried, ‘we’ve let them go’.. 

‘What’!!! Then Dutto cried exasperatedly.. ‘we’ve let the cat out of the bag, where are they’?

Oh, Dutto shrieked, ‘they cannot be allowed to get to civilisation’, 

‘They must have gone out through the emergency exit in building Y’. 

As for future leadership material? They always have Tim Smith, he’s working with TONE on re- vitalising the party. Can’t wait!

They  looked down the street, the buildings were clearly marked and sure enough behind the faded facade between buildings X and Z the large letter Y.. ‘That’s it, let’s go’! 

And grabbing her jackboots under her arm, and with Dutto retrieving his Queensland copper truncheon, they raced for the stairwell. 

Will Dutto and Sophie catch our hapless heroes or will they break the bonds of penile servitude? 

Find out in the next National Party sponsored episode, ‘The righteous rump’!, or ‘Can-a-van bring Barnaby back from the brink’?

Dear reader, 

we return to our saga. Though the tectonic plates of the Australian political scene have moved ever so slightly, we know that for our heroes stuck beneath the desiccated and irradiated wastes of Central Australia, there is a slim chance that unlike the members for Kooyong, Chisholm, Higgins and Goldstein they may yet pull it off. 

‘Pull it off? You might say, 

Threatened by the spectre of Tudgey in the shadows with another personal parliamentary secretary? Or Christian with his blind truss? 

Lest we forget, the sterling work performed by Warren Truss in crafting the INTERVENTION!

Truss? The architect of the Intervention? Before Barnaby was deputy PM, there was another, do you remember Warren Truss? ‘The quiet achiever’.

Could it be the same? Will a new government wind back the intervention and put in jeopardy thousands of white collar jobs in the  Aboriginal Industry? 

A truss, be it surgical or just cosmetic. Or nothing quite as bad as that, just freedom from the eternal pursuit by Australia’s most ambitious political duo, Peter, a copper who comes from Queensland and rolls along like a bent sixpence, (bribes of over $2.00 are tax deductible)  Dutto. Or Sophie, (is that a public funded sinecure for my entire family for just being odious) Mirabella. Come hell or high water, though there is no water in the arid desert, and whatever might fall is already covered by Angus and his mates with the Cayman Island Tax haven.  The destiny of this country is dependant upon their escape and escape they must. 

Or worse, we return to our epic;

‘Can you open it? 

Waren also gave the taxpayer good value for money, in some instances via ‘MATES RATES’ up to 30 mil would be paid for land valued at 3 mil.

‘Nup’, came the stern reply from Benny-Boy

‘Why not’? Terry asked, lighting his fifteenth Camel and passing round another pack for our enjoyment. Ces said;  ‘Don’t worry Terry, you can keep em’. To whit Terry smiled,  ‘but I think you might need em, we still aint dealt with Sophie and Dutto and we may still be here a long time’.  Resignedly Ces, took the packet and lit one up. Quent followed suit but Benny-Boy being controlled and fit just said this;  ‘Sorry youse blokes but I just cant see a way of opening this without another roll of torpex, a stick of gelignite or even a crowbar you see’…… He pointed to the hinges rusted over through time, ‘and these draw bars, and this crank and this wheel, I can’t move any of them, and even if I tried with explosive there’s no guarantee that the outside will be the outside.  It could all be a ruse put there in the fifties to put off the Russians, the Chinese, whoever’. 

‘But there must be a way’? Ces enthused, 

Warren and another visionary Keith Pitt. Lest we forget.

‘Do you know anything about this Terry’?

Terry flicked the ash from his lab-coat and scratched his chin. ‘Well I’ve never really been topside since the late fifties, but I can tell you if I’d known of this door I’d have tried to use it years ago. It’s just that I’d signed up to do the job for my government and I’ve always felt it was my duty to do the right thing’. Terry then said to himself barely audible, but with some remorse, ‘And rot down here for eternity’. 

‘I wouldn’t say rotting, it’s just that it’s been comforting not having to change after all these years, The older you get you don’t like change. 

But what option did you have, surely you must have been curious’? 

‘I dunno’ said Terry as he phlegmatically drew on the Camel, ‘I’ve never see it that way. Didn’t really talk-about it with all my responsibilities. 

A Warren Truss bridge. That’s right folks, a ‘Warren Truss’ is also a name given by engineers for a specific type of bridge, who would’ve thought?

Well then, think man, surely there must be a key, a device, a lever, that can open this thing’?

Benny looked back at us and scratched his chin strap. ‘We did have a door like this at the Fat Lady’s Arms, but it just led to the Pool Hall and the gaming lounge, whereas I’ve got a fair hunch this’ll get us nowhere.  I’m for turning back’.

Turning back!! We shrieked, to Dutto and Sophie??

Nup just at the last junction I reckon we should’ve turned left rather than right, 

‘But’!!! Terry expired ‘left or right in Australia usually makes no difference’ 

‘Well it should’, Ces enthused, ‘it should make a helluva difference’, and with that impatient and flustered he nudged the door. And curiously, and incredibly, he must have just hit the right spot for with an imperceptible squeak it opened, 

‘Bugger me’! said Benny

‘Jeez’! said Terry

Kev also kept the momentum of the intervention going. He not only helped homeless people as an act of immediate concern prior to becoming PM, but also was keen on punishing remote communities. Both noble causes seem to have slipped from his radar since then.

‘Christ’! said Quent, 

For before them in the late afternoon light bathed in a warm sulphurous glow they looked out upon a desert landscape and in the distance, an abandoned building of sorts with the name still legible after years of scorching sun and desert sands the words stencilled  ‘M A R A L I N G A’

Is the end nigh?

Have they escaped?

Good thing that the traditions of Warren are now in safe hands with Barnaby and the resurgent NATIONALS!

Find out in the next ‘doorish’ episode, ‘When is a door not a door when its not a -jar either’, and ‘What hinge squeaks noiselessly in the arid wastelands of a safe Nationals Seat’. 

Weather man says ; ‘A TEAL-NADO’ is on its way!

Dear reader,

incredibly, if you’ve been following this saga, our heroes, led by Australia’s bravest and most decorated soldier ever, ‘Benny Boy’ Roberts Smith have been playing it safe. Hoping that in their heart of hearts the dingy, dark, dusty stairwell that seems to be going upwards will deliver them ‘from evil’ as is biblically said. 

And yet, after the fire and brimstone of Dutto and Sophie, arguably both deep and committed Christians committed to a fairer and more equitable Australia, they are  perilously poised as they’ve decided to a man, after all the experience they’ve had over the past six months with men and women of religion, they’d rather hang around with individual of no interest in religion at all. 

A woman expressing herself joyously

It’s a vexed issue, but with the stakes so high they’ve found the professed religiosity one way or another of those in power, from Angus, the Cayman Island trust fund owning Energy Minster, to Tudgey and his shagging ex secretary, to Barnaby and his ‘family values’, and even SCOMO and his ignorance of who shagged Mrs Culthorpe our tea lady whilst on parliamentary secondment a little ‘off putting’. Or as HRH Prince Andrew is fond of saying ; ‘un-becoming’!

A woman expressing herself incredulously

All the religious conviction on hand in our nations highest office, the high roller lounge at Crown Casino, would be as useless as famously said as ‘tits on a bull’. Not that having tits on a bull is gratuitous insult to those of the bovine species that would prefer gender re-assignment. It’s just that for the vast majority of herbivores, graminacae eaters and even rodents who are fond of a bit of vegetation to supplement their diet, gender specificity as to religious conviction seemed hardly relevant when people are in peril. Either as victims of a villainous plot crafted by two of the most nefarious individuals in Australian politics. Or just as ordinary people in having their wages cut and their living standards lowered. Made worse by the knowledge  that though they sink to the bottom of the heap, their so called leaders are left sinecured and unassailable.

Now this is sounding like a bit of sermonising, which we are loathe to indulge in,  as it smacks of religiosity.  Ours is to record events as they happen and not to sermonise. To record that precise moment when as it has famously been said;  ‘the people have spoken’. 

Not the electorate, and the ‘Teal-nado’ that tore through hitherto safe Liberal seats. 

Not the change which has swept through leafy and well to do suburbs and displaced politicians less odious than the fire and brim-stoners with left leaning reformist…… WOMEN!

A woman expressing herself engagedly

Not the shake- up on conservative politics that leaves us with the hard right rump of uber conservatives who may anticipate change and borrow from the Trump-ish republican party Copy book. 

Not those people who would divide and conquer society with Replacement theory and any other odious divisive strategy to further alienate the hard right looneys from the common or garden conspiracy looneys, 

That is all a given. 

A woman expressing herself ‘Green-ishly’ and still getting across the line. Nice tactic LNP.

Not that the custodians of these formerly safe seats were anything other than illiberal.  But the fact that the real leaders in this saga, Ces, Quent, and Terry, and their noble warrior hero the much maligned and misunderstood ‘Benny Boy’ Roberts Smith may yet escape from the perils of Dutto and Sophie. And as we all know post election, or just post a bad day at the office, there is always hope. Hope springs forth from the dust of disaster, and strangely they had up to this point managed to escape a fiery destiny wedged as mere prawns, (a deliberate malapropism) to Dutto, the most powerful copper in the land and Sophie, earnest and committed member of the Fair Work Commission. Who incidentally, let it not be forgot has a stellar public record of looking after retired law professors in back paddock sheds generously donated for their well being. Because she is and will always be compassionate and caring, And as has also been famously said the ‘Teal- nado’ would never have existed if it weren’t for Sophie’s principled stand against her nemesis; OTHER WOMEN !

We return to our saga, our heroes going upwards to who knows where?

‘I dunno Ces’, Quent whispered to his companion, ‘these steps have been going up for ages, surely we must be getting near the’……… Quent stopped mid sentence as the incandescent glow of Benny-Boy’s helmet mounted flashlight illuminated the grey, oblong of a steel door. 

Above the steel door in faded lettering they could see the words ‘Surface Exit’. All of them gathered behind the formidable bulk of Benny-Boy and breathed an inaudible sigh of relief. ‘This is it, aint it’? Noone dared to answer, too terrified to think that it may be another false lead, another source of disappointment, another collapse of expectations. 

A woman expressing herself enthusiastically

Like when, ( just to use an implausible example) a clean sweep is made of inner urban seats to proclaim teal independents. 

They hope,  (just to use an implausible example) that this time, for the first time in decades there may be a sensible policy debate and real legislation destined to reform and adjust the levels of equity and fairness in a society riven by latter day Thatcherism. We acknowledge that this is an implausible hypothetical construct still born by the vested interests of big business, superannuation funds and structural generational inequality, but we just put it up as a hypothetical to illustrate a trenchant point. 

Which is….  they’d learnt from bitter experience to hold their breath and just hope. 

Six women comprise a TEAL-NADO!

Hope against hope that this time, after years spent waiting, that door could be opened and from within its dusty portal the blinding light of an entirely new and profound destiny would greet them.  

But will it? 

Find out in the next tangentially implausible episode; 

’the door is more of a door than a mere portal. ‘Is it then a Christian Portal’? 

A sidelined and disrespectful Woman won’t smile for the P.M. A DISGRACE? Or a turning tide…. that leads to a TEAL-NADO!

And what of the blind trust fund? 

‘How can trust be blind? Are these blinds Venetian? In space as in the far-canal no one can hear you.  And if they do…… ‘is this our deaf in Venice moment’? 

Deaf in Venice?