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I know that this is silly (I’m 68 years old, fergawdsake)- but as soon as retailers start touting their “back to school” sales, I still get that familiar twinge of dread. It’s a vague sensation of social anxiety, coupled with a melancholy resignation to the fact that from now until next June, I’ll have to go to bed early. By the way, now that I’m allowed to stay up with the grownups, why do I drift off in my chair at 8pm every night? It’s another one of life’s cruel ironies. At any rate, here are my Top 10 show-and-tell picks: The Blackboard Jungle– This 1955 social drama is the “anti-Happy Days”. An idealistic English teacher (Glenn Ford) tackles an inner-city classroom full of leather-jacketed malcontents (or as they used to call them – “juvenile delinquents”) who would rather steal hubcaps and rumble than, say, study the construct of iambic pentameter. The film still retains considerable power, despite dated trappings. Vic Morrow and Sidney Poitier are surly and unpredictable as the alpha “toughs” in the classroom.
Public polls and what I have heard of private polls suggest we may be facing a very new political ball game after the next federal election. At the last election, the Albanese Government secured a two-seat majority. The large swing to the ALP in WA was a surprise. And the ‘Chinese vote’ was critical in Continue reading »
Five years ago today He had been very pleased that they called him “your excellency” which he insists they never called any other president because they respected him so much you’ve never seen anything like it. I still remember the shock at learning that Trump had secretly invited the leaders of the Taliban to Camp David on the anniversary of 9/11. It boggled the mind that he could even contemplate such a thing, although he’d been inviting Kim Jong Un and Rodrigo Duterte to the White House for years so why not? But to imagine the Taliban at Camp David on 9/11 was beyond imagination even for him. It turned out that there had been ongoing peace talks that were designed to lead to the American withdrawal but Trump wanted the credit for “making the deal” so he came up with the Camp David proposition. In the end all it did was help destabilize the already fragile Afghan government (a major factor in the chaotic withdrawal in 2021) and Trump ended up releasing 5,000 Taliban fighters and agreeing to a timetable for US withdrawal with only a promise that the Taliban would be good boys in the future.
THE Zonta Club of Coffs Harbour Inc. held a well-attended Awards Dinner in the Rainbow Room at C.ex Coffs last week. Six finalists from the Zonta International Young Women in Public Affairs (YWPA) award program were recognised for their exceptional leadership and active volunteerism in the community. Advertise with News of The Area today. It’s...
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In creating an integrity commission - the National Anti-Corruption Commission (NACC) - the Albanese government was entrusted to ensure federal integrity. Instead it has wasted a fortune on a body that can’t or won’t do its job. Continue reading »
Our censors, as the record shows again and again, have no special concern about acting in a serious manner. Power has no such obligation. Is there some connection — not quite official but it may as well be — between censorship and presidential politics? I pose the question as a survivor of the Russiagate years, Continue reading »
FROM food resiliency to eating homegrown veggies, gardening advocate Peter Lewis is on a mission to get everyone growing their own. The hands-on veggie producer from Park Beach has developed a free urban gardening course that encourages and educates beginners. Advertise with News of The Area today. It’s worth it for your business. Message us....
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“Apartheid Israel is targeting Gaza and the West Bank simultaneously, as part of an overall process of elimination, replacement, and territorial expansion,” said United Nations special rapporteur Francesca Albanese. An independent United Nations expert has warned that “Israel’s genocidal violence risks leaking out of Gaza and into the occupied Palestinian territory as a whole” as Western Continue reading »
Dangerous tipping points threaten the stability of several of Earth’s natural climate-controlling systems. Conclusion: warming of 1.5oC is not safe. Possible to protect humans from dangerous animals without killing them. Tanzania accused of apartheid by its own people. Tips on tipping points Those who say, ‘Humans have always polluted their environment, there’s nothing new in Continue reading »
Dave Kellaway reports from Italy, and reflects on the media coverage of the sinking of the luxury yacht Bayesian off the coast of Sicily compared to the way the deaths of migrants in the Mediterranean are usually reported. The recent tragic sinking of tech magnate Mike Lynch’s yacht has been front page news in the Continue reading »
"Since it was impossible to change the politics of the system, it became necessary to change the type – or stereotype – of the person in charge of carrying out the policy." Fidel Castro, in Obama and the Empire, 2012. Continue reading »
Hold on to your mobile phones, civilians, this is gonna get rough. If you thought the Sopranos and Corleones were intimidating, check this out. ASML, a Dutch firm that currently is the world’s only manufacturer of the extreme ultraviolet lithography machines that produce the most advanced chips, is repeatedly getting stiff-armed by the US – Continue reading »
It’s hard to imagine how the government could have made a bigger mess of questions about gender identity and sexual orientation for the 2026 Census. Last year, the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) expressed regret that its framing of a relevant question in the 2021 Census left some with feelings of exclusion and discrimination and Continue reading »
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Is Trump Fever breaking? Politico on Friday announced that the Harris-Walz campaign has hired my friend Matt Hildreth of progressive Rural Organizing dot org as the campaign’s National Rural Outreach Director. Hildreth’s group announced it formally in a tweet shortly thereafter. Politico: Hiring Hildreth, whose grassroots organization is already knocking doors for Harris and Democratic candidates across the country this fall, signals the campaign is looking to seriously expand a resource-intensive ground game to reach rural voters who could swing the election. The Harris-Walz team doesn’t expect the ticket to flip many rural counties. But some of Harris’ top advisers have argued that simply losing by slightly fewer percentage points in these areas could help carry her and down-ballot Democrats to victory. In recent memos, the campaign has argued “the key to decreasing margins in rural areas is to show up and compete everywhere — which is exactly what we’re doing across the country.” Exactly right. That’s how Democrat Heath Shuler ousted eight-term, NC-11 Republican Rep. Charles Taylor in 2006.
Taxpayers could pay for striking Kennedy’s name Elections staffs across North Carolina had prepared over 100,000 absentee ballots to go into the mail on Friday as the law requires. A lawsuit by Robert F. Kennedy Jr. put a halt to it: The State Board of Elections has appealed Friday’s order by the NC Court of Appeals, which required election officials to remove Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s name from 2024 general election ballots and print new ones. The appeal was filed with the NC Supreme Court Friday afternoon. As the Supreme Court considers the appeal, State Board staff will work through the weekend to begin the process of coding new ballots without Kennedy’s name and providing proofs of the new ballots to county boards of elections for review. There are 2,348 different ballot styles statewide for the 2024 general election. More than 2.9 million ballots had already been printed before the order by the Court of Appeals. The State Board instructed county Directors to hold and not destroy ballots already prepared until the matter is resolved.
Doctor Who has become so known for its twists that it sometimes feels like the show gets stuck falling down a rabbit hole of its own making.
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Plus, AI gets reined in, Mississippi thinks of the children, and electric school buses power on.