Wednesday, 17 June 2026

Pauline Hanson did not impress

 Pauline Hanson delivered a very long address at the national press club. She then avoided most of the questions asked and showed a clear glass jaw.

Just a few examples.

She believes employees have too much power and are lazy. holy Theory Y Theory Z batman. Douglas McGregor wrote the book in 1957. the theory is almost as old as I am!!  I can see ALP stalwarts making an ad of this remark.

She believes net zero is a myth and renewables is the reason power costs have risen. She wants to stop all renewables and build coal and a nuclear power station.  Wow a lot of ignorance there. lots of ad material her as well.

She did not react well to a question from Sarah Martin who asked about he daughter who is employed by a NSW senator but LIVES in Tasmania. She apparently wants to be a senator there.

In short she thrived on the grievances but has few solutions. She has never had the concentration of the press on her during an election. Next time she will and on this evidence she will not react well.

Just remember given her hostility to immigration ( non-white) she has probably reached her peak in votes. Her aim is to keep those people who have migrated ( pun intended) from the LNP and the ALP.

Her lack of policies, hostility to the press, hostility to workers, hostility to the environment will all hurt her in that aim.


Just remember in 1996 she said asians would take over Australia. About a decade later she changed that to muslims. None of those predictions have come within coo-ee of being right.

Tuesday, 16 June 2026

home battery

 An update on how our battery is going.

The last bill was around $110 which is very low for a four person household. however it was that high because my wife had the air conditioning on quite a lot.

A battery is very good at telling you indirectly how much various items use electricity. Thus washing machines, dishwashers etc use little but ovens,stoves, mico-waves, air fryers use a lot.

We have only had our battery full on a day once since the ending of daylight saving. This is because my boys had friends over and used a lot of electricity cooking up a treat.

The problem is if you start the day with nothing in the battery then it aint going to get full on the day. The KWs just don't have the same gusto behind them in winter.

Thus we are using electricity during the night when it is off-peak and in the morning when it isn't.

Monday, 15 June 2026

the 'peace'deal

 First a couple of informed comments

There were a whole host of reasons given for this illegal war started by the USA. Lets go through them

  1. Regime Change. Never occurred never looked like occurring and trump gave up on it very quickly.
  2. No Nukes. How Iran could be sooo close to a nuke after the USA 'obliterated' their capacity was never addressed. This issue has been pushed down the road
  3. Iran's support of terrorist groups. nothing has occurred on this front either. Indeed Iran has made it clear they want Israel to back off Hizbullah
  4. Iran's missiles and drones. No-one but no-one has talked about this!
The only issue Trump has talked about is the freeing up of the strait of homuz. This was free of any trouble before trump started his disastrous war.



Sunday, 14 June 2026

The Magnificent Socceroos

 That was easily the best performance I have seen from australia  playing football.

There was not a bad player on the field. The defence was tight with Soutar again showing his best performances are at the world cup. The midfield was hardworking and the attack always threatened on the breakaway. Bos showed absolute class on a number of occasions.

Almost all of Poppa's choices worked out well. Beach was superb, Okon strong with a brilliant through pass ( I confess I would not have had him in my squad!). His first substitution was mystifying and he was lucky turkey didn't score from his mistake.

Playing toure and Irankunda from the start paid off when the big I scored a very good goal.

I suspect neither will start against the USA but come on as subs.

I cannot wait for 5am on saturday.


Whoopsy I forgot to mention ONLY Harry Soutar had played in the world cup before!!

Thursday, 11 June 2026

Around the Traps 12/6/26

 It is time again for Around the Traps.

Aussie,Aussie,Aussie,Oy,Oy,Oy

OZ Climate

Northern America

Europe

Asia

Wonk

General

Climate

Andrew Gelman ( mainly stats)

Dianne Coyle (quirky + book reviews)

Vox Wonk

Wednesday, 10 June 2026

The next administration has a hellva job reforming the DOJ

 The DOJ has been severely degraded un Trump 2.0

 They have lost regularity and have been found to lie before judges and conduct grand juries in an unlawful way. Indeed it would not be uncommon for charged people to ask to see grand jury transcripts or ask that a magistrate judge examine them. Quite clearly the Lindsay Halligan incident was NOT a one-off.

Apparently the DOJ have lost around 10,000 in either sackings or resignations. Things have got so bad the DOJ have to offer financial incentives just to gain new graduates. The quality of people in the DOJ has naturally declined.

I could go on but I have no need to. The AG and DAG in the nest admisitration has a lot to do to get back experienced personnel back to the DOJ and political hacks out of the department. There has to be a concerted push to have people whose primary asset is what they know NOT who they know!

Tuesday, 9 June 2026

the energy market is changing

 David Leitch has a great article out today. It shows how the wholesale market is changing. ( It also indirectly show how much better we are off by having so much renewable energy. Imagine where prices would be if the climate denialists had their way. just look at europe).

Commercial and household batteries are changing demand and price!