I often wonder what sort of person actually supports Bob Katter. You don’t see them in the wine bar or coffee shop that’s for sure. The media generally portray him as a wacky eccentric, a bit of a harmless clown that no one does or should take too seriously. And fair enough, an intellectual giant he is not. I’ve always viewed him as I would a dodgy vindaloo – quite unpalatable and liable to give me a mild dose of the shits, but by and large of no real consequence to anything that actually matters in the world. Continue reading

My old mum always taught me not to be rude to people. ‘Treat others as you would have them treat you’, or something. I’ve always (mostly) tried to live by that golden rule, and don’t get me wrong, being nice to people can bring its own rewards; a warm inner glow, a pleasant smile, or a 10% discount. Sometimes however there are people in this world that take advantage of your better nature, preying upon your inner goodness in order to push their wonky barrow a bit further down the road to complete loopiness.

A few weeks ago my better half had a baby daughter. And what a wonderful experience that was! Hours of pain, stress, anxiety and sleeplessness culminating in the birth of a beautiful little girl (albeit one destined to bring years of further pain, stress, anxiety and sleeplessness). Little wonder then that after all those exertions we were so looking forward to that first precious evening together in the hospital room to allow us to recuperate and refresh our battered and weary bodies (my hand was particularly sore from all that squeezing during the latter stages), and to bond with our new acquisition. And very nicely it started out too … digital inventory was successfully completed, with the appropriate allocation of fingers and toes accounted for, eye colour determined (an uncommon and particularly stunning shade of blue), and a robust yet good natured debate about who had who’s nose and general head-shape. Which makes what happened next all the more s