Per that Crikey piece - must say I am dubious about the worth of ‘health policy advice’ from ex political staffers who are not medically or otherwise scientifically qualified
NSW: 97 new local cases and 29 cases in the community. Yes, focused in Fairfield and surrounding areas. The testing numbers are simply awesome - 77,587 - well done Sydney, esp to S-W Sydney
People criticising Police for enforcing public health orders should realise the virus’ containment is in everyone’s interests and regional NSW has to be protected. Well done to Fairfield’s good citizens on their efforts amid this plague
Gladys being very calm and sensible amid the fetid and foaming media pack. Awaiting the inevitable “troops on the streets” in a Sydney which is as dead as Sydney can be (absent having Daniel Andrews taking over)
Good wishes to the French - there is no playing style I enjoy watching more than the French, so, win, lose, or draw, hopefully the traditional French flair and panache is on full display tonight
The stories of French players past and present are hilarious - the former great, Serge Blanco, who would apparently have a cigarette at half time, and the coach Jacques Foroux, who would enjoy a red wine as the national team played. #AUSvFRA
Good morning all & OTD in 1918, the Russian Tsar Nicholas II, Tsarina Alexandra & their 5 children were all murdered by the Bolsheviks-they were each shot, bayoneted & clubbed to death in a Yekaterinburg basement by the Red Guards.
The Romanovs are Martyrs in the Russian Church.
The Romanov princesses who would serve stints as Russian Army nurses in field hospitals near the Russian Stavka in the Great War before they were all murdered with their parents, the Tsar & Tsarina, by the Bolsheviks in 1918.
In the Alexander Nevsky Cathedral in Paris, there is a shrine erected by the White Russian exiles to the martryred Romanovs.
Apropos the Afghanistan War aftermath debate: 1/ everyone gets to have their own opinion on the War & your take cannot be any worse than the fools who 'led' us in the War; and 2/ I support evactuating Australia's intepreters/helpers but they need vetting before coming here.
Weird part of our role in the Afghan War ending amid much consternation is that, clearly, this most probable and frankly obvious end ('we are withdrawing after [insert years] of military failure;) was & is something that shocks a large number of presumptively intelligent people.
This is what I wrote in 2017 re the Afghan War from a military perspective and I am not too sure I would change much here, now, on reflection
Greater Sydney (~6m) is dead at the moment. The CBD is empty. Unless you want some sort of military regime for S-W Sydney then there is not much else we can do except risk manage this …. Please do not give ABC boomers ideas #COVID19nsw#Sydneylockdown
If you live in/ivo Sydney, you are aware of how many people are recent arrivals & have limited grasps of English. Many come from places you, too, would want to escape. Putting troops on the streets to police them (as seems to be hinted at) is lunacy #COVID19nsw#Sydneylockdown
Naturally all the most stupid & vapid people in media believed that Pfizer would deal with the Australian Govt - which operates the lucrative pharmaceutical benefits scheme - not through its local executives but through the intermediary of a former prime minister going mad online
The whole Kevin Rudd / Pfizer miasma struck any remotely sensible person as plainly absurd on reading it & now looks very strange as to how it was rolled out by Laura Tingle etal. The X Files “I want to believe” bar for media on ridiculous stories has been lowered too far now.