‘Annabel Crabb is one of the most versatile and respected observers of politics in Australia. She is ABC Online's chief political writer.’ This is the ABC’s bio for her, and they’re right. She’s very good indeed at what she does, not that she needs my endorsement and wouldn't know me from a bar of soap. But today she made the comment:
Is anyone else getting the fear just turning on the radio these days? I am, big time.
Sympathetically, I sent her a condolence message together with a link I thought might divert her from distressing things, to which she responded:
Some very cool detail here about male bowerbirds, thanks to @deniswright who thought (correctly) I might like: http://tinyurl.com/33qqvlw
So I thought I might then look at these headlines as reported by the ABC today just to see how scary they were. How right she was. Here they are, with my own take on some of them. Don't blame the ABC for my commentary.
I really believe that shark attacks are on the increase because something is missing in the normal food chain for them – maybe over-fishing of their usual prey. Then again, more and more surfers in wetsuits stay out longer and in deeper water and I can’t blame sharks for confusing them with wounded seal-type critters.
How hard is this one to have an informed opinion on? I have switched positions on it twice now and have come to the conclusion that I just don’t know. I just wish there was no need to have to make a decision at all, but I hate the thought of that madman bombing his own cities with thousands of innocent victims in them.
Crisis-no-crisis-crisis-no-crisis-crisis – that’s got to be a crisis regardless of whether there’s a crisis or not!
Painful, painful story. Don’t look.
No comment if this is sub judice as the last thing I would want is anyone deserving justice to be denied it because of some charge of perceived prejudicial comment. Just draw your own conclusions.
Poor buggers – outsiders will probably benefit hugely by snapping up bargains. But it may all end in tears.
Here we go again.... and it’s an innocent driver going the other way that was killed.
I guess we’ve all been emotionally stunned by these videos, but nothing could remotely match what those who’ve been through the tragedy and survived are going through. Getting harder and harder to watch.
This is a very very tricky one, make no mistake. Some who haven’t seen these games would be outraged and shocked by what is interactively possible, but banning rarely works and may create as many problems as it solves by making them even more attractive to underage players. Very underage players.
Poor sods. Not only have they suffered massively, but their catastrophe has been sidelined almost totally by the events in Japan. And now they have no choice but to go elsewhere to watch their beloved rugby World Cup matches. I don’t like the way that headline reads though – it looks like they did something disgraceful to lose the opportunity to host the matches instead of having a stadium that is now not safe because of an earthquake!
Can you believe that? The story shows that race is totally irrelevant to the company’s activities, but they still seek it. Are they insane?
No wonder Annabel is feeling depressed.
Oh, last thing – this one’s for you, Christian! She writes:
‘”Nestle Recalls Lean Cuisine Meals ... Red plastic found in meatballs." I'll panic when they find meat in them.’
Ha ha! Something to put a bit of a grin on one’s face at least.... (actually, Christian never has the ones with meatballs anyway!)
Antidote for the news: 1. Get involved in your own life. Unless you are a foreign correspondent, your mood will improve enormously. 2. Read a novel, not the news. 3. Watch a good movie, not the news. 4. Listen to some music, not the news. 5. Read Denis Wright's blog -- at least most of it :). 6. Learn a new skill, phone a friend, pet the neighbour's cat. Anything but the news. You can't change it by watching. Keep one, not two eyes on the news a little bit just so that next time you vote, you will vote Green.
ReplyDeleteAmen, Joan! And don't forget to look at the flowers and the birds.
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