To The Australian Paige Taylor's full-page and thoroughly one-sided discussion of plans for an Aboriginal voice to be enshrined in the constitution ("The voice of reason", 20/12) could more aptly be titled "The voice of treason". This campaign makes no sense unless it is understood as a semi-clandestine attempt to prepare the way for the division of Australia into two nations. Marcia Langton, a very privileged person who has been the recipient of government largesse, wrongly claims that Australians having Aboriginal ancestry have been "consistently excluded" from their citizenship entitlements. If we are thinking reasonable entitlements, this view has been amply exposed as false by Keith Windschuttle and other commentators. The government's senior advisory group is unrepresentative of the views of Australians as a whole. The sooner it is disbanded the better. The government has hitherto, in this context, shirked its duty to govern for all living Australians, not just a few whose right to claim special treatment has been hotly contested and rightly so.
Nigel Jackson, Belgrave, Vic
To The Age It is well known that too much of a good thing is not good at all. Waleed Aly has correctly diagnosed this problem as manifesting in current modes of the presentation and digestion of news within our political order ("News and the apocalypse", 20/12). He notes that news too readily becomes disposable entertainment, even a sedative when really a wake-up call is needed. He laments a consequent public loss of meaning, loss of the ability to effectively comprehend and act on major political problems. An important solution he touches on is the need for a slowing down of the whole process. Traditional societies understood that it takes a very long time for a human person to acquire the wisdom that is needed for fruitful management of new challenges to public security and national well-being. These societies were hierarchical and aristocratic, not egalitarian or democratic. Perhaps we need to review our whole philosophical orientation.
Nigel Jackson, Belgrave, Vic
Too many recent headlines say: “A fierce new bushfire is burning in the XYZ National Park. Nearby residents should prepare to evacuate.” Neglected, overgrown, weed and log infested, un-grazed, unburnt, government-protected parkland is a danger to all neighbours. All it needs is a fire-bug, a fearful neighbour attempting a too-late back-burn, or a lightning strike, and a wildfire is inevitable, especially when the weather is hot, dry and windy. Wild-fires will not stay in their National Park. Never before in Australia’s long history of black and white occupation have such large areas of bush been quarantined from annual burn-offs, cultivation, slashing or grazing. Four policy changes are needed to fix this problem: Firstly, a reduction in the area of land locked in national parks and reserves, and an end to “protected” vegetation on private land. Secondly, repeal of the sneaky state/commonwealth conspiracy that created the Kyoto protected “forests” on private land. Thirdly, regular cool-season burning of all national parks and private bush. If it will burn in the cool season it should be encouraged to burn at appropriate times. Otherwise it will support a fierce un-planned wildfire once the hot dry winds blow. Fourthly, greater local autonomy on pre-emptive burns or back burning. Only experienced local landowners and fire wardens can say:
“Today after 3.30pm is our best chance to have a burn-off with reasonable safety.” Most of the huge bushfires that burn homes and kill forests are man-made national disasters, fed by excessive fuel loads, magnified (but not caused) by drought, and turned into wildfires by hot dry winds. Trying to blame carbon dioxide, a non-flammable plant fertiliser, for today’s wildfires is yet more Flannery fiction.
To The Age What Peter Hartcher discusses as the contemporary success of "right-wing populism" ("The pragmatic populists", 17/12) can perhaps be better seen, on a much greater time scale, as the beginning of a return to public order. The thousand year rule of Catholic Christianity was gradually overthrown by a reform movement that began with Protestantism and ended with a Marxist collectivism that rejected the sacred completely. Unfortunately, while the reform movement freed us from an inquisitorial "orthodoxy" that contained major misunderstanding of the Jesus story, it also unleashed a variety of modes of selfishness that have greatly damaged human society. It has also been utilised by financially powerful globalist elites intent on extending their influence. In the face of this disaster ordinary people are beginning to recognise that daily life will be safer and more pleasant if their nations readopt a sensible conservatism, which will include a wisely articulated moral code based on awareness of the sacred underpinning of all human history.
Nigel Jackson, Belgrave, Vic
Thanks to Boris Johnson, Brexit will now occur. And thanks to Donald Trump, the US will exit the destructive Paris Climate agreement. And the UN alarmists made little progress at the big climate-fest in Madrid. It’s now time for Clexit (Climate Exit) - the great climate escape from all UN/IPCC alarmism and entanglements. Australia should join this rush for the exits. Australia is a huge island continent whose prosperity was built on mining, farming, grazing, transport, hydro-carbons and cheap reliable electricity. Australians have much to lose from the UN/Paris shackles, carbon taxes and globalist agenda. The war on coal, oil, gas, diesel, cattle, exploration and mining has harmed Australia’s backbone industries resulting in reduced prosperity, lower tax collections and more Aussies on welfare. The Kyoto forest lockups have sterilised useful private land and the promotion of unreliable wind/solar energy is destroying industry, jobs and electricity reliability. Sensible Australians will suddenly revolt and, like Jeremy Corbyn, the Turnbull/ALP/Green/ABC climate alarm choir will find they are singing the wrong tune. Like Brexit, Clexit is now inevitable. The burden of climate alarm costs and energy disruption ensure that western democracies will dump it. The sooner it is scrapped, the lower the cost.
To The Australian Janet Albrechtsen sounds very authoritarian in her criticism of Jeremy Corbyn's attitude to Jewish interests ("UK rejects descent into chaos", 14-15/12). Opposition to an alleged Jewish "banker cartel" and disagreement with the currently accepted understanding of the Holocaust do not necessarily involve hostility to Jews generally. These attitudes may be justified as rejection of high-level self-interested manipulations by extraordinarily powerful financiers and reassessment of the nature and extent of Nazi Germany's mistreatment of Jewish persons between 1933 and 1945. Albrechtsen's reference to a definition of anti-Semitism that is "globally respected" can also be challenged. There is very considerable intellectually based opposition, worldwide, to the current trend of treating the Holocaust as a kind of ersatz religion whose dogmas may not be challenged. Moreover, the present practice in the European Union of jailing Holocaust revisionists is an affront to the principle of free speech, yet Albrechtsen ignores this wickedness completely.
Nigel Jackson, Belgrave, Vic
In a furious firestorm with high winds, extreme temperature and big loads of dry fuel, water bombing is usually just wasting water and avgas. In hot winds, water will evaporate quickly, embers will start glowing and blowing, and soon the fire will be raging again. And with few dams getting built, and much stored water released to irrigate the oceans, where will they get the water? Too often they will steal it from private dams, leaving prudent landowners with inadequate water in a drought. Water can extinguish house fires, and protect homes and towns, but is useless for raging forest fires. The only solution here is to fight fire with fire – back burning from the wide cleared tracks which should protect every park, forest and property. The best fire insurance is to keep tracks and firebreaks clear and conduct regular cool-season burn-offs, especially in National Parks. And stop creating fire hazards by locking up more land. Don’t blow money on more water bombers – we need more back-burning, more boots and tyres on the ground and more graded tracks. And we should build more dams.
Viv Forbes, Washpool, Qld
To The Australian Aboriginal Mick Gooda claims that "you can't have a treaty unless it's based on the truth" ("Fears for treaty if LNP takes control: Gooda", 9/12). Well, the truth is that all current attempts to establish treaties with Aboriginals are ethically built on sand and are clearly against the interests of most Australians. Another truth is that the so-called "eminent panel" of which he is a member is in no way adequately representative of Australians as a whole. Mr Gooda also wants a "truth-telling" operation whose outcomes are to become "an essential part of the school curriculum". Whose truth, I wonder. It sounds more like a propaganda drive such as the Soviet communists used and George Orwell satirised so memorably. In Victoria only 2,000 Aboriginal Victorians out of 30,000 who were eligible participated in the state's improperly constituted elections for the "First People's Assembly". Meanwhile Mr Gooda wants "multiple treaties" as well. The "constitutional recognition" situation could be laughed off as Gilbertian if it were not also a sinister assault on our hitherto successful political order.
Nigel Jackson, Belgrave, Vic
The new proposal by republicans to void the referendum process and have the state and federal parliaments vote on the succession when the Queen passes (Annika Smedhurst Telegraph 8/12/19) is fraught with legal complexities and will not work. The proposal, promoted by Labor MP Julian Hill, is typical of the sort of system that will exist under a republic where the voice of the people will be muted with politicians reigning supreme.
Philip Benwell
National Chair
Australian Monarchist League
No one should be surprised that our bush is ablaze and our cities are smothered in smoke. For decades now we have been locking up land, banning burn-offs and encouraging eucalypt fire-trees. On a hot day, the blue haze on distant timbered hills is highly-flammable eucalypt oil vapour, waiting for a spark. The Australian landscape of open forests and treeless grasslands was developed and maintained under an aboriginal regime of continual small fires. This was followed by planned cool-season burn-offs by European graziers. But a few decades ago this safe black and white fire regime was replaced by green-worshippers who continually expanded the area of locked-up protected parks (now over 11% of Australia). Then they peppered private land with protected-vegetation fire havens, and hampered undergrowth clean-ups and burn-offs. This created many tinder boxes of eucalypt fire-trees waiting for a spark. The spark could be a fearful landowner seeking fire protection with a risky/belated back-burn, a thrill-seeking arsonist, a dry-lightning strike, a careless cigarette butt, a power-line problem or high-flying burning embers - and an unstoppable fire storm is inevitable. Centralised management of bush-fires and National Parks has failed totally. Locals and neighbours are better at managing fires and park land. Posturing politicians and uniformed fire generals should confine themselves to posing for photos, baking scones and boiling billy tea for fire-fighters. And Greens should serve on the fire front.
This week Clintel attended the Heartland COP 25 conference at the Marriott Hotel in Madrid. The hotel was full of champagne-drinking COP delegates who were clearly enjoying themselves (‘climate business model in action’). To be sure they were not disturbed by demonstrators, Clintel had a recording room somewhere at the back and we heard about its coordinates on the same morning. Guus Berkhout was the first speaker at the event that was live-streamed from the Marriot Hotel. It was not an official COP25 event but a Heartland side-event with the aim to sound a different message to the world. Heartland had arranged several excellent speakers, such as Will Happer (who for the past year worked as an adviser in the White House), Lord Monckton, Anthony Watts, Douglas Pollock (our Chilean Clintel ambassador), Tom Harris, Stanley Goldenberg and a fascinating young German girl, Naomi Seibt, who gave an impressive speech about contentious issues such as climate change and the immigration crisis. The whole event was available online at https://climaterealityforum.com/ and a record 76,000 watched.
A few conclusions:
1) The world should move from mitigation panic to intelligent adaptation (Guus Berkhout)
2) The economy of Chile is ruined by climate policy (Douglas Pollock)
3) The energy prices in Germany are vastly increasing (Wolfgang Müller)
4) New scientific insight shows that future climate sensitivity for CO2 is not more than 1.5 degrees, probably significantly smaller than 1.5 due to saturation effects (William Happer)
5) Climate models are immature and unfit for making policy (Christopher Monckton)
5) There is no evidence that global warming causes more natural disasters (Stanley Goldenberg)
6) Homogenisation of measurements lower the temperatures in the past (Anthony Watts)
7) The killing of birds and bats by wind turbines is much higher than reported (Tom Harris)
8) School children are massively brainwashed (Naomi Seibt)
To The Age Jason Steger is right ("The arts are vital to everyone", 7/12) to remind us that our artists are "just as important in telling the world about the nature of Australia" as our sports stars. Thus it is reasonable for him to question what seems a diminution of government support for them in the PM's "rejigging of the federal public service." On a wider scale Steger expresses puzzlement at our nation's "fraught relationship with the arts." That their value "is not fully tangible" may indeed be part of it. The arts direct our awareness beyond the mundane and the merely logical to regions not currently in fashion with outdoor hedonists or money-makers. Yet a significant number of culturally alert Australians still do value them for the "intrinsic quality they bring to society." What is omitted in Steger's analysis is the close link (for good as well as bad) between the arts and left-wing politics. If artists and patrons could be kinder to right-wing views, a centre-right government might return the favour.
Nigel Jackson, Belgrave
To The Australian Frank Corrigan's review of Robert Verkaik's book Posh Boys: How the English Public Schools ruin Britain (Review, 7-8/12) certainly conveys that author's hostility to private education but also seems to share his one-sided approach. What is forgotten is that society needs to reward high achievers and a major way of doing that is to have them able to secure the best education they can for their children. It sounds awful, but is not: posh people deserve to have available posh schools. Equity, not equality should be the principle invoked. Toss out "equality of opportunity", but replace it with "a fair go for the less privileged." If in the UK a "huge disparity" exists between private and public schools, then redress the balance to a fairer ratio. As to the claim that "posh hustlers make disastrous political leaders", this seems to result from a blinkered and prejudiced approach. Jacob Rees-Mogg provided much evidence to the contrary in his recent book The Victorians.
Nigel Jackson, Belgrave, Vic
From Deb Newell 12 October 2019
Dear Greta,
You should feel very proud of yourself. Your crusade against Climate Warming has taken you into the homes and schools of the world and to the United Nations. At sixteen years of age this is a huge achievement. I know that you are very, very worried about the current dynamics of what is a dynamic system. Climate by definition is variable from one day to the next, one month/one season/one year/one decade/one millennia/one geological time frame…to the next. We now stand upon the shoulders of instruments that measure the temperature of the atmosphere, the oceans, the soils and deep into Earth’s crust to assess tiny changes in heat in a multitude of sites across this planet. This capacity is very new, about 200 years of instrument design and ongoing adaptations allow us to do this on a regular basis so when we read about the ‘hottest ever’ we must understand that ‘ever’ refers to about 200 years of readings from instruments of varying specificity and accuracy. To collate this data we use techniques like homogenisation before feeding such modified data into the analytic phenomenon of the twentieth century – computer software. This is new knowledge that can be mishandled.
At your age I loved science. Most of my family are in one field or another of science, so I was always encouraged to never accept what I was being told was ‘the truth’ as this is a dynamic (just like the climate) coloured by perspective. Back then there was an American scientist who reached pop-star fame, travelling the world to talk Science to theatres full of students. His name was Professor Sumner Miller, and his message of intellectual enquiry was to constantly ask the question ‘Why is this so?’ For your own integrity now and into the future, please start asking ‘why is it so?’ to understand the complex systems that run the climate. This capacity for critical analysis is what defines humans. Many, overwhelmed by information, accept what they are told as it is easier. Religions don’t take kindly to questioning, nor do fairy tales or prejudices, but science depends upon the power of scepticism, the power of proof by enquiry. Don’t follow the easier path of acceptance. Ask hard questions of the science and scientists that have captured the attention of the world, many scientific institutions and many scientific publications to confirm your own intellectual dignity.
Dear Editor
Paul Starick (Advertiser Dec 6) correctly warns that South Australia is at extreme risk of domination from eastern States, regarding the Murray Darling Basin. He explains our lack of MP’s on the federal scene will provide minimal resistance to any attack.
The real problem which has generated so much feeling among irrigators has been caused by over-allocation, combined with minimal inflow due to drought conditions.
The irony is the over-allocation has not meant over-use. Much of the water entitlement is held by speculative investors. Until they sell the water (at a high price) to an irrigator, the speculator’s water will flow past those who are keen to use it - if only it was affordable.
Emotion is running high and much finger pointing has failed to focus on the real problem.
Plans to decommission the barrages and build a lock at Wellington lacks a vision for the whole Murray Darling Basin. River infrastructure from source-to-sea has provided a wonderful asset which must be retained.
Changes are needed but they must deliver unity - even if it requires recognition of less water being available.
Yours etc
Ken Grundy
Naracoorte SA
I know that for most of us, a walk around the block with the old dog towing us, is about all we can manage. Yet, there is evidence that high intensive exercise for us older folk, can boost memory, so long as (1) we can do it without a heart attack, and (2) we can remember to do it, to kick start the whole process:
https://www.forbes.com/sites/victoriaforster/2019/11/03/high-intensity-exercise-boosts-memory-in-seniors/#2e412b3259ca
“High-intensity treadmill workouts may not immediately spring to mind when considering a suitable exercise regimen for seniors. But, according to a new study, these workouts can significantly boost memory function by up to 30%. Researchers from McMaster University in Ontario, Canada recruited 64 seniors between the ages of 60 and 88 for the twelve-week study. Other than having a low activity level before the study, the seniors were otherwise healthy. The participants were split up into three experimental groups, one group did moderate treadmill exercise that pushed their heart rates up to 70-75% of their maximum for their age, another did more intense workouts which pushed heart rates up to 90-95%, but for shorter bursts of time and the third group did gentle stretching exercises. Seniors in the high intensity exercise group experienced significant improvement on memory tests of up to 30% after the three month program. Interestingly, participants in the moderate exercise or stretching group showed no average improvement in memory. “The test looks at the ability to remember the details of new memories without mixing things up,” said Jennifer Heisz, an associate professor in the Department of Kinesiology at McMaster University and lead author of the study. “For example, if you meet two new people today, it is important to not mix up their names or personal information, or to remember that you took your medicine yesterday rather than today,” she added.”
If Joe Biden beats Donald Trump for the crown of thorns in 2020 we are going to have a real weirdo in the White House, as old Joe does some very creepy things:
https://pluralist.com/joe-biden-bites-wifes-winger-bizarre-campaign-stop/
“Joe Biden bit his wife’s finger as she was speaking at his Democratic campaign rally in Iowa on Sunday, and the bizarre moment quickly went viral online. Jill Biden was addressing a crowd of several hundred people in Council Bluffs, and repeatedly gestured near her husband’s face. At one point, which was caught on camera from multiple angles, Joe Biden leaned in and lightly bit her right index finger. Jill Biden laughed off her husband’s behavior and carried on with her remarks. However, Twitter wasn’t ready to let it go. Turning Point USA activist Benny Johnson tweeted a video of Biden’s love bite, calling it “horrifying.”
Some good news, and hopeful news, for a change. Regardless of country or culture, family matters most, to most people:
https://www.studyfinds.org/family-matters-regardless-of-country-or-culture-people-prioritize-loved-ones-over-all-else/
“From Seoul to Seattle, what matters most to people at the end of the day is their family and loved ones. That’s the uplifting finding of a new, extensive international study encompassing over 7,000 people from 27 different countries. The study, led by a team of social and evolutionary psychologists at Arizona State University, is especially interesting because family- and kin-based motivations are a topic that has been largely ignored by evolutionary psychologists for the past few decades. Instead, researchers have focused on how mate attraction and selection drives people’s behaviors. “People consistently rated kin care and mate retention as the most important motivations in their lives, and we found this over and over, in all 27 countries that participated,” comments first author Ahra Ko, an ASU psychology graduate student, in a media release. “The findings replicated in regions with collectivistic cultures, such as Korea and China, and in regions with individualistic cultures like Europe and the U.S.” All continents, except Antartica, were represented in the research. Just a few examples of participating countries include Australia, Bulgaria, Thailand, and Uganda. The research team at ASU sent out surveys to scientists in each country, intended to measure fundamental behavioral motivations. Then, once each local research team got their hands on the survey, they translated it into the native language, and made any necessary edits to ensure the questions were culturally appropriate for that specific country.
You have got to hand it to London Mayor, Sadiq Khan, he keeps to the narrative no matter what happens. The latest London killings … well that’s just life in a modern big city:
https://www.breitbart.com/europe/2019/12/01/sadiq-khan-after-terror-attack-our-strength-is-our-diversity/
“London mayor Sadiq Khan told reporters that diversity is one of the British capital’s strengths in the wake of the London Bridge attack, and that all great cities are targets for terrorists. “Look, I’m mayor of the greatest city in the world, and one of our strengths is our diversity,” he told reporters shortly the attack by Usman Khan, a convicted radical Islamic terrorist who had been freed from prison on a tag after serving less than half of a 16-year term, which left two dead and three injured.
The way things are played now, is that controversial views, nay, anything that is politically incorrect, and the net gets bigger by the day, used to get protested against, maybe the authors bashed by Leftoid savages, but today, it is shut down before anyone much gets to hear of it, then they get bashed. Oh, there are still the death threats:
https://americanmind.org/essays/welcome-to-culture-war-2-0/
https://www.chronicle.com/article/Last-Fall-This-Scholar/242880
https://www.chronicle.com/blogs/ticker/publisher-withdraws-essay-defending-colonialism-citing-threat-to-journal-editor/120511
“A controversial essay that offered a defense of colonialism and led to a revolt at Third World Quarterly has been withdrawn due to “serious and credible threats of personal violence” to the journal’s editor, according to a notice posted by the journal’s publisher, Taylor & Francis. The essay, “The Case for Colonialism,” was withdrawn at the request of the journal’s editor, Shahid Qadir, and in agreement with the essay’s author, Bruce Gilley, an associate professor of political science at Portland State University, the notice said. The publisher said that it had conducted a thorough investigation after receiving complaints about the essay and found that it had undergone double-blind peer review, in line with the journal’s editorial policy. However, the publisher’s notice continued, the journal’s editor received “serious and credible threats of personal violence” linked to the publication of the essay. “As the publisher, we must take this seriously,” the withdrawal notice reads. “Taylor & Francis has a strong and supportive duty of care to all our academic editorial teams, and this is why we are withdrawing this essay.” Backlash against Third World Quarterly was swift after it published the colonialism essay last month. Fifteen people on the journal’s 34-member board resigned, and a petition seeking a retraction drew more than 10,000 signatures. In the wake of the controversy, the author, Mr. Gilley, had asked that his essay be withdrawn. “I regret the pain and anger that it has caused for many people,” Mr. Gilley wrote last month on his website.”
