To The Australian
It is good to learn that the new NSW senior secondary curriculum emphasises 'how Western civilisation was shaped' ('Classroom focus shifts to life skills', 21/2), but the ways in which this is to be done arouse some misgivings. Is there to be sufficient attention given to the role of British constitutional and cultural history, surely the most important aspect of our heritage? Is there too great an emphasis on the last 500 years of history at the expense of the civilisations of Greece and Rome, the mediaeval period and the Renaissance? (The new focus on ancient China is to be applauded.)

Yes, it is good to decentralise education at this level, as Kevin Donnelly notes, but are individual schools being given adequate flexibility of choice? And surely the 'Bush legend' is more important to an understanding of Australia's self-image than a focus on any particular politician from the past? Much more interesting too!
NJ, Belgrave, Vic

To The Age
Is the current 'groundswell' of populist politics really 'far-right', as Paul Blackman thinks? (21/2) Perhaps the right-left terminology is inadequate to define it. Maybe it is a genuine rising up of decent and ordinary people who are fed up with the dishonourably self-serving policies of elites based on financial privilege and nepotism. In this case things aren't so gloomy after all.

The 'collective notion of what we agree upon' was largely shaped by these elites through their powerful propaganda.  What is important now is for people to keep cool heads, engage civilly in public discourse, make careful analyses of what is happening and chart a sensible course into the future that is both wise and compassionate. Let's proceed on that basis.
NJ, Belgrave, Vic

We all know that we can trust our politicians and wonderful organisations, such as the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees. Why, just the name “United Nations,” drips with moral authority, like ethical nectar!
Some shocking racist types – not mentioning any names – feared that there just might be more than a few “bad hombre” (hombre malo) gangsters in the refugees from Mexico and Central America, which was done as part of the Obama/Turnbull deal for the US to take 1,250 refugees from Manus Island and Nauru.
Don’t worry. A UNHCR spokeswoman said “You cannot be a criminal and a refugee at the same time.”  (The Australian, February 13, 2017, p. 1) Did you hear that Donny Trump, you got it all wrong.

But then I read; “the refugees swap deal inevitably increases exposure to the world’s most dangerous criminal gangs working to spread their extortion and murder rackets around the world. There were reports this year that the notorious Mara Salvatrucha, or MS13, may have a presence in Sydney, after gang graffiti was found in Bondi, in the city’s east, but there has been no confirmation or evidence of gang activity.” Maybe not: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3160206/The-call-sign-one-LA-s-deadliest-crime-gangs-started-showing-face-tattooed-MS-13-members-REALLY-infiltrated-Bondi-local-graffiti-taggers-just-trying-act-tough.html.
As Con the Fruiter, my favourite ethnic, used to say on the TV show the Comedy Company, “coupla days.” Immigration makes all bad things possible.

Here, in brief, are some interesting poll results on Trump and Muslim immigration, topics perennially in the news.
First, the firm Remington Research conducted a poll which found that Trump’s executive order on immigration  received 50 percent approval, and 41 percent disapproval. The support across America for the executive order was greater than voter support for the president; http;//washingtonexaminer.com/author/david-m-drucker.
Another poll. This time by emerson college, found that the Trump administration was viewed as more trustworthy than the mainstream news media: http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2017-02-08/poll-finds-trump-administrtion-seen-more-truthful-news-media.

In 2016, an Essential Poll fond that 49 percent of Australians supported a ban on Muslim immigration to Australia (The Australian, February 13, 2017, p. 12) A Chatham House poll of 10,195 respondents, across 10 european states, found that on average 55 percent wanted Muslim migration stopped, and the figure rose to 59 percent for those with secondary qualifications: https://www.chathamhouse.org/expert/comment/what-do-europeans-think-about-muslim-immigration.
Food for thought.
Pauline my girl, this is your time, so make the most of it. Next job is to draw the federal government out on how it paid for a Muslim activist (“Islam to me is the most feminist religion”), to tour, what The Australia newspaper describes as “some of the world’s most repressive Islamic regimes,” all at tax payers’ expense. And the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade declined to reveal the costs of this. (The Australian, February 16, 2017, p. 1) Wouldn’t you like to know how much you paid for this from your hard-working tax dollars?

The Jerusalem Post: http://www.jpost.com/Not-Just-News/Trending-Now-VIDEO-British-Muslims-chant-USA-you-will-pay-caliphate-is-on-its-way-476196,  reports that hundreds of British Muslim protesters in a rally organized by Hizb ut-Tahrir Britain, which is a Muslim group wanting the establishment of a caliphate, chanted: “USA, you will pay, caliphate is on its way.”
A caliphate is essentially an Islamic theocratic state, an Islamic New World Order, under sharia law: http://counterjihad.com/jihadists-dream-caliphate-heres-need-know. So, stopping Muslim immigration in the USA is met by this threat. Trump is confirmed.
Readers may like to read the comments in the JP article, which enjoys freedom of speech that we once had in Australia.

A supervolcano eruption  destroyed the Roman city of Pompeii, near the coast of the Bay of Naples, in 79 A.D. Now it seems that a repeat is on the way: http://collapse.news/2017-02-07-report-supervolcano-that-could-kill-millions-of-europeans-ready-to-blow.html.The supervolcano is called Campi Flegrei, and is under Naples in Italy. There have been recent seismic signs that the volcano is reawakening and a big eruption will kill millions of Europeans. Clouds of ash could black out the sun, making Europe dark for years, if not a decade. Air travel, probably across the world, at least involving jets, would cease. Media reports say that the eruption could accelerate global warming, which is the religious faith. Actually volcanic eruptions contribute to global cooling, and a volcanic winter would be more of a concern than any hypothetical global warming: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Volcanic_winter.

This has happened in the past. The Lake Toba supervolcano in Indonesia erupted around 74,000 years ago and wiped out over two thirds of the humans existing at the time. Global temperatures dropped 10 C for over a decade : https://www.theregister.co.uk/2014/01/06/scientists_discover_the_trigger_that_could_set_off_a_supervolcano/.

Reply to JoNova
While your readers will find the recent article on The Managerial Revolution of interest, I would like to point out there were two Australians who, many years ago, warned about the Managerial Revolution in this country.
But first, 2017 is the 100th anniversary of the completion of the East-West railway here in Australia and there is is quite a Story of The Commonwealth Bank in that for Australian readers. But back to the Managerial Revolution.

I wrote an article in 2007 in which I explained to the readers WITHOUT A STUDY OF MAMMON (MONEY) – HISTORY IS BUNK and James Burnham should not be ‘let off the hook’.

My favourite "out there" news story this year is the report (Natural news.com, February 12, 2017), that the evil Dark Lords of the global elite conspiratorial New World Order Illuminati etc. etc., will be staging a “cosmic false flag,” a massive, false, alien invasion. You may think that this has already happened right across the West, but apparently we have not seen anything yet.

In fear, and hysteria, people will beg for world government, even saying, “Please, pretty please, oh Dark Lords of the eternal night, please enslave us, so the evil aliens from Mars, don’t.” I am not sure why one would bother, but there you go.

As outlined in a new book by Peter Turchin, Ages of Discord, (Beresta Books, 2016), the West is entering an age of discord, a time of severe social crisis, the second such age in modern times. It is difficult to predict with any accuracy when, but hit the fan it will. I have already written about how the super-rich see it coming and are using their money to become survivalists, big time; http://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2017/01/doomsday-prep-for-the-super-rich?currentPage=all.

One aspect of prepping often neglected by the survivalist movement is medicine. The usual position taken is that one should attempt to stockpile medications needed, such as antibiotics, blood pressure meds and the like. But, one can only get so much of prescribed drugs, they have a shelf life (longer than that stated on the pack, but still a shelf life), so much of the prescribed medicine will run out in any grid down situation.

African American Democrat from Los Angeles, Maxine Waters, who has been in the saddle for 13 terms, doesn’t like Donald Trump one bit. No sir. She wants Trump impeached for, among other things, Trump is “Wrapping his arms around Putin while Putin is continuing to advance into Korea.” Korea? Yes, that is what she said.

Perhaps she meant “Crimea,” but screwed up getting the word out? Maybe, maybe not, but that is a mistake of 4,500 miles. Should the libtards really be making a song ‘n’ dance about Don Trump’s alleged mental state, when we have such “muddled waters” : http://www.dailywire.com/news/13232/muddled-waters-thinks-putin-invaded-korea-joesph-curl?

The assault on manhood continues unabated. Men are not permitted to have any territory of their own, and the feminist/gender agenda, is unrelenting and remorseless.
The latest inroad into manhood is women’s football, which has kicked off here in Melbourne, with the AFL opener between Carlton and Collingwood being played at Princes Park. Yes, 24,500 people turned up, making it a full house. But many, like my sons, just came for the curiosity value.

Of course, the usual female journalists, covering the women’s issues saw this as a “coup for women in footy uniform.” (The Weekend Australian, February 11-12, 2017, p.21) How many coups are needed? Is there any end to this? And, why? Why is it necessary to feminise absolutely everything in the universe?

The Washington Post was beside itself about the use of computerized “predictive policing,” where computer algorithms are used to assess the risk of recidivism and to set gaol sentences: https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/big-data-may-be-reinforcing-racial-bias-in-the-criminal-justice-system/2017/02/10/d63de518-ee3a-11e6-9973-c5efb7ccfb0d_story.html.

The WP feels that racial bias creeps in because the initial data fed into the computers makes blacks and Latino defendants look riskier than Whites. There are racial biases in arrest and conviction rates because – the liberal faith has it – the existence of “racial biases,” so a Black or Latino defendant will be more likely to have a prior conviction than a White.

The Full Bench of the Federal Court of Australia, has invalidated a series of native title land-use agreements across the country. (The Australian, February 8, 2017, p. 1).

The decision in McGlade v Native Title Registrar [2017] FCAFC 10, which overrules QGC Pty Ltd v Bygrave (No. 2) [2010] FCA 1019, threatens mines, gas fields, agricultural projects and other infrastructure projects, with thousands of jobs at stake by the invalidation of around 200 agreements. The decision is set to be used against the $ 16 billion Carmichael coalmine in central Queensland.

This morning the New South Wales Court of Appeal ruled in favour of Bernard Gaynor against Garry Burns, bringing to an end almost three years of illegal harassment from him and the New South Wales Anti-Discrimination Board.

Following on from my previous article in On Target on the Aboriginal recognition agenda and the break-up of Australia, I will offer some remarks in review of Keith Windschuttle’s The Break-Up of Australia: The Real Agenda Behind Aboriginal Recognition, (Quadrant Books, Sydney, 2016). This is a long, scholarly book of 470 pages (including the index), so many readers are not going to have the time to read it. Nevertheless, there are people who should be given copies, such as One Nation members, and other independent members of parliament, for even if they do not read it themselves, they often have young, eager staff who can. I would therefore highly recommend people consider getting copies of this book to circulate ready for the coming battle of this century. Sooner, rather than later.

Windschuttle’s thesis is that the agenda behind Aboriginal recognition, is problematic from the start, because it is based on the false claim that the Australian Constitution was drafted to exclude Aboriginal people, where it was nothing of the sort. Windschuttle demolishes these arguments in the early part of his book, especially in the preface, which gives a concise “No” case. Aborigines voted to approve the delegates to the Constitutional Conventions and to approve the 1899 Constitution before being put to the people. They were not excluded and nor was there any desire to attempt in any way to give any history of Australia, because this enabling document is a charter for the creation of a federal government. Windschuttle points out that the “Yes” side confuse, perhaps deliberately, the history of a continent or land mass, with the history of a nation, one which only came into existence in 1788.

Today, the 6th February 2017, marks the 65th anniversary of the Queen’s accession to the Throne.
For Her Majesty this is also the anniversary of her father’s passing and she has indicated she will spend the day in quiet contemplation.
 
Yet, it appears that there will be no formal acknowledgement by Australian Federal and State governments nor, more importantly, does it seem that there will be any church services commemorating the first time in our shared history that a monarch has served her people for so long.
 
Called the “Blue-Sapphire Jubilee” it is unlikely that we will see another such anniversary for at least a hundred years and probably far longer.
 
The Australian Monarchist League has written on this matter to the Prime Minister and other dignitaries but without response.
 
 
Philip Benwell
National Chair
Australian Monarchist League

Prince Charles will be 69 in November, the Duchess of Cornwall 70 in July and Prince William will be 35, also in July.
On the 6th of February, Her Majesty will celebrate 65 years as our sovereign head of state and on the 21st of April she will celebrate her 91st birthday and on the 20th November she and the Duke of Edinburgh will celebrate their 70th wedding anniversary.
Remarkable anniversaries for a remarkable lady indeed.

In the 6th century, after the rule of Rome had ended there lived a philosopher called Boethius. He wrote a number of books, some drawing on the philosophy of Plato and Socrates. One of his books was called ‘The Consolation of Philosophy’.  King Alfred the Great was so taken with this work that he had it translated into English which was a huge task for those days. He wrote an introduction to his translation:

“What I set out to do was to virtuously and justly administer the authority given me. I desired the exercise of power so that my talents and my power might not be forgotten. But every natural gift and every capacity in us soon grows old and is forgotten if wisdom is not in it. Without wisdom no faculty can be fully brought out, for anything done unwisely cannot be accounted as skill. To be brief, I may say that it has always been my wish to live honourably, and after my death to leave to those who came after me my memory in good works.”

To The Australian
The open letter about offshore detention camps by 72 organisations and community groups published as a full page advertisement in your edition of 6/2 excites a number of reflections. Without impugning the good will and humanitarian concern of the signatories, I wonder if they have adequately considered the long-term implications of the action they call for (the immediate bringing to Australia of detainees on Manus Island and Nauru). Far more people want to come to Australia than our infrastructure can accommodate; and excessive numbers of immigrants will lower our quality of life considerably - as can already be seen happening in our largest cities.

We need to persist in policies that will deter prospective illegal immigrants and people smugglers. Toughness of mind is called for to protect our way of life. I also wonder about the propriety of some of the signatories engaging in such a statement, as I believe that some of their own members might have alternative views on the matter.
NJ, Belgrave, Vic

To The Age
The proposal for significant change to our marriage law is not just 'a straightforward reform about fairness', as Alex Greenwich claims ('Momentum builds for MP free vote', 6/2). There are subtle issues concerning religious liberty and the welfare of children which need to be carefully considered, so that the slogan 'marriage equality' is simplistic and misleading.

The Prime Minister is right that 'this issue should be determined by a vote of every Australian in a plebiscite.' It is too important to be decided by a so-called 'free vote' by MPs, most of whom hold their seats thanks to their party membership, not their personal views on marriage law. It will be a disgrace if the Government allows itself to be swayed by a poll organised by an interested group.
NJ, Belgrave, Vic

The La Times was beside itself proclaiming “Trump’s Shock-and-Awe Strategy Produces His First Major Setback,” http://www.latimes.com/politics/la-na-pol-visa-cancellations-20170204-story.html.
Judge James Robart has issued a temporary restraining order, in a suit filed by Washington and Minnesota, claiming that president Trump’s travel ban on Muslims violated the U.S. Constitution.

Yes, the Founding fathers certainly wanted America to be full of Muslims. But of course, a “living” interpretation of the Constitution is adopted where the intentions of the framers count for nothing, and the only opinions worthy of consideration are the new class elites and globalists.
Maybe Trump has not yet caught on to what is going on here. He tweeted: “What is our country coming to when a judge can halt a Homeland Security travel ban and anyone, even with bad intentions can come into the U. S.?”