Author Archives: Ernest Zanatta

An $880,000 Question

During the current trade crisis with Communist China, I have been reading a lot about Chinese ownership of various Australian interests. Aside from wineries (an issue very close to my heart), Chinese Communist interests own Ansell, Swisse, Bellamys, Altinta Energy, and Energy Australia. Landbridge, a Chinese company closely aligned to the communist regime, has a …

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Et Tu Kilikanoon? Is There A Problem With Chinese Ownership Of Australian Wineries?

Let me start by saying that I like the wines made at Kilikanoon. A few years ago, I had a half dozen wines delivered to me by the then Wine Society (a cooperative which tries to save money for its members by bulk buying wines at deep discounts to the recommended retail price and on …

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There was an Old Lady, who lived in a shoe….

A couple of years ago, in an unexpected display of Walkey Award-worthy investigative journalism, the writers of gossip magazine New Idea (commonly called ‘No Idea’ by those who do not read it) ended the political career of National Party MP Andrew Broad. Mr Broad, it transpired, had been trying to pick up women (whilst married) …

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Fake Photos and Real Bodies – How Communist China Really Behaves

Have you ever seen a real dead body? Relatively few people do, and hopefully very rarely. I have only three times – just after my father died, at the open casket rosary reading for an uncle, and at an open casket funeral for the father of a close colleague. It is not something you really …

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The Ghost Of Breaker Morant

Australians are not always good at picking their folk heroes. Ned Kelly is still seen by many, and not just by the bogan element, as a rebel against oppressive authority, rather than as a petty criminal from a family of petty criminals who turned into a cold blooded murderer and hostage taker. Similarly, Breaker Morant, …

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Reflections on the US Presidential Election

I lost $50 last week. I bet with one of my friends that Trump would win the presidential election. The ‘enthusiasm gap’ between him and Biden (ie the number of crazy-scary people who would go to rallies to support Trump as compared to Biden), as well as the recent proof that opinion polls are about …

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Never After: Huxley’s Twisted Take On The Tempest

I have three hardback editions of the Complete Works Of Shakespeare – two identical (aside from the dust cover) from my teenage years (one was a present for my 14th birthday, and one was an academic prize at the end of year 10), and a nice leather-bound one I was given more recently for my …

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Night of the Living Dead: Or Why are People Celebrating Halloween?

About a decade ago, I used to go to a Guy Fawkes night organised each year by a friend of a (now former) friend. They would burn an effigy each year – the Guy representing some annoying lefty or Islamic terrorist figure. As it burned, we would sing God Save The Queen, and Advance Australia …

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