Much Ado About Sydney…

As far as film adaptations of Shakespeare’s plays go, Sir Kenneth Brannagh’s work over the past 35 years has given me particular enjoyment. Henry V in 1989 revived interest in Shakespeare, and his version of Hamlet was closest to the full written play (although proven by experts to be far too long to have been what …

Irredentism – An Irredeemable & Immature Ideology

When I was nine years old, I became aware of the extent of the Roman Empire, in which Italy, my ancestral homeland, was the dominant part. I felt rather indignant (being ethnically Italian) that Rome did not still rule all shores and hinterlands of the Mediterranean. Without knowing it at the time, I was an Italian …

On The Western Bulldogs Digital Membership

I’m new to Facebook, and having only joined for communication with relatives in Italy during my recent trip, all I use FB for now is to read those highly addictive Reddit stories (clickbait) about people who have toxic relatives or bosses (this takes up quite a lot of my time, given I find such stories …

Australia’s Own Dreyfus Affair

The Dreyfus Affair was a tragic miscarriage of justice during the early years of the French Third Republic. Captain Alfred Dreyfus, a French army officer of Jewish background, was unjustly accused of espionage charges. Motivated by anti-semitism, his principal accusers in the military and the government were blind to evidence pointing conclusively to another officer, …

Treasury Wine Estates Buys Daou Vineyards

Whilst I was travelling through Italy recently and scrolling through Facebook for the first time ever (the novelty has worn off), I found many ads promoting such investments as buying wine futures or whiskey kegs. As I do like wine and whiskey, although not necessarily for investment, I did have a close look at those. …

Has Political Discourse Become Less Civil?

The Commonwealth Police, predecessor to the current Australian Federal Police, had an almost ridiculous raison d’être for coming into existence. It was during the First World War, and the then Prime Minister, William Morris Hughes, was speaking to a crowd in Queensland, in the presence of the premier, who was not an ally. Someone threw …

Halloween Again – Some Sober Reflections On The Real Monsters

‘Do you think that the faith has conquered the world, and that lions no longer need keepers?’ – TS Eliot It’s Halloween again, and we go further and further down the rabbit hole of trick-or-treating, costumes, decorating the front garden, and boozy halloween parties attended by women in sexy witch costumes (or at least I …