I was reading the other day about an Argentine tourist who wanted to visit Sydney, but accidentally finished up in Sydney, Nova Scotia. She realised something was wrong when she boarded a small plane in Halifax.
“She was taking pictures out the airplane window and said to herself, ‘Something is not right,’” local resident Christiane Tanner, [...]
One of the more bizarre news stories I’ve read in a long while surfaced today when it came out that tobacco smoking has been banned in Dutch cafes and restaurants, but marijuana is still okay.
I’m half Dutch, but the country today is nothing like the one my mother and grandparents left in the 1950s.
I’m not [...]
Beijing should never have been chosen to host the 2008 Olympics. China has a repressive society. It’s a one-party state which kills opponents to the government. Catholics are persecuted.
There are many corrupt and despotic regimes in the world today, such as Zimbabwe and North Korea, but China is the biggest.
I don’t envy the Chinese government [...]
I’ve written a few times about Zimbabwe. Today, there’s a personal touch to the comments I make.
I visited Zimbabwe in 1991 when it was a prosperous happy country and before Mugabe went bananas.
My employer at the time, a Victorian farming newspaper, encouraged me to write some freelance articles about the agricultural situation while I was [...]
Reading Delmer’s comment about the Ashes reinforced to me how insular Australia and the United States are when it comes to sport.
The reality is that most countries of the world are soccer mad. It’s played everywhere and is the main spectator sport in most countries as well. The only places where it isn’t the most [...]
I read today that Cardinal George Pell, Archbishop of Sydney (formerly Melbourne), is considered an outside chance to become Pope.
I like George. He speaks his mind; he’s strong and rational.
George is 50-1 with the international bookmakers. That’s a great thing about being Catholic. Gambling and drinking in moderation are acceptable vices.
I bought a couple of books yesterday and started reading last night for the first time in several months. Unfortunately I’m not off to a good start with Second Time Around by "international best seller" Mary Higgins Clark.
The plot starts in shaky fashion with irate shareholders protesting the collapse of a company. Nothing unusual about [...]
