After reading the first story listed for this week it was difficult to concentrate on anything else, but the last story gave me a laugh - for all the wrong reasons.
1) Monkey Bars
We have sunk to a new low in Australian public life, as reported here. I suspect responses to this article will be demarcated along generational lines. For those who can’t be bothered reading the whole article, here is the killer line:
"Monkey bars were OK when I was a kid 60 years ago, but they’re not an appropriate form of play equipment in 2018," Professor Eager said.
Just that line alone deserves a longer form response than a quick ‘Week in Review’ comment. Rebuttal of that line actually deserves it’s own website – it’s own protest movement.
For me, this was the biggest news item of the week. Bigger than Banks resigning from the Liberal Party, bigger than the Trump & Putin show. The longer term consequences of banning monkey bars will be far larger than anything else reported this week.
2) Michael Clarke
You’ve probably already switched off from the continuing soap opera that is the Australian cricket team, and therefore missed the little spat involving Michael Clarke where he verbally wacked a journalist who suggested Michael’s time as captain contributed to the decline in standards as reported here.
What caught my eye, is the inability of Michael Clarke to actually understand what he was being criticised for, it’s a bit hard to have a sensible conversation if people can’t understand basic concepts, like the difference between direct & indirect. The writer held him indirectly responsible for the ball tampering, suggesting that the drop in standards of behaviour started during his tenure, Michael has responded as though he said he was directly responsible. Michael says he is teaching his daughter resilience: I suggest he engage someone else to teach her comprehension.
If you want to get a sense of what Whateley was on about, have a look at Greg Baum’s excellent article written after Australia won the one day world cup. Link here.
3) Developers
The dearth of political comedians in Australia right now means the politicians have to make fun of themselves. This week we had a Minister in the Liberal NSW Government warn developers that they risk losing the trust of the people if they continue to act as they always have. No really, he said that, have a look here.