Sent to all newspapers but not published
30th June 2008
Dear Editor,
I feel the need, in justice, to support, publicly, Richard and Jeanne Pratt.
Without prejudice to the legal procedures presently pursuing Richard for damaging our common wealth, may I remind you of an equally important procedure in any civil society, i.e. the pursuit of the common good, which may well offset any toxic effect on the dollar environment judged to be caused by Richard. Read more »
My mate, Les Twentyman, has thrown his hat into the by-election ring in Koroit, western suburbs, Victoria.
He’s standing as an independent with preferences already allocated his way by both Labour and Liberal candidates.
He dropped over, a couple of days ago, with campaign manager, Phil Cleary, well known as Coburg’s ex-coach in the VFA, electrical trades union official and social activist in his own right. He also takes photos for Les’s campaign material. Read more »
Got an email this week from John, our man in Darfur, Sudan. I say “our man” because he grew up in South Melbourne. Rough and ready too was John. He loved the Army reserve unit and joined at his earliest opportunity.
Over the last few years he’s replaced reserve army service with professional relief work in places such as Angola, Liberia, Kosovo, East Timor and Afghanistan.
He was back in Australia earlier this year, got sick, got well again and signed up for the Sudan. Read more »
Maureen Johnston didn’t like the church. She popped up a few years ago to volunteer to feed the local poor both from the parish kitchen and backyard and from a food bus travelling through South/Port Melbourne and St. Kilda. That’s about 10 years ago. Read more »
Last Saturday morning, I drove to the next parish where there’s a recently, beautifully renovated church/Shrine in honour of Mary, known “in house” as Our Lady.
The twin parishes of Middle Park and Port Melbourne have been there for 100 years plus. The Carmelite Order of Priests has faithfully staffed both places for over a century. My parish, South Melbourne, was mother to both parishes.
So what? Well, last Saturday the Shrine of Our Lady of Mount Carmel played host to a couple of sacred artefacts known as the Cross and Icon. Read more »
Doctor Robert Grogan, who has just published a slim volume, “Commodores, Colonials and Councillors”, the story of the street names of South Melbourne, is working on a history, from a lay person’s unique perspective, of the Emerald Hill/South Melbourne Parish.
I’ll leave to him a detailed account of the tour of duty of the Loreto Sisters. After over a century of service to parish and neighbourhood, the disciples of Mary Ward have broken camp, St. Vincent Place, and marched off to the tunes of glory. Read more »
Aussie blog wars.
They're were going to court peoples.
P.S. I did have a bit of a chuckle at this:
To barrister Jeremy Sear, once a target for the Hack and Caz, such a
Read more »
complaint smacked of hypocrisy: "They were particularly vile in the way
they treated anybody who disagreed with them or they took a dislike
to," he says.
Maureen Johnston didn’t like the church. She popped up a few years ago to volunteer to feed the local poor both from the parish kitchen and backyard and from a food bus travelling through South/Port Melbourne and St. Kilda. That’s about 10 years ago. Read more »
Continues her random TV countdown after a summer hiatus.
Is now the time to confess to a passion for The Storm Rages Twice, the never ending saga of Nader and his ex-wife Jamal in the world's most pitiful, pitiful soap opera, direct from the heart of Lebanon?
Should I go into a monastery now I’m 74 and never have anything to say on TV or radio?
I got a call late one night last week from “concerned of Werribee”. He’d just seen me on TV pontificating on Gordon Ramsey’s coarse language – you know the Brit chef who swears a lot during his cooking show. Read more »
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