No Harm, Really 18 May A dangerously delusional message on Twitter last night took me back to a sordid issue I was talking about at this time yesterday and maybe gave me an insight into how some of our judges think too. Full story …
Let Him Rot 17 May I heard the latest news today about Hoddle Street killer Julian Knight and yet another attempt to clog up the courts at taxpayers’ expense. Full story …
Wheels Within Wheels 17 May Be interesting to know how many people tuned in to Channel Ten this week for the bikie wars story Brothers in Arms -- or the bikie gang doco that preceded it. Full story …
Anti-Social Media 17 May This is going to make me sound so old and so out-of touch. I heard a story on the news today which took me back to my own school days when we were banned from taking a newfangled gadget to school called an electronic calculator. I don’t think we ever had an abacus. We had to use an old-fashioend thing called a brain. Full story …
Mr. Hive Kitchen & Bar 10 Apr I thought this place was called Mr. Hyde. Which I considered appropriate because it’s taken over the space formerly occupied by Dr.Jekyll. Mr Hive is where Gordon Ramsay opened his much-vaunted but short-lived restaurant called Maze as part of the Crown complex. Full story …
Felix & Cafe Sydney 07 Feb In June 2012, I plan to fly to New York, go straight to the Oyster Bar in the bowels of Grand Central station and slowly pick out a few dozen oysters. Maybe, half a dozen Cape Breton from Nova Scotia, definitely Kumamoto from California, some Shigoku from Washington [state that is] and some Cuttyhunk from Massachusetts. Full story …
Flower Drum 02 Jul I guess the word ‘jail’ must have been lurking in the back of my mind when I was deciding where to go for a Friday lunch with my lawyers. Maybe that’s why I chose the Flower Drum, a former favourite eatery where I hadn’t been much in recent years. Full story …
The Atlantic 27 Apr It’s a conversation we have almost every week as we head out on our Saturday dinner date. Full story …
Hawaii At Home 21 Dec One of the side effects of being under house arrest for five months in 2011 was that I was forced to spend December locked up in my apartment rather than strolling up Fifth Avenue, rugged up in a New York winter. Full story …
You Went Jetstar??? 21 Jun There’s an airline joke about a guy going into a bar and the reason for telling it will become obvious. Full story …
V for Vision 05 May I was tempted to say ‘Don’t fly V Australia to Los Angeles this year’. That is…unless you can afford to fly Business Class. Save a bit more and really treat yourself next year. But that wouldn’t be very fair considering that on the flight I took Economy was almost full and the website reviews show some very happy campers. Full story …
Visiting the Beautiful People 05 Apr Aaaah… Los Angeles. LA. The ‘City of the Angels.’ Home of Hollywood and the ‘boulevard of broken hearts.’ The place they call ‘a freeway in search of a city.’ LaLaLand. The home of the so-called Beautiful People. Full story …
Australia Day 04 May I went to the theatre last night to see a play called Australia Day. Missed the Opening Night but the reviews have been great and word-of-mouth fantastic. It’s an MTC production at the Playhouse. Full story …
Facts About a Fantasy 04 Apr It’s not often that I will use from a media release. And even more rarely that I’ll almost quote one in full. But I am excited and proud of a showbiz media release that is going out later today. Because it concerns a new musical coming to Melbourne in January. Full story …
Eureka! They Found It 22 Mar It’s hard making a movie out of a book. Ardent Harry Potter fans know what should be happening on screen although they will occasionally, begrudgingly, suspend disbelief and allow a bit of artistic licence. Full story …
A Chorus Line 06 Feb Over the weekend I nearly committed my biggest theatrical boo-boo since turning down tickets to the Opening Night of Hair in New York in 1967. Well, it was off-Broadway. And it was Joe Papp’s first non-classical endeavour and who wanted to see a bunch of long-haired full-frontal hippies mocking the American flag in the age of Aquarius. Full story …
Shooting for the Moon 06 Jul Forty years ago this month, the dusty, rilled footprint of Neil Armstrong was historically planted on the moon as man walked on the lunar surface for the first time. About ten years before that –when I was a teenager – I used to wrestle with my Dad for first go at the daily newspaper to read about the latest exploits of seven men chosen to be the first human voyagers into space. Full story …
A Flat Argument 31 May It is more than twenty years since I went to jail, first to Pentridge then Morwell, for being in contempt of court after trying to alert parents to the predatory behaviour of an evil priest, Michael Glennon. Full story …
With the Budget handouts kicking in do you now support the Carbon Tax? 17 May 2012 Yes (18 votes | 15%) No (100 votes | 82%) Don't Know (4 votes | 3%)
Should Craig Thomson be suspended from the House of Representatives? 11 May 2012 Yes (204 votes | 87%) No (25 votes | 11%) Don't Know (6 votes | 3%)
Will Julia Gillard survive as Prime Minister and lead Labor into 2013 election? 02 May 2012 Yes (50 votes | 15%) No (272 votes | 82%) Don't Know (9 votes | 3%)
Should Peter Slipper be permitted back in The Speaker’s Chair before the sexual harassment allegations are resolved? 26 Apr 2012 Yes (9 votes | 8%) No (93 votes | 88%) Don't Know (4 votes | 4%)
Should Vic. Govt. have held judicial inquiry instead of parliamentary one into church cover-up on paedophile priests? 17 Apr 2012 Yes (137 votes | 91%) No (8 votes | 5%) Don't Know (5 votes | 3%)
With 18 teams, some getting thrashed by 100 pts, should AFL bring in relegation system? 10 Apr 2012 Yes (57 votes | 59%) No (29 votes | 30%) Not Sure (10 votes | 10%)
Should illegal drugs like marijuana, cocaine and heroin be legalised in Australia? 04 Apr 2012 Yes (166 votes | 53%) No (135 votes | 43%) Don't Know (13 votes | 4%)
Akermanis was way out of line with Jim Stynes comments but should radio station have sacked him? 25 Mar 2012 Yes (97 votes | 48%) No (96 votes | 48%) Don't Know (7 votes | 4%)
Do you find Bob Katter’s controversial gay marriage TV commercial offensive? 14 Mar 2012 Yes (87 votes | 49%) No (51 votes | 29%) Don't Care (38 votes | 22%)
Do you think Bob Carr will make a better Foreign Minister than Kevin Rudd? 07 Mar 2012 Yes (47 votes | 27%) No (106 votes | 62%) Don't Know (18 votes | 11%)
Will new look Julia Gillard and a ‘united’ Labor party win the next election? 28 Feb 2012 Yes (29 votes | 13%) No (171 votes | 76%) Who Cares? (24 votes | 11%)
The showdown is on. Who should win the leadership spill? 23 Feb 2012 Julia Gillard (99 votes | 19%) Kevin Rudd (430 votes | 81%)
Should teenage criminals, now protected, be named if they commit further crimes after turning 18? 17 Feb 2012 Yes (133 votes | 88%) No (16 votes | 11%) Undecided (3 votes | 2%)
OK. Let’s do it again. Do you prefer Kevin Rudd over Julia Gillard to lead Labor into the next election? 02 Feb 2012 Yes (77 votes | 48%) No (31 votes | 19%) Undecided (8 votes | 5%) Don't Care (43 votes | 27%)
Is Prime Minister Gillard right to renege on the poker machine reform deal she made with Independent Andrew Wilkie to create her minority government ? 18 Jan 2012 Yes (22 votes | 20%) No (82 votes | 73%) Undecided (8 votes | 7%)
Should Australia take naval action to prevent Japanese whaling in the Antarctic? 09 Jan 2012 Yes (118 votes | 77%) No (29 votes | 19%) Undecided (7 votes | 5%)
Should Australia have a national public register of convicted sex offenders? 21 Dec 2011 Yes (1195 votes | 97%) No (22 votes | 2%) Undecided (12 votes | 1%)