Yes, agree. I feel that in voting for Keating, I helped condemn Australia to four terms of Howard. Hewson was measured and thoughtful, not like the Libs now. Apparently Hawke said after it was all over, something like "you should have kept the plans in the bottom drawer for after you were elected".

I recall the rock - throwing at Turnbull, and then we ended up with Abbott. There are worse things ...

It does also feel like supermarkets want to herd large volumes of customers, as compared to small stores with more personal relationships with known customers. When you start to "herd" customers, though, you lose something along the way.

Interesting the increase in crime is a in Victoria. I wonder why?

Mind you, I can think of different reasons for crime, which are worth distinguishing.

There's crime driven by poverty shoplifting: unlikely to be violent.

Then there's individual and violent - criminal & lastly, organised crime.

I admit, not something I know offhand.

AUKUS - Australia, United Kingdom, United States
ANZUS - Australia, New Zealand, United States

Attention is, and always has been, selective.

In the US, some people are on board with the whole Jewish bankers running the world conspiracy thing at the same time as they support Israel against the Arabs. It's reasonable to think there might be something similar here.

Japan helped escort a fleet to the Dardanelles during the Great War. Good to see.

If you don't have patience to listen to the whole thing ( listen for mention of Ukraine), let me know and I'll hunt through the text. I don't like the AIIA, but I can find it conveniently here, and must suffer to post a link, from about a year ago: www.youtube.com/watch?v=x_LN...

Not me. I'm aware of Mr. Carr's comments regarding Ukraine and Gaza.