#different

‘I can’t breathe’

When a US police officer stood on the throat of George Floyd, Floyd gasped the words, I can’t breathe. The death of George Floyd gave birth to the Black lives matter movement and again showed the racial discrimination black people in the US face on a daily basis.

In the UK, the phrase I can’t breathe has again been uttered as a dying man lay in handcuffs accused of racially abusing a Sikh who had in fact stabbed him. Henry Nowak an 18 year old had been detained by police after an altercation with Vickrun Digwa a 21 year old Sikh. Somehow police didn’t realise that Nowak had been stabbed! When they arrived on scene they handcuffed the bleeding Nowak who had been stabbed by Digwa with a 21 inch ceremonial sword. 

The allegation from Digwa was that Nowak had tried to take his turban off and racially abused him. For this Nowak was handcuffed. Nowak drowned in his own blood handcuffed lying on the ground as Digwa protested racial discrimination.

After Nowaks death become public knowledge riots and protests broke out in the centre of Southampton with crowds angry at the death of Nowak. The UK for months now has been at boiling point. A population sick and tired of immigrants supposedly taking over the country and being allowed to do as they please. Racial discrimination being used as a tool by migrants to justify their behaviours and to pander to leftist government who have allowed the country to get out of control.

The issue for the UK is that migration has failed on catastrophic level and while immigrants helped build much of what the UK now is, like here in Australia migrants are now a massive burden on a society that cannot cope.

A few weeks ago the UK right wing figure Tommy Robinson helped stage a mass rally through the streets of the UK with thousands turning up. People in the UK have had enough of racial tension and with this shift away from the left it is highly likely that Nigel Farage will be the next UK PM. Will he make a difference? Maybe but right now the UK stands on the brink of civil unrest unlike many others seen.

Trump is bad news for the world

I’m sorry to all our US readers but what the fucking hell is Trump doing now?! Not only has he started wars he can’t finish he’s now imposing tariffs on countries complicit in slavery? What?!

There was a time when Trump could have been good for the world. He was the leader to rid the world of leftist wokes who had pushed us all beyond the boundaries of common sense, but now he’s the so called leader that has pretty much broken the global economy. Enough already!

This latest tariff on Australia is insane. We are now being penalised for being part of a system that allows slavery? Is Trump now the one who is managing global employment standards? Who the hell does he think he is? The Iran war has done nothing but kick up fuel prices, the Ukraine war continues, Israel is now blowing up whoever they want and there is unparalleled division in the US all for what? The ego and self interest of a billionaire!?

Trump could’ve definitely made America great again, but right now he’s running the risk that it will never be great again. While Trump says how much he loves the US of A most of what he’s doing is for self interest and that’s never happened in the history of the Presidency. Yes pockets have been lined but not like this. This is a president hell bent on economic destruction and prosperity for one person, himself.

Would JD Vance or Marco Rubio be any better? Well yes, at this point my dog goose would be a better option, but it’s in the hands of Americans and we hope they get it right next time around.

Do we really need the ABC now?

Remember when the ABC was the place where you could watch quality TV. The arts were actually a thing taken seriously. Literature was debated and enjoyed. Science was a topic of intense interest. Sport while important was a second tier topic unless it was test match special. You got things from the ABC you didn’t get from commercial TV. You got educated news and current affairs and discussions from people who knew about the world around them. 

The ABC used to sit in the middle of the political landscape. It did verge left but it tried to keep its bias aside and delivered news content and programming that wasn’t there to divide rather it was there to have open and free discussions about issue that mattered. Today not so much.

I barely watch the ABC now. I listen to the radio sometimes in the mornings but the ABC are sort of akin to what’s happened to the Greens. The greens used to be all about the environment. The Franklin Dam, the Rainforests, the idea of global warming, but are now a far left organisation that’s not that big into the environment rather they want to be fighting for causes totally irrelevant to their original purpose. 

The ABC once the voice of the truth and the place you went for educational programming, BBC TV series and the arts is now this government mouth piece that is totally out of touch with modern society. That’s not to say the ABC has to be up with the cool kids, it doesn’t but that’s the way it’s positioned itself nowadays. Edgy programming that falls flat, current affairs programming that is so biased you wonder why they bother ever interviewing anyone from the right and this in vain attempt to be the Australian arbiters of the truth. 

The ABC, like Pauline Hanson says should become a subscription service. No free to air licence any more, no government protections, sell it off to the highest bidder and make it pay for its supper. 

The latest issue for the ABC is the employment of Grace Tame and shows again why they’re so deluded. A woke lefty organisation that can’t see common sense through all the different coloured flags they fly. It’s time to cut the ABC loose and to let them fend for themselves and I for one would find it hilarious to watch a Murdoch, a Packer or a Stokes walk through the front door. Will it happen? Not with this government in charge but god help the ABC is Pauline wins it all.

Ai Data centres

By 2035 Ai data centres will take up approximately 11% of all electricity production in Australia. We currently have more than 230 data centres with around 4 times the growth planned over the next decade…so ummmm what’s the plan here? Yeah it appears that tech companies are giving governments money that see the building of these data centres but what happened to that whole ruining the environment thing? By the time 2035 does roll around these mega data centres will need, wait for it, 40 million litres of water a day to cool them. A day!

There are red flags everywhere when it comes to Ai and now data centres. Ai is being used as a tool or an excuse to sack workers, while it’s an incredibly useful bit of tech it’s also making people bone stinking lazy. From a recruitment perspective companies don’t give two shits about people any more. It’s now all about how fast an Ai template can eradicate the so called wrong people to bring in the truly wrong ones. Ai is claiming to make life easier when really it’s attempting to take out humanity and replace it with tech billionaires and trillionaires will. Shove that I say.

Then we come to the data storage and this is where things get really idiotic. Apparently the earth is warming. Warmer climates need? More water for actual humans and life, but we seem to be committing ourselves to infrastructure we simply can’t sustain. Tech is great but real achievable strategy can also be important when you’re thinking about how the future actually looks.

Spirit over division 

Pride. Unity. Guts. Determination. Success over adversity. All things we love and believe in. Lying, corruption, jobs for the boys, politics and greed, all things we’re not big fans of and yet we see more of the second group than the first. Why? Is apathy becoming the biggest crisis we face today?

During last week NSW came back from 20-0 to win game one of state of origin. It was crushing for Queensland yes, but everything that was good about us and the sports we love was on display. Ferocious effort, complete dedication and a determination to go over and beyond for the cause. The result a culmination of efforts and one that shows we can achieve great things when the chips are down or the expectations low.

The new Netflix documentary on English football player turned actor, Vinny Jones is the story of young man who turned passion into a career and a career into a story of never giving up. Was Jones a hard arse? He was and he unquestionably did some bat shit crazy things on the pitch but he gave absolutely everything when he pulled on that shirt. 

See, we need our spirit back. Remember when it was wall to wall pride in Australia? Black, white, green, yellow, pink or blue…we were unified and we knew it, today? Not so much. Today we have to celebrate everyone else’s national day but are barely able to wave a flag for fear of it being snatched and burnt. How did that happen?

Our sporting moments still, luckily, seem to sit apart from the division given to us by politicians but while we are fortunate in some cases we need our country back. We need to fall back in love with who we are, what we’ve done and what we aspire to be and those aspirations aren’t what Albo or Taylor tell us they should be.

We’ve still got a lot to be thankful for but it’s time to put away the apathy and start being proud Aussies again because I think we’d take pride over division any day.

A letter to Gina

Dear Gina,

Yesterday it came out that you’ve supposedly been funding the purchase of a media company. Maybe you’re thinking about making a mark in the media business, maybe it’s a strategic move in and around politics but my suggestion is don’t buy any more media shares til we here at Hoodies have given you our pitch!

No one trusts the media anymore. Yes for some it’s a source of great revenue but you don’t need the money Gina, you need a news service and media outlet that gives it to people straight. No facade of pandering to governments, no state owned media who hate mining billionaires, no having to be nice to people because an advertiser might get upset. No! 

Hoodies Media was founded on three core principles;

1. Common sense
2. Authenticity 
3. Accountability 

Those three will never change and we will always adhere to them, why? Because truth matters. It matters what governments do, it matters that people can find some kind of accountability in the world and it matters that the average punter has a voice. Which outlet at the moment is the voice of the average punter?

Hoodies Media is a fledgling business with a long journey ahead of it but we will take the journey and be that voice of real accountability that’s not found anywhere else in the media sector.

So, come on Gina, let’s talk about how we can really change the world with Hoodies Media at the forefront of it.

Cheers

Ben

State of origin

The hey day of VFL/AFL state of origin would see Ablett playing next to Plugger and Teddy Whitten screaming from the sidelines DO IT FOR THE JUMPER! Today, despite the fact the AFL have a token State of origin nothing it will ever do will compare to the NRL State of Origin. Not only is the NRL state of origin the best games of NRL for the season, the whole series is now the best Australian sporting event of the year.

Last night NSW came back from 20-6 down to win with three seconds to play. It was unbelievable! Every year Origin turns up at least one game that is a thriller and this year we get the thriller from the opening game. 

In the world of AFL Origin died because clubs and players didn’t want anyone injured and fair enough, it’s the same with the NFL. Both codes  play their all star/origin games with barely any competition, but in the world of the NRL there is absolutely no chance of an easy win. No chance of an easy pass, if you get injured it was for the jersey and fuck the club you play for!

Rugby league is not a game for people who don’t believe in contact sports, not for people who think there should be safe spaces for people nor is it a game for those who think everyone is a winner. It is a game for the hardest of the hard, those who put their lives on their line for the jersey. When James Tedesco ran towards the NSW touch line chasing down the ball from Nathan Cleary he did so looking up in the air unable to really see what was ahead of him. He ran with complete commitment to the ball and the team.

There have of course been brave players in AFL and they’re quite rightly thought of as legends but in NRL if you’re not prepared to die for the jersey then just fuck off. There are non pretty hair do’s, no wank factor just sheer brutality and my god it was fucking awesome!

Ferrari the new Jaguar

I love the IPhone, I’m using one right now to write this article but I also love old Ferrari’s. I don’t own one but like so many other people I know how stunning they are, that they’re iconic and they look nothing like an iPhone. 

To design the new Ferrari Luce the company brought in the bloke who designed the iPhone. That’s sort of like bringing in Andy Warhol to come up with a new soup recipe. Yes there are some synergies but really totally different ideas. It hasn’t stopped Ferrari though. An 8% drop in their share price and their former President so upset about the new car he wouldn’t make public comment for fear of what it would do to the brand. Well Luca, the brand is dead.

Who lets in designers to do crap like this? It’s the same question that was asked at Jaguar. Who thought all that crap was a good idea? Ferrari though have gone one step further and made the car! Jag didn’t do that! They realised how bad it all was before they actually made the thing.

Rolling out LeClerc and Hamilton, the two Ferrari F1 drivers who were contractually not allowed to say anything bad about the car, the company tried to show how impressed both drivers were. It’s almost impossible to believe they were. Just for some perspective, when Lewis Hamilton joined Ferrari he was photographed outside Ferrari HQ with an F40! I wonder what he’d like to pick now? The F40 or the Luce?

Now Ferrari is a big company so surely they did some market testing on this thing so maybe it’s the case that the woke celebrity half wits will buy one, but what of the core Ferrari customer who actually likes having an engine rather than a battery? 

It is staggering that a company with such a rich history can do this to their own brand, but they have and now it’s hard to imagine things will ever be the same again.

Ferrari launch the what?

I’m sorry but what the fuck have Ferrari done to their brand? What have they done to the legacy? What have they done to car design! What have they done to the memory of Enzo!

In the last few days, Ferrari have released their first fully electric car and to say it sucks ass would be an understatement. Is it fast? Sure, is it red? Yep and that’s about it. It doesn’t even look as good as the flashiest BYD, it looks like a sporty version of the MG EV. It’s fucking dreadful.

Full of clever tech and moving screens F1 drivers the useless LeClerc and the now seriously fading

Lewis Hamilton thought it was great, but of course they did. 

This is car company that made things like the 250GTO, the F40, the 308, the Testarossa, the Dino, the Enzo, the California…and now they make this absolute piece of complete and utter dog shit. Seriously if Ferrari persist with this thing they’ve called the Luce they may as well shut the factory and call in the wokes from jags to really fucking destroy their brand!

The world is fucked, we know, but there have always been signs of hope, of great machines, of people going over and beyond, of sporting achievements, art, culture, but if Ferrari are too stupid to realise this things is a mistake they may as well sell the whole fucking thing to BYD now.

Is Ai taking a step back?

With Sam Altman looking like a deer in head lights of late and with tech CEO’s being booed everywhere they talk about Ai taking jobs could it be that the tech industry is thinking we might want to hold off on some of this.

When Altman was interviewed on Joe Rogan recently he was all guns blazing. Ai was the future of the human race and it would mean that people didn’t need to work anymore! UBI for everyone Sam said, universal basic income! Yes the tech overlords were going to be good enough to give us minions some scraps from the table or Trillionaires. Really? What’s that line about absolute power corrupting absolutely?

Despite the fact that Nvidia makes a good portion of the chips used for Ai computing its CEO, Jensen Huang has also come out recently and said wooo, hang on how did we get to suggesting Ai would cost jobs? Is it an excuse for corporations to lose half their workforce?

Commonwealth bank CEO Matt Comyn hasn’t quite caught up with the shifting global premise that Ai might not take as many jobs as was first thought. He’s been in the AFR saying yep Ai is already here and here come the sackings. Matt might not want to mention Ai at any uni speeches he has coming up in the not too distant future.

We already know the Pope is pissed with the idea of Ai taking away from the human experience and while Albo will be doing what ever the tech companies tell him when it comes to data centres, we can’t let the nerds take over the world! 

Farewell the heroes

The death of Neale Daniher is a reminder that heroes don’t wear capes, they actually look like us, but they are made of stuff only a few of us are. They’re not ramming an ideology down our throats, they’re not some over paid politician with an agenda, instead they’re simply saying, hey this is important follow me and I’ll show you why.

Heroes take on all roles, they suffer their ills in silence sometimes because they feel their issues aren’t important and they give us a glimpse into what and who we could be. They’re often not out banging the drum but rather explaining to us why what they believe is important. They’re not going to judge us if we don’t follow them but when we’re ready to they’ll be there waiting with open arms to say it’s this way.

Modern day heroes seem few and far between. The superficial ones can be seen on social media announcing how amazing they are to the world, but true heroes watches on silently waiting for their moment to inspire and unite.

We need more heroes, we need more people willing to take a stand not because it’s popular but because it matters. Life matters, people matter, facing them head on matters and we can only hope that a new generation of heroes take us on the right pathway to what is truly important.

Australia’s Joe Bogan meets Pete Evans

Gees! Isn’t Karl Stefanovic quickly establishing himself as Australia’s answer to Joe Rogan! Karl who has just signed up a mega deal with his mate Eddie Everywhere to head to the same station as Kyle and Jacki O, has postponed his new podcast as the voice of Australia. A real common sense approach to the world and the people in it.

Joe Bogan’s aka Karl’s latest podcast episode is with former celebrity chef and supposedly mis-understood anti vaxer, Pete Evans. Pete was also the host of MKR on channel 7 and went a little odd when Covid hit. The reality now is that while Evans can’t explain exactly who was out to get him but he was right about some of the government overreaching during the Covid crisis. 

With Karl having Evans on his show it appears that Karl is indeed heading down the Rogan pathway of having anyone left or right of centre that can throw a spanner in the works of the system. A system of government and corporate power that seems to be coming under more and more scrutiny from those with serious followings and connections.

When Karl announced his plans for podcast based on common sense and was offering to be the voice of real people I think we all thought, yeah whatever, but his guests seem to be people who do indeed challenge the norm. Can Karl become our version of Joe Rogan? Maybe he can, because the truth is out there somewhere…

The Pope goes mainstream 

I come from a Catholic family, my mother used to make us all go to church, mainly to try and absolve my father of his sins but it didn’t last and when my parents divorced we stopped going to church. Do I believe in God? I like to think that death isn’t the absolute end for us, but it’s hard to believe there are a big set of pearly gates or the depths of hell waiting for us once we do die. 

What I do know is that on the rare occasion I do go into a church I have always had a feeling of something else. It’s very hard to describe but it’s not a bad sense, it’s more of a feeling of the abstract, not uneasy but something that knows you. Now that could all well be from the fact that I was an alter boy and had hell and damnation drilled into my head by the Franciscan brothers but regardless after all these years I do still have some vague connection to the church.

When the Robert Francis Prevost became Pope Leo XIV the world was given a Pope that was highly educated, intelligent, a man of modern wisdom and of faith. It also meant he wasn’t going to suffer fools gladly, so when US president Donald Trump started taking aim at the Pontiff the Pope shot right back.

Pope Leo is not sitting back as a figure head of the Catholic Church, far from it. He has been critical of the war in Iran and now he’s having a crack at Tech billionaires and Ai. Pope Leo like so many of us is concerned about the possibility we are losing who we are to Ai. The Pope is suggesting we are at risk of losing our humanity, yes embrace Ai but use it to help rather than destroy and divide.

The pope is supposedly Gods representative on earth and in the last who ever has been pope has been revered. This Pope is certainly revered but it remains to be seen if he can actually change men’s minds and show that saving humanity is always the best option.

Trump update

Another day another shooting or potential shooting involving US President, Donald Trump! The Don must be used to the Secret Service throwing him on the ground and telling him to stay there but while he’s yet to be seriously injured living with the constant and obvious threat surely takes a toll on anyone after a while. 

If Trump is nervous about an attempt of his life he doesn’t show it, maybe it’s arrogance, maybe it’s naivety but Trump seems under control and getting on with his plans.

While Trump was missing his son’s wedding he was announcing to the world that there would soon be a peace deal with Iran. The peace deal is supposed to include no tolls or attempts at controlling the Strait of Hormuz but the whole thing is probably more about Trump realising the US had perhaps bitten off more than it could chew in Iran.

With the Mid terms looming and with Trump unable to deliver on his promise of ending the war in Ukraine plus starting another one in the Middle East he needs some good news. Will peace in the Middle East be it? It remains to be seen, but no matter what happens next it’ll mostly be on Trumps terms and that’s terrifying in itself.

Recruitment is about FUCKING people!

Ok after nearly five years of recruiting hospitality staff I am sick and tired of hearing about, listening about and reading about a new form of Tech that can help recruiters or change their lives! I’m sorry, but fuck! Off! 

Ok great, use tech to run your diary, use Ai to generate questions for candidates but for the love of god, read CV’s yourself! Don’t get some bot or Ai programme to do it! Recruiters are in the people business not the fucking tech business!

Ai is great and incredibly useful but right now we are allowing it to make humans irrelevant! If the recruitment space isn’t careful it will find itself replaced by Ai bots and algorithms. Ai will write and post the ads, it will then go through the applications received and tag the ones that match your key word requirements. Those that don’t use the key words are out despite the fact they’ve never been directly spoken to by an actual person. The Ai character loaded with questions interviews the candidate and files a report on that person. The Ai bot goes through the final candidates and makes a judgement on all it has been told and all it has learnt.

What does this mean? It means recruitment is cooked if continue to allow technology to take over human interactions, you might have the best person on paper but put them into the job and they’re not capable of it.

Ai is being booed right across the US at universities and while not all of this is the fault of Ai humanity is doing its level best to make sure our lives, our jobs and our humanity is taken away from us by a very big computer. 

So please if you’re a recruiter, go through the CV’s yourself, pick out a few of the best, pick yourself a table in a decent greasy spoon cafe and bring in the applicants one after the other. How they walk in, what they say, what they are currently doing? Get them feeling comfortable but then press them for direct answers and then you can gauge if they’re up for the challenge or they’re not cut out for the role.

Recruiting is hard enough without adding in tech as well, if you want to find good people for good jobs, put away the tech and go find them your self, it’s much more important than passwords on a computer.

Colbert says goodbye with entertainment rather than politics 

See what happens when late night talk show hosts actually offer real entertainment rather than political commentary and a lack of entertainment?! It rocks!

The final show the Steven Colbert show was awesome. Yeah ok the other annoying late night TV show hosts showed up to patronise and be generally wokey but the show itself was full of highly entertaining cameos, performances and real laughs that culminated in a Beatle performing a classic, Hello Goodbye.

How good was it? Why did Colbert have to become such a divisive figure and stop doing what late night TV had done for years, entertain! The internet is now full of episodes of the Johnny Carson Show, the Ed Sullivan show and so on that show TV shows entertaining people! That was the whole idea, but Colbert who it seems has been cancelled because of his political views could’ve hung on had he not gone down a path of politics. 

Comedy for a large part has stopped being comedic and become political and divisive. Yes comedy has always been at the centre of major issues of race, religion and culture, but what the late night hosts have done is become deliberately political rather than trying to make people laugh.

So good luck to Colbert in what he does next but I hope he hasn’t missed the irony with his last show which was that he finally did what he was supposed to do, entertain an audience.

Open Ai valued at what?!

Are investment bankers delusional? I mean they’re not idiots by any stretch of the imagination but how on earth do they think a $900 billion valuation of Open Ai is anything but totally over flatted and unsustainable?

Do none of them remember the tech bubble? The early days of the internet? The major issue with Open Ai and well invested Ai companies is how are investors supposed to recoup their money!? If open Ai does have an IPO that values the company at $900 billion and they’re nowhere near generating that kind of money how does the investor ever see any returns?

When Facebook first hit the online world it was ad free, easy to use and a great communication tool, now? Now it’s still a great communication tool but it’s full of ads and sponsored content that helps them repay the investors who learnt them money. 

The applications for Ai are potentially going to reshape the world but they’re not there yet and so how much time are these investors going to give the Ai giants? When will they say hey it’s time to start handing out some dollar bucks!

I can’t see it myself the only investing I’d be doing in Open Ai is to short the stock when it opens because the valuations are insane. While I could be totally wrong  the world of Ai will indeed change the way we do things, but humans have this annoying habit of wanting to live. So Sam good luck with the IPO and enjoy the spoils because it won’t last.

The surcharge debate

Ahhh the hospitality surcharge. Now I do have a book due out soon about the hospitality industry in which we discuss this very thing but how great are the media at hanging shit on the hospitality sector?! I mean seriously, they have this love hate relationship with hospitality that sees these media parasites show up at the opening of every bar, club and restaurant but as soon as they need some eye balls on content then whack hospitality is ripping everyone off.

Hospitality owners are not G Wagon driving cock heads. Far from it, in fact less than 5% of owners are what anyone would call wealthy. The majority are independent owners trying to run a business like the plumber would. Does anyone question the night rate call out for a plumber?

So we had this very thing happen to us on Mother’s Day. We went for lunch it was set menu it was a Sunday boom 10% service charge. That’s fine but no tip. We had a great time and would’ve tipped but if you’re service charging me then sorry as much as I’m a hospitality person there is no tip as well.

The surcharge issue is one I personally think that should be built into pricing. If I owned a venue I’d be pushing prices out here and there to cover it, but! The other side of that is that the rates for a Sunday, for a public holiday are stupid compared to the rest of the week so hitting customers with a Sunday or public holiday surcharge is fine, but not on tables of 6 as some are doing. Tables of 12 or more, yes absolutely but 12 and under no.

The hospitality industry is struggling enough as it is with cost of goods, stupid wage increases and now fire bombings. While surcharging can be a pain in the arse and maybe not handled as well as it could be by venues the last thing the industry needs is media scum bags trying to create eye balls on content vic pushing the industry under the bus.

Former CEO booed over Ai

When former Google CEO Eric Schmidt showed up at Arizona State to give his speech at the commencement ceremony he probably wasn’t expecting to be booed, but oh my Booed he was. Why? Because he basically told a bunch of uni students that Ai was going to change the world and they did not like it one bit.

Once Schmidt realised the booing was going away he made it clear that Ai wouldn’t stop them being who they wanted to be rather it would enhance their lives and make the world a better place…more booing.

Schmidt is not the only tech executive to show up and give a speech on the wonders of Ai only to be booed and told to shove their megalomaniac plans for the future. Tech has taken away a lot of the human experience and it seems Uni students are thankfully saying you know what, we want the human component back in our lives. 

Ai and the tech nerds that run these companies are doing things most of us can barely comprehend but at average punter level we don’t actually want to give up on human interaction, we want to preserve it. Tech companies have been given billions and billions of dollars to make Ai work on incomprehensible levels and in turn have managed to bring big corporations and governments on board. Soulless corporates who will sell their own children for a share price rise have already made cuts in staffing to cut labour costs. Governments have been allowing data centres to be built, not taking into account any kind of harmful impacts on local communities because of the money they’ve been paid.

So we have corporates and governments buying into the Ai bubble but do we have future generations on board as well? It looks like that’s a no and while Ai companies have bought pretty much everyone if people like Schmidt keep getting booed at Universities then maybe the future isn’t so bleak after all? 

To be fat or not to be fat

To be fat/chubby or not to be fat/chubby that is the question. Whether it is healthier in the mind and the body or whether it is happier to stay on a diet of chips chocolate and soft drink that is really the question. Ugh look I don’t mind getting older, in fact I quite like it, it gives me an inner peace I didn’t have before but as I’ve got older I’ve given up a lot.

Drugs were never my thing. Smoked weed twice, did a line of coke once and couldn’t understand either, plus I hate the arrogance Coke brings. But smoking, I fucking loved smoking. Smoking and beer, smoking and coffee, smoking in the car, smoking after work…yes the first smoke of the day was a little rough but after that love! But of course it’s bad for you. So at the end of 2019 I went cold turkey and haven’t had once since.

I was never an alcoholic but certainly gave it a nudge and when I went out I went out and did not come back for a while. Booze, smoking and women, they were the vices and they all got me into more trouble than you can imagine. So now at 54 I have a drink within reason, have one wife and don’t smoke, not very rock star but much more life preserving.

So now being a middle aged chubby guy who loves chips, chocolate and soft drink I’m faced with a new choice, fitness. 

When we’re younger we go to the gym, keep fit and maybe we party but most of us don’t put weight on. I was lucky that I didn’t start putting weight on til I was in my later 40’s but now I’m not fat but I’m chubby and in all honesty never been this heavy, but here’s the thing! Who gives a fuck?! I’m very lucky to have a wife that loves me and having been together for 15 years plus she’s stuck with me. We have a family unit that is loving and is there for one another no matter what and I seriously do not give one flying fuck what anyone thinks about me so who cares if I’m Chubby Chubby?! Well, maybe I should?

See when you get to 54 you have seen people around you die, be they family friends or well known people. How many people have died at 40, 45 or 50 of heart disease? Cancer can hit anyone at any age, accidents…death is around us constantly. My dad died at 62 from a heart attack but he was an alcoholic lunatic. My grandfather who worked on the Liverpool wharfs, was at the D Day landing, ran booze for Al Capone, was bare knuckle boxer and moved his family to Australia after the Second World War drank whiskey all his life and smoked rollies died in his sleep at 85. 

There’s no real rhyme or reason to life ending when it does but it could be time to get my ass into fear because while I am lucky to be surrounded by love I’d like to be around it for as long as possible. Ugh, fine I’ll take the dog for a walk!

Eddie Nketia 9.74

How bloody good is Aussie sprinting right now? While Gout Gout has been training with Noah Lyles on starts and doing interviews with US 60 Minutes, former New Zealander and now Aussie, Eddie Nketia has blasted down a US college athletics track to run 9.74 in the 100. Now the wind was too strong for that time to be an Australian national record, but wow!

Australia now has three men all well and truly capable of running sub ten for the 100! Three! That’s unbelievable! Now being the old sprinter that I am I remember watching senior athletes run 10.20, 10.30 which was seriously fast. Anything under 10.50 is moving, but to run sub 10 is insane and we’ve got three of those dudes now!

Australia stands on the precipice of a golden era of sprinting, it really does. Our golden generation of Nketia, Gout and Kennedy sees us with a group of dudes genuinely capable of winning major titles but now they need to take that step into the spotlight and give Australia our first ever 100m world and Olympic champion! My goodness how good would that be?! 

Until the worlds and the Olympics we will sit in joy watching our boys run in the new golden era of Aussie sprinting.

To follow or not to follow

As I’m now pushing to get Hoodies to 10,000 subscribers I’ve been paying lots more attention to how many followers people have. 10,000, 20,000, 50,000…some awesome numbers for some people, but then I asked a few people about followers and that’s when I asked why?!

The internet is the greatest of inventions it’s the worst of inventions but what is very common is for people to want to be liked or considered influencers. The more followers you have the more hits you get, the more likes you have the money you could make and so on, but the reality for a good portion of these people is that they’ve bought their followers. The way to tell? If an account has 10 to 15,000 and they’re not getting more than 300 likes per page chances are the followers are fake and the content is rubbish. 

Every one of the followers we have here at hoodies has been earned. If you want to buy followers then I ask you why? It takes time to build a brand, there’s no point trying to rush things but if you really have to buy followers I think you need to ask yourself why you’re doing it. Is it because you’re on a limited time frame? Need people in the door asap? Social media is about telling a story and building trust and both of those take time.

Is building an audience frustrating and painful? Yes it is, but what ever you do don’t buy followers, find the people who really matter, they’ll be the ones who’ll be there for you no matter what unlike the instafamous. Keep it real, keep it grounded because all good things take time.

What is a woman? Well in the non woke idiotic legal world, a woman is defined by having two X chromosomes. That’s it end of conversation. If you’ve got something different you’re not a woman. 

We now live in a world where anyone can be whatever they want and we as a unified and supportive society encourage that but not at the expense of common sense! The whole Tickle v Giggle thing makes a complete joke of allowing women to feel comfortable in their own spaces. Tickle is apparently legally a woman, which gives ‘her’ the right to women only spaces, including the Giggle site, but while Tickle has won his/her/they/them/she/her/it/Doug/Doreen legal case where is any kind of common sense in all this? 

When the Sovereign citizen arrived from planet moron they were given time to explain to the normal people what a Sovereign Citizen was. When everyone, including police realised what a complete waste of time they were they were arrested and charged with a range of offences. While the male born female isn’t doing anything illegal surely there comes a time when people say enough is enough now. Be who you want to be and we’re sure you’ve had a hard time of things, but to suggest that women only spaces should now be open to men who claim their women is a step too far.

If we look at this subjectivity though and we accept that Tickle is a woman because of ‘her’ legal status what then is the metric by which we can consistently apply to determine what a woman is if science isn’t it? In the case of Tickle the law has decided he is now a woman, but science hasn’t so what are we going with? How do we prevent a cross dressing male defining themselves as a woman? If a man is taking drugs in an attempt to become a woman then is he now a woman? Tickle has had her day in court but the ramifications of the decision run deep and become highly complex. 

Instead of applying common sense to a potentially dangerous situation governments have taken on the responsibility of defining gender for the sake of? You guessed it, votes! Yes while Tickle has claimed victory over those evil women simply wanting to be around other women the government has wrapped their arms around the Trans community and said we will protect you from the right wing racist bigots! 

Like so many issues of profound complexity and importance governments here and overseas have taken gender identity and politicised it. They have pandered to vulnerable people who have indeed had to fight for who they are but then put them in the middle of an issue they weren’t ready or capable to deal with. It’s like indigenous rights, if you’re serious about the issue do something about it, but they half arse it and leave everything in a mess. 

Tickle may feel ‘she’ has won this round but really all she’s done is made more women feel they’re unsafe in spaces they once assumed they could be. Legally Tickle is a woman, but from a common sense perspective this is a joke and the whole world is laughing at us. 

What are we really doing?

No, really what are we doing? Listening to the CEO of Food Bank yesterday on the radio they are seeing more people come to them for food than ever before. The story of a woman driving her kids to school only to walk home herself because she can’t afford the petrol to drive it home reeks of a country that has totally lost its way. Lost its way and forgotten about those that are less fortunate.

It must be said that the people showing up at Food Bank aren’t homeless drug addicts, rather they’re people who have jobs but have been pushed so hard in the cost of living crisis that they can’t afford to live. This is Australia for god sake! And yet what did the federal budget give to Food Bank in terms of funding? Fuck! ALL!

We want to be sorry to our indigenous people but what are we actually doing for them? How many aboriginals have law degrees? Commerce degrees? Learn a trade? How many have died in police custody? Who let the little girl be neglected and how many others are there? 

Farmers? Supermarkets seem to have license to rip them off and while the ACCC just won a case against Coles for bullshit pricing where is the investigation into how supermarkets deal with farmers? There isn’t one, why? Farmers votes don’t matter as much as inner city ones because there aren’t that many of them.

The NDIS is being cracked down on. Recipients will have to prove their disability, have increased accountability and be cut off if they don’t meet the new criteria but what about the people ripping the system off? The NDIS providers who rip off the tax payer? Where’s the accountability for them?!

These are but a few issues Australians are facing and yet what do governments do about any of it? Not very much, instead it’s cheers and handshakes from Labor Party MP’s on a job well done for their colleagues. What a complete joke. You the hardest part of finding out who you really are is? Being honest with yourself and there is barely a person alive in Canberra that would pass a lie detector test about themselves.

The luck is running out in the lucky country.

Trump assassination attempts fake?

You do have to love a good conspiracy theory. I mean it’s not like they let the truth get in the way of an even better story. Mind you if it’s on a left wing news outlet it’s news, if it’s on a right wing one that’s when it’s a conspiracy theory…but to read on one of the left wing outlets that the Trump assassination attempts were staged did give me a chuckle.

Let’s just take a step back though and say that had the assassination attempts been staged they would’ve required people outside the world of the US political system to make it all work. Can you imagine the planning that would have been necessary to stage the attempted assassination of a President three times? But here’s the thing, had that been the case someone would’ve talked…instead it’s conjecture on mainstream media to undermine the credibility of the Presidency.

The conspiracy theory is a great thing to listen to and read, podcasters across the world are now making tonnes of money off them and why not? It’s the modern version of the old time radio shows, people love it, but when the conspiracy theory makes it into public consciousness that’s when it can all come unstuck. 

Mental health is a massive issue in modern society and influencers post all kinds of things on their platforms to garner more followers and attention but there are those that take it all very seriously. If this happens it will be the end of the world, if this person is allowed to do that that will happen and so on. Those with mental health issues see this online content as fact and decide to take matters into their own hands.

There’s no doubt that the internet and more specifically social media has given rise to the conspiracy theory but they should all be treated the same way as the old time radio shows were treated, as entertainment, not facts to act upon. To suggest the Trump assassination attempts were faked is delusional and really posted to get what mainstream media wants most of all eye balls and money.

Business opportunity in retail

I’m actually thinking about getting fit, thinking about it! I’ve given up the smoking, the booze, the late nights, partying to live a quiet humble life of meaning and virtue, no not really! I gave up all the maniacal crap because I didn’t want to die at 62 from a heart attack like the old man did, but I do want to get fit again.

So armed with a few dollar bucks I wanted to go and buy a decent pair of runners. My favourite runners of all time are the Nike Hurrache, Google it, but they don’t make them anymore so I was on the hunt. Into Rebel sport I went. The young man with Down syndrome who worked for Rebel said hello with a big happy smile, hello

Mate I said and continued walking to the back of the shop to wear the runners were. No less than three staff were in the section. One was on their phone, one literally looked me up and down and walked away and the other one was so cool they couldn’t possibly engage with me. 

A wall of runners greeted me so did prices that were akin to buying a kidney! I’m not planning on breaking two hours for the marathon any time soon so $350 for a pair of runners is a bit over the top, but $150 isn’t unreasonable. I saw a pair for $160, no one there to get a size off to try on…well actually they were but one was on the phone the other walking around with a clip board looking at boxes.

Member offer was a sign I saw, I’m a member I thought, but finding another shoe I thought was fairly priced could I get someone to get me a pair to try on? Nope! Not wanting to impose myself anymore on the very busy staff I left hoping to catch the eye of one of the staff to say kiss my ass but they were too busy in their phones.

JD Sport, Adidas, Foot locker all the same, pretentious staff with zero interest in the middle aged chubby customer wanting to buy shoes! 

If you want a business idea then get into retail for middle aged people. No not wank factor clothing made for a teenager and squeezed into by the real housewives of bullshit or the manosphere, real clothes for real people! Real shoe prices and clothing that make people feel ok about themselves. Yes there’s target, Kmart, big W etc…but who else wants to go to somewhere like a Rebel Sport and be treated like a human?! 

For current retailers here’s a tip though! Engage with your customers! Online sales are great but if you’re going to have a shop put staff in it that actually give a shit and can sell footwear! The best and most excited staff member I met in my failed shopping trip? The kid with Down syndrome! Maybe hire more of his mates, because they’d be a lot better than what’s currently on offer!

Dear America

Hello America! Today we write directly to you because we know from our website data that you’re avid readers of the Hoodies Daily and we say thank you! But with us being here in Australia and you being there we’re today asking you if you could please let your President know how utterly stuffed we are here in the land down under?!

See we know that Trump is a hugely divisive figure in the US, some love him, some loathe him and well such is the nature of the man, but we have a complete muppet as Prime Minister and well, we need some help. 

Anthony Albanese became prime minister of Australia by accident really. Albo as he’s called here is the leader of the Labor Party and they’re the current government of Australia. We have two main political parties here, Labor on the left and the Liberal Party on the right. Think of it as Democrats = Labor, Republicans = Liberal. We also have another party called One Nation run by a woman who used to own a fish and chip shop but that’s a whole other story.

Anyway, Albo got to be PM when the last bloke to lead the Labor party, Bill Shorten totally blew his election campaign. He lost the unloseable election so Labor put Albo in as leader. By the time the next election came around we’d been through Covid so Australia were sick of the Liberal government and elected Labor, so this meant Albo became Prime Minister. We are still pretty sure Albo wakes up most mornings trying to make sense of how he’s PM but we’re stuck with him for now. The other thing to remember with Australian politics and elections is unlike your system where the candidates need the actual majority here they don’t. At the last election Albo got barely 35% of the popular vote and got into power by doing what is called preference deals with other parties and candidates. Again that’s another story…

Anyway we’re stuck with Albo and Albo know as much about economics as I do about space travel so when it comes to the economy Australia is cooked! Inflation is up, interest rates are up, cost of living is up, fuel prices are up, food banks are seeing masses of people coming in for the first time, unemployment is starting to go up…we are far from the lucky country nowadays. We’re also seeing law and order break down which has us looking like New York of the 70’s and 80’s…

So with all that said and with not much hope insight what’s Albo doing? Blaming Trump for all of it! We know it’s not all Trumps fault! Yes petrol prices are up because of a stupid war in the Middle East but we know Albo is an incompetent donut! With that in mind we were hoping you could have a word to the Don and say hey can we get the Strait of Hormuz open for the Aussies because Albo is a donut? We’d be grateful!

And on another note, being the massive fan of US sport that we are here at Hoodies, can the Raiders get to the play offs this year with Mendoza? Can Shohei win it all again with the Dodgers? And will LeBron ever retire?

To our US audience a genuine and heartfelt thanks for reading. The US is still a powerhouse no matter who is in the White House and we here at Hoodies are grateful to all of you for being part of what we do!

Go well and god bless America 

Media meltdown 

So what now for the ABC and for Sky News? The two media outlets that have their left and right allegiances stapled to their logos like calling cards are now wondering what life is like if One Nation continues its climb to the top of the political world. The ABC and Sky (and a whole load of right wing influencers) took the Farrer election results live. 

The ABC were almost in crisis mode as it became clear One Nation would win the seat. Patrica Karvelas suggested the Farrer result could legitimise or normalise One Nation victories right across the country. Nikki Savver on Insiders Sunday morning went so far as to suggest that when the Libs preferenced One Nation they were giving votes to racists.

Over on Sky it was long faces and bemusement as if to suggest that the broadcaster had backed the wrong right wing party after all. With Tony Abbott possibly becoming El Presidente of the federal Liberal party, with Peta Credlin s husbands about to become state president and with Credlin herself a big fan of Jess Wilson has the Murdoch owned News service got it wrong? Now One Nation is already featured heavily on the screens of Sky News plus it’s free to view in regional areas but at some stage Sky is going to have to pick a horse and back it and when it does changes will be a foot.

For the rest of the media it’s a bit of this and a bit of that but at the moment they’re all waiting to see where the cards fall. If things get any worse for the Libs Murdoch will drop them like Tyson dropped anyone in the 1990’s but shouldn’t they miraculously get better it’ll be foie gras and cucumber sandwiches plus invites to the end of year party at Camp Murdoch. Over at the ABC if Labor tank in the face of One Nation I think even the most staunch of ABC employees would bail before they had to bow down to Aunty Pauline.

While things work themselves out though we are in for some interesting times. The ABC in one corner backing Albo, Sky trying to breathe life into the Libs and Avi Yemeni and Rebel News backing One Nation…let the games commence because there can be only one! 

Ceasefire in Iran looks to be over.

The ceasefire in the Middle East looks like it could be over. In recent days the Trump rhetoric around Iran had shifted slightly. It’s gone from we’re going to take over, we’re going to free Iran, America fuck yeah to I think we have a deal, everything will be ok. Yes Trump is still being Trump and saying he’ll blow Iran to kingdom come if they don’t comply but it was starting to look as if this whole sorry sage could be coming to an end, but maybe not anymore.

This morning the Washington Post is reporting, now along with multiple news outlets that there have been US military strikes on Iran. Regardless if these strikes are a signal of the war continuing or ending the world has had enough of Trump. Yeah ok there are those that will say it’s all part of his longer term plan to free the world from lefty wokes, but enough is enough now. If the democrats can get their lives together and stop trying to appeal to every celebrity and minority group they have a selfie with and focus on what’s really important they’ll hang the republicans out to dry.

The fact that Trump has blown up the global economy for self interest and vanity is possibly one of the most reprehensible things ever to happen outside of the two world wars. Trump has been manipulated by Israel and has blown up the Middle East to make hay while the sun shines. There’s no making America great again by having the Strait of Hormuz closed. There’s no helping Americans get health care with bombs dropping on Iranians? Yes the people of Iran deserve to be free but Trump doesn’t care about them, it’s about money and oil.

I don’t know about you but I’d always thought of America as the super power that would stand up for democracy, for freedom. It wouldn’t do anything unless it had a chance to benefit the US but it was sort like the big brother keeping an eye on global affairs but no more. Trump has taken the US into a place that is only about the US. It is a failing super power and while it still holds great military strength its firing blanks when it comes to its place against other super powers.

Today’s military strikes imply the war is far from over and the implications for us are state and federal budgets will be blown to bits, but Trump won’t care because it’s all about him and making Trump great again.

Ai/Tech and hospitality 

Now I know that everyone is into Ai and people think technology is saving them time and money, but are they really?

I saw a very chuffed with himself tech entrepreneur the other day posting content about how awesome their new phone answering system was! No more wasting time on the phone, you’ll never miss another call with their 24/7 Ai answer machine! It’s linked to the booking system and staff don’t need to do anything but wait for the booking system to manage the customer all the way to the table they’re sitting at…well fuck me! How about people answer the phone, talk to a human, engage with the customer and not allow a tech platform to allocate tables in a restaurant?

The money that restaurants are wasting on these high tech systems isn’t saving them money now it’s costing them money. Yes have a pos system connected to your payment terminals and sure have an online booking system but for the love of god train your staff to answer a phone! 

See this whole Ai thing while it’s incredibly smart it’s only prompted by the user. It can plan out your tables but it needs to understand the parameters in which it has to operate and unless you’re buying another piece of tech to go with the booking system, the pos and the robot waiters let’s not buy anything else that we can train a human to do!

Back in the day humans were the ones allocating tables in a restaurant, good looking nice people in the window, people wanting to be discrete at the back, arseholes in a corner where the door hits them, famous people away from the maddening crowds…yes I’m sure Ai and tech can sort all that on the fly but it’s a lot easier if a human does it!

Train your staff! If you need a restaurant manager find a hard working asm or a minion and get them trained to do it! We don’t need more tech nerds claiming victory over the hospitality sector, instead we need more humans wanting to be human and be part of the hospitality sector! Start by throwing the IPads in the toilet today and cancelling the meeting with the tech nerds, you won’t regret it!

Is there change a foot in the media?

We know there are countless right wing privately funded new media influencers out there banging the drum of defiance. Many of them are demanding change, but most of them are easily ignored by the mainstream media and the people they criticise because what they suggest isn’t realistic. While the new media outlets themselves don’t get much past first base they have had an affect on more mainstream media because there is starting, starting to be push back.

Mainstream media will always have its bias Fox/Sky to the right, the ABC to the left, 3AW to the right and so on…but clever media producers have worked out that they’d be correct that people have had enough of lying, corrupt and incompetent politicians who refuse to answer questions. 

Natalie Barr one of the Channel 7 morning show hosts has in a post budget interview with Jacinta Allan absolutely stuck it to the Premier. Barr refused to accept that the state budget was in surplus when the Victorian debt was nearing $200 billion! At press conferences journalists are also starting to pull politicians up on their utter nonsense, Mike Amor and Rachel Baxendale to name just two. 

Yes eye balls sells advertising and increases reach but at the core of real journalism is a thirst for truth, something that’s been lacking for too long within mainstream media circles. No, we won’t see brutal honesty at every news bulletin, nor will see reporters having throw down knife fights with politicians nor will see Mike Burgess push back saying YOU CAN’T HANDLE THE TRUTH, but what we will see is at least some accountability which in the current world is a good thing.

Kerry still with his fingers on the buttons

By Sean Cowan 

The Southern Cross merger with Seven West was sold as a merger of equals and, at first, that actually looked a fair summation.

It hasn’t played out that way.

Yesterday’s announcement confirms what has been building for weeks. Heith Mackay-Cruise (who came from the Southern Cross side) is ‘stepping down’ as chair, to be replaced by Teresa Dyson, a long-time Seven West Media director. Ido Leffler (also Southern Cross) is on the way out. On paper, it’s board succession. In reality, it’s a flexing of the old SWM’s muscle. The chair has been rolled. The sequence is important here for those not watching closely.

First, the Southern Cross side moved quickly after the deal closed. Kerry Stokes stepped down, as agreed, and Mr Mackay-Cruise took the chair. Chief executive Jeff Howard was gone within hours, and a number of Seven-aligned TV executives followed.

Then came the counter; Rohan Lund, a former Seven COO, lands as CEO, shareholder Sandon Capital moves against the new board and former Stokes lieutenant Bruce McWilliam starts building a position with more than 5%. And now a Seven-aligned chair takes over.

The key point is this: Kerry Stokes never really left. He took his hand off the tiller for a beat and then decided he didn’t like the direction the boat had taken. Mr Stokes’ SGH still holds around 20%. And that has been enough, historically, to control outcomes when aligned with the right shareholders, like Sandon Capital. We saw Mr Stokes do it with The West Australian and, before that, with Seven. We’re seeing it again here.

You don’t need majority ownership if you control the room. What does it mean from here?

First, the idea that Southern Cross might dominate the merged group looks finished. The centre of gravity has lurched back toward Seven.

Second, speculation about a breakup of Southern Cross, or at least asset sales, particularly around The West Australian, likely cools.

There was a window where that felt more than just plausible, it felt likely. A more broadcast-led SCA, under pressure, with a need to unlock value. The move was obvious. Yesterday’s announcement doesn’t just narrow that window, it slams it shut.

As long as Mr Stokes is active, control matters more than portfolio reshaping. The West has always been strategic, not just financial.

I said in a post on LinkedIn a couple of weeks ago that the Stokes side would hold sway while Kerry is around, and that any sale would have to come later. Nothing in the past few days contradicts that. If anything, it reinforces it.

Sean Cowan is a senior Editor with 25+ years’ experience in the print and online media industry. To read more from Sean please hit the link to go to his LinkedIn page. https://www.linkedin.com/in/sean-cowan-9461422?utm_source=share_via&utm_content=profile&utm_medium=member_ios

Is Tucker Carlson right?

The Tucker Carlson interview with the New York Times podcast, the Daily, forced me to go back to re-listen to not only the podcast but to Carlson’s own content. Why? Because is he right? Is he correct when he says he’s a genuine patriot and stands for actually making America great again or is he just another right winger trying to go about pushing his agenda another way?

Carlson’s big question is why don’t Americans hold people in their own country to account? For example, in the post financial apocalypse of the 2008 sub prime housing crisis why was it that barely anyone went or prison for fraud? Why did the banks get bailed out by the government? Yes had they not bailed the banks out it would’ve been Armageddon but why do Americans put up with it?

Why are there barely any consequences for governments getting things wrong? Why do people seemingly accept that dropping bombs on countries opposed to the United States is ok? Why are Americans accepting of corruption, of inequality, of technology taking over their jobs and pharmaceutical companies being complicit in the deaths of millions of Americans? 

The interview with the New York Times asked Carlson why he seemingly defended the comments of an anti Semitic commentator and also why he no longer supports Trump, but while Carlson said he isn’t in the business of defending Antisemitism he said he no longer supports Trump because he’s not good for America. 

Carlson was once upon a time a divisive commentator that was paid by a media company to be just that, but now he seems to have moved to the middle ground and everyone is copping it. Carlson seems to love his country and appears to be a Christian conservative but when it comes to domestic accountability and the comments he now makes about how bad the republicans are it seems genuine. 

What Carlson says about the US has relevance here in Australia as well, how do we allow wildly incompetent politicians to make such incredibly complex decisions when they have no experience in that area? Why are we allowing in more immigrants when we simply don’t have anywhere for them to live? How have we become so beholden to China? The questions are endless and like similar ones in the US never answered.

So is Carlson a changed man? Maybe, but what ever he is now his new found home grown progressive agenda seems to be winning critics over in places he was once never welcome in.

Hospitality under attack

The recent attacks on hospitality venues across Melbourne has had everyone guessing as to why. Stand over? Extortion? Debts not paid? And right before many of us were about to tee off on the media for suggesting venues were deliberately trying to get off alcohol tax up pops a note to some of the targeted venues suggesting the owners should hand over the keys now to avoid things getting worse.

While this is all obviously an issue for local and federal police the whole thing is actually about poor law and order in Victoria. Law and order and illegal booze being offered to struggling venues because governments do sweet FA for small businesses.

Now no one is condoning fire bombings or dark forces having control over hospitality venues but had the Allan government and the Albanese government shown any kind of interest in controlling crime things would never have got here. Had the feds been able to come up with a plan to control illegal tobacco then we wouldn’t be seeing tobacconists being broken into. 

There no needs to be a zero tolerance policy brought into this fire bombing hospitality venues but also the people controlling or need accountability as well. The idea that a criminal gang can be controlled by a person of group of men sitting in the Middle Wast is a massive slap in the face for Australian law and enforcement. We need to make the job of policing easier not harder, less red tape not more and more supported not less.

This current issue faced by the hospitality industry isn’t their fault. The industry in part would indeed jump at the chance to save some money so might bet hold of some bad booze, but no one is giving up their venue for it. While overseas gangs are taking the piss out of venue owners it’s a good time to remember the hospitality industry in this country is pretty resilient and a few dodgy spirits aren’t going to be enough for it to run away scared.

Carlson talks to the New York Times

Will wonders never cease?! Over the last few days the famed and respected New York Times have interviewed none other than Tucker Carlson. Now for those who are obsessed with global news, like myself, people will know that Carlson used to work for Fox News where he was finally sacked for being too hard to deal with. Just that Carlson was sacked by Fox makes the New York Times interview even more remarkable but these are indeed changing times.

Carlson has for most of his journalistic career been a right winger. Working for Fox he was critical of everything left wing and was a great supporter of the Trump administration. Carlson had campaigned for Trump to be returned to the White House for a second term which was obviously successful but the former Fox man is no longer a fan of the Don.

The falling out between Trump and Carlson is why the New York Times wanted to talk to the man himself but what is most interesting is that the two men are (on the surface) very much patriotic Americans. The interview conducted by the rather brilliant, Lulu Garcia Navarro on the Daily podcast for the New York Times asked why Carlson had now said he was no longer a fan of the Republican president. In the 90 minute interview put together over several in person discussions Carlson basically says he’s a patriot and that Trump is putting American lives at risk to appease Israel.

If Carlson hadn’t been who he was at Fox you’d back his views completely but given he’s in some cases been deliberately biased and controversial you can’t help but scratch you’re head and ask what’s really going on? Garcia Navarro does indeed question Carlson’s new motivations but while he does briefly seem a little of the useful idiot he’s been labelled in the past you can’t really question his love of his country.

There is an unquestionable shift for some traditional right wing political commentators in the US who do not agree with what Trump is doing in Iran and Carlson along with Megan Kelly are the most high profile, but do we believe them? Fox where both really came from while never deviating from their right wing positions would sell its own mother for eyeballs and ratings so is this a move and will they kiss and make up? For Carlson that’s a big yes if JD Vance becomes the Republican candidate for the Presidency.

Carlson is no fool which does make you ask why now, but it’s fascinating to hear him talk to one of the best news companies on the planet as to why he’s gone off Trump. Garcia Navarro plays the whole interview perfectly and gives Carlson space to talk and depending on how you think about it dig himself a hole or give credence to his position, regardless Garcia Navarro is great.

It’s hard to imagine Carlson ever writing for the New York Times or being regularly associated with the mighty newspaper but they’re also the best in the world so maybe they’re looking at the tea leaves and thinking about it? Smarter people than I will be able to judge if Carlson has seen the light but for now this interview is brilliant and well worth listening to.

Peter Ford’s departure 

Very early on in the history of Hoodies global entertainment reporter Peter Ford gave me an interview into his career. He was very generous with his time and gave me fascinating insights into what he did and who he was. Peter was from a generation of Australian entertainers like Bruce and Phil, Graham Kennedy, Bert Newton Paul Cronin, Don Lane and so on, given I grew up watching many of these people I was fascinated to meet Peter in person. 

As I was fascinated to meet Peter and talk to him social media and now the Age are fascinated with Peter’s move to the Gold Coast, much of it not in a good way. Peter who doesn’t hold back in his opinions on social media is critical where criticism is required and makes no secret that he doesn’t like what Melbourne has become. He’s not one in that opinion, many of us who aren’t ironed on lefties will say the town we love is not what it once was. Peter who can work from anywhere decided to leave Melbourne for the sunshine state and fair play to him I say, but jesus, the blow back he’s had on social media is astonishing and not in a good way.

Peter like many others is bemused by the reaction there’s been to his departure and came to a head recently when Kate Halfpenny at the Age wrote an article in the age about Ford moving north. It was an article defending Melbourne and ridiculing the white haired retirees of the Gold Coast and while some of it was true the question was, why write it? What is the fascination of Ford leaving Melbourne? 

Could it be that Ford’s departure has put Jacinta Allan’s nose out of joint? Has someone picked up the phone to the papers and said get on this? Unlikely, so is it lefty wokes defending their city? Maybe, or is it that people can’t handle the truth? Maybe that as well, but what is true is that despite what anyone says Melbourne is not what it once was and losing people no matter who they are to the sunshine state is a sad indictment on where we have allowed our city to get to.

Travel safe and enjoy the sun Mr Ford.

Avi and the ABC

I have this term for media businesses outside those of the mainstream, I call them New Media outlets. They’re news services that have an audience and while some are much more credible than others one well known one for the right and wrong reasons is; Rebel News.

Rebel News is a Canadian based news service that sits on the right of the political spectrum with some suggesting it’s not just right wing it’s in fact a far right organisation. An organisation that is anti immigration, anti left wing governments and often accused of spreading misinformation. Now while I do indeed think Rebel News is a right wing organisation the idea that they’re the ones spreading misinformation is laughable given the content of mainstream media, but I digress. 

In Australia the main spokesman for Rebel News is former Israeli solider Avi Yemeni. Avi is a proud Jew and is a strong critic of pro Palestinian protests attending the marches not just as a journalist but also as a political activist. While Avi can lay claim to being a journalist it’s his views and his actions that he’s mainly known for. His stance against Covid lockdowns and his anti vax stance saw him labelled a conspiracy theorist and of course an anti vaxxer, things he denies.

You have to give Avi some credit for what he does because he is really putting himself out there, but the way in which he does it is never going to change the minds of his lefty critics. Such was the case when Avi was invited on ABC radio in Melbourne with Raf Epstein.

Now I like Raf Epstein despite his inner city politics and working for the ABC he is one of the few remaining radio hosts that can have a subjective discussion. He may not agree with you but he’s often going to let you have a say. He’s also got something others don’t which is empathy. 

At the next state election Avi plans to run a pro Palestinian political ticket that will give its preferences to One Nation and it was on this topic Raf wanted Avi to talk. Avi though wanted to have it all his way and tried to hang Epstein out as an ironed on lefty who couldn’t see the right through the trees. It became clear later that Avi had set himself up to record and video his phone conversation with the ABC morning host. 

The interview with Avi wasn’t dissimilar to the one Epstein had had with The little lambo bloke, Adrian Portelli. Basically tell me what you’re about Raf asked to which both replied the same way but with different language, Portelli with fuck off and Avi with Do better Raf.

Avi while part of this new media movement isn’t really building the industry into an alternative to the norm, rather he’s showing the massive bias that he and Rebel News have from the major outlets. I think it’s a shame that Avi and Rebel News have gone about their work the way they have because every time they do a story it just gives the major players the chance to attack their credibility and any future opportunities for genuine growth.

Epstein is one of the best in the business and sadly Avi was no match for the man from the ABC.

Dodge Durango

If you know what a Dodge Durango is we should be friends but if you don’t that’s ok. The Dodge is a US made SUV with some models coming with a 6.7 litre V8. Big deal I hear some of you say but a big deal this car is because the Dodge Durango is one of the best selling SUV’s in the US and its sales are so good that Dodge is running out of supply, why? Because in the US alone there is a huge shift back towards the big basic V8 SUV.

The world is being over run with cheap Chinese EV’s. Yes they can go from 0-100 in 3 seconds, yes they’re cheap to run and y no they’re not beholden to Donald Trumps whims, but they’re totally soulless. They have zero noise when they move and really a trained monkey could drive one, but the same monkey is going to struggle with the Dodge.

The Dodge and its sales represents a shift back to real driving. Driving that makes you feel something when you head up the mountain in a V8, when you can change gears based on what’s coming out of the engine as opposed to what a computer tells you to do. The Dodge comes with a fairly basic dashboard but it comes with buttons and knobs rather than screens and it is raw as opposed to the EV, which is well not.

In the US the Dodge starts at $51,000 and while they’re unlikely to make it to Australia we can only hope that car manufacturers selling cars, SUV’s and Utes into Australia see what’s happening with Dodge and bow to the same pressure here. We don’t need anymore EV’s! We need more V8’s, more manual cars and more reasons to feel alive again rather than more automated experiences with no soul.

Cheap booze and a fire bomb

Over the last few weeks some high profile Melbourne hospitality venues have been fire bombed with police initially having few clues as to why. But in the last day or so it seems the fire bombing is something to do with illegal booze sales.

Like tobacco alcohol has a major taxes imposed on it. While the tax rates can be slightly different depending on where it’s from, who made it and the size the total tax on a retail bottle of spirits is made up of approximately 65% tax. So of the $70 someone might pay for a bottle of vodka $45.50 of it is going to the government! The remaining $24 is for the retailer, the wholesaler, the delivery company and the maker! Needless to say illegal booze is potentially a massive business opportunity for organised crime.

When the tobacco wars hit what did the government do? Nothing. Now while booze is just as addictive as smoking booze is rightly or wrongly a massive part of Aussie life, I’m sitting here right now writing this with a glass of red beside me. As much as we should drink less, exercise more blah blah we drink booze and as such of the government had any brains they’d drop some of the booze taxes before these fire bombings get out of control.

Hospitality venues need help and one way governments can help is by lowering the booze taxes and making it cheaper for venues to deal with reputable suppliers. If venues are pushed to the wall when it comes to buying booze they will buy it from other sources, sources that don’t mind throwing a few fire bombs at venues.

This fire bombing venues is the start of another war, a war on booze and if the governments of Australia don’t start getting on top of it before it gets going then venue owners better make sure their insurance covers fire bombing.

Is the King still relevant?

It’s 2026, is the English Royal Family still relevant? Are any Royals relevant really? And while King Charles has been in the US to meet with Trump should he ever be invited back? 

The English Royal Family are indeed a reminder of a by gone era or pomp and circumstance. The knighthoods, the idea of Queen/King and country, the fancy balls, the guards, the buildings, the jewels, the history all of it indeed relevant to the history of the United Kingdom but relevant to modern society? Me thinks not.

Yesterday the King spoke to the US congress, a privilege not given to many but when it is its to people of genuine relevance, Churchill, Mandela, Pope Francis, Thatcher, De Halle and Zelenskyy…all with modern relevance and genuine leaders, King Charles? Hmmm not so much. 

When Harry and Meghan toured Australia recently they were criticised for not being able to pull the crowds that Dianna did, but there has only ever been one Dianna and I’m pretty sure neither Harry or Meghan would say they’re in the same league as Dianna. But what Harry and Meghan did give Australia was a modern take on Royalty. They weren’t here to preach about world peace and that everyone needed to play fairly, no, instead they weren’t here to yes make some coin but also to talk about mental health, to meet sick kids and to actually be of use for various causes. Now the King is of course behind a number of charities but what Harry and Meghan showed was that Royal influence can indeed be modern and relevant.

Back in the UK William and Kate play it safe with their 3 kids, fine tailoring and small waves to the minions a far cry from what Harry and Meghan are selling. How many people in the UK and the world can relate to William? And how many would say they’re more likely to be able to relate to Harry? 

Given the royals and many within their close circle own most of the land in the UK it’s hard to see how they ever hit their use by date, but with all that the Royal family has experienced over the last few years you’d have to suggest that their days of real relevance are numbered unless King Harry and Queen Meghan take over at some point.

How are we failing kids so badly?

It seems that every time you pick up a newspaper or tune into the news there’s yet another case of a child being sexual abused or exploited. Today alone there were several cases of children being abused. Kids in toilets being spied on and a child missing in central Australia makes you think what on earth is going on?’ But if we think there should be tougher penalties for crime in Victoria how about we have a less than zero tolerance for anyone abusing children?

The childcare company that had managed to employ alleged pedophile Joshua Brown has gone broke and really who cares? Yes it’ll be a an annoyance to the families that had kids in their centres but this is a company that had Brown work in it, need we say more?

Good quality child care workers are indeed hard to find nowadays but if the government actually paid better attention to the sector there wouldn’t be the issues there are when it comes to abuse of kids! Why is it we have neglected our child care centres and the protections around of most valuable assets, kids?! We seem so quick to prescribe medications for kids if they’re deemed to have ADHD, or autism, mental health issues or any other issue and yet we can’t protect them from the scum of society that prey on them for sexual gratification? Are we for real here?

There must be better ways to screen potential employees and there must be better ways to protect kids from the absolute worst society has on offer. Kids are the future and they deserve the best start in life we can give them and putting them in harms way is not it.

Sack Kimmel now

Hey hey good evening everyone and welcome to the Benny Logan show! Tonight on the show we ask what Albo’s missus would wear to the PM’s funeral if one of those right wing extremists ever got a shot off on him and in comparison, what about Michelle Obama? Would it be all black for the former black First Lady if Barack was taken out by a stray Muslim?

Pretty funny stuff hey?! Obviously none of it is and it is indeed in very poor taste and yet in the US Jimmy Kimmel seems to think suggesting Melania Trump should get ready to be a widow. When did comedy stopped being funny and start being a place where absolute half wits can go to show how clever they think they are?

Now I do like some of the people Joe Rogan has on, but hearing Rogan and fellow podcaster and Comedian Theo Von talk on Rogans show was kind of like Stupid and stupider trying to work out how to open a tin of jam. Again on Rogans podcast there was the episode where esteemed journalist, writer and commentator Douglas Murray took apart comedian Dave Smith because he was in no way shape or form capable of making comments on geopolitics let alone making them funny.

Kimmel seems to think he’s funnier and smarter than everyone else so gets to mouth off about whomever he wants, mostly Trump. But it’ll be interesting to see if owners of ABC Disney get pressure from the likes of their share holders at Blackrock and Vanguard to ditch Kimmel while the White House is such a volatile place. 

This is not to excuse the comments made by Trump on all manner of things but isn’t there something in rising above the noise? Being the bigger man? Kimmel needs the rating by the looks of his most recent comments but imagine if he’d said it about Michelle Obama? Would George Cloooney been so supportive of the Kimmel comments had they been about Barack? Me thinks not Mr Clooney.

Kimmel needs to go and yes I can hear the freedom speech committee saying he’s got every right to say what he wants, but really? Isn’t it the job of the comedian to make people laugh rather than taking on the role of political commentator? 

Kimmel needs to go and while he’ll no doubt say he’s got mental health issues the joke is over and it’s just not funny anymore.

Footy isn’t for outsiders 

Don’t you just love Footy? I mean seriously in one scenario you have a 38 year old legend of the game getting 43 possessions and showing age is no barrier and then in another you have a 5 and 2 footy club sack a President for not being part of the boys club?

On Tuesday morning for Chamber of Commerce CEO Paul Guerra was sacked by the Melbourne football club for reasons as yet to be divulged. Guerra hadn’t been in the job 12 months and had been doing a good job given the choice of coach and the clubs record, but footy isn’t a boys club and so PG was gone.

If you wanted confirmation as to whether or not it was the boys club that got Guerra the sack have a look at who’s now taking over? Brian Cook. Cook has held numerous footy jobs and being the ex Geelong president has a strong connection to Melbourne coach, Stephen King. 

Guerra it would seem is seeking legal advice as to what his options are but regardless of outcome it’s pretty clear this whole saga is going to cost Melbourne a tonne of money so I hope they think it was worth it. It is a pretty shocking move to dump the CEO with zero warning and have the club on 5 and 2, there’s obviously more to the story which will come out in good time, but I think Guerra is probably better off out of the whole thing.

The Guerra sacking does raise questions of how the AFL does business and what their real expectations for the clubs are. While Guerra can unquestionably manage teams and people he’s obviously come in to the club with a head down attitude of let’s get this, but he’s upset the powers that be and now they want one of their owner to run and the business. Guerra needs to move on from the Footy club and he will but it may not be for a sporting organisation any time soon.

Trump on 60 minutes

I for one can barely tolerate what Trump has done to the global economy when it comes to Iran and the supply of oil. The whole thing seems to be about self interest rather than about global responsibility something the world has always expected the US to maintain, but while Trump survives his third assassination attempt it seems media criticism of him is heading into territory that is highly inappropriate.

Two days before the latest assassination attempt late night talk show host Jimmy Kimmel suggested Melania Trump was a grieving wife in waiting. The inference being that her husband was a target of assassination and well boom. What if Kimmel had said the same thing about Michelle Obama? 

The day after this latest attempt on Trumps life the President sat down with the legendary TV program 60 minutes. Sadly however 60 minutes showed that it was not the show it used to be by reading parts the Cole Tomas Allen manifesto in which it was suggested Trump was a rapist and paedophile. I’m sorry but why on earth would anyone, especially a news program of alleged quality, put the accusations of a mentally unstable person to a sitting President? 

We all know that politicians are often not worth the money they’re paid by the tax payer but in the western world at least leaders in positions of power should get a modicum of respect. Yes Albo is showing he’s not a great PM, but he still deserves some respect given the position he holds, the same with Trump. These are men and women that hold leadership roles that are representative of their countries, the roles they hold deserve some respect.

It’s absolutely true we don’t have to agree with what world leaders do and say but the offices they hold deserve some respect and right now the media at all levels doesn’t seem to care who they offend for the sake of eyeballs and money.

Living with the secret service 

When Trump took to the White House press office after yet another assassination attempt yesterday he said he’s got a dangerous job and that maybe he wouldn’t have taken it on had he known. Now nothing was going to stop Trump taking on the White House top job but imagine being constantly surrounded by an army of people there with the sole aim of protecting your life.

Back in my restaurant days I remember a very famous rock band coming to a restaurant I ran. They came not with half arsed security who stood around til they were ready to leave, rather they came with ex special forces soldiers who were not messing around. When someone did try to approach one of the members of the band the security had them out of the way and gone before the band member had any idea what was going on. Such is the trust high profile people put in their security.

When there was a security breach at the dinner attended by Trump not only were the President and the VP immediately rushed out of the venue soldiers with helmets, automatic weapons and bullet proof jackets were standing in front of the audience pointing their guns in and around the crowd. For a brief moment the world saw inside the security of the President and it was terrifying.

It’s very easy to criticise Trump for all manner of things because in most cases he deserves it but he also deserves a huge amount of praise for showing strength literally under fire. Twice now he’s bounced back almost immediately to front the media after an attack. People want to see their President taking a stand. Bush did it at the rubble of the Twin Towers and now Trump, making his stand, twice.

When you talk to powerful people they don’t hear the noise or the sounds of contempt rather they have a job to do and do it they will. When Jimmy Carter was interviewed a decade or so before his death he was asked was he in awe or overwhelmed by stepping into the Oval Office for the first time as president? Carter replied, no I had a job to do. And therein lies how these men go about their job as President and it’s the same with Trump. There’s no one focus on a what if moment, rather it’s we have a job to do and nothing will prevent us from doing it.

When Trump survived his first assassination attempt people thought he was a bad ass, but this one showed the danger he faces on a daily basis and what his team will do if they think he’s being threatened. It’s a scary world of guns, bullets and bravery but no matter what anyone thinks of Trump thank god for the secret service and all special forces soldiers throughout the world.

Is ANZAC Day the new Australia Day?

I have to say I get to January 25th every year and think, you know I love this country. I remember when we could celebrate who we were, where we’d come from and what we’d achieved but nowadays it’s OMG you can’t wave an Aussie flag because it might offend people. You can’t say happy Australia Day because it’ll upset the indigenous people, you can’t attend an Australia Day march because what if it upsets the pro Palestine movement, the migrants and most of all the Muslims? I, like many others am I’ve it. 

Each year it’s about changing the date, hate and violence against the country many of us love and yet we do zero about any of it. Now I know most people don’t agree with changing the date of Australia Day but what if we made our national day ANZAC day? 

Every year we have immigrant populations here celebrating their national day with every muppet politician showing up to dance and get their face painted so what about Australians? So many Australians from so many different cultures fought and died for this country so isn’t it time to say, ANZAC Day is genuinely our national day.

Today while we saw some booing from a moronic element ANZAC day is the day we really do remember our fallen and celebrate the freedoms we have so why not make it ANZAC Day? Like the ideas of cleaning up the streets of Melbourne, we have a zero tolerance for any kind of disruptive behaviour. Burn an Aussie flag? Jail, 30 days. Vandalise a memorial? Jail 30 days. Cause major disruption and or spread hate? Jail 30 days and in all cases they get a criminal record. Watch how quickly protests and their garbage goes away.

We need to remember who we are as a country and as people. This is still the greatest country on earth, we have an opportunity for profound change but we need to make changes now or the cycle of hate and bitterness will never end and we will forget who we are.

John Kiriakou Pardon?

Could Trump be the President to pardon John Kiriakou? For those of you that don’t know who Kiriakou is, he’s a former CIA operative that was jailed in the US for blowing the whistle of the US torture program. The actual charge Kiriakou was jailed for and that he did a plea deal on was passing classified information to the media which violated the Intelligence Identities Protection Act. Basically JK went on TV blew the whistle on the torture program, that was water boarding and accidentally gave out names of current CIA operatives, a big no no.

JK spent 28 months in prison and home detention for his crimes. While he did admit the one charge he remains the only CIA officer to go to jail over the torture program and as a result lost his pension, his credibility within the CIA and of course more than two years of his life. Released from prison in 2015 Kiriakou has spent the last ten years of his life trying to get a presidential pardon and while he has failed to get one thus far his hope now is that Donald Trump will be the one to do so. 

While there seems to be little doubt over the torture program conducted by the CIA here in Australia and in the UK there seems to be a strong desire to see our highly trained soldiers and intelligence officers jailed. A report by the UK news service GBN recently suggested that a number of former SAS members were leaving the country in fear of being arrested for war crimes. We all know the Ben Roberts Smith story very well here in Australia and while Kiriakou did do jail time he and his team feel he is worth a pardon given they think he was falsely convicted for telling the truth.

It’s a very interesting time in the history of our intelligence services and special forces, we send them to do jobs few are willing to do but when they do their job or take a stand against the thing a that are wrong they’re punished for it. 

We can only hope that Kiriakou is granted his pardon from Trump but we’d do well to ask ourselves, are we now only sending nice guys to war and those that blindly follow rules they know to be wrong? We live in uncertain and dangerous times.

Facebook selling…Ai

Who’s ever sold anything on Facebook Market place? I’ve just listed my beloved Landcruiser because we can’t keep three cars and it costs $300 to fill it, so it’s time to go. Now I can’t stand running car ads so I just stuck it up on Facebook marketplace thinking I’d get a few young lads saying yeah mate let’s do it! But ummmm no, just no!

I wrote an ad for it that I thought reflected what it is. Gave the description, said it needed xyz, chucked a few photos up of it and said ok let’s see what happens…and jesus! How many times did I get asked, is it still available? Wha? Who runs an ad of a sold car? Not me that’s for sure, so I said yes….never heard back. Then someone said I’ll give you x amount of cash tomorrow first thing, no I said and never heard back. Give me your number and your exact location I come now see! Ummmm no I said, never heard back…has it got a full service history? It’s a 1992 Landcruiser with 498,000kms on the clock! No it doesn’t have a full fucking service history!

So with all this asked of me I went back to the ad and put in the answers to the questions I’d been asked and said if the ad is up it’s available. Cool! Done I thought but then…is it still available?! For fuck sake!

When Facebook was growing they knew they had to do something that could bring them in major revenue streams to pay back the VC debt they had so boom Facebook marketplace! Now facebook raised hundreds of millions in VC she’s having a stretch funding but Ai is raising billions in VC funding so can you imagine what they’re going to be selling or doing to pay back those VC debts!?

Ai market place is coming I guarantee it! And no matter how clever it is, or what kind of Ai will run it I absolutely guarantee that people will still be asking, is this still available?!

Oh and by the way if you’re in the market for a 92 80’s series Landcruiser for $6,000 approx it is still available! 

ABC Tanking 

To me there are three types of radio listeners, the FM Sharon’s and Darren’s who love to hear about celebrity gossip, to play on air games, to have a laugh and to listen to tunes…it’s a good way to start your day. We listen to it on the way to school sometimes, mostly harmless, nothing too serious and a bit of fun. Then there are the right winger talk back listeners. The boomers and footy fans that want things to go back to the way they were and who have an opinion on everything. Conservatives maybe, but do not suffer fools and maybe loved the footy show in its heyday day. Then the third type of listener the progressive lefty who is perhaps more educated, maybe more widely read, thinks Tim Winton and Patrick White are the greatest writers in human history and believe that anything right wing is not even worth discussing and are offended when it’s brought up over herbal tea in a warehouse at the back of a Fitzroy op shop.

These are of course gross generalisations because there are of course countless other radio stations and music to listen to and of course podcasting but regardless of the generalisations the only one in this that doesn’t seem to be able to connect with an audience is the ABC. The ABC is as you may have realised is the lefty talk back radio and again while we generalise about its audience they can’t seem to even connect with that anymore.

Possibly the greatest radio person in my lifetime is Ross Stevenson. The man is a genius. His quick wit, unfathomable knowledge of pretty much everything and his ability to interview people quickly is unlike anything anyone else is capable of. Over the years he’s had wing men come and go and while his current Iceman is the highly successful and very savvy Russell Howcroft it’s the Ross show. Yes the 3AW morning show can be a bit male heavy, it can be a little misogynistic and can be a bit too footy focused but it is the best morning radio programme by a mile. And then you have Bob and Charnel…Both hosts are obviously decent nice people but who exactly are their audience? While no one can replicate what 3AW have the ABC needs to do better than what Bob and Charnel are dishing up. 

Epstein out of 8.30am is the King of mid morning radio. While Tom Elliot is doing a decent job he’s not Neil Mitchell and Epstein is smarter and just better. If Raf ever did want to uproot his lefty ideals for commercial radio he’d demand an open cheque book but therein is the issue for the ABC they’re not really combative in the commercial world. They do, they think news for everyone, but they sort of don’t. Yes 3AW is right wing but the ABC think they’re arbiters of the whole truth when really they’re the left but don’t buy into it like the right wingers do. It’s all a bit too nicey nicey. 

The ABC needs some asshole about it and while that’s difficult being a government backed media company a less than 4% rating for a morning radio show suggests it’s time for profound changes. It’s always been true that controversy breeds ratings, look at Kyle Sandilands, but we don’t need more of that, what we need, what the ABC needs is someone or something that can take it to the likes of Ross Stevenson. They need a voice of quick wit and intelligence that can still hold ABC values but at the same time tells them where to shove them.

Hospitality under attack…

The comparisons between New York of the 1970’s and 80’s and the Melbourne of today are growing by the day. 

Corrupt and government connected corporations, politicians beholden to construction companies, crime running rampant, drug use and homelessness at record highs, unsafe streets and now stand over tactics.

The tobacco wars right across Melbourne have made crims out of kids fire bombing tobacco shops and made millionaires out of the crooks that import illegal cigarettes and now we are seeing hospitality owners being put to the sword of extortion.

There are some seedy restaurants in Melbourne and some are owned by people with less than legitimate businesses behind them. Good luck to them I say, none of our business, but when high profile well run legitimate businesses are being fire bombed as a means to intimidate then it’s time to say enough is enough.

No one need stand over men rolling through restaurants demanding cash for protection and if this isn’t stopped now then it will be allowed to run rampant through the industry. The hospitality sector is already suffering. With cost of goods, wage demands, fewer customers and general inflation pressures the last thing the industry needs is a bunch of bikies or crooks rolling in and demanding their brown paper bags each week.

Now we know how utterly useless the state government is when it comes to cracking down on crime but this one needs to be investigated asap. Why? Because while youth gangs and tobacco wars are dreadful in themselves if we allow stand over tactics to become common place within small businesses then we won’t have small business. 

We need to clean up Melbourne and take back our town because if the stand over men get hold of this town they may never let go.

Tucker says sorry about Trump

Who would’ve believed it?! When was Trump elected for the second time? 2024? Well, jump forward two years and the Don has lost the support of one of his biggest advocates in Tucker Carlson. The useful idiot has said sorry to his followers and listeners for helping Trump get elected.

It may sound egotistical of Carlson to say he helped Trump get elected but he’s actually not wrong, he very much did. Carlson like Joe Rogan and Megan Kelly all jumped on the Trump bandwagon and did indeed help him get elected but now? Now they’re all not so keen on what Trump has been handing out. What upset Carlson the most was Trump’s attack on the pope. A lot of Americans are deeply religious and when Trump decided the Pope was fair game real conservatives were not happy and to be fair neither should they be! Who attacks a Pope?!

In regard to both Rogan and Kelly they were going off the Don before he thought having a crack at the pope was a good idea. Joe Rogan who interviewed fellow podcasting comedian Theo Vonn both sat asking what’s goin on man, asking each other what on earth Trump was doing in Iran. Now mind you this was not a conversation of high intellect, rather you could’ve argued that they were possibly stoned but the point remains the right wing podcasting giant in Rogan is also going off the Don.

Megan Kelly who left Fox in 2017 and then NBC in 2018 for her own platform was absolutely onboard with Trump and all he stood for but now like Carlson is concerned and critical. Theo thing about Carlson and Kelly in particular is that when they were at Fox they were sort of under control. Their views matched with the Murdoch way of thinking until they both went too far of script and bailed. Now both, like Rogan have their own platforms and can say what ever they like, in fact the more they disagree with Trump the more people listen and watch. A ploy or honest opinion?

The big point here is that Trump is running out of friends, people who once had his back are now thinking they backed the wrong horse. While none of Carlson, Kelly or Rogan will ever vote Democrat they like so many others are finally waking up to the fact that Trump is all about Trump and everything else can go to hell.

What is the AFL on about?

The AFL have failed in their attempts to support current and past players with mental health issues. They like many other corporates see mental health as indeed an issue but currently see it as something they need to tick the box on and say the right things to the media when the issues around it are much more complex and far reaching.

The AFL need to really start addressing mental health and being the leader on the subject because while they make all the right noises where’s the evidence of support? 

Right now the AFL are planning games in India and the US and want to extend the season for what? More money? Better pay TV deals? Yes players should get paid their fair share but what about the fans? The well being of players? The grass roots people of the game? Despite the massive revenues the AFL now receives when was the last time prices for a beer or a pie at the footy went down? Why are there so few indigenous players in the AFL now? Dream time? Really?

The biggest and most successful sports organisation on the planet is the NFL and the AFL are not them but time and time again we see CEO’s come in thinking they can take footy to the world! The AFL can’t get the support of their players right and they want to play games where? 

What’s wrong with having ‘our’ game? We seem to have forgotten that AFL is a game that nearly every kid in the country grew up playing or at least watching at some level. Why can’t we just be happy to have a game the country can be proud of, that looks after its own, that offers pathways for support during and post player careers, give fans cheap food and make it focus on the people who really love it or did?

It’s all well and good to aspire to be something else but while the AFL desperately wants to be a global player it seems to have forgotten where it came from and who are its main supporters. It’s time to get a grip.

Mental health is not tick the box

Needless to say I can’t stand corporates. While some do good work when it comes to staff and actual care for their people and their development most are soulless arseholes who just tick the box when it comes to mental health, diversity and gender equality to name a few. But right now mental health is at all time lows for everyone and yet the mentality is still just tick the box.

The AFL and in the case of Elijah Hollands, 

Carlton are all about mental health and supporting players but if they are why is Hollands now in hospital? Why do we time and time again see players suffering?

I come from a generation when mental health wasn’t even thought about. You just got on with stuff and if you didn’t you were more than likely a poofter, aka soft! We have actively encouraged these young professional athletes to speak up when they’re struggling but the clubs and the governing body turns their back on them when they’re struggling do call for help? Hollands was unquestionably struggling on field last Thursday and while he didn’t go to the bench and say I need help every other part of him was screaming out for it! Why didn’t the club pull him off? Why didn’t anyone help the boy?

How many Essendon players would still to this day be suffering from having the careers ruined by a drug program they trusted the club with? The umpires seem to be able to cast the players off as liars and anything else that pops in their heads and what of the players accused of slander? Cop it? Is it 1985? No? So where’s the support?

CTE? Or those supposedly suffering from it. Remember that one? Danny Frawley, Greg Williams, Shane Tuck, Polly Farmer, Barry Round…where’s the support? The compensation? It’s all very well for the AFL and the clubs to sit around at events and say yeah we care about mental health but when it comes to the crunch zip!

Mental health in any part of life is not something to just cast aside. In the corporate and sports world it is not just a tick the box topic that’s been covered briefly by HR, it’s sadly a big part of modern life and now more than ever it deserves so much more than a tick the box moment. 

Why Ben Roberts Smith matters 

The world is like we know not what it was 30 years ago, it’s barely what it was pre Covid. the wokes have been busy objecting to everything and while some of their ideas and concerns have validity a good portion of their outrage needs to go on the garbage heap, such are the charges against Ben Roberts Smith.

For years parts of the media and government have pursued Ben Roberts Smith for crimes committed at war and now he faces life imprisonment via criminal charges brought against him. But this former war hero cannot and must not go to prison because if he does what are we saying to our defence personnel? What are we saying to those who do stand between us and bullets? And what are we saying about who we send to war? 

The SASR are our elite fighting force we send them to do things no one else can do or wants to do, we send them to kill people and yet when Roberts Smith did his job he’s the only one facing charges and ramifications? If BRS is going down then why aren’t the prisons of Australia full of politicians? Full of people complicit in sending defence forces to war zones? Why not? Because this whole BRS issue is a witch hunt and a hunt that is going after a man that has only ever wanted to serve his country. 

My question though is who decided BRS needed to face these charges? Who decided that he should be arrested for the cameras in front of his kids? Who decided to turn this whole thing into a media circus? Because someone did, somewhere, someone made these calls and you have to ask why? Why has it been decided to pursue this man? Are we seeing the end to Australia wanting to have an elite military force? Are we thinking that we don’t want to be involved in conflict anymore? That war is not who we are and we should negotiate rather than send troops? 

Whatever the story BRS is being pursued for crimes he should not be prosecuted for and it matters to us because if we do allow one of our most decorated war heroes to go to prison for defending the freedoms we value then we as a country are lost.

Claude and Ai

The new world of Ai is a staggering thing and I’d suggest that most people have dabbled in the new world of tech but reading about the various Ai platforms the trick is asking it the right questions.

Remember when Google came out? Or we could search the internet? We could ask it all sorts of things and we still do but Ai is different, it’s a tool that can help with pretty much anything but it needs to understand you and your business before it can be of real value.

I use to it to help with marketing, with planning and with direction, but it wasn’t of any major use to me until I explained what it was I did, what my business did and where I wanted it to go. Once I’d established the basis of knowledge for Claude it has been a major source of learning for me and genuinely helped what I do. 

Ai is touted as the thing that will take over the world but it won’t unless we actually allow it to because right now we’re still the one sin charge and that’s the way it should stay.

Customer service 

In recent weeks we’ve heard that David Jones could be in trouble. They’re not unlike a number of other retailers struggling under the weight of online shopping and changed habits of customers, but not all of the retail sectors failings can be blamed on the economy and changing habits. Another key reason retailers are failing is that customer service is barely a thing for a good portion of retailers. Profits ahead of having staff on shop floors or having staff with zero interest sees retailers missing out on actual customer engagement and revenue.

When I was 19 I went to work in a very cool Italian bar just outside of the Melbourne CBD. It was very busy and full of very cool people including most of the staff, that didn’t really include me, but I tried my best. One of the senior waiters that worked there, who to this day is still one of the best waiters I’ve ever worked with wore a Breitling Chronograph that was given to him by his father when he left Hungary for Australia. He wore it all the time and he said to me I should get one as well. At the time not knowing really what it was I went looking for one and found one! But even in 1991 they were hellishly expensive and needless to say as a struggling opera singer working in a bar didn’t buy one. 

I should say at this point this is not a paid promotion of Breitling, far from it, but I do need to tell this story which is all about the brand in relation to customer service.

Since 1991 I have been a Breitling fan, I nearly bought a second hand Navitimer five years or so ago but even then couldn’t bring myself to hand over the money that I knew I could use elsewhere. So I have watched the development of the brand, seen the evolution of the watch, seen what former IWC CEO Georges Kern has done since taking over in 2017 and seen it go from solely an aviation brand to a global leader in the watch market. 

There is a Breitling shop in Collins Street in Melbourne nowadays and as my daughter and I walked past it the other day we of course stopped to look at the new ranges. Standing at the window of the shop we heard the door open and a man saying we could come in to have a look. Not in any real hurry we accepted. The shop is of course very appealing to a breitling fan such as myself and when asked if there was a specific style of watch I liked I of course said the Navitimer. Within a few seconds of me admitting my love of the Navitimer the salesman, Robert had a gold version on my wrist. It wasn’t pushy salesman stuff, it felt to me like a shared experience of watches that we both liked. He even suggested one for my daughter who of course wanted the pink one, worn by Charlize Theron. 

Now as many people know I look like a homeless person, yes we were having a day in town for school holidays and so I made a bit of an effort, but still not fitting in with the Collins Street crowd. There is always something to be said for not judging a book by its cover and Robert did exactly that with me, but I felt I could’ve pulled up in a Bugatti and he would’ve been the same. Needless to say I didn’t buy the gold breitling and made it clear it was aspirational to own one rather than I’ll be here tomorrow to pick it up, but he was there saying no problem. 

Having felt we’d taken up too much of Roberts time and with an 11 old wanting the pink one it was time to go, but not before we were given the latest hard back history book of Brietling in a branded bag. It was without question one of the nicest retail experiences I’d ever had in my life, so when I can afford to buy one I’ll never go anywhere else to get the watch I’ve wanted for so long. That’s the whole point of retail sales!  You might not get the sale there and then but if you deliver on the experience from the first point of connection then you’re more likely to see that person again.

Collins Street is full of branded boutique’s all with suited people holding iPads or standing guard at doors you feel you can never go through. Yes ok these are luxury brands that don’t really care about small fry customers, they want the exclusivity, but it’s not just luxury brands making you feel inadequate. Retail stores are dead because people have terrible experiences. Staff are disinterested, have zero interest in selling anyone anything and would often play on their phones rather than engage with customers. 

Buying a cheap fridge at Harvey Norman recently they were the same as Brietling, engaged, knowledgeable and keen to sell us a fridge! The result? We will never go anywhere else again to buy electrical goods!

Yes, retail is hard and yes it’s changed but like hospitality retail is about delivering an experience and a service customers want to come back time and time again for! That’s called good business and both Brietling and Harvey Norman could teach some retailers what good customer service is all about…and my thanks again to Robert, I’ll be back!

Did the smart phone ruin our lives?

I’m from that generation where we didn’t have smart phones or computers. When I was a kid we had a TV you had to stand up to change the channel on. We had phones you had to dial numbers on, we had to hand write letters to people and if we made plans we’d have to be there on time because we didn’t have a phone to text or call on to say were running late.

The mobile phone has changed our lives. It’s a phone, it enables texting, emails, messaging and even TV, all in the palm of our hand. When Steve Jobs announced the arrival of the IPhone I can’t believe that he imagined it would have the positive and negative impacts it has had on our lives.

Jobs was of course a genius and maybe he did see a future of social media apps that enabled better communications and access to masses of information but if he’d known how much the smart phone was to be abused would he have done something different? The smart phone is genius, like Jobs, it gives us the entire world in our hands, but it also gives us access to things we simply don’t need to have access to, especially things kids don’t need.

While the internet has also enabled great things with a smart phone it’s the doomscrolling that in the last few years that has become a massive issue plus its online bullying, it’s enables a realm of misinformation and hate, things Jobs was simply not about. Jobs wanted the smart phone to change communication and he did that but it was the rest of the world that then turned it into a weapon against humanity.

Now that does sound a little over the top, but let’s face facts here nearly every teenager on the planet has a smart phone. They have social media accounts and post in a lot of cases wildly inappropriate content, hate, sexism and violence and none of it is good.

On the contrary to all that’s bad with smart phones they do keep us connected, they do make it easier to look back at photos, send emails, texts or messages and they make international communications easier than at any other time in human history, so they can be incredible but right now it’s all gone too far. People are slowly becoming less interested in their smart phones and buying old school phones that can’t do 95% of what a new one can.

So has the smart phone ruined our lives? Yes and no, yes we are all so much more distracted and unconnected and no because we have been given an opportunity to stay connected wherever we are in the world.

Jobs was a genius and right now we need someone like him to sift through the madness and bring back some much needed clarity, but I think it’s now just up to us how best to navigate a world lived on a so called smart phone.

Is Harry the future?

The only real reason I gave the whole Harry and Meghan tour of Australia things any time of day was because I’d heard celebrity reporter Peter Ford talk about it across his socials and on his various radio and TV spots. I’ve got a lot of time for Peter as he was very kind to me when I first set out on the Hoodies Journey by agreeing to an interview with me about his career.

So with Peter’s influence I have paid some attention to Harry and Meghan and what I’ve found is that they’re actually not that bad after all. I genuinely liked Meghan Markle in Suits and always thought Harry was the man most unlikely to be King but he was entertaining in his antics. Jump forward a good few years and is it possible that while Kate and William parade about as English toffs are Harry and Meghan the real future of the monarchy?

There’s no doubt that when Queen Elizabeth died the Royal Family lost their foundation. Then with the whole (Prince) Andrew debacle the royals were on the nose. Prince Charles becoming King while expected wasn’t great for the monarchy and with Kate becoming ill and taking a step back from royal duties the royals were on the back foot. The rift between Harry and William has also been an issue but with Harry and Meghan getting out of dodge so to speak, could it actually see them become the real face of the English monarchy?

In Australia Harry and Meghan have been nothing but delightful. Meghan has yes been filming a TV show while Harry has been talking to real and relevant people about mental health. Harry’s team could’ve easily called the AFL and said hey let’s do mental health with all the bells and whistles but they didn’t. They kept the AFL (and Eddie McGuire) at bay, talked to the relevant men’s mental health charity and actually talked to people. The response has been overwhelmingly positive for both young royals unlike their English counterparts who are struggling to find relevance in the modern world.

After the first part of their Melbourne tour Harry and Meghan have indeed shown they understand their role in modern society. Yes they’re here to make some money but nowadays who isn’t?! So if the Royals are watching the whole Harry and Meghan thing roll around the world here’s hoping they’re thinking these two could well be the future of the monarchy for their sakes and ours.

Ai and the end of Hollywood?

Is Ai about to end the Hollywood studio system? Ben Affleck has just sold his Ai production studio to Netflix and it promises to revolutionise the film and TV industry.

The Ai studio basically enables a film maker to have actors do their thing in front of grey screens and then after the shooting is done add in the backgrounds. For example if the scene is two people walking down the stairs of an aircraft then film two people walking down a small flight of stairs and then in post production Ai add in the plane. Walking up a hill? Sure. Have the actors walk up a slight slope in front of the grey screen and boom add in the Ai hill later on.

It’s already the case that you can ask Claude or Chat GPT to put your musings into script format and have Ai Generate images, but this post production Ai tool that Netflix now owns is a licence to make as much content as they want. The next question is though, who’s writing the scripts? Ai or real actual writers who want to get paid? Well at least Affleck made some money out of it unlike a good portion of Hollywood that are just about to lose their jobs.

Tottenham going down?

When Australia’s big Ange won the Europa Cup with Tottenham everyone thought here we go, Tottenham are on their way back to being a top club! Jump forward to 2026 with 6 games to go in the Premier League season and Spurs are in the relegation zone. And it’s not like they’re in the drop zone on goal difference, nope they’ve played 32 games just like West Ham and are two points behind them.

I always thought Daniel Levey was the issue at Spurs but he left months ago and here they are, about to go down! It’s actually staggering!

What’s also staggering is the performance of the Ryan Reynolds and the other bloke owned Wrexham. Reynolds and the other bloke got involved with Wrexham several years ago and have since turned the club into a global powerhouse. Every year they’ve gone up! Starting in basically the semi professional football level they’re now in the fight for a playoff spot to get into?! The Premier League! 

Wrexham have only four games to go and are four points out of the play off spots but while they not qualify this season gees don’t right them off for next season!

Football/Soccer is a funny thing but it never fails to surprise and this season has again produced some surprises least of all Tottenham and Wrexham!

How dare this buffoon 

Before I launch in, I’d like to say I’m a massive US sports fan. Love the NFL and the baseball but I have also come to terms with the fact that based on US border security rules I won’t be allowed into the US while Trump is President, why? Because the man is a buffoon!

Not only is Trump a buffoon but how dare he blow up the world economy for the sake of his own self interest? The S&P 500 went up over night based on Trump saying the war would be over soon! I mean seriously?! How did the Democrats allow this man to become president again?! The world is on its knees because Trump has been allowed to run riot across the world! With the mass unpredictability of the man you’d be naive to think he hasn’t through about how he could take over Australia! That’s how delusional he is and he’s the one with the codes for the nukes!

Trump may want to make America great again and renew US industry etc but at what cost? Right now Trump has more than Two years left as President unless they get rid of him, but by the time the next election comes around what will he have done by then?

The IMF said yesterday that the world is facing the possibility of a global recession, great! But while greed isn’t as good as it used to be this whole sorry saga of global economic crisis is as direct of the actions of one man, Trump! While the president seems hell bent on destroying the global economy the fuel crisis is doing more harm to the US than watergate did. At a domestic level US citizens are sick of high food and petrol prices and they’re indeed wavering in support of the President. On an international level the US isn’t being invited to trade discussions, it’s being bypassed as more solutions to opening of the a strait become apparent and with that, you have to ask what’s the end game for Trump here? Does he actually have a goal for all this outside self interest?

By the time Trumps second team is done possibly Gavin Newsom will have to pick up the pieces of a broken party and broken international perceptions. How did the democrats allow Trump to become president? And how are we as humanity allowing the global economy to be destroyed by one man and his narcissism?! While the world continues to find ways to bypass Trump let’s again say, how bloody dare you!

The heart of Warnie

My Dad died at the age of 62 from a massive heart attack. Two years before he died he’d had triple bypass surgery and was told no more drinking no more smoking. Unfortunately as his feet hit Bridge Road outside the Epworth he had a fag in his mouth and was searching for a glass of red. That’s a bit of an exaggeration but he didn’t heed the warnings of his cardiologist and paid the price. His heart exploded in his chest apparently and was dead before he hit the ground. 

My Dad lived a life. The son of a Liverpool warfie who was at D Day, ran booze for Capone and moved to Australia after the Second World War. My Dad searched for some time to find his purpose but ultimately found it in the law. He went to night school for four years to become a Barrister and he loved it. He not only loved the law he loved the life. The days of a Barrister in the 80’s and 90’s were a far cry from what they are today. Smoking, drinking, long lunches, women, hard work, unpaid bills, Clerks fees, chambers rent that got paid when the work was in plentiful supply but went to the bottom of the pile when times were tough and the ever present Gold Amex card bill. Good times yes but often with catastrophic for families and relationships.

When the old man died it was unquestionably because of his lifestyle. His autopsy report basically said, we’re surprised it didn’t happen earlier! Jump forward to 2021 when Victoria was still in and out of lockdown I myself having had two Covid shots found myself about to pass out at a kids trampoline centre feeling heart palpitations and very light headed.

Ten years earlier I had had an incident of atrial fibrillation. I was in the midsts of a failing business and had been getting phone calls demanding money on a barely comprehensible level. The situation was largely my fault but not knowing really what to do I had worked myself into such a stressed state that when I got to hospital my resting heart rate was 190. A visit to the cardiologist saw it put down to stress, which it unquestionably was. But 2021 was not atrial fibrillation.

Not able to drive and not willing to go to hospital my wife demanded I go to the doctor which I did. I had every test known to man and all they turned up was a slight build up of plaque on an artery on the outside of my heart but it was far from life threatening. Seeing the cardiologist he said come back every couple of years and you’ll be fine. To this day that feeling I had at the trampoline centre hasn’t returned. 

When I started writing about the injustices of Covid not via conspiracy theories but rather by mainly the Andrews government I was approached by numerous people offering their theories on Covid and the vaccine. I like most people did the right things during COVID, we thought, and got vaccinated, stayed at home and wore a mask. I had covid once and was pretty sick but was the fact that I’d have the vaccine the reason I didn’t end up in ICU? We will never know, but was the reason I nearly passed out at a kids trampoline centre and feeling heart palpitations because of a reaction to the Covid vaccines? Again we will never know, well not in my life time anyway.

When the great Shane Warne died I like countless others was devastated. The man who could turn a game on its head literally was gone. Warnie was charisma personified. I never had the pleasure of meeting him but he’s one of those people that you never hear a bad word about from those that did meet him. His antics were legendary and epic as they should’ve been given who he was, but did Warnie die from a heart attack of his own doing or was it because of a vaccine? Warne’s son Jackson has been on a podcast recently where he directly blames the Covid vaccine for his father’s death.

Warnie as we know loved a dart and a drink and had been having some heart issues but again were they self inflicted or were they brought on by vaccines? If you ask the conspiracy theorists they’ll say it’s all unquestionably the result of the Covid vaccines but ask epidemiologists or medical professionals and it’s simply not.

Men in their late 40’s and 50’s have always been victims of heart attacks and disease because that’s simply when life catches up with us but there are numbers to suggest heart issues are on the rise. Stress? Yes. Poor diet? Yes. More sedentary lifestyle? Yes. All direct causes of heart disease, but Covid vaccines? It depends who you ask.

As someone that lost his had to heart disease my heart breaks for Jackson Warne and his siblings but did Warnie die as a result of the Covid Vaccine? We may never know but it’s worth thinking about vaccines and their effects if we ever see the likes of Covid again, but in the meantime go get your ticker checked.

Long live Warnie!

What did happen to footy?

I know as we get older we say it was different in my day! You should’ve seen it when I played! We never think we’re going to sound like our parents or even our grandparents but we do. With that in mind I criticise Australian rules not wanting to sound like an old person but the game I grew up with is unquestionably different and sorry to say, worse.

The 1970’s and 1980’s were too much. The grounds were water logged quagmires, the players literally beat the shit out of each other and while only the toughest of the tough payed footy there were definitely changes needed. The era did indeed produce some brilliant players and epic performances but when the 1990’s came around it was probably the greatest era of footy.

By the 1990’s you had a balance of raw talent, fairness, quality grounds, decent umpiring and a governing body that knew its limitations. It was an era of great players, the emergence of champions and the end of the old guard. Being a North Melbourne fan I saw footy at its best with Carey but also Ablett and the final years of the mighty Plugger. 

As the 2000’s rolled in the speed of the game went up a gear and it became of tactics and strategy, a far cry from the days of just kick it to Plugger or Wayne. With the new speed came new players, players who weren’t mountains of men, but rather skinny middle distance runners with decent ball skills. Unfair play and head high tackles were met with suspensions and free kick counts went up by the game. 

By the 2020’s AFL has become a bit like soccer, it’s up and back with minimal brutality and free kicks awarded if someone’s feelings are hurt. Most recently one player was suspended for a homophobic slur and another for suggesting an umpire was on the take. Jump back to the 1970’s, 80’s or 90’s and umpires would’ve laughed it off or even offered some kind of witty retort, not today. Today it’s my feelings have been hurt and I want the big meanies to say sorry. 

I watch the grand final each year and sometimes a game here and there but not like I used to. Players are today about haircuts, instagram followers and selfies and yes it’s a different era but doesn’t mean we have to like it. Like or loathe modern footy it’s a lot more expensive than ever before and right now not at all in line with what people can afford.

The AFL have got themselves into this position of being a moral compass when no one asked them to be. People want to watch good old footy again, to not watch soccer on a different field and not to be told how to watch a game.

Local footy is now much more of a spectacle and draws massive crowds in. A beer on the side lines with a few locals is much more of a day out than anything the AFL currently has on offer. So yes I do sound like an old man, but when you’ve seen the likes of Ablett, Carey and Plugger play who can compare?

Are economists the epidemiologists?

Remember during Covid we had epidemiologists on the Tele at every moment of the day? Offering their dire warnings of disaster with little or none of their delusions coming to the fore? Well guess what? Economists are the new epidemiologists!

How many opinion pieces are there now from economists? Some offering doom, some offering doom and gloom and some even offering doom, gloom and the end of the economic system as we know it!

Now we know that Trump has done his best in the west to help us not be able to afford fuel and while it is arguable that certain corporations make lots of money with the fluctuating oil price it’s hard to see governments not bypassing Trump and going it alone. For a good portion of the world going it alone will mean we still have supply but it might take longer to get putting pressure on infrastructure, transport, farming and inflation. 

What that means is yes things will get worse before they get better but it does not mean the end of shipping, it does not mean that oil will hit $200 a barrel and it does not mean the world will cease to function. Instead governments despite their often moronic ideas can’t allow their citizens to be without fuel so they will find ways to get it but in the world of the economist it’s not going to happen. Governments won’t maintain supply, the economy will come to a screaming halt and a bottle of water will be $87.50. 

Thanks for the input there economists but if you could just head over into the room with the sign that says, epidemiologists this way we’d be grateful.

Trump and the Pope?

In the last 100 years some of the leaders that have openly criticised a Pope include; Hitler, Putin, Castro and Mussolini, but now we can add Donald Trump to the list! Former US President Truman criticised Pope Pius XII over post war politics but this is the first time a US President has ever suggested a sitting Pope is; weak on crime and terrible at foreign policy. This was after Trump had said he didn’t want a pope who criticised the President. Now it must be said that Trump has deleted his comments about the pope off his socials but the fact remains this man is a complete and utter nut bag!

But if we just look at Trumps comments we have to ask, how are Popes supposed to be hard on crime? In case Donald missed it, Popes are supposed to offer people forgiveness, make them repent their sins. This may be interpreted as being weak on crime, but that’s his job! Foreign policy? I’m not sure Foreign Policy is on the Popes job description but one would have to say that if the pope did make comment about foreign policy it would be more around saying hey can we help the poor and the starving as a global community?

I was raised as a Catholic and while I am very much lapsed I still have a respect for the house of god and any other place of worship. Priests, Nuns, Rabbis, Monks, Muftis, Imans and Swamis to name a few all deserve respect and yet in one fell swoop Trump has insulted all of them. Who the hell, pardon the pun is this man that he thinks any of this is ok? And who’s advising him? The toxic Roy Cohn is dead and yet Trump seems to operate in a world where he can do and say whatever he wants.

You have to ask how much longer can the world tolerate this man and his utter chaotic nonsense?! We wrote a piece the other day that suggested all this madness was part of a bigger plan to refocus America on America but really? What we are seeing is political suicide carried out by a president who seems to have absolutely no one around him to say, hey Don, mate we can’t be having a crack the Pope! But there just doesn’t seem to be any end to it and that’s where the real worries begin!

Trump has two more years left on his presidency and you can’t help but wonder if we’ll survive, but for now it’s lots of cringing and lots of hardship for many people right across the world thanks to a man who thinks it’s ok to have a crack a Pope. What have we become?!

Gout Gout and race

So Gout Gout is the Australian record holder in the 200m, he’s the National Champion, he’s 18 and he’s Australian. He is the greatest sprinting talent we have ever seen and he is a future world and Olympic champion. They are facts, but it seems there is an element within this country that want to cut the boy down, suggest he’s not an Australian and show that racism is alive and well in the land downunder.

When Jesse Owens ran in front of Hitler, when Rosa Parkes refused to sit at the back of the bus, when Ali floated like a butterfly and stung like a bee, when Willy Mays caught balls in the outfield and when Magic Johnson demanded he be paid what he was worth all these people took a stand and let their talent do the talking. They all knew that the colour of their skin was to some seen as offensive, was seen as something inferior but all of them plus countless others stood back and said as hard as it is, as upsetting as it is and as challenging as it is we are who we are. We are here to make a difference, to take a stand and to be who we are whether you like it or not! 

The Gout Gout story has dozens of chapters to be written. Sadly one of the chapters will be about racism but right now all this young man, like many before him can do is let his actions speak louder than the words that any kind of racist can ever come up with.

Let’s talk about Gout Gout

We wrote an article in the Sunday hoodies about how special Gout Gout was but we didn’t see a 19.67 coming for the 18 year old just yet.

At the National championships yesterday Gout broke the long standing Australian record as well as the world junior record. Gout now becomes a truly global player in the world of sprinting but this year instead of going to Glasgow for the Comm games he’s heading to the world under 20 championships. Now this is a sensible move. Running at the under 20’s will be a whole lot less pressure and remember he’s still only 18! 

In sport there’s a saying that if you’re good enough you’re old enough but in sprinting it’s not always the case. Yes Gout is good enough but not having him at the comm games gives him a chance to develop in his own time. The other big factor in running the under 20’s is that he’s got years ahead of him, so now’s the time to keep building strength, speed and that sprinter confidence. 

No other Australian til yesterday had run under 20 seconds and now there are two, Aidan Murphy and of course Gout Gout and wow what a future Australian sprinting actually has.

The rise of the right wing influencer

Isn’t it interesting how much growth some right wing influencers can get very quickly? It’s like there’s someone out there offering them advice and perhaps even money to use on internet marketing, but surely mainstream media outlets, key corporates and individuals wouldn’t be supporting them would they?

I am not alone is saying that legacy media is dying, but big media outlets are nonetheless searching for new opportunities and trends to sink their money into that can see them stay on top. If it is the case that these major media outlets are wanting to maintain the rage so to speak isn’t it possible that they could get behind a few of these right wing commentators that in their own way give life to the so called freedom of the press? 

Big corporations, big media companies and rich individuals can indeed work with whomever is in power or government but their lives and businesses run much more profitably when the paid up free thinking business right wingers are in power. Yes the lefty media is doing the same thing but it’s on the right that there has been a real rise in the voice of the influencer. 

The US is full of right wing political influencers, podcasters and TV personalities that have until recently bowed down before the Republicans. Trump has as we know upset a good portion of Americans and the right wing political influencer is also questioning Trump but the key thing is that these right wing influencers are big business and can as we’ve seen make or break political careers.

Here in Australia the right wing political influencer can have up to a million followers across their platforms, including instagram, tik tok, facebook and x but the question for all of them is what’s next? The likes of Joe Rogan have back ups to their right wing commentary but what if our versions? What are instagram sensations going to do when they max out? When people get sick of the same old messaging? When the corporate media money runs out? Organic growth? 

Basically what all this means is the media can’t be trusted and that despite a massive down turn in the trust of the media the companies that run global media companies are still making billions of dollars. My question is how? How in a cost of living crisis, where everyone is cutting back on staff how are they making money? My answer, check who the political influencers are connected to and then you can decide if you’re actually being sold common sense or just another version of it from a right wing media company.

Positivity over negativity

If it wasn’t for what I do ie hoodies media and the hospitality recruitment company I’d be unlikely to have a phone with apps and social media. I read a lot and take in a lot of content so social media is a big part of my life, but Struth if it wasn’t for what I do I’d never use it!

I met my wife online 15 years ago and it was a different world then. Facebook was about connecting and dating apps were where you could go to actually meet people. The toxicity now found on X, on Tik Tok and the level of doomscrolling that now happens across society wasn’t a thing back then but today my goodness what an awful thing social media is.

The issue is that while social media is about as addictive as smoking and as bad for you as any other kind of anti social behaviour there are those who now say it’s about freedom to express yourself. It gives people the right to give their opinions a platform when really all it’s doing is giving the utterly delusional and toxic somewhere to post their low brow and hurtful comments.

Even as Artemis splashed down in the Pacific Ocean the conspiracy theorists and nay sayers were already out saying it as all bullshit and that no one left the earth really. Gout Gout makes history and people are instantly critical of the coverage that had Australia’s greatest ever commentator call the race. They didn’t think Gout Gout was that good in the 200m and that he won’t make it on the global stage…this is what we mean, while freedom of expression is a real thing these are not people who deserve the right to have an opinion or be heard.

I still believe and as much as I detest Anika Wells the social media ban for 16 and under is a good thing and for us as a family has been great but you can’t cancel stupid and you can’t erase deliberate toxicity. The world is indeed coming to a cross road in its history. It can make good decisions that see positively and unity become key building blocks for the work it can go down a path of division and hate that will see us divided permanently. I know which one I want the world to take but sadly I bet it takes the other.

The new golden age of sprinting?

Can I say I used to be a sprinter and not being that good I often saw the backs of other runners as they disappeared down the track ahead of me, but regardless of my own talents I have always loved the 100, 200 and 400. Being a man of 50 plus I remember an era of Carl Lewis, Linford Christie, Micheal Johnson and the fallen Ben Johnson. Lewis had the greatest technique in the history of sprinting. Me and everyone I trained with wanted to have technique like Carl.

The arrival of Usain Bolt and his Jamaican counterparts, Powell and Blake saw the 100 and the 200 go to levels we’d never seen and may never see again in our lifetime, but while Australia may not have the speeds of the Jamaicans just yet we are about to enter a golden age of Aussie sprinting.

Australia has always out performed itself on the global sports scene and while we’ve had great sprinters in the past, we’ve never had two young men who have run as fast over 100 and 200. Last night at the National athletic championships Lachie Kennedy ran a legal 9.96! The National record held by Patrick Johnson is 9.93 and Kennedy is only 22! That National record will go and it’ll be broken by Kennedy or the other bloke who we all now know as Gout Gout.

Gout is 17 and has a PB of 10.0 for the 100 and 20.04 for the 200. He’s 17! When we ran local races as 18 or 19 year olds we were running 11.3 for the 100 and 22.5 for the 200! He would kick our arses to the moon! But it’s not just that Gout is fast as a 17 year old when you look at him run even the average person can see how much development he has to go. The boy hasn’t fitted into his lanky body yet. Once Gout stops growing and that frame gets in tune with his body and mind my god, he could be anything!

Kennedy has probably a three or four year window to start running regular sub 9.90 that will get him into world and Olympic finals and possibly even medals. Gout on the other hand has what is ten years or so to go from running 10 dead to possibly running sub 9.5.

The 200 final is on tonight at the Australian championships and at the moment it’s Kennedy v Gout and while Kennedy should win tonight’s race could be one for the ages if they both go as fast as they are capable of.

Ultimately I think it will be Gout that resets the record books of Aussie sprinting but don’t count out Kennedy he’s showing why he’s a brilliant talent but whatever the long term success of either athlete Australia is in for one hell of a sprinting ride over the next few years

Could this be the Trump plan?

Ok so I read this online so bear with me, but could it be true that Trump actually wants to lose the war in the Middle East? 

So far Trump is pissing everyone off, but what if it’s all deliberate? He’s been talking about Greenland which has upset NATO and then he talked about Canada becoming another state of the US, he told Denmark he could just take Greenland if he wanted and that Mexico was looking at 25% tariffs, that it was responsible for masses of drug manufacturing and that the US was sick of Mexican migrants trying to get into the US.

From upsetting various countries Trump blows up the world economy by making not only petrol expensive, but also fertilisers which in turn has a direct impact on farming. As Trump continues to do things Trumps way what he knows is that the world is heavily reliant on oil out of the Middle East but what if they weren’t?

The US and Canada both produce oil and if the Americans can use Mexico for manufacturing and Venezuela for more oil the game changes. The US has trillions of dollars on its debt book and if the US treasury can get the support of China, Europe and China to refinance the debt then it’s a new game and a game totally run by the US. 

Trump will give all the countries that used the Strait of Homuz oil from the US and possibly start Mexico as a source of manufacturing. See Trump knows that a good portion of the world is reliant on the Strait of Hormuz. If you suspend reality for a moment Trump has cut a main supply chain, he’s doing deals with countries outside his normal point of reference and he’s basically (possibly) trying to convince the world that the US is the best place on earth to find their resources requirements.

Could it all be true? Is Trump that smart? I have no idea, but it’s an interesting story and will remain so for sometime yet.

Artemis 2 

Well it’s official the crew of Artemis 2 has now been further into space than any other manned flight in human history. The crew were also the first ones to see the side of the moon that Apollo did not and are now back in the earths gravitational pull heading home. 

It is an extraordinary thing to send people into space. I am not for one second going to pretend how they do it or how any of it works but there can be little doubt that this trip had a little bit more tech behind it from the last time humanity got to or near the moon. I won’t see man colonise the moon or Mars but that the great minds of humanity think it’s possible is akin to the great explorers of this world setting out to discover far off lands centuries ago.

Elon Musk, who is ever keen to get to Mars along with Jeff Bezos are the first two people outside of NASA to be exploring space, mainly because they’re the only ones that can afford it, but we can only hope that the goal for all concerned is peace and prosperity of humanity.

The crew of Artemis aren’t as ground breaking as Neil Armstrong and his crew but they aren’t that far off. Exploring our galaxy has for too long been the stuff of science fiction, but with this trip we can only hope that NASA and those capable of developing space flight can take us further than we ever imagined. Taking us to places and discovering new worlds that may one day enable us to connect with those that might be out there or at explore planets that humans can only day live on.

Safe travels Artemis 2 it’s another small step for man but a giant leap for mankind.

Could Trump drop nukes?

I never want Hoodies to be the place for sensationalism but could the idea of Trump dropping nukes on Iran be a possibility? An article in the Age suggested that Trump could at the very least be preparing the military with language usage that would make it easier for the military to carry out his orders, ie to nuke Iran.

In all honesty having lived through the 80’s when everyone was talking about the threat of nuclear war nuclear weapons haven’t really factored into much of my consciousness of late, until now. Trump is obviously all about Trump and a couple of well positioned Nuclear weapons on Iran would indeed do as he has promised, wipe out Iran, but he wouldn’t would he? 

It was always the case that nuclear war was about a Russia and America, but this one isn’t. It’s basically about one big nation obliterating a small one, resilient yes, but small nonetheless. If the US did drop a nuclear weapon on Iran two questions; who’s going to hold the US to account and then will Trump care?

You can’t help but think Trump thought the whole Iran invasion thing would be over quite quickly, but instead Iran have resisted and haven’t been the push over they were meant to be. This has been a major issue for Trump, not only is looking bad, he’s sent global economies into a tail spin so he needs a number of things to go very right from here on in. But what if Iran continue to fight and what if Netanyahu says he needs to take out Lebanon? Then what? Is the US prepared to drop nukes on Lebanon because Benjamin told them to?

It’s not quite the 80’s nuclear weapons war, how big is your dick competition but if things don’t improve in Iran soon will Trump pull the biggest trigger on the planet and send us into a nuclear winter just to save face. In Trumps world we can never know we just hope it doesn’t get that far.

Get real about the world 

As parents we want to protect our kids from the realities of the world. We want to teach them the realities and we never want to see them suffer, but the cold hard reality of the world is that it can be a horrible place, it can put you on your ass and if you don’t have the ability to bounce back from adversity it will leave you there. 

Wars are not places any of us want to go but there are those that will kill and maim their enemies at any opportunity. In Australia we want to give people the opportunity to live and be who they want, but if a trans person goes to certain places and states who and what they are then they’ll be killed. The same with religion if you go to the wrong country and profess your beliefs to the wrong god then you will not survive.

We here in the west and Australia seem to hold people to different standards than to those who will cut the heads off anyone they feel is a threat. Now that’s all very nice and moralistic but how do we fight against those who will stop at nothing for the sake of a cause? 

It’s the same with climate change. I mean look at the fuel crisis, yes Trump has blown up the world economy but Australia barely has enough fuel for the farmers because the federal government has had one eye on pursuing renewable energy sources. A good portion of the world has a lot more fuel in reserve and yet here in Australia we seem to be on this evangelical crusade to absolutely nowhere over the sake of inner city woke votes or lobby groups who have money to make.

Why is it that we here in Australia seem closed off to how the real world works? Why are we heaping pressure on our farmers when they could be easily looked after with tax exemptions, fuel discounts and transport discounts? Why are we so beholden to net zero when it obviously fools gold and impossible to achieve? And why is there an SASR soldier sitting in a jail cell accused of war crimes? 

The world is not rainbows and unicorns but it seems to sell newspapers and get eye balls on content and sadly we are all the worse for it. It’s time to get real!

Why are we allowing ai to take over?

Writer, podcaster, journalist and Ai expert Karen Hao recently posed a very serious question about Ai, why are we allowing technology and in this case Ai to take away the use of humans? The role of technology in modern society isn’t to eradicate humans it is support society and to enhance it. Sadly though it appears that at every opportunity the latest generation of tech nerds get their focus is to get rid of the human element, why is that?

I have to say that I think Ai in particular Claude is extraordinary, yes it’s a mega version of Google but its ability to offer clear concise feedback on specific tasks is far beyond anything I’ve ever seen. For me to get the feedback I have now from Claude would’ve previously come from an external consultant. Someone with a marketing degree or a business degree that understood news and media, a very specific skill set, so in that way I am complicit in taking tasks away from humans, but it’s the bigger picture that’s really worrying.

Yes we can turn to Ai for help on a range of tasks but consulting firms adapt and will now doubt be experts in Ai pretty quickly but what about low skilled jobs? What about manufacturing jobs, where skill is required but where technology and Ai can and is replacing human labour? Why are we allowing Ai companies to build machines that enable automation on such a scale and that seems to have zero accountability?

Data centres that suck water and energy at alarming rates are being built on any spare price of land available with the support of governments, and yet aren’t we supposed to be moving to renewable energy sources? How do we do that when our energy sector isn’t ready to do so? How are governments supporting the massive growth of Ai when it will ultimately lead to job losses? Is it money? Is it lobby groups? What? 

Ai can at the moment only learn and expand on what it’s taught my humans. Yes it’s ability to compute and analyse data is already beyond what 99% of humans are capable of but it can’t cure cancer, it can’t solve the great issues of humanity but will it be able to? And why is it a case of western Ai developers saying it has to be their way or it’ll be the evil Chinese that take over the world?! 

Ai is unquestionably a growing part of society and is already having profound impacts on our lives but like all forms of new technology we need a real plan for it. Governments are not good at planning and not good at thinking about the future but with Ai they need to be. If they’re not Ai will force mass job losses and put pressure on government services they were never designed to handle. Yes we need to embrace Ai but we need it to serve us and not the other way around.

What happened to us?

It’s very hard to look at the world at the moment and pull some positivity out of it. Everywhere you turn there’s division, war, hatred, protests, poverty, struggle and violence.

At 54 I remember football, meat pies, kangaroos and Holden cars. A country that in celebrated its bicentennial with more pride and sheer joy than today seems incomprehensible. A country that had a PM that was one of us when Australia II won the America’s Cup, a country that thrived as being seen as the underdog and out performed itself at every opportunity on the global stage. But what happened?

Where did the Australia I loved go? Remember when the wogs proudly wore their crown as the Monaro driving slick haired boys from the northern suburbs? The Italians and the Greeks who’d work their arses off in pizza shops, cafes, cake shops and concreting businesses to provide for their families. Australia wouldn’t be what it is today without migrants but we seemed to have stuffed that up as well!

Standing at the footy in the outer packed in like sardines replaced with extortionate prices for admission along with armed security guards, barriers, limits on booze, no smoking and phone numbers up to report poor behaviour to. Cameras everywhere and the ever possible threat of a terrorist attack. 

Today we have an NDIS program that is broken beyond repair, we have migrant populations that come to the country unable to work and in need of housing we simply don’t have. We have a cost of living crisis left to run rampant by wildly incompetent politicians who pander to woke minorities for the sake of votes and we have a new generation of people who are struggling with bills let alone ever owning a home.

Now to the nay sayers who will no doubt say you’re full of shit, this is the greatest country in the world and it’s still lucky for some of that you’re right. We can get free health care, we are free to move around how we want, we do have access to clean water and food but I’d say to those people remember when we were so much more? So much prouder? Less divided? Happier? 

I want the Australia I loved back and so do more and more of us and we must never give up on bringing back some much needed pride to the lucky country.

Joe Bogan and the future of radio

There are a lot of podcasts in Australia wanting to be the next Joe Rogan. While some have done an ok job in taking up the mantle of being a comedian turned journalist turned political analyst turned expert on everything and MMA fighter the man who is really about to become Australia’s answer to Rogan is our very own Joe Bogan, aka Karl Stefanovic. Karl does have some decent street cred when it comes to journalistic integrity given he’s been on the Today show for the last 55 years! Ok it’s not that long but he’s been around.

Karl, despite his mega salary from Channel 9 is one of those rare people who still has the ability to connect with the average punter. The late great Shane Warne had the same thing, Karl I’m sure isn’t on the great man’s level but nonetheless he’s got this unquestionable ability to connect to people no matter who they are or what they do.

Karl it would seem has been planning his Today show exit for some time now given he’s has started his own podcast but off the back of that has now apparently signed on with Kyle and Jackie O’s former employer ARN. It’s not immediately clear what Karl will be doing with ARN but it’s surely going to be a bigger version of his already successful podcast. Will Karl keep the podcast and do the morning show or just the Podcast it’s not clear but what is clear is that off the back of ARN’s disastrous dealings with Kyle Sandilands they want the bloke who can rebuild the network!

Out of all the podcasters, out of all the radio people it’s Stefanovic that’s the one that could indeed become the Aussie Joe Rogan. The only other person who could is Ross Stevenson from 3AW but I’m not sure the AM legend could be bothered and given his extreme wit and intelligence I suspect he’d end up running rings around anyone he didn’t find interesting.

So what does the future hold for Joe Bogan? It remains to be seen, but what is true, the airwaves of Australia are in for a massive shake up!

Influencers and misinformation 

As the world struggles with the cost of living crisis and now a fuel crisis the influencer seems to be shifting its attention to the cost of goods. Now there’s no doubt that things cost more money but there are now a number of social media users using their platforms to garner outrage by highlighting pricing in supermarkets.

Supermarkets are unquestionably blood sucking parasites but that we have the so called influencers running around supermarket isles highlighting cost of high end items reeks of people wanting to grow a following rather than offer any kind of real support and criticism in a crisis. But the role of the influencer begs the question are we over the influence of the deluded influencer?

A recent post from a luxury car dealer showed the car retailer receiving a call from said influencer who said she wanted a car in return for her postings on her socials. The person was quite upset when the car retailer wouldn’t hand over the keys to a $200,000 Porsche for the suggested postings and you have to say, I’m not sure real celebrities would ever ask such a thing. Yes there are sportspeople who receive cars, watches etc in brand deals but they’re mega famous! Yes there are a select few social media personalities who can demand product for posts but they’re again in short supply and yet businesses seem beholden to some of these so called influencers.

Now I am not a 25 year with a social media following of 50,000 neither do I want to be but if you’re thinking that any of these people can help your business then you are kidding yourself. There was a young man recently who decided to host an in person signing for his 150,000 followers, no one showed up. And herein is the thing while trends can emerge online and then go viral influencers don’t actually have real influence instead they’re just a bunch of free loading wannabes who don’t really have anything to contribute to your business.

If influencers are in your business plan you’re on the wrong track, you absolutely need to be posting on your socials and you unquestionably need a plan to role your brand out but you do not need any kind of influencer validation. 

What the influencer does do very well is propagate misinformation which comes back to supermarket pricing and it does nothing but increase discontent in a modern society that doesn’t need any more bullshit in it!

The rescues of rescues 

When a US Airforce F15 fighter jet was shot down over Iran the US military knew they had a race on their hands to find the pilots and save them from a horrific end. When the plane did hit the ground the first pilot was recovered relatively quickly but the second wasn’t so lucky. A bounty of $100,000 USD was put on the head of the remaining pilot and so we saw images and video of Iranian farmers and workers setting off in search of the missing pilot who was to no doubt be paraded in front of the world had he been captured by any of them.

The US military scoured the areas surrounding the crash site with satellites and surveillance equipment developing a rescue plan for when the pilot appeared on their gear. The pilot who like all US fighter pilots had been trained in evasion tactics was managing to stay ahead of the Iranians while the US military prepared to bring him home.

When the pilot made contact with the search team the US military had members of their special forces ready to go in and save him. An aerial assault was carried out on the surrounding area near where the pilot had signalled from and the special forces team went in on the ground to grab the pilot, get him onboard assisting black hawk helicopters and then get the hell out of the area.

It really is the stuff of a Chris Ryan book or a spy movie but the US were very much committed to finding this pilot, not only for the personal safety of the man himself but because they were not going to allow a member of the US Military to be used as leverage or as a pawn in a game.

This is the second time in a year that the US Special Forces have been used with precision and timing. What we can only assume was Delta Force in both instances the first was the capture of Venezuelan President Nicholas Maduro and the second now the F15 Pilot. 

We may not agree with Trumps war on Iran or many of his other decisions but the members of the US special forces are to be commended for their skill and bravery as they save one of their own…not that any of us will ever know who they are.

Trump wants $1.5 TRILLION for the Military

As Trump continues to destroy the global economy even if the right wingers suggest he’s doing a great job he’s asked Congress for a staggering $1.5 trillion for military spending.

Just as an FYI that is $1,500,000,000,000…

If we just ask ourselves what the world could do with $1.5 trillion we could,

• Eradicate malaria
• Give the world access to clean water and sanitation 
• Fund basic education 
• Fund healthcare in poorer countries 
• Build affordable housing 

And yet, the US wants to spend all of it on their military forces. Not only do they want to drop that much money on the defence budget they’re going to take money away from the US education system to fund it. The republicans plan is to leave education up to the states and for it to have less burden on the federal government, I mean who needs education when you’ve got the biggest guns?! Did someone say the need for a gun is as a result of lacking something somewhere else? I digress…

The point is that while the US seems to be fighting a war in Iran it hasn’t yet won despite all its military strength why does it need more money than ever before to fight wars that do not need to be fought? 

The US king of war, Pete Hegseth has in the last day or so sacked three high ranking US generals, one of who was leading the Iranian conflict, but now? Boom, relieved of his duties, why is that? War not moving fast enough? Things not going as well as they had thought they would? Who knows but as the world suffers because of these warmongers beating their chests and demanding more than a trillion dollars to move onto the next war, we are the ones that really suffer, oh and the people who get killed with the military firepower, they don’t like it very much either…what a fucking farce! $1.5 trillion! And what a waste of money.

Time for blokes to grow up!

I fully admit that I have made some terrible decisions in my life that have fucked a lot of things up. The three vices I had were, booze, smoking cigarettes and women. A combination of the three saw me throw my life away more than once. Yes as an adult I had to come to terms with the issues I’d had as a kid, including abuse, neglect and lack of care and yes it took the help of my second wife to get me through but through I came! 

In everything I had to face I never once played the mental health card, I never once played the victim, I never once blamed anyone but myself for the things I fucked up. I have never played the hero, don’t want and have never wanted any kind of pat on the back for overcoming what I did it’s always been about head down get sorted and bounce back. But look over at the blokes currently in the headlines for all the wrong reasons and how many of them play the victim when they’ve smacked the wife in the mouth? Said it wasn’t my bag of coke? Couldn’t take the responsibility for something offensive? Couldn’t just take the blame for an indiscretion and blamed mental health issues?

The world is full of mental health organisations nowadays, full of tough guy courses for men wanting to finding themselves, full of motivational speakers who say it’s 4am ice baths and journaling that will bring you back. Blokes do what you’ve got to do, be part of whatever organisation you want but stop bull shitting yourselves and those around you. 

Mental health is a serious issue, especially at the moment, people are indeed struggling but to make real change in your life you have to be honest with yourself and you have to be the one who wants to change. Any addict will tell you it wasn’t til they wanted to change did anything happen. For me, it wasn’t til I was capable of acknowledging the past could I heal and change. 

Go to rehab, talk to your mates, go on he-man courses, do whatever you’ve got to do to ensure change but don’t bullshit yourself because if you do you may as well just go get another baggie and head for the party because you are fucked. Get real, stop bullshitting yourself and grow up, it’s not rocket science and it’s not easy but if you can do all three things you’re on the path to becoming a better human.