110 billion’th Dan

Dan Andrews has resigned as the Premier of Victoria. He did not, before doing so, trouble to repay the $110 billion of taxpayer’s money that he had overspent during his term in office.

When he came into power, the State debt was some $23 billion. Mr Andrews increased that sixfold to some $135 billion. The commitments that Mr Andrews made mean that the debt is estimated to expand to $239 billion before a start can be made on reigning it in. The population of Victoria is around 6 ½ million.  In other words, Mr Andrews has saddled the citizens of Victoria with a debt of some $36,000 for every man, woman and child.  For a typical Victorian with a wife and two or three kids to support, that is a burden of some $150,000, which that taxpayer has to service before he can do anything to look after himself and his family.

Bizarrely, Mr Andrews remained really quite popular. But then again, so did Joseph Stalin, who condemned Russia to ¾ of a century of decline and poverty. And so did Fidel Castro, who, in half a century, turned Cuba from one of the richest countries in the Caribbean to one of the poorest. And so did Mao Zedong, who was responsible for even more deaths than the Austrian gentleman whose name we do not mention.

There is no doubt that Mr Andrews was a skilled politician. His particular skill appears to have been in eliminating from the political scene, and from the public service, anyone who questioned his iron grip on power.

Shoot the Fox

Something which we have learned this week whether we wanted to or not (and probably not) is that Laurence Fox does not want to go to have sex with the feminist journalist Ava Evans.

This is unsurprising news, but it is really not something which Lozza needed to tell us. It was unnecessary and ungallant of him to have done so.  Even more ungallant in light of his language: “Who would want to shag that?”

And so he has been suspended by GB News, and will presumably be dismissed? Also suspended is Dan Wootton, who was interviewing Lozza at the time. He tried to come to the lady’s aid, but not until he had succumbed to an involuntary snort of amusement.  Lots of things are funny even when they are entirely inappropriate, and whilst we should not condone rudeness, it is a bit harsh to punish people who cannot help laughing.  As it happens, Dan Wootton is homosexual, and so he would not have wanted to have sex with Ava Evans either, one presumes.

Lozza has declined to apologise, although he has acknowledged that he had been “a bit crass”. It was never very likely that he would emerge as the leader of free speech and good sense, and this event relegates such a possibility into even more extreme improbability.

The Voice in Law

Clearly, The Voice – currently being proposed by way of referendum in Australia – is an exercise in racial discrimination. That is the whole point of it. The idea is to provide a governmental and administrative opportunity for descendants of aboriginal people which is not available for other Australians.

Nobody can doubt that Australian aborigines have done less well than Europeans over the last few thousand words, on pretty much any metric you might suggest. They still do less well today than white Australians. And few would doubt that we could and should lend them a helping hand. Views are sharply divided, however, as to whether The Voice is the right way of going about it.

This post takes a look at the legality of the thing. Obviously, if the referendum were to be passed and the consequent laws enacted, then it would be legal, at any rate as a matter of domestic law. But is it legal under the law as it stands today? And what is likely to be its legal effect?

We start with

Ooni wins

I am very impressed by my Ooni pizza oven.  An excellent piece of kit.

I am also very impressed by their after sales service. My oven developed problem after a while. I asked Ooni about a spare part, but no: they wanted it back in order, I believe, to thoroughly investigate the problem and make sure it is ironed out for the future. And promptly sent me a replacement.

Not quite so impressed by my Heston Blumenthal Everdure barbecue. It worked fine out of the box, but before long it developed a short, so that it pops the fuse every time I try to light it with its internal lighting mechanism.  I can and do still light it with firelighters.  The best that Everdure has been able to do is to recommend a repair shop that is 64 km away.

Crossing a line

I might as well confess that, in my heart, I really have very little understanding as to why government agencies feel it necessary to tell people which side of the pavement they have to walk.

Even less do I understand why they feel it necessary in some places, not merely to paint a dotted line on the pavement, and instructions to walk on the left, but a solid white line. Which presumably means that those are places where we are not allowed to overtake.