Rudd aside...and the issues between them are well known through the Nigel Farage interview with Trump.
Do our own feelings regarding Trump cloud our judgement in some respects? I thought Albanese handled himself quite well in the meetings. He looks to have come away with some good results for the country. He hasn't antagonised Trump in any way He hasn't seemed to be anyting other than diplomatic. He was respectful without fawning. It will be largely spun as positive.
We don't need to 'shirt front' a bloke just to demonstrate bogus strength when we can achieve results through a good old sit-down.
Dunno Lods, I went to the same schools adjacent to Heidelberg West and Olympic Village as many former recidivists and received the same education, yet the outcome was different. Some people just keeping making poor choices and I reckon a lot of it comes down to poor parental guidance, but everyone has their pet theory
That's actually a good point Prof.
Why do some kids thrive in the same system while others fail? There is no doubt parental authority sometimes has little impact, but as I pointed out before that's largely through lack of parental skills. For some, 'parental control' manifests itself through physical abuse. Kids wont respond to that....they'll avoid it by running with their peers and avoiding home.
As to failure... There's a conversation a teacher in a JJ detention setting once had with a student
Teacher: We all have different things we can be good at. Student: We're good at crime. Teacher: No you're not! Good criminals don't get caught.
The fact is these kids have failed at most things. They've even failed at being criminals. I lost count of the number of kids I've taught who reached the age of 15-16 and were still unable to read. Failure at school leads them to avoiding a place of failure and finding alternative often anti-social activities.
The kids have failed, but the systems have failed them too. So there has to be a better way for these kids, something more intensive that gets them early, and works to divert them away from criminal activities, or at least provide them with skills to cope. It'll cost, but there won't be a lot of difference between the cost of those programs and the cost of locking them up.
I've said this before.... Punishing parents is futile. Many parents of young offenders have been in jail or are currently in jail. Many suffer from mental health issues. They are drug and alcohol dependent. Many are illiterate. Some intellectual disability or social inadequacy is common. They come from poor socio-economic backgrounds. They struggle to look after themselves, let alone their kids.
But here's the thing.... For the most part they do love and care about their kids. They want a better life for them. They just don't have the means or the ability to provide that.
Educated well off families don't provide a large percentge of kids in detention. It's the 'circle of crime'. And the current generation in detention will provide the next generation. Over the 40 years I spent in the system I've taught both parents and their children Often the same family names kept appearing.
The other issue is the value of incarceration. The Juvenile System is in many respects are 'Schools of Crime' as bonds are formed and strategies for offending are shared.
Kids reach a point when they reach about 18 where they choose a path. Many go on to lead productive lives...the others keep offending and spend much of their life in jail. Once in the system it's often too late. There are some offenders who definitely need to be kept in custody. But there are probably just as many who should never see the inside of a centre.
The answer doesn't lie with locking them all up. Keeping a kid in custody for a period is a surprisingly expensive strategy. Money that could be much better spent on pre-offending diversionary programs with many youngsters.
One of the features of demonstrations is this... Folks on the left will march and demonstrate. Those with extreme views on the right will march and demonstrate Moderate conservatives won't march or demonstrate. They don't feel rhe need because they're quite happy with the status quo.
It's why you can't draw much from protest numbers in terms of projecting election results.
I tend to think there was an issue with Young and Weitering at one stage. There was a rumour around a few years go to that effect and it coincided with Young dropping out of the side and returning when Weitering was absent. When Weitering was there and Young played it was more as a ruck than a defender. I've seen Weitering have a go at Young in one game, I've also seen him more recently giving him a "well done." Whatever issues there were, may have been resolved.
Understand that Young replaced Jones who Weitering could depend on, and who took a lot of the pressure off him. Suddenly Weitering's job was a whole lot harder and Young was a level below Jones in terms of support. There may have been a honeymoon period that first season but understandable that there may have been a bit of friction at some stage.
I think Jones is very much a confidence player. I think I mentioned it before, that I've seen him dominate a game at VFL level when his confidence was up...for a quarter. Then he got injured. I remember thinking at the time that this guy was much too good for VFL and was hoping he'd get a quick promotion back to the seniors...but the footy gods intervened. I actually like him as a forward and I don't think he's out of place there. Forward, Back, Ruck....we've lost one of those and need something similar. Hopefully he has a really good season.
Ley has always been a very average performer. She was always a stop gap. But the Liberals are so devoid of talent at the moment that the alternatives (mostly members of the National Right of the party) don't really appeal to the more centre-moderate voter, where elections are won and lost.
The collapse and division of the Liberal party is largely responsible for this. Get that back on track and the support for One Nation will dissipate overnight. I suspect a lot of angry LNP voters when asked the question will say 'One Nation' as a bit of an 'up yours' to the Libs There's probably also a number of voters who are seeing the voting success of the Republican party in the USA and think that sort of thinking can translate to our politics...and it's probably a fact that there is the same core 20-30% of Australians who do think along those lines. One Nation will not be a significant political influence at the next election. In fact it will probably divide the Conservative vote, if the Libs don't wake up to themselves.
You would hope all the guys that weren't fully committed have now moved on. The reality is that is unlikely, but it may be that those that are left will fall into line... if the player leadership is strong.
There was some talk that the loss of Owies and Kennedy, plus the failure to pick up Houston, may have been the cause of some discontent as some of the older players felt the opportunity for ultimate success for them was slipping away and the club was turning more to a youth foucus If those feelings still exist in some then the loss of DeKoning, Silvagni and Curnow will harden those. They will need to be turned around and see everyone working for the same goal.
The USA has a very clumsy republican system and an electoral process that is open to manipulation and maladministration. There's simply no way that a senile, misogynistic, bankrupted grifter could be endorsed by any of our mainstream political parties and win an election, at any level, let alone become president and claim sweeping powers that are most likely unconstitutional. And we can all be very thankful for that.
We're not completely immune.... Labor stalwart Mark Latham was nearly PM A simple handshake brought him undone.
I suggest Maria doesn't get on a Venezuelan boat for the next little bit.
Quote
"Machado is receiving the Nobel Peace Prize first and foremost for her efforts to advance democracy in Venezuela," the committee said. "But democracy is also in retreat internationally. Democracy -- understood as the right to freely express one’s opinion, to cast one’s vote and to be represented in elective government -- is the foundation of peace both within countries and between countries."
Save yourself Norway and Nobel Committee. We will understand.
Previous recipients of the Nobel Peace Prize include Henry Kissinger and Barack Obama. A joke of an award if ever there was one.
I think the 'worthy' recipients kind of outweigh the less worthy by some margin...and all have made a significant achievement in the year they won it. Whatever his motives, and we can guess at those being of a self centred nature, Trump's involvement has helped this process to this point. But I'm not sure it will be enough for him to be rewarded. And I'm more dubious of a lasting peace once the hostages are released.
