Author: sam

Words are like weapons. We use them every day, we know not the way they impact on others. We remain silent when we ought o speak out, we speak out when we should hold out peace. This is an attempt to get it right.
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Alex Carey did not cheat. But Steve Smith did, at Newlands in 2018

As Steve Smith makes his 100th Test appearance at Headingley — the game started at 8pm AEST on Thursday — an attempt is being made to rehabilitate a man who brought Australian cricket into disrepute at Newlands, South Africa, in 2018.

Crocodile tears? Steve Smith on the verge of tears at Sydney Airport on his return from South Africa after the sandpaper incident. Courtesy ABC News
Crocodile tears? Steve Smith on the verge of tears at Sydney Airport on his return from South Africa after the sandpaper incident. Courtesy ABC News

The Australian’s Peter Lalor writes that Smith was joking with his colleagues when the incident with Jonny Bairstow in the second Ashes Test at Lords occurred and the crowd started chanting “cheat” at the Australian players.

Apparently, Smith thought the team would now understand how he had felt after the Newlands incident, when Australian Cameron Bancroft was caught on live TV using sandpaper to scuff up the ball.

There’s a big difference, a gap as wide as can be, between the two incidents. Continue reading “Alex Carey did not cheat. But Steve Smith did, at Newlands in 2018”

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ABC reduced to running American propaganda on Four Corners

The level to which Australia’s government-funded media corporation, the ABC, has sunk is illustrated by the fact that in a slot reserved for its main investigative stories, it ran an American propaganda documentary from the American publicly-funded outlet PBS on 3 July.

Vladimir Putin.
Vladimir Putin.

Titled “Putin and the Presidents”, the documentary made no effort to disguise itself, conveniently leaving out masses of context in its bid to paint the Russian president as the villain supreme.

It covers Putin’s interactions with American presidents from Bill Clinton onwards, painting the American leaders as trying to get along with the Russian president, while he did everything to spoil relationships.

One can understand the American obsession with Putin; at the moment, he is the administration’s bete noire, standing between Washington and NATO membership for Ukraine. Continue reading “ABC reduced to running American propaganda on Four Corners”

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ChatGPT on the incident in the second Ashes Test

The hype around AI is everywhere but the actual power of this technology is far from what it is made out to be.

I often experiment with ChatGPT and here is what this great piece of tech was able to produce about THE incident in the second Ashes Test between England and Australia.

Jonny Bairstow leaving the field after Alex Carey effected a stumping.
Jonny Bairstow leaving the field after Alex Carey effected a stumping.

My query: Write an article about the incident in the second Ashes Test.

What ChatGPT spat out:
Title: The Ashes Unveil Unforgettable Drama: A Recap of the Second Test’s Epic Incident

Introduction:
The Ashes, the historic cricket rivalry between Australia and England, has always been a showcase of intense competition, raw talent, and nail-biting moments. However, the second Test of the latest Ashes series will be remembered not only for the fierce battle between the bat and ball but also for an incident that shook the cricketing world to its core. In a moment that will forever be etched in cricketing folklore, an unforeseen turn of events unfolded, leaving fans, players, and pundits in awe and disbelief. Continue reading “ChatGPT on the incident in the second Ashes Test”

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When it comes to Ukraine, David Speers forgets he is a journalist

David Speers, the ABC employee who hosts the Insiders political current affairs show on Sunday morning, is not known for being afraid to confront his guests during an interview. He interrupts them frequently, always trying to get a point across and validate a narrative that he has.

But in front of Ukrainian Ambassador Vasyl Myroshnychenko on 2 July, Speers was like a lamb, never asking the envoy anything that would cut across the latter’s view of the Ukraine war — obviously a sympathetic one — and seemingly unable to ask even a single contradictory question.

There was plenty to question Myroshnychenko about: for example, there have been a number of reports that a bid for peace between Russia and Ukraine in April-May last year was quashed by the intervention of Boris Johnson at the instigation of the US. Continue reading “When it comes to Ukraine, David Speers forgets he is a journalist”

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Lehrmann’s Channel 7 interview does not show him in a good light

Ever since former Liberal Party adviser Brittany Higgins alleged, in an interview with the news.com.au website on 15 February 2021, that she had been raped in Parliament House by a colleague in early 2019, the story has rarely been out of the news. The colleague, who was later revealed to be one Bruce Lehrmann, has always denied the charge.

Image by helen35 from PixabayThe case went to a jury trial in 2022 but a juror was caught in possession of material that compromised his/her status as a jury member and a mistrial was declared. The prosecutor said later that a second trial would not be held as it would be detrimental to Higgins’ mental health.

Since then, there has been a ding-dong battle in the media, with Higgins’ supporters and Lehrmann’s supporters trading barbs. Lehrmann refused to testify in court during the trial, but suddenly decided to give an interview to Channel Seven on 5 June. Continue reading “Lehrmann’s Channel 7 interview does not show him in a good light”

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14 years after civil war ended, Sri Lanka is still feeling the effects

Fourteen years ago, the civil war between Sri Lanka’s armed forces and the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam came to a bloody end, with the government shooting dead, in cold blood, a slew of Tiger officials who had neogtiated a surrender and were making their way across a lagoon, holding up white flags.

This act of bastardry was what enabled the government to show the dead visage of Tiger leader Velupillai Prabhkaran on TV, signalling that the conflict, which had run for 26 years, was finally over.

There were claims and counter-claims after the war ended, with both sides accused of war crimes. But because Sri Lanka is of little importance in the global scheme of things, there has been no push internationally for investigation of these claims.

The country has been left to stew in its own juice. Continue reading “14 years after civil war ended, Sri Lanka is still feeling the effects”

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Liberal Party is still stuck in the white picket-fence era

Last weekend, Australia’s Liberal Party made history by losing a by-election to the government, something that had not happened for more than 100 years.

The seat in question, Aston, in the outer-east of Melbourne, had fallen vacant due to the retirement of the sitting member, Alan Tudge. The two main parties, Labor and Liberal, both put up female candidates.

The Labor candidate, Mary Doyle, obtained 53.62% of the vote, while the loser, Roshena Campbell, won 46.38%. Continue reading “Liberal Party is still stuck in the white picket-fence era”

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Voice questions: Dutton is either lying or else he cannot read

Australian Opposition leader Peter Dutton is either lying or else is unable to read. Those are the only two reasons why he has been asking questions about the detail of the Voice.

It took me just half-an-hour this morning to answer all his questions. I had to refer to just one website.

As Senator Patrick Dodson has said, the Australian people are being asked to vote “on principle, not on detail”. Continue reading “Voice questions: Dutton is either lying or else he cannot read”

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Will a ninth country join the list of World Cup winners?

The World Cup football tournament has been played since 1930, with a break forced by the second World War, but only eight countries have emerged winners at the 21 competitions.

The 22nd competition kicked off in the Persian Gulf state of Qatar on November 20. The competition is the biggest as far as TV viewership goes, outdoing even the Olympics. It is watched in more countries than the Games.

Brazil have won the trophy on five occasions, the most recent being in 2002, and finished runners-up twice. Germany is next, with four wins, three as West Germany, and one, in 2014, after unification. Continue reading “Will a ninth country join the list of World Cup winners?”

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Credlin doco indicates Libs growing desperate as Vic election looms

With elections in the state of Victoria just a week away, politicians are in a feverish mood as they try to rustle up support to win their seats.

The rush to push their barrows has been sped up no end after early voting started on 14 November and reports emerged of big numbers voting ahead of the election. More than 2.2 million of the state’s registered 4.4 million voters are expected to cast their votes before election day. The first four days of early voting saw 556,193 people exercise their franchise.

Thus one can understand why badly crafted election propaganda like a Sky News documentary titled The Cult of Dan Andrews are making an appearance. The opposition is desperate to make inroads into the Labor vote, but with a leader like Matthew Guy, who went backwards in the last election, the task ahead is like rolling a huge boulder up a mountain. Continue reading “Credlin doco indicates Libs growing desperate as Vic election looms”