About

Glen - Breakfast Host

And what a week it was.

Deja vu as Indonesia announces it has killed Nordin Mohammad Top - again. This time, they say, it’s for real. Every little bit helps.

Barack Obama shows an independent streak as he axes the Bush Administration’s ambitious plans for a missile defence shield in Europe. He’s come out swinging this week giving a number of big speeches showing some of the fire and rhetoric that inspired people to elect him in the first place. Not sure it will be enough to win over some of his more fierce critics in the States. Still, every little bit helps.

Am I the only one who thinks winning the one day cricket series against England ( 6-0 at this point) is small consolation for losing the Ashes ? Funny how we only really pay attention to the many pyjama games when we’re winning - THEN they matter. Small beer in the grander scheme of things. Some good young players like Tim Paine and Callum Ferguson have emerged though - every little bit helps.

Politics as usual this week was only broken by the unexpected appointment of Brendan Nelson as an ambassador to what seems like a dozen or so organisations in Europe. Have to wonder about the reaction of some of the long serving Labor faithful to all this gesture politics by the PM. Still it gave a rare sense of bipartisanship to Canberra, and that’s a rare thing these days.
Every little bit helps.

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Mark - Breakfast EP

Paul O’Connell presents Sport on NewsRadio Breakfast on Fridays, Saturdays & Sundays.

If you’ve listened to Paul for any length of time, you’ll know he’s a die-hard South Sydney Rabbitohs supporter, who doesn’t mind a spot of golf either.

What you probably don’t know is that Paul is also Australia’s most successful racing tipster.

In fact P.O’C. has a 100 percent win record.

It’s strike rate better-known turf pundits can only dream of.

The fact he has only ever given one race tip on air…a tip which won…has only made O’Connell more determined to preserve his perfect record.

Cunningly put on the spot on-air earlier this year for a tip by his Weekends cohort, Mike Gardiner, O’Connell bravely declined to take the Fifth Amendment, calmly stating, “I’ll get back to you next sports bulletin”.

Knowing he couldn’t “Ask the Audience” and not having a “50/50″ option, P.O’C wisely “Phoned a Friend” who he thought might have some Late Mail on that Saturday’s Sandown meeting, before sagely returning to the microphone half an hour later.

No-one was more relieved than P.O’C. when his “hot tip” won.

Anxious not to send every bookie in Australia broke or spoil the atmosphere at Caulfield, the nation’s most successful tipster will resist the temptation tomorrow morning to name the winner of the Group One Underwood Stakes — the curtain-raiser to Victoria’s Spring Racing Carnival — in advance.

However, if you ARE looking for a winner for the Caulfield or Melbourne Cups, the W.S. Cox Plate, the Oaks or the Caulfield Guineas this Spring, you need to stay tuned to ABC NewsRadio for more information on “Weekend Half-time at the Races” — our special Spring racing edition of Australia’s only truly national radio sports program.

Weekend Half-Time’s resident turf fanatic, Scott Wales, will be joined by veteran racing journalist and broadcaster Max Presnell and racing author/ enthusiast Helen Thomas for the complete run-down on the Spring Racing Carnival.

And don’t forget, if you live in Sydney, Brisbane, Canberra or Newcastle — ABC NewsRadio is your home of live AFL Finals coverage..starting tonight with an absolute corker — St. Kilda versus the Western Bulldogs.

Tomorrow night….will the Cats eat the Magpies….or will Geelong get a Pie-in-the-Eye?

Thanks this week to Steve Chase, Fi Ellis-Jones, Steve Cannane, Laura Tchilingurian, Mike Gardiner and Anna Hipsley for all their help on Brekkie.

Have a good weekend…and don’t touch that dial!

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Fiona Ellis-Jones - Out of Africa:

What on earth would inspire a 30-something Melbournite to move to the number one failed state in the world? A country which has not had a functioning government for 18 years? A country that continues to be blighted by a catastrophic level of daily violence.

This week on Out of Africa we speak to Jake Simkin, who’s done exactly that.

Jake has lived and worked in some of the world’s most dangerous hotspots. Most recently, the Australian freelance cinematographer and photo-journalist was based in Kabul. But then he decided Afghanistan was feeling a little too safe and he wanted “more chaos” in his life. So he bought a one-way ticket to Somalia!

Jake tells us how he was inspired by the memory of his friend’s brother, a journalist who was killed in Mogadishu in 1993.

“He was one of those unfortunates who happened to be embedded with the US Marines in a helicopter. The people tore him up and put him up on display parading his body to the world that seemed helpless to do anything. Everyone left Mogadishu to its doom.”

Armed with nothing more than a camera, Jake’s hoping to draw attention to the plight of Somalia’s forgotten victims. The children.

As he’s done throughout his travels, he sells his photographs and uses the proceeds to help fund the building of new schools through his own non-for-profit group. Jake also gives cameras to these children, so they can record their own stories.

You can hear Jake Simkin’s interview on Out of Africa this Sunday at 12 EST.