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.

Glen - Breakfast Host

I mentioned the New York Times yesterday. Continuing the media theme…

A study this week said public trust in the US media is eroding and increasing numbers of Americans believe news coverage is inaccurate and biased.

Just 29 per cent of the 1506 adults surveyed by the Pew Research Centre for the People and the Press in July said news organisations generally get the facts straight.

Sixty-three percent said news stories are often inaccurate and that’s up from 34 percent from a similar survey more than 20 years ago.

Sixty percent said the press is biased - up from 34 percent in 1985.

I hasten to add most respondents were referring to TV and newspapers - not that trusted source - radio.

Meanwhile, the International Press Institute says it is ’shocked” that Spanish prosecutors have demanded that a journalist be slapped with a three-year jail term for allegedly revealing state secrets.

Apparently, Antonio Rubio of the El Mundo newspaper wrote an article that contained lengthy excerpts from internal memos that were leaked from Spain’s anti-terror unit dealing with warnings given to Spanish authorities three years before the Madrid train bombings in 2004. Sensitive stuff obviously.

Today’s wire story :

Paul McCartney topped a poll of Americans’ favorite Beatles, but nearly a quarter of those surveyed said they didn’t like the British rock group.

And 3 percent of the 4,837 American adults questioned in the survey said they didn’t know the Fab Four’s music well enough to make a decision.

Nearly 30 percent of Americans questioned in the poll selected McCartney, compared to 16 percent who chose John Lennon, 10 percent for George Harrison and 9 percent for Ringo Starr.

“Americans over 30 and those over 65 love Paul,” said John Zogby, the CEO of Zogby International which conducted the survey.

“It must be the crazy love songs and ‘Yesterday’. Interestingly, John is the main answer for people who never go to church,” he added.

Most of those who were not familiar with the Fab Four’s music were 70 or older.
The Beatles, arguably the most successful band ever, are enjoying a resurgence in sales as fans scramble for the group’s digitally remastered reissues.

The Beatles sold 626,000 albums during the week ended Sept. 13, according to tracking firm Nielsen SoundScan, nearly as much as their total, until last week, for this year.

“Abbey Road” and “Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band” were among the best sellers.

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Mark - Breakfast EP

Scott Wales had a particular spring in his step when he breezed into the ABC NewsRadio office yesterday.

When I turned a raised eyebrow in his direction, he was quick to explain.

“First Group One race of the Spring Racing Carnival this Saturday!” my equine-mad colleague offered.

Officially Australia’s premier race-fest doesn’t begin until the 30th of September, but this weekend’s 1800 metre Underwood Stakes at Caulfield is the ultimate curtain raiser, featuring two Melbourne Cup Winners (Viewed, Efficient), a Caulfield Cup winner (Master O’Reilly) , and a mouth-watering array of current top performers, including Whobegotyou, Heart of Dreams, Vigor, Typhoon Tracy, Predatory Pricer and Scenic Shot.

No wonder Scott’s grinning from ear-to-ear.

You can be sure he and Debbie Spillane will dissect that race to bits this Sunday on Weekend Half-Time at 10am AEST on ABC NewsRadio.

But until Tuesday afternoon, there was a big cloud hanging over the Spring Racing Carnival, with jockeys threatening more industrial action unless the complicated rules governing the use of the whip in the final stages of a race were eased.

Under a deal hammered out between the Australian Jockeys Association and the body which regulates the rules of racing — the Australian Racing Board — jockeys can now use their discretion to strike their charges up to seven times consecutively in the final 100 metres to the post.

Jockeys and trainers insist the padded whips used don’t actually hurt, but serve as an important reminder to well-trained horses to stay focused in the crucial last seconds of a race.

Good then, issue solved…..

Except it’s not that simple, according to the CEO of Thoroughbred Breeders Australia, Peter McGauran.

The former Federal Agriculture Minister (whose long love-affair with horses and punting began when he was a boarder at Caulfield Grammar School and spent far too much time at the nearby racecourse) points out that there are still major racing integrity issues.

“What happens to the losing horse, particularly if its a narrow margin, whereby the winning rider exceeded the set limit of seven strikes…perhaps eight…nine…but the losing rider adhered to the rules of racing and only struck the horse seven times?” he told ABC NewsRadio.

As Peter McGauran points out, the stewards can take sanctions — including fines and suspension — against naughty jockeys who won with one or two too many strikes of the whip….but under the current rules….THE RACE RESULT STILL STANDS.

And as someone who doesn’t mind the occasional flutter (Editor’s Note: this is an understatement) — only to often see his favoured neddy beaten by a short half-head on the line - I reckon that’s a real problem.

————

By the way, if you’re wondering why we suddenly had to cross to the BBC at 8:16am AEST this morning, that was because the fire alarms started going off and a breathless security guard appeared telling us we had to evacuate the building…because - get this - there was a fire in the Fire Control Room.

The emergency was over in 10 minutes or so…just as well, because Glen was still trying to get out of the building….only to find the door he usually uses was locked.

Luckily the fire didn’t spread - don’t fancy working with singed presenter….

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Debbie - Sport

Got this message a short while ago from a mad Everton fan, who also happens to be the media manager for Gold Coast United in the A-League

Hi Debbie,
Woke up as usual to your dulcet tones this morning and listened in on the way to work also…. not sure if your listeners have got the message about Arsenal coming back from the abyss and nailing a win with two late goals - maybe you need to run that throughout the day to drive the message home!!
Almost an Arsenal catastrophe!
Cheers,
Neil

(OK, I will admit to giving Neil a tough time about Everton’s start to the season.)
Diplomatic relations are being maintained between NewsRadio and Gold Coast United though.

Their coach, Miron Bleiberg will be one of our guests on Weekend Half Time on Sunday morning.

Glen - Breakfast Presenter

Want to live next door to US President Barack Obama? AFP reports the colonial mansion next to his Chicago home is now available - for the right price.

So far, the real estate broker handling the sale won’t even guess at what that price might be… but says it would be somewhere in the (neighborhood) average of 1.2 to two million US dollars.

Apparently interest is high and phones have been ringing off the hook since the house was put on the market on Friday.

But anyone hoping for an invitation from Obama to shoot some hoops in the backyard or the chance to swap recipes with the First Lady might be disappointed.

Despite vowing to come home to Chicago as often as possible, the Obamas spend most of their time in Washington and have chosen Camp David and Martha’s Vineyard for recent holidays.

The new owners will also have to contend with roadblocks and screening by the Secret Service in what the real estate agent calls “the ultimate gated community.”

No sight-seeing allowed apparently. Viewings of the 6,000 square foot brick home will be scheduled only after potential buyers show they are financially capable of closing the deal.

That probably lets me out.

The Prez could probably do with some friendly neighbours as his colleagues in both Houses of Congress don’t look to be doing him any favours right now.

—
A quick web warning for news hounds :

The New York Times has warned readers of its website to beware of a virus masquerading as an advertisement.

The paper says some users of NYTimes.com encountered a pop-up box that warned them about a virus and directed them to go to a site that claims to offer anti-virus software.

The site itself is virus-like and hijacks a web browser making it appear a scan for viruses is running. It apparently affects PCs running Windows, not Apple computers.

This sounds exactly like some Malware that got me recently - don’t click on it and restart your browser. Hate this stuff.

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Marius - politics

Could you provide a definition for the following:
(a) the Talmud
(b) Kindle

I know the Talmud is a byword for complexity, but I had to check further with the Macquarie Dictionary to find that, more precisely, the Talmud is: “the two commentaries on the Mishnah.”

The “Mishnah” - again according to the Macquarie - is: “the collection of oral laws made by Judah ha-Nasi (AD c.135-c.220), which forms the basis of the Talmud.”

Seems a little circular. Not to worry….

I did know that “Kindle” was the electronic book produced by Amazon. It’s not available here yet, you have to get it from the US.

But it is an indication of the enthusiasm for technology and reading of one of our political leaders that he already has one in operation.

The leader in question is Malcolm Turnbull. Always an early adopter of technology, he was recently demonstrating the Kindle to some journalists - and the text he was using for the demonstration was the Talmud.

The anecdote brings together three of the enthusiasms of the opposition leader - technology, words and Jewish culture.

Some politicians have the narrowness that goes with the monomania needed to get on in public life. Malcolm Turnbull is a broader proposition.

For him there is life beyond politics - and it remains an open question whether he can reach the top of politics before returning to those wider interests.

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Debbie - Sport

Serena Williams appeared on “Good Morning America” overnight flogging, relentlessly and repetitively, her new autobiography “On The Line” (insert foot fault gag here!)

We lost count of the number of times she managed to mention the name of the book in the interview. So much so that it appears her promotional philosophy is very similar to her strategy for threatening line judges.

The plan is clearly to shove that #@*?^%! book right down our #@*?^%! throats.

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Mark - EP

Thanks very much to Alison Foskett who wrote us a nice email yesterday saying she’s enjoying “Brekkie Crumbs” (and no…Alison is not my mother!).

Thanks also to our loyal Breakfast audience who are obviously telling all their friends about the most informative, fast-paced Breakfast program on Australian radio, if the OZTAM ratings released yesterday are any guide….

If you’re a newbie to ABC NewsRadio Breakfast, here a quick thumbnail guide to what you can hear.

Between 5:30am and 9am AEST every week day, Glen Bartholomew presents a full ten-minutes news bulletin with comprehensive finance and weather information every half an hour. Immediately afterwards, Debbie Spillane or Paul O’Connell will give you Australia’s most comprehensive sports wrap-up.

Marius Benson’s along with a wrap of the nation’s newspapers at 5.55am and 6.55am AEST, his daily political chat with a member of the Canberra press gallery at 7.45am, plus interviews with politicians and opinion leaders.

Along the way, Glen will weave in more interviews and breaking news, and feature-length contributions from our ABC colleagues and our international broadcast partners — CNN, the BBC and Germany’s Deutsche Welle. He’ll check in with Washington for our daily U-S update at 6:15am AEST and get in-depth analysis on the overnight financial markets at 6:50am AEST from National Australia Bank’s Rob Henderson, Dave de Garis and Spiros Papadopoulos and Westpac’s man in London, James Shugg.

Plus, Paul Latter and his colleagues at the Australian Traffic Network are along with a national traffic update every half hour from 6:28am AEST.

A minor correction to my diatribe yesterday. I incorrectly referred to Dave Wright fom the Australian Traffic Network as “Dave Lane”. Apologies — Dave…..should’ve got that wright.

Debbie - Sport

During the first set of the US Open final between Roger Federer and Juan Martin del Potro this morning, I said on air that Federer was putting on a clinic … well del Potro is a very fast learner.

He absorbed what Federer showed him in that first set and powered back to beat the master in five sets. His forehand was brutal and Federer’s started to misfire.

Tennis always seems to have some new star on the horizon. The one that arrived today is a 198cm 20 year old from Argentina with a massive serve. At the presentation he towered over Federer - and that’s how it was on the court in that final set.

As Rafael Nadal said after losing to del Potro the other day “he moves well for a man of such altitude”.

….

The howls of disappointment in the NewsRadio office were blood curdling when the FoxSports coverage of the US Open dropped out as set point came up in the second set of this morning’s men’s final.

When the visual returned, the scoreboard showed Juan Martin del Potro had taken the set from Roger Federer. The technical difficulties at FoxSports continued, with regular apologies being posted about transmission problems. I’m sure the howls were even more blood-curdling at their headquarters

In the end, I think FoxSports had more breaks of service than either Federer or del Potro.

….

Also, a forgettable season for Hawthorn in the AFL continued, with the defending premiers not getting even one player in the 2009 All-Australian squad last night. A football coach once told me that the one thing harder to handle than failure is success.

The Hawks are a classic example of what he meant.

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Marius - Politics

The Westminster system of Parliamentary democracy is one of the great achievements of human endeavour.

Australia’s standing as one of the world’s oldest democracies may be our proudest national boast.

But some of the practices of Parliament are laughable - and many of them are on display in Question Time each sitting day.

Question Time is meant to be the sharp end of open government, the chance for the legislature to scrutinise the executive, the time when ministers must answer questions.

In fact, it is a time for the Government to say what it likes, virtually unhindered by an Opposition which can ask a question but can’t force an answer.

It was ever thus.

Liberal frontbencher Tony Abbott was so frustrated by the impotence of Opposition yesterday, he decided to take direct action to disrupt a government answer by standing in the TV camera shot as Julia Gillard spoke.

For his troubles, he was thrown out for 24-hours and outside he fumed about the complete corruption of Question Time.

He’s right. It is a contest where one side, the Government, controls the rules and appoints the referee.

Oppositions always develop an enthusiasm for reforming the rules to make it more equal, but that enthusiasm fades within days of winning power.

Tony Abbott concedes the Coalition was bad itself when in power; he only claims they weren’t as bad as Labor.

That’s arguable. What is not arguable is the need to reform Question Time. And why not start by scrapping “Dorothy Dixers”? Governments asking themself questions sounds like something out of the puppet parliaments of the old Eastern Bloc rather than a central part of one of the world’s oldest and healthiest democracies.

Other parliaments, including Westminster itself, have healthier question time practices - and it’s time for Australia to have a question time that actually produces answers.

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Mark - Breakfast EP

I wanted to talk a little bit about what we are trying to do here at NewsRadio. Our aim is to bring you news and information as soon as is possible. And when there’s a breaking news story of major interest to our listeners we try to give you as much information as possible, as quickly as we can — often from primary sources. We also strive to be accurate…. .but if we get things wrong, we correct the record as soon as we are able to.

This sounds a bit like the bleeding obvious, but I think it’s important to state.

We received a listener’s complaint on Friday about our coverage that morning of a crash in Sydney’s south, involving a bus carrying 37 students from Sutherland Shire Christian School. Two people, who were travelling in a car which hit the bus, died in the accident.

The listener said it was a “disgrace” we resorted to what he called “unconfirmed and speculative reporting” in the way we reported this unfolding story.

While we appreciate listeners’ feedback here at ABC NewsRadio, I dispute this one.

I think NewsRadio listeners want to know what we know, as soon as we know it; that’s the essence of ‘rolling news’. When we know there’s doubt about facts, we stress that reports are unconfirmed.

At about 8:25am Glen said on air that there were “media reports of a bus crash in the Heathcote area in Sydney with 40 children believed to have been hurt.” He stressed that NewsRadio would bring listeners more information as soon as it came to hand.

Two and a half minutes later, Glen asked Dave Lane from the Australian Traffic Network what he knew about the incident during the scheduled traffic cross. The Australian Traffic Network are a private company, and while their reports are heard on NewsRadio and other ABC outlets, we can’t vouch for their accuracy.

Lane said the ATN believed the bus to be “on its side with two children critically injured”. This information was later proved to be wrong, but was presented in good faith.

Meanwhile, two ABC NewsRadio journalists were attempting to contact the emergency services to try to get any information they could.

Two minutes later, in our news bulletin at 8:30am, we said ” Police say they have NO information on injuries to schoolchildren, but the Nine network says 40 children have been injured, two critically.”

The reference to the Nine Network was intentional, not gratuitous— as they were the news outlet which had first reported the story and they currently had a helicopter hovering over the scene broadcasting live pictures.

The ABC didn’t have a reporter — let alone a helicopter — in the vicinity of the crash for forty-five more minutes.

Moments later, we updated the story saying “The fire brigade says 30 students have been taken off the bus. Police say some of the students have suffered MINOR injuries, but they understand there have been no SERIOUS injuries to the students. Police say the driver of the car involved in the crash has been killed and a passenger was trapped in the vehicle after the accident.”

About ten minutes later again, we were able to get Kerryn Ryan — the business manager from the school on air. She confirmed the number of students on the bus (37) and that while some students had been hurt, there were no SERIOUS injuries.

Shortly afterwards, Morris Caputi, CEO of Veolia Transport, who operated the bus spoke to us live on air.

He suggested - unprompted - that the accident was the result of a head-on crash when the car had run out of room while attempting to over-take.

Now, our complainant has suggested we should have handled this incident on air by saying:

“1. There are reports of a crash involving a bus and a car on Heathcote Road.
2. Emergency services are responding.
3. Once emergency services are able to advise the extent of any injuries, we will bring the information to you.”

I disagree. This was a serious accident, with direct relevance to a large number of our listeners. We have a mandate to provide them with as much information as quickly as possible….

If you take our complaintant’s theory to its logical extent, on September the 11th 2001 we would have reported:

“1. There is a major incident in New York City in the vicinty of the World Trade Centre.
2. Police and Emergency Services are attending.
3. Once emergency services are able to advise the extent of any injuries, we will bring the information to you.”

Sorry, but that’s not how we do it!.

Glen - Breakfast Presenter

What a spectacle that unfolded yesterday at the US Open tennis - Serena Williams exploding and self-destructing before our very eyes as she was disqualified for one too many code violations. One way to avoid an outright loss, I suppose. Kim Clijsters certainly took everything that she could throw at her and looked likely to convert those two match points - tantrum or not. Although I’m not sure that foot fault call was correct. I certainly wouldn’t want the full fury of an angry Serena waving a racquet in my face. (Always thought her combination of strength, talent, hostility and no-mercy approach made her the Mike Tyson of women’s tennis - now she’s got some of the language to match.) Not so serene after all. Either way, Clijsters looks set to complete one of the great sport comeback stories of all time - winning only her second Grand Slam title and doing so just weeks after returning from a long lay off from the game to have a child. She may never have a better chance to win though her opponent has nothing to lose either. A Wozniacki win would also be a great story given she’s never made it past Grand Slam quarter finals before. I was cheering for Clijsters yesterday having been courtside to see her play at the Australian Open many times where the crowd was always on her side. I vividly remember the collective heartbreak when she crumbled on centre court at Melbourne Park and blew a solid lead over Serena just as she looked poised to record a rare win against her great rival. Yesterday was the opposite story with all the pressure on Williams as the returning challenger with nothing to lose just kept swinging. Either way, history awaits one of today’s women. Meanwhile, the Federer express rolls on in the men’s. One advantage of this early shift with it’s ridiculous alarm is the opportunity to be in place on the couch when those big games are on cable TV - at least they are live there as opposed to Channel 9’s delayed efforts today - amazing how I can still see Federer and Djokovic slugging it out now - 30 minutes or so after the game finished. It seems ‘live’ isn’t always live.

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Debbie - Sports Presenter

When replay technology was introduced in tennis, allowing players to challenge line calls, a lot of tantrum chucking was phased out of the sport. And good riddance. But Serena Williams showed yesterday that the occasion can still present itself for a good old fashioned dummy-spit.
Two questions have crossed my mind in the wash up since Serena’s disqualification.
Why can’t Hawkeye be used on the service line so that foot-fault calls can be challenged?
And if Serena had been a slightly-built woman less inclined to use physically intimidating body language, would she have got away with what she said to the baseline official?
Neither of this comments are offered in defence of Serena. She was totally out of line. Well, she put her foot on the line, and then crossed it completely.
My favourite headline on the Serena drama, by the way was FoxSports’ “Game Threat and Match.”
Understatement of the day: Just heard Federer on CNN saying “I tend to play better towards the end of tournaments” No kidding, Rog?

Glen - Breakfast Presenter:

Memories of the week:

The images of pedigree dogs in pain from the documentary on ABC1 - we spoke to the director/ producer who at least pointed out that some of the breeding practices for beauty rather than pet health were now being reconsidered.

The rare spectacle of a US President being heckled and called a liar while addressing a joint sitting of congress - hard to fathom the white hot rage and fear of a plan promising universal healthcare for all Americans. Could the fight be really about something more - a refusal to let a new President achieve a victory - especially one that involves an acceptance of a larger government role in people’s lives?

Groundhog Day, as local politics seems consumed with the same debate about whether to wind back stimulus spending - over and over again.

The unexpected storming of a Mexican airliner captured live on television and the subsequent explanation by the hijacker that he was on a mission from God - or so he thought. So rare to see something like that resolved so fast and so successfully.

The attempt at an around the world solo yacht voyage that went no further than a couple of hundred kilometres and saw the 16 year old sailor call her parents when she got into trouble. Phone home, indeed.

And the question: ‘why it is okay to whip a racehorse three times in the last 100 metres but not any more that” ? Jockeys take strike action, literally !

Just another week at the office where the news never stops.

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Marius - Politics:

The week ending Friday Sept 11 will go down as one of the less eventful for the political devotee.

A week of Parliament produced nothing more than directionless to-ing and fro-ing on economic management and a middle-range setback for the government on health insurance legislation.

And the week politically was all the more interesting for the lack of events. Instead of devoting attention to the daily ping pong of parliamentary exchange the week saw some longer range thinking about our public life.

That was initiated by the launch by the Prime Minister on Monday of Paul Kelly’s latest book, The March of Patriots. The PM put his view that Australian politics since the election of Bob Hawke in 1983 was basically an account of Labor driving reform and the Liberals trying to pour sugar into the fuel tank of progress.

Paul Kelly rejected the Rudd view of a sharp divide between the progressive reforms of Labor interrupted by the neo-Liberal brutalism of Howard. More continuity and shared territory in the Kelly view - and in fact in the view of any reasonably disinterested observer.

Labor and Liberal publicly, and particularly at election time - which is all the time these days - devote great energy to brand differentiation. And in giving their partisan views of history they engage in mythic self-enhancement.

A central Labor myth is that it leads Australia on the path of equity and egalitarianism. The reality is that the gap between rich and poor in the Hawke-Keating years widened.

A central myth for the Coalition is that they stand for small government and low taxes. The reality is that taxes as a share of GDP and the size of government did not decline in the Howard years.

These wider truths are worth bearing in mind, as we follow the flurry of blows our politicians try to land on each other each day.

And this week has been a good one for exploring wider truths.

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Mark - Breakfast EP:

The advent of digital radio has been an exciting time here at ABC Newsradio. It enables us to continue broadcasting our 24-hour rolling news format over the airwaves when Federal parliament is sitting.

You can find out all about the benefits of this new technology here: http://www.abc.net.au/radio/digital/

The Breakfast program got a terrific response a couple of weeks ago when we gave away 5 digital radios. We got more than 9000 entries.

If you missed out on winning one, check out the range of digital radios offered by the ABC Shop here: http://shop.abc.net.au/browse/promotion.asp?promoid=577

Speaking of digital radio, if you are listening to us on digital, drop us a line to let us know at: newsradio.audience@your.abc.net.au

We’re interested to see how many listeners have taken up this new technology, but also to find out if you’re having any problems with reception or audio quality.

This is important information to pass on to our technical boffins so they can tweak the signal in your area.

By the way we get plenty of comments, plaudits and brickbats every week via email and the feedback-form on our website: http://www.abc.net.au/newsradio/about/contact.htm

There’s also the mainstream media as well…..

Conservative commentator and prospective Liberal candidate (for Brendan Nelson’s seat of Bradfield) Tom Switzer recently described ABC Newsradio as a “national treasure” in The Spectator.

Independent Senator and media junkie Nick Xenophon told a recent profile in The Australian Magazine that he gets panicky if he’s in an area where he can’t pick up ABC Newsradio.

However, the reasons our listeners tell us they like Newsradio can be more….errrr… unusual.

Here are two recent emails we received:

Stephen:
My cats like to listen to Newsradio Breakfast. I try to give them some relevant content. For instance today, the Australian Dollar is buying 1.05 tins of ‘Fancy Feast’ and 220g of Roo meat. If you have any other feline relevant business news, Mr. Pink and Antoinette would love to hear from you.

Ash:
Just had to mention I’ve had a ridiculous $20, 7 month, 10 leg Multi Bet culminating in Andy Murray NOT to win the US Open (including Essendon to make the 8 and England to win the Ashes). The way Debbie delivered this morning’s result (30 seconds after my alarm went off) was magic…. Andy Murray is….. OUT of the US open (insert my leap out of bed and jumping for joy). It’s all in the delivery Debbie, gold.

Debbie Spillane will be back with Scott Wales to dissect all the weekend sport on Weekend Half Time on Sunday at 10am AEST.

And Fi Ellis-Jones wraps up events from Sudan to South Africa in “Out of Africa” at midday AEST on Sunday, after our radio rebroadcast of “Insiders”.

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Fiona Ellis Jones - “Out of Africa”:

This week we speak to Natalie Collin from Stepping Stones Nigeria, a non-profit group working to protect children who have been stigmatised as witches or wizards.

Her story might be familiar to many listeners.

In June, the ABC’s Four Corners program aired a Channel 4 Discovery documentary called ‘Saving Africa’s Witch Children’. The program caused quite a stir when it was shown in the UK and took out a BAFTA award for ‘Best Current Affairs’ documentary.

Natalie Collin tells how thousands of small children in Nigeria are starved, beaten and tortured, after being branded witches by so-called ‘pastors’. Many of these children are then taken into the Niger Delta’s deep forests and slaughtered. Some are just babies.

All too often in Africa, these cults take on revolutionary overtones. Take Joseph Kony’s Lord’s Resistance Army in Uganda. This elusive guerilla group is one of the most notorious and feared of all African cults. The self-proclaimed prophet is accused of ordering countless murders, mutilations and mass-rapes, in his bid to replace the Ugandan Constitution with the Ten Commandments. It’s believed tens of thousands of children have been abducted to become child soldiers or sex slaves over the past two decades.

And all this in the name of God.

Glen - Breakfast host:

A typical NewsRadio start to the day:

News of the hijacking of the Mexican airliner broke just minutes before we went to air this morning and details were sketchy.

We had wire service stories and cable TV reports explaining that an AeroMexico passenger plane — carrying 104 passengers — had reportedly been hijacked at the airport in the resort of Cancun and was then flown to Mexico City’s international airport.

Several Mexican news websites said three men seized control of the plane and threatened to blow it up unless they were allowed to speak to President Felipe Calderon.

We led with what we knew at 5.30am, updated before Sport with the news that TV pictures showed dozens of passengers leaving the plane, most carrying hand luggage and appearing calm but the crew were still on board the jet. We then had more information on the quarter hour in the headlines that the plane had been surrounded by federal police.

Minutes later we reported the information that the Defence Minister had arrived at the airport and police were closing in on the aircraft. I could then describe what I saw on the screens rebroadcasting Mexican TV coverage of the siege - the image of police running onto the aircraft - before throwing to some translated audio that explained that police were in fact storming the plane and were pulling the alleged terrorists onto the tarmac where they were handcuffed and led away under heavy guard. It all unfolded in real time, live on air and made for a dramatic and urgent start to the day’s news.

In other words, we were ‘all over it’, reporting with speed and accuracy a developing story that resolved itself within minutes.

Not quite business as usual, perhaps - but certainly core business for us at NewsRadio.

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Debbie - Sports presenter:

After a morning that was positively bursting with international sport happening throughout most of the breakfast program (Australia beating England in one day cricket, two US Open tennis quarter finals and 25 soccer World Cup qualifier in Europe) I only have the energy to offer something that really is a crumb. A questioning crumb in fact.

Why does TV not exert the same pressure on tennis that it seems to do on every other sport — and make sure that opponents wear different colours?

Obviously the keen students of the sport can tell Novak Djokovic from Fernando Verdasco given a reasonable close up shot of the pair. But when both players are wearing orange shirts and black shorts and the camera is offering a wide view it’s not easy. And if you want to encourage new fans, why not make it easy?

This morning’s outfits were not an exact match, but it’s not uncommon in tennis to see players turning out on either side of the net wearing perfectly matching gear. Obviously it’s provided by sponsors, so surely the sponsors can be persuaded to come up with an alternative strip for their tennis players as they do for just about every other sport on the planet.?
Then just give the highest ranked player the choice of strip.

Now I need to go lie down and recharge the batteries for Roger Federer v Robin Soderling. I know I won’t have to concentrate hard to tell who’s who in that one!
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Marius - Politics:

Arthur Sinodinos was the key background figure in the most successful days of the Howard Government. Many point to his departure from his post as the then Prime Minister’s Chief of Staff as the moment when things started going wrong for the coalition.

Nobody claims his absence was the biggest factor, but when the arrival of Kevin Rudd marked a sharp change in the government’s fortunes, many say that was the time when the presence of John Howard’s right hand man was needed most.

While pursuing a post-political life in the financial world Arthur Sinodinos has been edging back to politics in recent months - writing a newspaper column and entertaining the idea of running for Brendan Nelson’s seat of Bradfield, before abandoning that idea.

This week he was in the news again when Peter Costello suggested he might like to run for Bennelong, the seat John Howard lost.

When I interviewed him on that proposal this week he almost - but not quite - dismissed it. But he also offered some sound advice for the opposition as it tries to clamber out of the opinion poll basement.

“One of the pieces of advice the former Prime Minister gave me many years ago, when he was reflecting on the Fraser government going into opposition was: ‘For a while there nobody really wants to hear from the opposition, they’re focussed on the new government. They’re in love with the new government - and you just have to accept that it’s a time when it’s difficult to get a message across.’

Mr Sinodinos continued: “We’ve seen that with the new government….. they’ve been interested in how they would handle the global crisis. And don’t forget that those sorts of crises give a big potential boost to incumbents, because when you’re an incumbent you can do things.”

The thoughts on Opposition of one of the key minds of the former government.

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Mark - Breakfast EP:

It’s not often you come across a person with a brand new liver.

To have two liver transplant recipients on the same radio show in the space of two hours is highly unusual, to say the least.

But that was exactly the scenario on NewsRadio Breakfast this morning.

First, the return to the public eye of Apple Founder Steve Jobs…..on stage in California to launch a new Ipod innovation.

He looked gaunt and spoke quietly — obviously still recovering from his transplant earlier this year — but you could almost hear a collective sigh of relief from the tech-savvy community as the man that brought you the Mac, the IPod and the IPhone walked gingerly onto stage in his trademark jeans and black skivvy.

During Jobs’ short presentation - during which he extolled the virtues of organ donations - Apple’s shares rallied on the New York Stock exchange.

The other recipient of a new liver on the show this morning was Paul Stewart.

The last time I saw Stewart in the flesh (about 25 years ago), the former hard-drinking, over-weight journo, was on-stage with the legendary Melbourne 80’s band, Painters and Dockers.

On that occasion he’d obviously already had a skinful - his shirt was off, he was gyrating in a really dodgy pair of tracky-daks which kept falling down and he was belting out a version of the P&D’s surreal classic “The Boy Who Lost His Jocks On Flinders Street Station”.

This morning it was a svelte and sober — but just as charismatic — Paul Stewart who came into the Breakfast studio to talk to Glen about the Australian Federal Police’s decision to start a war crimes investigation into the deaths of the Balibo 5.

You see, Stewart’s elder brother, Tony, was one of the 5 Australian-based newsmen killed in Balibo in 1975.

Does he welcome an AFP probe into the deaths of his brother and his four colleagues (Greg Shackleton, Gary Cunningham, Malcolm Rennie and Brian Peters) and the subsequent execution of another Australian, Roger East?

Paul Stewart — who now spends a lot of his time raising money for causes in East Timor — told Glen that he welcomes the probe but he also wants a wide-ranging inquiry into the huge numbers of East Timorese who died during Indonesia’s occupation of the former Portuguese colony.

“Six white guys…..but one-hundred-and-eighty-three thousand East Timorese died as well” says Paul Stewart.

You can read and see more about Paul Stewart and his bittersweet relationship with East Timor here: http://www.abc.net.au/compass/s2630761.htm

Glen - Breakfast host:

Beatlemania!! (Remastered):

Today we’ve been talking about the long-awaited release of the digital remasters — from the original analogue tapes — of The Beatles 14 studio albums. 

Think I’ll stick with my box set of vinyl Beatles albums myself - love the old records with their artwork, size and that sense you get that it’s a substantial product or artwork that you’ve got in your hands. Also quite like hearing them as they were recorded - complete with the pops and squeaks of old drum pedals and other things that locate it in time and place. This was where technology was at then - state of the art - and that’s okay and interesting in of itself.

Meanwhile, we reported today that the authorities in France are hoping to, at least temporarily, change the nations entrenched passion for kissing as a greeting (and a national pastime).

With up to 20-thousand new swine flu cases a week, they have taken the bold decision to advise people to stop kissing and maybe opt for the more anglo practice of shaking hands, or even better, keeping your distance completely.

They’d suggested the same thing when I was in Argentina recently - they’re also big on the kiss hello. Not sure if they resisted the need to press the flesh but Argentina quickly became one of the worst affected countries for H1N1 with a huge rise in flu-related deaths. Not sure the romantic French will be easy to persuade.

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Mark - Breakfast EP:

Speaking of The Fab Four, we ran a poll on the Newsradio website over the past 24 hours asking if listeners thought the original recordings could be improved.

Two-thirds of people said yes.

It might be great to be able to hear things so clearly that you can hear “Ringo’s squeaky bass drum pedal” as Giles Martin from Abbey Road Studios told CNN’s Jim Bolden, but I still have a real soft spot for my Mum’s slightly scratched and well worn 1965 pressing of “Rubber Soul”.

The track separation between left and right wasn’t perfect and the “bottom end” tended to distort when you turned it up on the old portable record player…but actually, it all seemed to add to the sonic punch on tracks like “Nowhere Man”.

Besides….how are they going to do the famous continuous “end groove” montage from Sergeant Peppers’?

(http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2009/09/08/2679618.htm)

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Debbie - Sports presenter:

The expression “Super Mum” really galls me. In fact, on most occasions when reporting sport I’m not a fan of referring to a woman’s parental status.

It doesn’t define who a woman is — and it shouldn’t be considered remarkable that a woman who’s borne children can still have success in sport.

Dutch athlete Fanny Blankers-Koen was already a mother of two when she won four gold medals at the London Olympics in 1948. So it’s been going on for a while.

In some ways, though, that’s what makes Kim Clijsters situation in tennis all the more remarkable.

Having reached the semi finals of the US Open, she’s two wins away from being just the third woman ever to win a grand slam title after having a child. It hasn’t happened since 1980 when Evone Cawley won Wimbledon. And before that you have to go back to 1914 when Dorothea Lambert-Chambers  took the title at Wimbledon.

Beats me why it should be so unusual. Maybe women earn so much money in tennis that they don’t need to think about working again after having kids. And maybe that’s why I can’t help cheering for Kim. She’s back because she wants to play — and she knows she can still kick some butt in a sport in which none of the newer generation of top ten players seem to have any consistency.

So I guess it’s unavoidable that Kim being a mum is going to get a mention or two in coming days. But I prefer to think of her as a super player rather than a super mum. And at least we’ve moved on from the days of nicknames like “The Flying Housewife” — which is what Fanny Blankers-Koen copped for her trouble.

Even patronising-cliche writers know dubbing someone “The Serving Housewife” would cause riots.

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Marius - Politics:

Kevin Rudd recently declared an end to the “history wars” - that debate over the colour of the armband appropriate for Australia’s historians as they assess the crimes and achievements of our national past.

But having buried the wars a couple of weeks ago the Prime Minister has now revived them with his account of government in Australia. The Rudd view is that, at least in recent times - say since the election of the Hawke government - Australia has been a Labor project.

“The great Australian contract”, in the Rudd view, was forged by Hawke and Keating and he has inherited their legacy - a legacy that was interrupted by the dark neo-Liberal years of Howard.

He put that view at the launch of Paul Kelly’s new book, a book that finds far more continuity in the governing of Australia over the past 30 years than is allowed for in the Rudd analysis.

The Rudd view was too much for Malcolm Turnbull who described it as as: “..the most graceless address” he had ever heard.

“It was as though he had erased every part of Australian history that didn’t feature the Labor Party.”

So it’s on again: the History Wars Part Two.

And when history gets hauled into the political arena you can only feel sorry for history.