Brekkie Crumbs (Notes from the NewsRadio Breakfast team) for Monday October 26th
Marius - politics …
What is it about foreign affairs that brings out the ornate, the elaborate, the circumlocutory in a person?
There is in diplomacy a default setting of excessive formality in dress and address which seems to have a powerful effect on all who exercise the craft.
Australia’s longest serving Foreign Minister, Alexander Downer, embodied the culture.
A patrician Adelaide up-bringing, topped up with a stint in Foreign Affairs, provided ideal preparation for the role he chose for himself when he stepped down from his brief, if eye-catching, spell as Liberal leader.
There was something about the Downer manner that gave the sense that he had stepped onto the stage of Canberra straight from the court of Louis XlV.
The Downer curls may not have cascaded across the his shoulders quite as luxuriantly as Louis’s. But the well-turned ankle, clad in hose, that Louis revealed in portraits was perfectly matched in the legendary shot of Downer in fishnets.
And there was a lot in the Downer manner that suggested he found many aspects of public life quite wearying, and only bearable when one held a well-perfumed kerchief to one’s nose.
Compared with the baroque manner of the former Foreign Minister, the incumbent - Stephen Smith - seems relatively straightforward. He is the foreign minister from central casting rather than the court of the Sun King.
But there is still something in the job that encourages little verbal flourishes when Mr Smith goes to microphone.
Where a lesser mortal might resort to an ummm, an uhrrrr or a pause the Foreign Minister is more inclined to pepper his remarks with phrases like: “……….in our view…of course….we believe very much…” And dissent is put in the gentlest terms: “Well I’m not sure that’s right….”
They are not the sort of deferential phrases that are necessarily heard from others when they’re busy stacking Labor branches or enforcing factional discipline. But, on the diplomatic circuit, they certainly help to gentle the chat along nicely - and they seem to exercise a seductive appeal for our premier diplomat.
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Mark - Breakfast E.P. …
Well the Weekend Halftime At the Races team have done it again.
In this blog on Friday, our Racing Editor Helen Thomas predicted the winner of the Cox Plate would come from the trio of Heart of Dreams, Whobegotyou and So You Think.
She was dead right.
Now, after picking the winner of the Caulfield Cup, and narrowing down the top Cox Plate chances, the pressure’s really on.
We’ve locked Helen away until next week, with a year’s worth of form guides, going over all the possible scenarios for the Melbourne Cup, even though the final list of starters still hasn’t been announced.
(Racing Editors’ note: please send chocolate…)
Actually, Weekend Half Time at the Races gave all the racing writers for the major dailies a good flag for this morning.
Leading owner Lloyd Williams told Helen, Scott Wales and Max Presnell about the concerns of a number of trainers and owners about the firmness of race tracks in Melbourne this Spring, after his horse Zipping pulled up sore after its third place run in the Cox Plate at Moonee Valley.
Fourth place-getter El Segundo may not race again, either - although his connections are going to wait to make that decision - and the beaten favourite, Whobegotyou, will be spelled after what sounds like a pretty bone-jarring ride.
“The new track at Flemington drains so well that it doesn’t matter how much water you put on it, it dries out immediately,” was Williams’ ominous warning.
“It is a problem. Maybe Dermot Weld had it right, not bringing his horse (Profound Beauty) out here.”
Yes, it is a problem. Part of the excitement of the Melbourne Cup is that in recent years it has been able to attract top overseas starters, like Weld’s Vintage Crop (the 1993 winner) and Media Puzzle (2002) and the two Japanese horses, Delta Blues and Pop Rock who quinellaed the cup in 2006. Not to mention the odd Godolphin hopeful.
And that excitement has spread.
I’ve been to the area around the Curragh in Ireland where Weld has his stables, and the Melbourne Cup is now a real big deal there.
Vintage Crop even has his own spacious paddock at the Irish National Stud, befitting his status as the horse who claimed the top race Down Under for the Emerald Isle.
It would be a real shame if the race that stops nations only ends up stopping one nation again, because overseas trainers are no longer interested in risking an injury to their hopefuls and keep them at home.
That might be something Racing Victoria and the powers-that-be at Flemington need to think very carefully about.
