The protests in support of Hamas are either done by useful idiots or hard-core Islamic fundamentalists. We need fewer of both in Australia.
There's plenty of fat to chew and this is the place to do it. Welcome to the Confidential Daily Open Forum.
Last week’s announcement about the future of the Australian Conservatives certainly prompted a huge volume of correspondence. If you missed the news you can read the statement sent to Party members here.
Overwhelmingly the feedback I received was one of understanding and appreciation for the frank assessment of the matters leading to the decision to deregister the Party. It was a very tough call to make but when all the circumstances were considered it was the rational decision.
It also prompted many other questions, some of which I’ll seek to answer in the podcast, but a recurring one was about the future of my Weekly Dose of Common Sense blog and podcast.
I’m happy to say I’ll be continuing writing and recording the Common Sense message and sharing them with you every week. (To those of you who don’t want to receive these communications, just click the UNSUBSCRIBE link).
I have been writing my weekly blog for nearly eleven years and the decisions taken this past week reminded me of my very first blog post from October 13 2008. It was entitled Crunchiness and was based on a column written by the late Nico Colchester in 1988. Colchester was a former editor of the Economist magazine and they republished the column when he died in 1996.
It so happened that I bought a copy of that edition and the article in question had such an impact on me that I kept that single page and still have it framed on my desk 23 years later.
Colchester’s premise was that crunchiness provided certainty for all involved. A crunchy decision is not necessarily the right one but it leaves those impacted in no doubt as to the consequences.
The column spoke to me of the need for boldness in decision making. Consider, decide, act became my Crunchy mantra. The process doesn’t mean you’ll get it right all the time but it is better than drowning in a swamp of soggy uncertainty.
Keeping things crunchy also means you won’t be able to hide from the outcomes.
The Federal election was the crunchy moment for the Australian Conservatives. Everything we did and experienced up to that point would be subsumed by the reality of how many votes we received.
Let’s just say the result left me in no doubt as to where we stood electorally!
I’ll cover more of Colchester’s timeless message in the podcast but he concluded by saying ‘run your country, or your company, or your life as you think fit. But whatever you decide, keep things crunchy.’
After 23 years I am still heeding Colchester’s timeless advice.
Displacement abounds and even sick grannies aren’t excluded, as America’s AOCgoes ballistic.
Gender neutral schoolchildren plus the death of comedy see a Beatle’s son blasting political correctness.
The evils of tax any way you slice it can inflame any situation.
This column was published in the Adelaide Advertiser, 25 April 2007. It caused quite a stir and prompted my interest in writing.
Out of the archives are all eighty episodes of the Weekly Dose of Common Sense podcast. Listen in and take a trip down memory lane!
After eleven years, five books and 556 columns, as i wind up my time in the Senate, I'll be taking a break from writing my weekly column.
The skies are clearing, and the blooms are out, but a change in the season doesn't mean it is all blue sky and sunshine ahead for our economy.
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