Please Stop
Please Stop? DM 10th May 2025 I think it was during Hans Zimmer’s Absurdity that I went into cardiac arrest. Well nearly. He’s always one for the big movie sound, and thought instead of having one bass guitar, he’d have three. The stadium shook. My body shook. My heart was experiencing rhythms it had never […]
Nitpicking
Nitpicking DM 3rd May 2025 Former editor of the Sydney Morning Herald, John D Pringle once reminisced about one of his former bosses, A P Wadsworth, a short man whom he intellectually respected and sincerely admired, but who was deemed by some young journalists to be a micro-manager, nitpicker and interferer. For Pringle reports a […]
The Bunker
The Bunker DM 26th April 2025 In my preferred version of football, Rugby League – the greatest game of all – there is an umpiring unit called “The Bunker”. It’s a place where a second referee sits in front of many TV monitors, to handle calls for the review of on-field decisions. But not a […]
And Peter
And Peter DM 19th April 2025 Peter must have been a blubbering mess on that late Thursday night preceding Jesus’ crucifixion. The brave man had lost his nerve in a moment of trial, and denied three times that he had any association with Jesus the Nazarene; even making his protestations with an oath. When the […]
That’s not a knife
That’s not a knife DM 12th April 2025 It’s now nearly forty years since that iconic scene in Crocodile Dundee, when an American gangster threatens Mick Dundee with a knife, only for Mick to look condescendingly at the weapon, and say, “That’s not a knife!” – then to draw out his own blade, wave it […]
A Purple Paradise
A Purple Paradise DM 5th April 2025 I wonder if anyone in the history of the world has ever combined all their so-called special (‘purple’) days into one. For instance, they celebrated their birthday in the morning, their wedding in the afternoon; in the evening they received their statement of clearance from university debt, and […]
Navigating life
Navigating life DM 29th March 2025 We were doing a complex cross-city journey. My wife was driving and decided to turn on maps. I hadn’t heard the nav-man for a while, and it was good to hear his voice again. But sad to say, some of his instructions were not followed. Yet he remained patient. […]
Splitting the G
Splitting the G DM 22nd March 2025 Among the frothy festivities of St Patrick’s Day is the attempt at the bar to ‘split the G’. That is, to raise a glass of the brown stuff and take one or two carefully calculated gulps to reduce the froth line to a point where it comes close […]
Lex Rex or Rex Lex?
Lex Rex or Rex Lex? DM 15th March 2025 I once had a hardback copy of Lex Rex on my bookshelf. It was written by Scottish Presbyterian minister Samuel Rutherford, published in 1644, and meaning the “law is king”. (I always liked the title because I have a friend named Lex and knew a dog […]
Aced it!
Aced it! DM 8th March 2025 Funny how the top card can also be the bottom one. I’m not sure I can think of another game besides poker where this is true. Whoever invented the game gave to the ace special powers to both be at the head of the pack, and yet, if needed, […]