I occasionally feel that I must write to the newspapers about something. Here is where I have met with some success.
The Age - 28 March 2018 - Steve Waugh would be proud of Faf du Plessis' menWhat seems to have been missed in the histrionic reaction to the revelation that our team is composed of fallible humans is the masterful implementation of that time-honoured Australian tactic of "mental disintegration", as applied by the South Africans. Steve Waugh would be proud of them.
They have so gotten into the heads of the Australian captain and his "leadership team" that those worthies have spiralled downward, making ever more foolish and irrational decisions, to ultimately reach the nadir of the "cunning plan" executed with such ineptitude. This has been a tour de force of gamesmanship. Executed with such aplomb that the perpetrators smell as sweetly as roses, while their victims are scorned and humiliated. Still, what goes around, will no doubt come around.
Ken Richards, Elwood
https://www.theage.com.au/national/the-cricket-scandal-the-fatal-flaw-in-the-australian-mentality-20180327-h0xzya.html
They have so gotten into the heads of the Australian captain and his "leadership team" that those worthies have spiralled downward, making ever more foolish and irrational decisions, to ultimately reach the nadir of the "cunning plan" executed with such ineptitude. This has been a tour de force of gamesmanship. Executed with such aplomb that the perpetrators smell as sweetly as roses, while their victims are scorned and humiliated. Still, what goes around, will no doubt come around.
Ken Richards, Elwood
https://www.theage.com.au/national/the-cricket-scandal-the-fatal-flaw-in-the-australian-mentality-20180327-h0xzya.html
The Age - 11 December 2015 - Bishop on the warpath
I am so relieved to hear that Bronwyn Bishop is making one last, strafing ride in her chopper for the fight against terrorism (The Age, 10/12). If that grim prospect does not strike terror into the wilting manhood of Daesh, then nothing will.
Ken Richards, Elwood
Read more: http://www.theage.com.au/comment/the-age-letters/victoria-police-boys-club-means-few-complaints-pass-muster-20151210-glk9d8.html#ixzz3u0KzVuXE
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I am so relieved to hear that Bronwyn Bishop is making one last, strafing ride in her chopper for the fight against terrorism (The Age, 10/12). If that grim prospect does not strike terror into the wilting manhood of Daesh, then nothing will.
Ken Richards, Elwood
Read more: http://www.theage.com.au/comment/the-age-letters/victoria-police-boys-club-means-few-complaints-pass-muster-20151210-glk9d8.html#ixzz3u0KzVuXE
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The Age - 17 November 2015 - We can get on with life
In the aftermath of the horrors in the City of Light will come the inevitable calls to "do something about it". There are many things we can do. We can do the easy, obvious thing. We can come with our bombs and our guns, and leave devastation in our wake. And achieve nothing but pour fuel on the fire. And to have the horror happen again and again.
Or we can do the hard thing, the mature thing, and bury our dead, and continue to enjoy the fruits of our civilisation. We can eat out with friends on an ordinary Friday night, or go to the football to cheer on our team. We can meet with friends for a drink at a bar and enjoy a live concert. We can still do all those things, after we have buried our innocents, and got on with life, in all its sorrows and joys.
For while the evil men may strike, they are pitifully few, but we are legion. Their rage burns brief, bright and hurtfully, but soon they are dead and gone, but we remain and we live on.
Ken Richards, Elwood
Read more: http://www.theage.com.au/comment/the-age-letters/ufc-sickening-sound-of-cheering-as-blows-land-20151116-gl03ci.html#ixzz3rjHVBb6R
Follow us: @theage on Twitter | theageAustralia on Facebook
In the aftermath of the horrors in the City of Light will come the inevitable calls to "do something about it". There are many things we can do. We can do the easy, obvious thing. We can come with our bombs and our guns, and leave devastation in our wake. And achieve nothing but pour fuel on the fire. And to have the horror happen again and again.
Or we can do the hard thing, the mature thing, and bury our dead, and continue to enjoy the fruits of our civilisation. We can eat out with friends on an ordinary Friday night, or go to the football to cheer on our team. We can meet with friends for a drink at a bar and enjoy a live concert. We can still do all those things, after we have buried our innocents, and got on with life, in all its sorrows and joys.
For while the evil men may strike, they are pitifully few, but we are legion. Their rage burns brief, bright and hurtfully, but soon they are dead and gone, but we remain and we live on.
Ken Richards, Elwood
Read more: http://www.theage.com.au/comment/the-age-letters/ufc-sickening-sound-of-cheering-as-blows-land-20151116-gl03ci.html#ixzz3rjHVBb6R
Follow us: @theage on Twitter | theageAustralia on Facebook
The Age - 8 August 2015 - Cricket
Trevor Bayliss' citizenship should be revoked any day now.
Ken Richards, Elwood
Read more: http://www.theage.com.au/comment/the-age-letters/democracy-us-perfect-example-of-a-corrupt-western-nation-20150807-giu3xj.html#ixzz3iHG0QYtR
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Trevor Bayliss' citizenship should be revoked any day now.
Ken Richards, Elwood
Read more: http://www.theage.com.au/comment/the-age-letters/democracy-us-perfect-example-of-a-corrupt-western-nation-20150807-giu3xj.html#ixzz3iHG0QYtR
Follow us: @theage on Twitter | theageAustralia on Facebook
The Age - 26 March 2014 - 'We debase ourselves and our reputation'
Monday's report on the ABC's 7.30 provided evidence that Australian military personnel tortured would-be asylum seekers during a ''tow back'' of a vessel from Australian waters in January.
Blanket denials by our government, without any evidence, do not constitute an adequate or credible response. A properly constituted, independent and transparent inquiry must be set up as soon as possible to get to the bottom of this murky affair. If military personnel have tortured people in their care, whether by following orders, or overzealously stretching the boundaries of their ''rules of engagement'', then they need to be exposed and removed from service forthwith.
The boats may have stopped. But if stopping them means debasing ourselves and our reputation, as has been done by this benighted policy during the past few months, then it is not worth it.
Ken Richards, Elwood
Read more: http://www.theage.com.au/comment/the-age-letters/we-debase-ourselves-and-our-reputation-20140325-35gd3.html#ixzz2x3Y1vQBm
Monday's report on the ABC's 7.30 provided evidence that Australian military personnel tortured would-be asylum seekers during a ''tow back'' of a vessel from Australian waters in January.
Blanket denials by our government, without any evidence, do not constitute an adequate or credible response. A properly constituted, independent and transparent inquiry must be set up as soon as possible to get to the bottom of this murky affair. If military personnel have tortured people in their care, whether by following orders, or overzealously stretching the boundaries of their ''rules of engagement'', then they need to be exposed and removed from service forthwith.
The boats may have stopped. But if stopping them means debasing ourselves and our reputation, as has been done by this benighted policy during the past few months, then it is not worth it.
Ken Richards, Elwood
Read more: http://www.theage.com.au/comment/the-age-letters/we-debase-ourselves-and-our-reputation-20140325-35gd3.html#ixzz2x3Y1vQBm
The Age - 8 February 2014 'Shining a light into an ugly mire....'
The eminently credible story told to Michael Bachelard by would-be asylum seeker Yousif Ibrahim Fasher (''Witness details burns claims'', 7/2) reveals just why the government has been so quick to heap scorn on any reporting of the circumstances in which asylum seekers suffered burns while under the care of the navy.
Much of the media has uncritically accepted the assertion that the word of the navy and the government is more reliable than the word of lowly asylum seekers. The line trotted out with depressing regularity is that the asylum seeker cannot be trusted to tell the truth because he has an interest in casting slurs on those who have deterred his aim of attaining asylum. Such a claim might just as easily be made of the government and its servant, the navy, which might not want anything to rain on the ''stopping the boats'' parade.
Military forces the world over have form in punishing and mistreating civilians who fail to respect their authority. They also have a history denying that such events happened, and doing everything in their power to prevent information about their crimes coming to light. Australian forces are no exception. Congratulations on shining a light into the ugly mire that is Operation Sovereign Borders and speaking truth to power.
Ken Richards, Elwood
Read more: http://www.theage.com.au/comment/the-age-letters/shining-a-light-into-an-ugly-mire-20140207-3278c.html#ixzz2sgHVs5fw
The eminently credible story told to Michael Bachelard by would-be asylum seeker Yousif Ibrahim Fasher (''Witness details burns claims'', 7/2) reveals just why the government has been so quick to heap scorn on any reporting of the circumstances in which asylum seekers suffered burns while under the care of the navy.
Much of the media has uncritically accepted the assertion that the word of the navy and the government is more reliable than the word of lowly asylum seekers. The line trotted out with depressing regularity is that the asylum seeker cannot be trusted to tell the truth because he has an interest in casting slurs on those who have deterred his aim of attaining asylum. Such a claim might just as easily be made of the government and its servant, the navy, which might not want anything to rain on the ''stopping the boats'' parade.
Military forces the world over have form in punishing and mistreating civilians who fail to respect their authority. They also have a history denying that such events happened, and doing everything in their power to prevent information about their crimes coming to light. Australian forces are no exception. Congratulations on shining a light into the ugly mire that is Operation Sovereign Borders and speaking truth to power.
Ken Richards, Elwood
Read more: http://www.theage.com.au/comment/the-age-letters/shining-a-light-into-an-ugly-mire-20140207-3278c.html#ixzz2sgHVs5fw
End of the world (not)
SEE, the world has ended. There will no longer be a budget surplus in 2013. Oh, what? You don't care either?
Ken Richards, Elwood
The Age 24 Dec 2012
SEE, the world has ended. There will no longer be a budget surplus in 2013. Oh, what? You don't care either?
Ken Richards, Elwood
The Age 24 Dec 2012
The Age 12 Nov 2012
Pandering to allies
NINE more names were added on Sunday to the list of Australians who have died in service of their country overseas (''Remembering the fallen …'', The Age, 12/11). These martyrs died for goodness knows what in the mountains and deserts of Afghanistan.
This sad event demonstrates only that we have yet to learn the lessons of World War I and our many other foreign misadventures. Just as in Korea, Malaysia, Vietnam and Iraq, young Australians serving in Afghanistan are still misled by their leaders to give their lives to no purpose and against their better interests, in a war that has no connection or relevance to our security and everything to do with pandering to the policies of our great power allies and arms manufacturers.
Lest we forget, indeed.
Ken Richards, Elwood
Read more: http://www.brisbanetimes.com.au/national/letters/lift-this-cloud-once-and-for-all-20121112-298ic.html#ixzz2sgUnhtGl
Pandering to allies
NINE more names were added on Sunday to the list of Australians who have died in service of their country overseas (''Remembering the fallen …'', The Age, 12/11). These martyrs died for goodness knows what in the mountains and deserts of Afghanistan.
This sad event demonstrates only that we have yet to learn the lessons of World War I and our many other foreign misadventures. Just as in Korea, Malaysia, Vietnam and Iraq, young Australians serving in Afghanistan are still misled by their leaders to give their lives to no purpose and against their better interests, in a war that has no connection or relevance to our security and everything to do with pandering to the policies of our great power allies and arms manufacturers.
Lest we forget, indeed.
Ken Richards, Elwood
Read more: http://www.brisbanetimes.com.au/national/letters/lift-this-cloud-once-and-for-all-20121112-298ic.html#ixzz2sgUnhtGl
... And another thing
GREAT result for Sydney supporters. And I enjoyed Lewis Jetta's try. But one gem in a scrummy, scrambly mess is not the way the game should be played. Time to penalise the third, fourth and fifth tacklers.
Ken Richards, Elwood
25 Sep 2012
GREAT result for Sydney supporters. And I enjoyed Lewis Jetta's try. But one gem in a scrummy, scrambly mess is not the way the game should be played. Time to penalise the third, fourth and fifth tacklers.
Ken Richards, Elwood
25 Sep 2012
The Age - 20 July 2011
NOW that Rupert Murdoch has made a personal apology to the family of Milly Dowler, will he make similar approaches to all the other victims of the excesses of his minions at the late and unlamented News of the World? Murdoch's pronouncements were made in the full glare of the media, and were designed to give the impression of sorrow and regret from the great man. It was just another element of the scripted damage control issuing forth from the now visibly unclothed emperor of the yellow press.
Don't believe it for a minute. There is only one thing that Rupert Murdoch sorrows about, and that is the loss of power, prestige and money from the coffers of his corporation. The world would be foolish to think that this particular leopard could ever change his spots.
Ken Richards, Elwood
http://m.theage.com.au/national/letters/sorry-for-loss-of-power-prestige-20110719-1hngg.html
NOW that Rupert Murdoch has made a personal apology to the family of Milly Dowler, will he make similar approaches to all the other victims of the excesses of his minions at the late and unlamented News of the World? Murdoch's pronouncements were made in the full glare of the media, and were designed to give the impression of sorrow and regret from the great man. It was just another element of the scripted damage control issuing forth from the now visibly unclothed emperor of the yellow press.
Don't believe it for a minute. There is only one thing that Rupert Murdoch sorrows about, and that is the loss of power, prestige and money from the coffers of his corporation. The world would be foolish to think that this particular leopard could ever change his spots.
Ken Richards, Elwood
http://m.theage.com.au/national/letters/sorry-for-loss-of-power-prestige-20110719-1hngg.html
The Age 16 June 2011 - Who rates the ratings agencies?
IT WAS with some bemusement that I read that Standard & Poor's had downgraded Greece's credit rating to a newsworthy CCC (''Debt rating slashed'', BusinessDay, 15/6). It amazes me that financial commentators continue to uncritically accept the pronouncements of the ratings industry, and make no mention of the industry's failure to anticipate the global financial crisis.
Instruments such as consolidated debt obligations, including subprime mortgages, were assessed as AAA. This was so far off the mark that the world's banking and financial system all but collapsed.
Standard & Poor's seems to have felt no pain. Just like the surviving banks, who are back to paying obscenely large salaries and bonuses, now that their losses have been socialised by the world's taxpayers. They have even found new business in squeezing more blood from taxpayers on the back of credit rating downgrades.
The taxpayer pays ever higher interest rates on the debt caused by bailing out the banks. That debt, of course, arose from the failure of credit ratings agencies to properly assess risk of lending. Guess who pays Standard & Poor's for these assessments? It's the banking industry. Ching.
Ken Richards, Elwood
Read more: http://www.watoday.com.au/national/letters/prison-warder-argument-is-weak-20110615-1g3ts.html#ixzz2sggG5qAP
IT WAS with some bemusement that I read that Standard & Poor's had downgraded Greece's credit rating to a newsworthy CCC (''Debt rating slashed'', BusinessDay, 15/6). It amazes me that financial commentators continue to uncritically accept the pronouncements of the ratings industry, and make no mention of the industry's failure to anticipate the global financial crisis.
Instruments such as consolidated debt obligations, including subprime mortgages, were assessed as AAA. This was so far off the mark that the world's banking and financial system all but collapsed.
Standard & Poor's seems to have felt no pain. Just like the surviving banks, who are back to paying obscenely large salaries and bonuses, now that their losses have been socialised by the world's taxpayers. They have even found new business in squeezing more blood from taxpayers on the back of credit rating downgrades.
The taxpayer pays ever higher interest rates on the debt caused by bailing out the banks. That debt, of course, arose from the failure of credit ratings agencies to properly assess risk of lending. Guess who pays Standard & Poor's for these assessments? It's the banking industry. Ching.
Ken Richards, Elwood
Read more: http://www.watoday.com.au/national/letters/prison-warder-argument-is-weak-20110615-1g3ts.html#ixzz2sggG5qAP
The Age 27 April 2011
AN AFFAIR with the chair-sniffer? Power really must be an aphrodisiac, because any other redeeming virtues are, to say the least, not especially apparent to the casual observer.
Ken Richards, Elwood
AN AFFAIR with the chair-sniffer? Power really must be an aphrodisiac, because any other redeeming virtues are, to say the least, not especially apparent to the casual observer.
Ken Richards, Elwood
The Age 6 Apr 2011
GREAT to see the army recognising sensible action by one of its trained dogs (''Wartime medal gives Sarbi a place in the ranks of the brave'', The Age, 6/4). If my job was to sniff out bombs in the backblocks of Afghanistan, I would flee for the hills too.
Ken Richards, Elwood
Read more: http://www.watoday.com.au/national/letters/there-are-simply-better-options-20110406-1d4k5.html#ixzz2sgZKqn6n
GREAT to see the army recognising sensible action by one of its trained dogs (''Wartime medal gives Sarbi a place in the ranks of the brave'', The Age, 6/4). If my job was to sniff out bombs in the backblocks of Afghanistan, I would flee for the hills too.
Ken Richards, Elwood
Read more: http://www.watoday.com.au/national/letters/there-are-simply-better-options-20110406-1d4k5.html#ixzz2sgZKqn6n
I THOUGHT a hung parliament was the punishment to be meted out by Greek electors to their incompetent representatives.
Ken Richards, Elwood
Ken Richards, Elwood
11 Sep 2009
Gift keeps giving
I AM deeply sorry, Gainore Atkins (Letters, 9/9). I have maligned the great Collingwood Football Club. How could I have forgotten the greatness shown by the mighty Pies. So many brave losses in so many grand finals.
One flag in the past 50 years. Yet still you keep the faith. Who else has performed with such distinction; has given us Eddie; and has such witty and articulate fans? Collingwood Football Club. The gift that keeps on giving.
Ken Richards, Elwood
The Age 9 Sep 2009
REPLACE Turnbull with Hockey? Bring it on! Hockey is twice the man.
Ken Richards, Elwood
http://www.theage.com.au/news/opinion/letters/and-another-thing-8230/2009/10/09/1255019610626.html
REPLACE Turnbull with Hockey? Bring it on! Hockey is twice the man.
Ken Richards, Elwood
http://www.theage.com.au/news/opinion/letters/and-another-thing-8230/2009/10/09/1255019610626.html
The Age 2 May 2009
Unforgivable move
'RICHARD Pratt was a great patron of the arts. That, I can admire. He was a generous philanthropist. I can be grateful for that. He built a prosperous business. That, I can respect. Pratt's company indulged in cartel activity, and was punished. That I can forgive. But Richard Pratt, with malice aforethought, contributed to the resurrection of the Carlton Football Club. That is something that can never be forgiven'.
Ken Richards, Elwood
http://henrythornton.com/blog.asp?blog_id=1474&page_number=111
Unforgivable move
'RICHARD Pratt was a great patron of the arts. That, I can admire. He was a generous philanthropist. I can be grateful for that. He built a prosperous business. That, I can respect. Pratt's company indulged in cartel activity, and was punished. That I can forgive. But Richard Pratt, with malice aforethought, contributed to the resurrection of the Carlton Football Club. That is something that can never be forgiven'.
Ken Richards, Elwood
http://henrythornton.com/blog.asp?blog_id=1474&page_number=111
The Age - 5 March 2009
THANK goodness the rain has taken the bushfire tragedy from our front pages. I have desperately missed the daily Ben Cousins updates.
Ken Richards, Elwood
THANK goodness the rain has taken the bushfire tragedy from our front pages. I have desperately missed the daily Ben Cousins updates.
Ken Richards, Elwood
The Age - 9 Dec 2008
I wish to apply …
I AM willing to offer my services to Fairfax as chief executive, following the failure of that Kiwi rugby guy to cut the mustard.
I can guarantee to reduce the share price by 90 per cent, at a minimum, in only a year, and plunge the company into further debt by buying up even failing radio networks and country football club newsletters. We all know that internet thingy will never catch on.
For my trouble, I'll only need a guaranteed $1 million annual salary, and a severance package of half that to ease the pain of separation. What do you think guys? Bargain or what?
Ken Richards, Elwood
I wish to apply …
I AM willing to offer my services to Fairfax as chief executive, following the failure of that Kiwi rugby guy to cut the mustard.
I can guarantee to reduce the share price by 90 per cent, at a minimum, in only a year, and plunge the company into further debt by buying up even failing radio networks and country football club newsletters. We all know that internet thingy will never catch on.
For my trouble, I'll only need a guaranteed $1 million annual salary, and a severance package of half that to ease the pain of separation. What do you think guys? Bargain or what?
Ken Richards, Elwood
Olympics
DOESN'T Daniel Vigilante (Letters, 28/3) realise that everyone at the Olympics will be wearing a Chinese shirt. The labelling may change, but that's where they're are all made.
Ken Richards, Elwood
DOESN'T Daniel Vigilante (Letters, 28/3) realise that everyone at the Olympics will be wearing a Chinese shirt. The labelling may change, but that's where they're are all made.
Ken Richards, Elwood
What if the US were to decide to cut and run?
The Age February 15, 2007
JOHN Howard may yearn to hear Kevin Rudd's opinion on what may happen in Iraq following an American withdrawal in March 2008 (The Age, 14/2). Well, I say to him that it is hardly rocket science what may eventuate. An intelligent man such as he should not have to ask his political foe to remove the blinkers from his eyes. Let me give him a few clues (I'm sure he will be able to join the dots eventually):
■First, the number of young Americans, that nation's "blood and treasure", killed daily in the war would drop to approximately zero.
■Second, without the distraction, provocation and excuse provided by the daily indignity of the occupation, Iraqis might be able to focus on how to live together in something approximating harmony, if not immediately, but sometime in the not-too-distant future. They might even map out a roadmap on how to get there independently, without having solutions shoved down their throats by a patronising "coalition of the willing".
■Third, with the tinder of foreign troops removed, the number of recruits for the anti-invasion project will fall away. It won't happen overnight, but it will happen. The "honeypot" of terrorism will begin to drain.
■Finally, the obscene amounts of money presently consumed daily in the conflagration might be put towards the not too inconsiderable task of putting the Humpty Dumpty of Iraq's devastated infrastructure back together again, getting such trifling matters as water and electric power back to the people. Only then can the economy be rebuilt so young men might be inoculated against the disease of martyrdom. They need to have something to live for, not something to die for.
It will not be as easy changing Iraq as it might have been had a different course been taken four years ago. Indeed, one of the consequences may be that Iraq as we knew it pre-invasion could cease to exist. If this occurs it will not be a consequence of withdrawal from Iraq. It is a consequence of the decision to invade the country in the first place. Just as the rise of al-Qaeda, the humiliation for America, the sadness of the death and devastation wrought since "shock and awe" are a consequence of this disgraceful misguided invasion.
Try it, Mr Howard. Get those blinkers off your eyes. While you are at it, you might try to achieve the same for your allies. That would truly be the act of a loyal partner.
Ken Richards, Elwood
http://www.theage.com.au/articles/2007/02/14/1171405292898.html
The Age February 15, 2007
JOHN Howard may yearn to hear Kevin Rudd's opinion on what may happen in Iraq following an American withdrawal in March 2008 (The Age, 14/2). Well, I say to him that it is hardly rocket science what may eventuate. An intelligent man such as he should not have to ask his political foe to remove the blinkers from his eyes. Let me give him a few clues (I'm sure he will be able to join the dots eventually):
■First, the number of young Americans, that nation's "blood and treasure", killed daily in the war would drop to approximately zero.
■Second, without the distraction, provocation and excuse provided by the daily indignity of the occupation, Iraqis might be able to focus on how to live together in something approximating harmony, if not immediately, but sometime in the not-too-distant future. They might even map out a roadmap on how to get there independently, without having solutions shoved down their throats by a patronising "coalition of the willing".
■Third, with the tinder of foreign troops removed, the number of recruits for the anti-invasion project will fall away. It won't happen overnight, but it will happen. The "honeypot" of terrorism will begin to drain.
■Finally, the obscene amounts of money presently consumed daily in the conflagration might be put towards the not too inconsiderable task of putting the Humpty Dumpty of Iraq's devastated infrastructure back together again, getting such trifling matters as water and electric power back to the people. Only then can the economy be rebuilt so young men might be inoculated against the disease of martyrdom. They need to have something to live for, not something to die for.
It will not be as easy changing Iraq as it might have been had a different course been taken four years ago. Indeed, one of the consequences may be that Iraq as we knew it pre-invasion could cease to exist. If this occurs it will not be a consequence of withdrawal from Iraq. It is a consequence of the decision to invade the country in the first place. Just as the rise of al-Qaeda, the humiliation for America, the sadness of the death and devastation wrought since "shock and awe" are a consequence of this disgraceful misguided invasion.
Try it, Mr Howard. Get those blinkers off your eyes. While you are at it, you might try to achieve the same for your allies. That would truly be the act of a loyal partner.
Ken Richards, Elwood
http://www.theage.com.au/articles/2007/02/14/1171405292898.html