Wall Flower

Has Agamemnon ever been depicted positively? I feel like he been depicted as a royal prick since classical times. Loved your mention of the Last of the Wine by Mary Renault. One of my favourite books. I replaced my falling apart copy last year so it's definitely time for a re-read. I think Pat Barker is just a better novelist than many writers getting into Greek myth/history retellings. She's also know for depicting war and the effects of war, which gives her Trojan books such immediacy. I have her Regeneration trilogy still to read, about the aftermath of WW1, which comes highly recommended to me.

Really looking forward to the third instalment of the Sooty Feathers books. Glad it's going well!

According to the Japanese PM's press conference, doctors are still working to save Abe's life - currently in critical condition. Confirmed as a shooting.

Yeah, I struggle to see Dutton being a popular leader and he will take the party further to the right, which is unlikely to win back support lost to the Teals.

I think a few of the current gov't have crossed that borderline and are downright corrupt. I'm a Labor voter but it goes beyond that for me with this election, maybe because I'm also a former long-term public servant. Morrison has been running more of a protection racket and mates' club than a functioning government. Accountability, transparency and the politicisation of public institutions are the worst I've seen it. I get that those kind of issues aren't top of people's thoughts when voting but they absolutely affect the quality of government that all of us have to live with.

I feel like I'm going to need a couple of valium for Saturday night and a never ending packet of Tim Tams if the current government gets back in.

The Jobseeker rise should be a no-brainer. On the other hand, Labor are already being asked relentlessly where the money is coming from to keep those apparently useless old people alive.

The LNP senator looks to be in a lot of well-deserved trouble so I think Pocock or the Green candidate are both in with a chance. I certainly won't be sad to see the back of Zed.

Not just the public, unfortunately. A lot of the media is letting the Gov't off the hook on those issues - deliberately in the case of Murdoch journos at Pravda and through laziness or love of their insider status in other cases.

Wouldn't earthquakes (and possibly volcanos) be a risk factor for nuclear energy in NZ?

Thanks Zorral, consoling is a much better word. I picked up a bind-up of the first two Montalbano books secondhand, so I plan on starting that series this year. Despite my grumbling, I'll probably still be starting long-running series when I'm in a retirement home.

His own side didn't call him the Lying Rodent for nothing. Wheeling Howard out didn't do the LNP much good in the SA elections, so I'm not sure how helpful he can be to Morrison now.

I'm guessing there's no chance that Satan's minions in the Murdoch press are going to start screaming that Senator Fierravanti-Wells is being bullied out by LNP mean boys?

I'm only up to No 2 in the series so it's a bit dispiriting to realise that I have 30 more to go - although I have read a couple of random ones along the way. At my age (early 60's), I think I need to restrict myself to starting shorter series.

I think that Cersei and Jaime get their toxic values direct from Tywin. Who else instilled in them a sense that the Lannisters were above everyone else and that the rules didn't apply to them. I've always thought that Tywin had a bad case of dragon-envy. He wanted the Lannisters to be above the laws of gods and men just like the Targaryens. No confirmation in canon but I can't help thinking that part of Joanna's appeal for Tywin was that she was Lannister and a cousin. No wonder their kids ended up in an incestuous relationship. No one else was really good enough for them, especially after Rhaegar was off the table for Cersei.

Abusers like Tywin (or Joffrey for that matter) can't be placated or won over. It didn't matter what Tyrion did, he was never going to win the love or respect that he craved from his father. Indeed Tywin's modus operandi was to make sure that Tyrion was reminded at every opportunity that no-one would ever love or respect him for himself. If Tyrion made a mistake, it was taking too long to cut loose from his family - understandably, since as a dwarf his options were more limited than someone like Jaime.

SA politicians seem a lot more polite and thoughtful than those at the federal level or in some of the other states. Maybe they were on their best behaviour but it was a refreshing change from the brutality of the federal contest. I agree that a loss by a moderate and reasonably competent LNP premier must be a worry for Morrison. Sadly, I think it will probably only herald a doubling down on dirty tactics.

I've got to applaud him for giving Tywin a well deserved arrow to the chest.

No, I think I'm just stupid! For what it's worth, I think Harry actually looks more like Charles than William but either way it's not as if the family couldn't do with an infusion of new blood.

As Maltaran noted above, Harry and his two children come after William and his children but before Andrew. Whatever the family quarrels, Harry and his kids remain in the line of succession. Every kid William and Harry have had has pushed Andrew further down the line of succession.

That's got to be a contender for the saddest movie ever made.

What a great post. I'm from Canberra, Australia, and we're currently invaded by a similar convoy inspired by the Canadian convoy of covidiots (some of them carrying Canadian flags). There's been the usual protesting, stopping traffic, demands for the government to resign and some sort of weird, conspiracy protest outside the governor-general's residence over some secret list of paedophiles that they want released. Many of them have been wandering around the city maskless and unvaccinated, demanding entry to shops and pubs, despite an indoor mask mandate in Canberra, harassing staff and whinging about being discriminated against. When they don't get what they want, they've been targeting the business with abusive calls and/or 1 star reviews online. In a city that is 99 percent vaxxed, they haven't made many friends.

The COVIDIOT Convoy has arrived in Canberra to protest in front of Parliament House (the current one, not the old one they tried to burn down in the last protest). Apparently, they demanded a polly come out and address them but since Parliament is not actually sitting there was no one available. Good news is there has been a big thunderstorm, so hopefully they're all wet.

If they get upset, Deadlines could just say it was to protect them from COVID. After all, drinking piss is supposed to be one of the latest cures, isn't it? This convoy shit is apparently happening in Australia too, with the so-called Convoy to Canberra (where I live). Don't know when they're supposed to arrive here. I worry about it being a super-spreader event just as our case numbers are starting to trend down.

A extraordinary and devastating film.