Jerry_Atrick

I think most people conflate DEI with racial profiling. DEI is about incorporationg and including different cultural sets of society to help determine direction, outcomes, stategy, and decisions. The big categories and ones most played out, and arguably malinged, in the press, are race, sexuality, gender/sex, and possibly religious belief (or not). However, it is very context dependent, and, for instance, we also look at neuro-diversity, educational backgrounds, and the like,. In fact, I have someone on my team who is definitely on the austism spectrum and the solutions he comes up to problems with is novel and very effective. DEI and multicultrualism has nothing to do with law enforcement or mentioning ethnicity. Ethinicty is only a subset of DEI, anyway, and is not really anything to do woith racism or racial equality. Another term hijacked by the mainly right wing MSM to push a narrtive. There is nothing to suggest in DEI that there has to be, for example, affirmative action. What DEI is about is acknbowledging that there are different ways at looking that things, which can be driven of different attributes of a person, and that this is healthy.. That is about it. Of course someone investigating a crime will want to know the attributes of that person - whatever they are. Only marginal parts of society would deem someone racist for arresting a non-white on reasonable suspicion of a crime.. What is racist is not pursuing a criminal because of their race, or automatically assuming an pursuing people of a race for a crime. But, not to pursue someone for a crome because of their race would be a derelcition of duty; however, of people I know looking into Rotheram, it seemed to be more driven by laziness or lack of caring of "lower peoples of society" and using fear of being called out for racism as an excuse. IOtherwise, they would never arrest a black person, yet they are by far more arrested,subject to discretionary stop and searches than any other racial group. If you lokk at the root cause, you can woirk out the fix.. Knee jerk reactions tend to produce the wrong results. On what basis?..

You may be able to complain to the AEC.. Not 100% sure, but they should be able to tell you which govenment department is responsible for regulating political organisations in Australia.

Sorry, mate.. My questions wasn't aimed specifically at you, and I only mentioned Muslims in the context of 9/11. But let's face it, whenever there is an event involving Muslims, the DEI card is often played by the media and pollies with an agenda. Also, when peapole say "perhaps DEI", or "perhaps minority rights", or "perhaps gays", or "perhaps women drivers", etc, the perhaps really means "looks like it [could be] to me..." Otherwise, why single it out? But, whenever something comes up, the press, and mainly right wing pollies like to insinuate it is DEI (or as we xall it here, D&I). FWIW, I think it is gathering momentum beyond its utility, but it is mainly about hearing different points of view to try and get to the best conclusion; hirign a diverse workforce to achieve better results, etc. It doesn't mean favourable treatment, nor does it mean that minority groups can operate with legal impunity. In terms of your wanting to live amongst those culturally like you - can't see a problem with that. I am not sure about Sydney, but when I lived in Melbourne, there were enclaves all over the place. Brunswick/Carlton were mainly Italians, Kensington were mainly Vietnamese, Coburg and Brunswick had a big influx of Turks, Dandenong had a large concentration of sub-continental Indians, Caulfield/Balaclava was largely Jewish, etc. I believe Tullamarine and Craigeburn area these days is largely Middle Eastrern and is it Noble Park where there is a large Sudanese of Sikh population. People of like cultures like to gravitate.. In London, my brother's father in law, who remarried an African woman, lived in an area of London, which when I drove my niece there one day, was like driving in totally different, non-European country.

Why is it when something like this happens, DEI gets the blame? Are the vast majority of Muslims terrorists? Like the Rotheram grooming gangs, when you delve into the details, it is usually people being too lazy to do their jobs and hiding behind DEI, than DEI itself.

I don't, except he is the first to complain about others, like, I dunno, legal institutions, medalling in his affairs.. and of course, complaining about foreign interference in US elections. However, it appears those of more ideological pursuasion are hypocritical - claiming freedoms of whatever, usually speech, when that speech promotes their agenda, but when it goes against, they are the first and loudest to cry foul and be.. offended. Lizz Truss, who's budget of unfunded c. $45bn tax cuts per year.. and by unfunded, weren't going to be funded by borrowing or cost cutting, virtually sunk the economy as the financial markets were gearing up for a massive revision downards of the UK credit ratings from all agencies. That champion of free speech has serverd Keir Starmer with cease and desist papers to stop his free speech in saying so.. He hasn't stopped.

It's true, overhyped and yes, staff members were re-educated on British values That's the point.. the law simply says, more or less, licensees can't sell alcohol to under 18s. It does not say how the establishment must verify their age. If its in NSW, I would imagine there's little if any defence that the ID provided was reasonable to believe.

Even ascthe article alludes, Starmer didn't send them Think that Musk is going to stop at the UK? There's reports he is funding Germany's AfD, a neo- right political party and other European. Her certainly has expressed support for them. He won't stop there..

And the lady having to produce ID to purchase alcohol wad a company's decision, not a legal requirement. What that has to do with the forms of ID required and accepted to prove one's identity, I am not sure

Not that I get any satisfaction from it, but there are tragedies all over the world all the time where the people need help and there is little, if any coverage or news time given to them. I feel sorry for them and anyone who loses irreplacable memories or posessions.. A teacher of mine had his house burnt down, and when he returned, that was the loss that hurt him, all the other stuff,, he said was replaceable. Nor do I take any pleasure from hearing from the deaths, and of course extend condolences.. but I also lament the many others were it not for celebrity or in a big city in the US, would unlikely be more than a passing reference in the news. The other thing is that these people are probably the bigger contributors, on a per person basis, for personal contributions to climate change, Big houses, cars, bizjets, etc... I also live in a big house that requires copious energy just to keep warm.. And of course, I drvie to London weekly.. But I am trying to divest myself of all that crap.. I have written to the The Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities and local council that the listend building rules are cazy that we can't just replace single glazing with double galazing, we can just put solar on the rooves, etc.. without significant cost and time in getting planning for it... I can't wait until the place is dine up so I can live less carbon intensively.

In this case, she was quite visionary in making sure there was more money to handle the increase in homelessness 😉 I haven't watched that clip as Sky Australia is not exactly an impartial news source, and it has been shown that they use clever editing can take things completely out of context before.. But it does highlight a real challenge to politicians or more accurately, administering public services; where is the balance against the immediate needs? Could a fire like this have been predicted and what probability, against the need of remediating a bigg issue in the US (and getting bigger in Aus) - homelessness. And did she had to tackle it with resources that are in real terms dwindling. They only have limited resources, and they have to ptioritise things. Fires, especially like this, historically don't happen.. new data may adjust priorities. Also, what other factors are in play. You can have a million firefighters, but it will be next to useless if, as had happened, they ran out of water. There is some discsussion about a water redirection project from Nth CA to south CA, whiuch was rejected, but, again, why? Have to look behind the headlines and agenda pushing. It may be she did make bad decisions, or ideologically driven decisionsm ignoring striking a proper balance. But I am not relying on what sky pushes out, as I can point to many things they suypport that, when you look beyind ideology, are advasntageous to their owners and advertisers, but disadvantageous to most of the population.

Such as?

I need to go to specsavers.. for some reason, I though it was the George of the jungle 2 actor.. who has been promptly forgotten...

To be fair, it is more likely something I would do, except I would look to use fireproof material in case the sparks set fire to the brace.

I don't see how any news organisation can't get involved in reporting politics, and the ABC are not perfect, but on balance, are more objective (or less biased) than others. Despite the BBC copping a lot of flack by the same players, and yes, some very public faux pars in terms of bias, they are also the least biased of the lot.. And they certainly don't play their piper's tune.. Well partly because in the UK there is a TV license fee payable separate to general revenue which goes straight to them. Of course governments can change that, and the conservatives have very subtly over the years to significantly reduce funding in real terms, but the separation of revenue from general taxation does give the BBC an air of independence that maybe someone like TASS doesn't get. Of any news organisation in Australia, which do you trust the most, or distrust the least? (that is a general question and not targeted specifically to @Grumpy Old Nasho

Yes, ironically, how un-Australian is that newspaper?

Who taught the first person to fly? Are you suggesting we go back to being self-taught?

Different actors- the young fella is the second George of the Jungle Just benig pedantic

The media, or their owners, hide behind the veil of free speech. It is accepted the media hols great influence over the people, and are granted access to information and events that mere plebs aren't. With this, they are effetively the 4th arm of government, but with no, or little accountability. In a privileged position in society, whose purpose is to hold the government and others to account to the population, they should not be afforded free speech in the way free speech is meant which is to air one's own views - at least without making very clear that it is a view and ensuring the facts they used to back it up do not intentionally mislead. Sadly, the press hide behind this free speech shield to disingenuously push their agenda. It is conflated with fearless and free reporting.

Built by scammers for scammers should be their motto.

Do you have a reference for that, because everywhere I have looked and there are plenty of resources to say it is OK to live off grid in Sydney.. and here is an example of one such house: https://medium.com/@BrendonWalsh/the-self-sustainable-story-1db49db24fd3 There is a case where the council aren't allowing solar on the roof of heritage listed houses, but, given the space, that won't stop you going off grid with Solar in the back yard (she doesn't have any back yard to speak of, looking at that house). And the council is reviewing its rules to allow it, apparently: https://www.abc.net.au/news/2024-12-18/off-grid-inner-city-sydney-house-plan-laura-ryan/104734666 Whoever is telling you that is crapping you. Always pays to do your own research

One of the real issues with the media today, and I include the ABC in this on certain issues (see some of their Question Times, where the panels are stacked on one side of the issue), is the lack of providing a balanced viewpoints against the facts. They tend to run a story or show where the facts are presented in the context of one partisan viewpoint, with scant, if any coverage of the other side (whether it is politics or some other issue). Fro some media organisations, this is expected, but how good would it be to have two authorative or knowledgable people presenting their take on an issue in an objective context. Although this has been the case for a long time, thee was a modicum of differing views in the MSM, until I guess social media made them realise click bait and echo chambers bring in more eyeballs.. I guess.

F! Me.. Those bank fees over there are expensive.. Over here, the only fee I have to take my money is (as opposed to borrowing whether intention or not)... well.. there are none. It's illegal.. I think maybe there is a fee for terminating a term deposit, but it is not huge and can only be on the basis of reasonable cost. Also, over here, we have things called ISAs (Individual Savings Accounts). For adults it allows you to deposit up to £20K/year in cash and equities on permitted markets (European, US, Canada - not sure about Aus), and any returns are tax free. OK nothing to do with the banks per se, and they are sneaky as the returns are lower than fully taxed accounts (something I have personally taken up with the regulator as there is no cost difference to the banks), but shows what can happen if a government wants things to work for the consumer and betterment of the economy (yes, typically lower income people can't afford to deposit as much as higher income people). I haven't checked the Aussie retail banking scene lately, but would have thought with all the fintech around, someone would work out that you could make a killing by going techhie and not charging all those fees. But, there is consumer intertia - too hard or too lazy to change banks, which the oldies rely on. I think at the retail and small commercial level, it seems from the above, the Aussie banking sector is amongst the biggest scammers in the world - and governments of both stripes don't do much to curtail it. I am definitely keeping my UK accounts when I move to Aus. Geez, with all those charges, I am surprised cash is still not king, take what you need for the month out on payday and don't incur any other fees.. Of course, it shows what people are willing to pay for convenience when there is no real competition (I would almost assert a cartel). @octave - ISTR you use your credit cards to pay for everything and clear them monthly.. What charges, if any do you pay as a result (I know the CC gives you something like 30 or 55 days interest free)? With respect to HSBC, look up HSBC deferred prosecution agreements on the internet and you will see a few. But, alas, they are not the only ones; any of the bug European and US players have them.. as no doubt many others. I subscribe to various regulators' news feeds, and there is nary a day where there isn't an announcement of one of the major global players being fined for something. Some of it is genuine incompetence or the result of failing to control an organisation with too many tentacles; Some of it is malicous. Oddly, Aussie regulators are still not high on the number of enforecement stories that I receive.

Agreed.. This site desperately needs someone to keep the likes of me in check! Happy new year, @octave

I think that is a little out of context. Like all organisations, you will get the occasional rogue for genuine mistake for whatever reason. Ignroing the sensationalism of Sky and the Daily Wail, the ABC are announcing an independent inquiry into what went wrong: https://www.theguardian.com/media/2024/sep/17/abc-australion-troops-afghanistan-helicopter-footage-editing-ntwnfb I have not found anything subsequent. How often is the ABC embroiled in this sort of shennanigans compared to, I dunno, a record payout for continually and knowingly pedalling untruths about certain votyin machines in the 2020 US elections, and the other voting machine company are just getting started, too? And how much does that and other private press organisations get themselves into hot water, or are clearly manipulating stories? And how many even abisde by the guidance issued by the Aussie Press Council, as they have no teeth, let alone appoint an independent inquiry. You can think the ABC arre tainted, and they may be.. but if they are, they are miles behind the others..

A couple more including the view from my office but could not get the reflection of the interior lighting out of the shot