←Volume 34
May 13, 2020
In this Issue:
The wonderful upsides of social isolation
One of the terrible things about our global virus-mania is the endless recitations on tele, online, and everywhere else about where we’re no longer allowed to go (of all the terrible things!).
Life in a brave new COVID-19 world
Jeremy Gilder, Myocum Am I the only one who feels that right now we are living in Aldous Huxley’s Brave New World? Our government tells us we are flattening the COVID-19 curve! Great news! People are saying, ‘Isn’t that wonderful!’ But is...
Life in a brave new COVID-19 world #2
Hayo van der Woude, Mullumbimby For evidence-based medicine, don’t look beyond Italy, where flu-vaccinated people died at a higher rate from COVID-19. So the NRL players are, in my opinion, wrongly advised by the PM, and medical fraternity, to take...
Life in a brave new COVID-19 world #3
John Youdan, Ocean Shores ‘Increases to welfare payments under COVID-19 must be made permanent, so that all recipients can afford a decent place to live,’ according to Anglicare North Coast’s CEO, quoted in last week’s front page article in The...
Life in a brave new COVID-19 world #4
Raphael Lee Cass, Byron Bay So much paranoia about this government, Robert Podhajsky . So much trivialisation of the suffering that people are enduring. COVID-19 is not a flu. I have heard people describe appalling symptoms; such as feeling like...
Life in a brave new COVID-19 world #5
Rod Murray, Ocean Shores Roaming surveillance robots coming to a public space near you? The world’s most powerful leader advocating drinking disinfectant? A culture and society dumbing down? Of course not, no complaints, thank you very much.
Life in a brave new COVID-19 world #6
Robert Podhajsky, Ocean Shores Makes you wonder. World governments are blaming each other for having caused the effect of a so-called new natural mutated virus killing so many people. Fault can be found in all Government reactions to the spread...
Do you Wandana another beer?
Mullumbimby couple, Rupert Brown and his wife Kristine, are busy bucking that trend – launching the Wandana brewery over the weekend in the Mullumbimby industrial estate, with little fanfare and all of the protocols in place.
Editorial: Not confused enough
What do bureaucrats do if they want to simplify complex planning laws? Create another one!
$47K funding for Marine Rescue Cape Byron
This morning at Byron Bay Lighthouse Precinct, Tamara Smith MP announced $47,100 in funding for Marine Rescue Cape Byron through the Community Building Partnerships Program.
Jungala on recovery path after amputation
From the time he learned to walk Uncle Pete's legs served him well. At first with his parents in Arnhem Land, through his teenage years travelling the country, and then when they carried him to Byron Bay in around 1985.
Mayoral powers
Fast Buck$, Coorabell The wider community had a rare win at the last Council meeting. A majority of councillors rejected a cunning move by Council staff to give the mayor broad powers for six months in order, supposedly, to deal...
Peace not war
Frank Ball, Tweed Heads The tensions we see between the USA and Iran have been brewing since Trump unilaterally pulled out of the nuclear deal with Iran. They were ratcheted up another notch when Trump threatened to blow Iranian vessels out...
Star beings
Sapoty Brook, Mullumbimby Given the age of the universe in comparison to Earth, it will be a sad and despairing day for humanity when we discover how utterly primitive we are compared to star beings. We can only hope that...
Car parks
Steve Harris, Byron Bay I could not agree more with Wally Hueneke’s comments last week about turning the car park into a proper park for all to use. How wonderful it is to be able to walk along here, enjoy...
Thank you Mandy
Mel Mott, Lennox Head I just wanted to thank Mandy Nolan for her beautiful ‘Mountain Views’ soap box in the 6 May issue. I always turn to her weekly column first, and she never fails to nail it. Namaste, merci beaucoup,...
Time to renew
Michael McDonald, Bairnsdale VIC In a recent column, Mungo described those who expect the imminent death of capitalism, thanks to the impact of the dreaded lurgi, as ‘utopian dreamers’. I’m inclined to agree given the enthusiastic resurgence of human greed...
Who runs Australia?
Ron Priestley, Main Arm In 1998 when Hong Kong went Chinese, the Rigg family left, and built a house in Myocum. Chris Rigg was leaving Hong Kong after a career in finance. He took several years out in Oz and...
Railway debate
David Gilet, Byron Bay The idea of an inland railway is a foolish one and is just a device used by the National Party to indicate they care for their constituents. Every survey ever undertaken indicates it would never make...
West Byron DA
Christopher Wright, Byron Bay It is interesting to note that the ‘local’ landowners of West Byron who have applied for this DA to build between 800 and 1000 houses on a fragile sea-level floodplain are somewhat non-committal about their plans...
Save the snail
Warren Kennedy, Mullumbimby Is the Mitchell’s Rainforest Snail edible? If it is, then someone should breed them. That’s the only way the snail can avoid extinction, like teosinte corn, which is extinct in the wild, but survives in gardens across the...
Media watch
John Scrivener, Main Arm A lot of people are justifiably sceptical about the official narrative, and there’s good reason to doubt the credibility of mainstream media. We need only recall the lies that led to the war on Iraq to demonstrate...
Coal folly
Meg Pickup, Ballina How can Australia, the driest inhabited continent in the world, continue to mine, and burn, water-guzzling coal? Australian coal corporations consume 383 billion litres of water annually, the same amount as that used annually by all Sydneysiders,...
Entertainment in the Byron Shire for the week beginning May 12,...
Who’s Afraid? A Living Zoom Drama! While the rest of the country can gather in groups of 10, Gladys has decided to keep us indoors a little longer! The last few months have driven many of us inside, with performers...
Mandy Nolan’s Soapbox: Why we miss fat Adele
I felt a bit sad that Adele had hung up the carbs. I even worried that she’d struggle to find the power in that voice without that body. No more full-length dresses. Hello short skirt. I loved that Adele had pushed through to the top of her game without the bump and grind of JLo, or Beyonce, or Brittney, or Shakira.
