October 15, 2003

THE WEEKLY COLUMN THAT IS WRITTEN EVERY WEEK

Mentioned in this week’s Continuing Crisis column for The Bulletin are lobsters, the Welsh, Phillip Adams, Saddam, Qusay, Uday, Chief Wiggles (read more about him here), the coolest hat ever, Matthew Hayden, Brian Lara, Scott Burchill, and Germaine Greer.

And in the letters pages, a note from Bali survivor Erik de Haart:

I, too, was in Bali on an end-of-season trip, with the Coogee Dolphins rugby league team, and lost six mates. Here in the eastern suburbs of Sydney, we lost another 14 people and countless more injured. In the past year, there have been plenty of dark moments, days and nights of despair, but there have also been plenty of good moments. I have been stopped by many people who said that I made them cry when they saw me on TV. I have been uplifted by the number of guys who turned up this year to play with the Dolphins, by the many people who said that they looked for the Dolphins' scores each weekend and by the many people who took the time just to drop a line, send flowers or send a nice card. For those of us who lost people in Bali, there will never be closure; we will never be able to consider Bali as a holiday destination again. It will always be, for me at least, a place of ongoing pain. This year, the Coogee Dolphins are going for their end-of-season trip to Perth, where we will meet up with Simon Quayle and the boys from Kingsley Football Club. Perhaps on that day all of us will be able to share a drink, to laugh about all our mates, and to console each other on our losses.

Read it and weep, terrorists. We're closer together than ever.

Posted by Tim Blair at October 15, 2003 01:04 AM
Comments

Hi Tim

Aren't people's names supposed to begin with capitals? Please restart the Margo-embargo, dropping it has obviously affected your judgement.

Posted by: PK at October 15, 2003 at 01:35 AM

The caps problem is due to dropping the page layout into the website without remaking the text. It'll be fixed, I hope.

Posted by: tim at October 15, 2003 at 01:52 AM

And here was I thinking that you were making a subtle point about how unimportant Burchill's ideas really are. My6 question is about the mysterious "I" at the end of the column. What does it mean? Is it another subtle comment on the complete self absorption of wankers like Greer?

As for Erik de Haart's letter, I have to say that a tear was close to my eye whhen I read it. I usually congratulate myself on being a cynical, heartless, right-wing death beast who finds a lot of public emotion these days Dianafied to the point of kitsch. But something in Mr de Haart's letter showed just how true his feelings were. There's certainly a lot of good in this country when we can produce people like that.

Posted by: Toryhere at October 15, 2003 at 08:54 AM

Why is it that when you write anything over 300 words it is shithouse? I

Posted by: Pig Head Sucker at October 15, 2003 at 09:12 AM

Bad Bulletin website slow, too many typefaces, too many colours, strange index thing, lose capitals and make hanging I.

Fix please edit-person.

Posted by: pooh at October 15, 2003 at 11:34 AM

Call my a cynic, but I'm not sure the terrorist's intention was to drive us apart or that they will feel their mission failed because two football teams are getting together to remember their dead mates. I don't read the papers every day, but I do have the impression it was a bit deeper than that.

Posted by: Goober at October 15, 2003 at 11:35 AM

Goober,

Terrorists are not deep. Their motive is to kill people. Our motive in fighting them is to stop them killing people. Simple really. Let us not get into all that pseudo-complexity that lefties love to indulge in as a substitute for real intelligence and action.

Posted by: Toryhere at October 15, 2003 at 12:09 PM

Nevertheless, a football team vs a team of terrorists on a level playing field would be a very good spectacle.

The umpire or referee will check the footballers stops and confiscate the terrorists' Semtex.

Then, play the National Anthem, blow the siren and start the game.

I shouldn't imagine it would go for very long and I think you would very soon see eighteen terrorists carried off under the blood rule.

Posted by: ilibcc at October 15, 2003 at 12:27 PM

Nevertheless, a football team vs a team of terrorists on a level playing field would be a very good spectacle.

The umpire or referee will check the footballers stops and confiscate the terrorists' Semtex.

Then, play the National Anthem, blow the siren and start the game.

I shouldn't imagine it would go for very long and I think you would very soon see eighteen terrorists carried off under the blood rule.

Posted by: ilibcc at October 15, 2003 at 12:31 PM

"...you would very soon see eighteen terrorists carried off under the blood rule."
What a pleasant thought! It'd make my day!

Posted by: Old Grouch at October 15, 2003 at 12:55 PM

Hey, at least we get to keep our sexual organs.

Unlike women: the clitoris is the female equivalent to the penis, and Greer supports female genital mutilation, saying "One man's beautification is another man's mutilation." (wouldn't that be one woman's beautification and mutilation?)

Posted by: Andjam at October 15, 2003 at 01:26 PM

Tim,
Besides the capitalisation, there is a "with with" for "with", and an "any one" instead of "anyone", although I'm not 100% on the latter one. Perhaps both spellings are OK.

Posted by: Skinny Hippo at October 15, 2003 at 01:33 PM

anyone = anybody
any one = any single item

the first use is the correct one in the sentence's context - hello, bulletin editor? hello?

Posted by: pedant at October 15, 2003 at 02:20 PM

I just got given two bottles of EXPENSIVE WINE.

Posted by: Pod at October 15, 2003 at 05:39 PM

"The Bulletin" = a magazine.

The "bulletin" = the bulletin in question.

Hello? Pedant editor? Hello?

Posted by: Pod at October 15, 2003 at 05:43 PM

Yes, hello Pod. Enjoy your wine.

Posted by: pedant at October 15, 2003 at 06:07 PM

Thanks, ilbccc. I'd love to drink it, but it's so friggin' expensive that I might have to wait until Christmas or something.

(Dr Smith voice)

Oh, the pain!

Posted by: Pod at October 15, 2003 at 06:21 PM

Sorry about this diarrhoeatic outpour of thoughtless and ill-considered posts, Tim, but can I just add my sincerest compliments on the last paragraph? Perfectly observed. Ten points.

Posted by: More fucking Pod at October 15, 2003 at 07:05 PM