Maybe the end of the road…?

It was a joyous event! The communication, administration and facilities were excellent.

Last night, herself and myself pledged our troths to Australia. Happily and gratefully! We sang the anthem with gusto – it is a cut above the average God save dirges and visions of eagles and flags.

There were 166 new citizens originating from Afghanistan to Zimbabwe.

We both wore Swazi ligcebesha to signify our roots.

Good friends and the daughter of other friends also completed the political genuflection with us.

In order to reassure us in this hitherto foreign land, we were welcomed no less than five times. The MC doing so twice. Of course he was a pollie, as was the acting Mayor, acting on behalf of the Minister of Home Affairs, who also welcomed us.

Auntie Someone, an elder on one of the the three Aboriginal councils corresponding to the clans in the Quandamooka area, kindly explained th origin of the welcome practice. It originated with border control warriors thousands of years ago, welcoming strangers at their clans’ boundaries. I suppose quite a lot like our BorderControl Force.

It was a mild indoctrination session, underlining the importance of immigration which is probably the second hottest political potato in the world today. (The most important being energy).

We got over that and pledged our troths to this grand country quite happily, singing the anthem with joy! Afterwards we each received a little tree to plant in our new country, which is a grand gesture

Certainly, it was the best such ceremeony that I have undergone. I say this with a slight hint of cynicism, as I have some experience in this field.

As a child of the colonial empires born in the 1950’s, I have been wafted by the winds of change and obliged to acknowledge a number of polities.

I was born in Swaziland, a British Protectorate in Southern Africa, now the Kingdom of Eswatini.

My parents were Southern African born British citizens, both in states that no longer exist: Dad in the Cape Colony and a year later Mum in the Union of South Africa – both states now in the Republic of South Africa.

Notwithstanding my registration as a British citizen, I was also a Swazi citizen by birth and travelled on a Swaziland passport. Some years after the granting of independence, King Sobhuza discarded the Westminster constitution inherited from the British and commenced rule as a King in Council.

In an overtly political attempt to eradicate a political upstart, the King ruled that only second generation born Swazis were entitled to citizenship. Consequently, my attempt to renew my Swazi passport was rejected – I was only first generation born.

The Brits chased me away, despite my parentage and registration as a citizen as a child: The right to British citzenship was extinguished by the Swaziland instrument of Independence – a nasty sidestep clearly aimed at limiting claimants to British ‘protection’. The perfidy of Albion!

So in 1980 I was stateless, stuck in war torn Zimbabwe Rhodesia. When I asked, they gave me a passport without any need to apply for citizenship. It was either that or a UN Displaced Person’s Passport – soon to become quite common.

Luckily, my grandmother found my Irish grandfather’s baptism certificate and I applied for Irish citizenship and a passport, which I still have.

No ceremony, just fill in a form, send photos and certificates and a fee.

I am still an Irish citzen. “Go raibh maith agaibh”

Having left Zimbabwe, (which was Rhodesia, then Zimbabwe-Rhodesia), I lived in the Republic of South Africa for 14 years as a temporary, then permanent resident. I was not suffciently in favour of that government to choose to become a citizen, despite the right to do so through my parents.

In 1986 things were burning in South Africa so we got the forms to emigrate to Australia. 40 years ago!

This was postponed by the arrival of one then two more babies…

We tried again in 1996 finding that we had insufficient immigration points to enter Australia but enough for New Zealand. We intended to move to Australia from there.

We arrived in New Zealand in 1998 and became citizens in 2001. That was a good ceremony in a church hall, some te reo Maori waiata, serious and solemn – no tree to plant.

But Australia didn’t support university student loans and we had 4 children …. so we stayed in Aotearoa.

By 2013 most of our children were in Australia or elsewhere overseas, so we made the jump, happily. New Zealand was good to us, but just a bit too far out of town…

Now all our children are here, we have 7 grandchildren and a solid happy home.

I am also still a New Zealand citizen

My last 2 children should soon become Australian citizens and then I will rest.

The right of residence has become the most important thing in the world – to have that in a solid and safe economy and society is a gift that must be nurtured and protected.

From Brit to Swazi to Irish and Kiwi and Ozzie.

No more – Australia is the end of my road.

To avoid any confusion I must add that my roots remain African and the Springboks are still my number One team.

Fixing a hole

… where the rain gets in

to stop my mind from wandering where it will go …

… and it really doesn’t matter if I’m wrong, I’m right

where I belong I’m right

The song on the Sgt Pepper album by Paul McCartney has been singing in my ear for a week.

What has been worrying me is that my children regard me as curmudgeonly and conservative, partly because I have professed myself to be an Anti Woke Warrior.

I don’t mind curmudgeonly, but conservative sticks in my craw.

So, I have been researching my feelings and thoughts on what woke values are.

My researcher, Google, gave me a good summary with which I pretty much agreed:

In summary, the anti-woke sentiment is a reaction to the enforcement of new societal norms that many conservatives feel are divisive, illogical, and detrimental to Western values like individual freedom and meritocracy

BUT …. the woke view that Western society is structurally racist, sexist, or oppressive no longer seems so radical to me in the light of the Trump rampage.

It certainly has been, historically.

I think equity is an ideal solution which can be reached without sacrificing meritocracy. More patience is needed.

The introduction of gender ideology into society and education has been mishandled and has caused significant antipathy.

Cancel culture and the imposition of alteration of language have been causes for conflict

Critical race theory, identity politics, institutional changes, history revision are all radical ideologies.

These have been powerfully illustrated by the Black Lives Matter and #metoo movements that sensationalised George Floyd and Harvey Weinstein sagas.

These were hyperinflated by media and virtue signalled by shallow thinking political opportunists, like the Democratic caucus and sports teams, taking a knee whenever opportune.

The promotion of these ideologies is what I regard as woke.

To me, it’s like the paradox of Trump: the direction and intent are right, but the execution of the intentions have been, hasty, clumsy, insensitive, alienating and ugly.

The age old dilemma: once a need for change or a better ideal has been identified, patience is abandoned and immediate realisation is demanded…

Slow down you move too fast…

highlighting inequity is not wrong
compelling change before acceptance is wrong.

After mature consideration and in the interests of facilitation of change ….

I hereby:

conclude my campaign of anti woke
reclaim my status as an avant garde conservative

Risk

Risk is another word like woke that has swindled the world.

Way back in the old days the concept of risk was devised by a marketing spin wizard. Brave heroes like Marco Polo, Columbus, Drake and Raleigh and no doubt Arab and Chinese explorers set out to find riches in undiscovered and thus unexploited parts of the world.

In those days explorers with better weaponry and technology easily prevailed over indigenous populations. In fact it was their duty to bring the True Faith to the heathens, whether they wanted it or not and morality be damned.

Nevertheless their endeavours were heavy with danger. History rarely records the unsuccessful endeavours of those who were shipwrecked or annihilated by the peoples they invaded…

Heroes and warriors attract people who are not so brave but who are clever. For a share of the explorers’ spoils they will ‘insure’ the expedition, so the loss of disaster can be ameliorated for those left at home.

So the fear of leaving families destitute if they failed was removed.

Soon insurers persuaded everyone that every risk of loss could be made less severe. Eventually, of course, it was found that every endeavour had risk and required insurance.

Governments were persuaded to legislate insurance against risk.

So the insurers started dictating how every endeavour should proceed and go about minimising risk.

Safety became a holy word that sanctified restrictions. Insurance is required and won’t be provided unless myriad steps are taken to eliminate risk.

Suddenly safety becomes very expensive causing explorers to abandon new endeavours because insurance is too expensive.

The insurers don’t care as just about every endeavour, every building, vehicle and person is now insured against risk…

So business development is stifled except for ideas with a very high profit margin that can afford all the insurances required

Now the construction of a new pedestrian walkway requires more traffic controllers than workers.

A corollary is the mindset that believes that once an endeavour is insured and premiums are paid, the correct signage is erected and appropriate safety training has been done, risk is eliminated ….

Eradicating the stranglehold that insurers have on capitalist societies will be more difficult than reversing the woke waves of the last half century!!

It is part of finding a form of beneficial government that does not include becoming a nanny to its subjects.

Winding down

The year is almost over – the year end doldrums have set in (in my case that happened about 4 January…)

Even Trump has lost his allure, which is not quite the right word as it omits the whimsical menace of his mind. With a bit of luck the Epstein files will show him clearly as the leering, bullying thug I believe him to be. But I no longer really care.

Imagine if clear evidence of paedophilia by him emerges – will Congress try impeachment again? Don’t bet on it.

I did not do a forecast for 2025 as I have not been very accurate in the past.

But here goes:

There is some hope that the Ukraine war will be resolved soon.

Trump moves could include divorcing NATO, invading Venezuela and annexing Greenland. I do not think he will support Taiwan or other countries China is bashing.

His tariffs are likely to continue. According to CBS News:

Economic growth has surged to its fastest pace in two years, inflation has risen less than feared and the stock market has climbed to fresh highs.

So well done, Donald, despite rising unemployment and prices for the ordinary man in the street remaining high.

Just a random thought about powerful leaders…. Winston Churchill was one.

He too seemed to have bewitched parliament and had some very dubious views and habits….

Here in Australia, with a bit of luck, Albaaneasy and Wrong will continue to be boo’d in public. Realisation that Labor’s narrow focus on renewable energy is excessive will spread to the majority of the population.

In Europe, there are glimmers of stronger, conservative leaders emerging.

Maybe we will see more conversations about compulsory national service.

In Africa, colonial infrastructures continue to crumble and leaders continue to struggle to get fatter as the public purse is swindled. Economic overlords will continue to absorb natural resources.

The winding back of woke regimes will be difficult as practically a whole generation has been infected. Instilling backbone into the wider populace is difficult. Evasion of the issue is the predominant attribute of most.

It will be interesting to see the how far AI will be deployed in governments…

There lies an interesting conundrum: surely forms and applications could all be processed instantaneously by AI! No 2 year average processing times for immigration applications.

Mind you, I would give the administration of justice to AI: lie detectors, no more juries, no more lengthy trials …

Oh and the electoral process too – online voting, instant results; frequent referenda on important issues.

Sorry… getting sidetracked

May the Year of the Horse bring you joy and sufficiency.

Stripping your moer

This is a South African term for losing your temper. A ‘moer‘, amongst other things is a nut. One frequently loses one ‘s temper if the thread is stripped on a moer that one is tightening.

Other meanings are cruder and even obscene. We won’t go there; save to say if someone strips his moer with you, he is likely to moer you. In this case the second moer is short for murder!

What brought this to mind was the damage done when one’s temper is lost. Whether physical or verbal, the blows struck can cause significant bruising which can ache even after calm is returned.

I am a firm believer that we always have a choice in such matters: the straw that breaks the camel’s back can be deflected. Instead that straw should be seen as a signal to step away and not lash out.

It is a chance to give clear indication that your restraint is being tested, you are amper gatvol. Maybe just say, let’s leave it for now or don’t go there, please.

That’s a clear signal to others that sensitivity has been trampled upon; a change of subject is needed, immediately.

That way, there is opportunity for all parties to step back, review and seek another way forward.

If a clear signal to desist is ignored, there is licence to declare your moer to be stripped!

But, even then, moderation minimises mutilation!

Losing control means you are a loser… even if the other party surrenders or recants. They will be scarred and so will you, because you will know you failed as a reasonable human being.

There have been some notable temper failures …..

Jesus displayed righteous anger (stripped his moer) when he cleared the money lenders from the temple … whew! Am I brave enough to go there?

King Henry II of England wanted to be rid of a turbulent priest, thus Thomas a Becket was murdered by four loyal knights…

Of course one can be righteous if one is right, but who is the judge of that?

So, if you strip your moer, – take a deep breath and think carefully how to rein your temper in …. then smile!

That really disconcerts others!

Oops! Maybe a bit passive aggressive?

Points to ponder

These are mostly extracts from others’ articles which resonate with me.

Artificial Unintelligence

AI is only as bigoted as we make it

Feed an AI whale a lot of antisemitic swill, and it will defecate antisemitic crap on command.

These large language models just summarize whatever texts were fed to them. This is why so many of them actually ratify progressive conventional wisdom, culled from academic and journalistic texts.

July 11, 2025 The Dispatch Logo

Jonah Goldberg

The global wellness economy is valued at $6.3 trillion per year and is expected to grow to $9 trillion in the next three years

… wellness influencers represent a new generation of morality salesmen, marketing the idea that health is something you can buy—and that virtue is part of the package when you purchase their products, and poor health is part of your punishment when you don’t.

This religion was a heavily moralistic one, and its road to hell was as wide as the door to dieters’ refrigerators

The influencer who gave us the idea of the body as a temple was none other than St. Paul.

The Wellness Gospel Won’t Save You – Hannah Rowan
July 19, 2025, The Dispatch

Humans are wired with a “negativity bias” that triggers a stronger emotional response to bad news than good news – evident in the journalism maxim “if it bleeds, it leads”

… progress is often about what doesn’t happen

The modern world was built and shaped by optimists. We owe it to them to carry the torch.

We have everything we need to thrive. Our resiliency will protect us; our intelligence will propel us.

Old Fictions, New Fictions – Jonah Goldberg, The Dispatch 1 August 2025

“Who are you going to believe, me or your lying eyes?” – Marx brothers

The pampering of pets

The other day a wise woman said to me that the amount of money squandered on the pampering of pets is scandalous.

This scratched an irk that has been lurking in my mind for some time.

This irk was concretised by a recent article in the Summer 2025 issue of American Affairs by Peter Pilkington called The Limits of Consumption: Why Consuming More Makes Us Poorer.

It is quite heavy reading! What it said to me was:

We are told year in and year out that living standards are rising, but many people—especially younger people—can feel their quality of life decline as time goes on.

quality of life is degrading as GDP increases, i.e. many are getting poorer and some disgustingly richer
consumers are spending too much money on valueless crap
education, health and housing industries have been artificially inflated to extract more money from consumers.

In the US since 2011, the number of housing units per person stayed roughly constant at around 0.425 – that suggests there should be enough houses.

But average household price has risen by 85% !!

Non economic measures show a large decline in quality of life in recent years, but economic metrics show it is increasing.

Surprisingly the homeless populations and deaths of despair are rapidly increasing.

It is time for economists to admit that their metrics are broken

Basing the economic health of people is based on outdated calculations

Big Pharma, Real Estate tycoons and Universities have found the keys to manipulating governments for money. They inflate their markets. This results in higher prices that consumers must now pay.

There is little value increase for huge price increases, called consumer deepening which has degraded quality of life for many.

The pampering of pets is just a symptom of the general malaise that has infected capitalism:

consumers have lost their ability to see real value
- corporations manipulate governments to provide funding as economic policy
white collar information workers are non-producing and increasing, while blue collar workers, who actually produce are disappearing
large, entrenched and empowered DEI inspired bureaucracies
the lack of willingness in politicians to challenge entrenched practices and bureaucrats
ruthless production and marketing of valueless goods

Trump’s rampage in the US has targeted some of these problems. Let’s hope his initiatives are noted and adopted by all (hopefully with a bit more finesse…)

Paying us with our own credit card

We choose government representatives. They decide how much money to collect from us. They also determine how to spend it for our benefit.

We expect them to be honest, disciplined, anticipatory and prudent.

We expect them to spend only what they can collect.

Without fear, favour or prejudice.

Just before an election the current Australian government is paying more money to every household.

It will have to borrow money to do so.

Is it trying to persuade us it is a good government by paying us money that we will have to pay back?

Well, Jim Horner, that is our pie and our plum – you are not a good boy!

If the people re-elect this government, they deserve what they will have to pay for.

In the future, more will have to be spent on government debt than on services to the people.

This has go to stop!

Another Mad Hatter’s Tea Party?

I guess I should be celebrating, making odd Musk-like salutes ‘from the heart‘ and singing ‘Yankee Doodle Dandy‘ with my South African accent..

It seems there is a mighty punch coming up for the Woke way of thinking.

The Donald’s antics and gestures are very puerile and devoid of dignity. Why all the pomp and circumstance when the top billing is a clown act?

But I keep on having flash thoughts of Alice’s Queen of Hearts and Caligula and occasionally Mussolini.

The violent white supremacist thugs who bludgeoned police officers at the Capitol were among the throng released by Trump.

* Trump launched a meme coin called $TRUMP on Friday, just days before his inauguration. Is this a new way to buy influence? Market capitalization soared to nearly $6 billion within hours. Melania also has a coin, so there! (Not called $trumpet…)

Vindicatory vengeance seems to be gushing up.

Trump’s nominee for FBI director, Kash Patel, has come up with a specific list. In Patel’s 2023 book Government Gangsters, he lists 60 current and former executive branch officials whom he refers to as members of the “Executive Branch Deep State.”

President Biden issued preemptive pardons to many people who tried to hold Trump responsible for seeking to overturn the results of the 2020 election and against whom Trump has promised “retribution.”

How far will Trump’s “retribution” actually go? Should Biden have granted himself and Harris and Clinton pre-emptory pardons as well?**

Trump is notoriously antagonistic to institutions that oppose him, like the Supreme Court and the Treasury and even Congress. His promise to extend the Tik Tok deadline to 90 days is contrary to a Congressional decision. Wonder if anyone will mention that to him?

I’m not squeamish about the purge.

Government bureaucracies have either been given or have usurped the power of elected representatives. They now control society by incriminating them. The rule makers are now the real rulers.

To unravel that Gordian knot will be impossible, so only an Alexandrine sword will reduce it.

I hope Musk’s purge will trim them, slim them and refocus their purpose.

The woke way of thinking is embedded in western culture and will be resistant to jackboots and muskrats. But there will certainly be a shaking up of the fashionable fringe followers, so that’s a start.

I wonder whether Trump will be constrainable or will he have to go the way of Caligula?

*Daniel Hampton – https://www.msn.com/en-au/news/

**Robert Reich January 21, 2025 ‘That’s interesting:’ Did Trump just launch a new conspiracy theory? – Alternet.org

bleak

…sterile, gloomy, almost bitter, valueless..

Do you ever feel like that?

It’s the other side of bored. It’s the inability to see flowers on the road ahead. No doubt they are there but going out the gate to see them is such an effort…

The wonderful thing is that it is quite easy to shake off. Just listen to a bird or feel a breeze cool the sweat, check out how blue is the sky, just walk out the door and into the park.

But … almost tempting to wallow or just stand and think about the mud oozing between your toes…. it’s not self pity or feeling of lack of worth … it’s just a lack of desire to do anything.

It’s the pits and I am pretty sure I am not the only one to have been there.

Fortunately I have a self-inflating ego which will bounce me out of there. I will receive complaints that Pavarotti is too loud, tut-tutted for my conservative views, be informed that a dozen lychees have more sugar than a glass of coke, on top of the mango I had for breakfast…

It’s a matter of choice … and the desire to choose. Mud is mud and it is probably harmless and seductively soothing to stay…

So winds the darkkserpent his slowly tightening coils around your mind until it really does get too much effort to move.

My tuppenny therapy is to get on a bike, sing, eat fruit, pat a dog, swim in the sea, paint a picture, talk with an infant ……….. write what’s in your heart, so you can send the beast in your mind slinking away.