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June 2005

More on Bob (say that quickly)

I'm going to try and make this my final word on Barnacle Bob Geldof and the Good Ol' Boys concerts, brought to you by AOL, Clear Channel, and Corporate Boxholders Unlike You.

Not to mention the following corporation. This press release overnight from the India Resource Centre:

Coca-Cola Must Not Sponsor Live 8
Coca-Cola's Egregious Record in India and Colombia Antithetical to Live 8 Goals

England v Australia Pyjama Cricket Lite

Let this be the first and last time I use the buzzword "Twenty20" to describe what is nothing more than glorified 20 overs a side tippety-run like we used to play at school. The PCL (Pyjama Cricket Lite) game between England and Australia at the Rose Bowl, Southampton is about to start.

You've gotta hand it to Channel Seven. Sky Sports' coverage absolutely enhanced with Tony Squires anchoring their telecast in Sydney, Stuie MacGill alongside him for expert insights, and Boofhead Lehmann at the ground with the sideline mike.

Doesn't matter, I have the TV sound down and listening to BBC Five Live. Now this is amusing. Agnew drivelling about PCL being "the future of cricket", while the good old Booker T and the MGs theme sound, circa 1968, playing in the background. Future indeed.

Dr King and I

Sound file - radio interview for Community Radio Network program "Access Internet" in about December 1996. It's a ten minute feature on CricInfo, mostly comprising an interview with CricInfo's founder Dr Simon King. You'll also hear some comments from one Rick Eyre, the majority of whose interview ended up on the cutting room floor.

Live 8... barely breathing?

"Naive and stupid" is an expression I generally associate with the totality of Shane Warne's off-field career. But it fits perfectly in describing Bob Geldof's approach to his latest competition entry for the Nobel Peace Prize... namely the Live 8 concerts.

A noble (no pun intended) cause for sure, publicising the issue of third world poverty and timed to coincide with the G8 meeting in Edinburgh. So why has he announced, at short notice, a string of Boring Old Farts rock concerts which sound sadly like Live Aid 1985 revisited.

Great moments in occupational health and safety

Peter Costello is hazardous to your health! This from yesterday's House of Reps Hansard:

Ms BIRD (Cunningham) (3.14 p.m.)—Mr Speaker, are members of this House covered by occupational health and safety legislation? Does the volume of the microphone conform to these laws when the Treasurer is screaming at the dispatch box?

The SPEAKER —I thank the member for Cunningham for her question. I will seek further information and come back to her.

John Howard Darfur update

JOURNALIST: Prime Minister, is the deployment of 15 troops to Sudan a preliminary deployment? Are there going to be more?

PRIME MINISTER: Well I wouldn�t rule out more but equally by saying that I�m not concealing the fact that we have already decided to send more. You get my meaning? You�ve got to be careful with these things.

- Press conference, Imperial Hotel, Tokyo, 20.4.05

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