Rosemary Jacob Born and initially educated in England, arrived in Australia, 1/1/71. She has always loved maths and graduated from Imperial College London with a BSc (Special) Mathematics in 1957. Early influences have made her a strong supporter of social justice, a feminist and a believer that education is a lifelong pursuit. In 2008 she was admitted as a solicitor and barrister, practising law until 2012, while she also became an accredited mediator, practising until late 2017.She is concerned for the future of her 3 great grandchildren under the climate emergency.
Currently, very few countries are making meaningful attempts to battle against climate change, so their efforts, while valiant, will likely be wasted. But here, in Australia, as well as in the above-mentioned countries – and also in many other small to medium countries – we could start a peaceful revolution. Planning has been the obvious…
The latest report from the IPCC has been carefully crafted to avoid being thrown aside as alarmist and therefore untrustworthy. It is actually telling us that action is not just needed urgently – it is critically important that we act NOW – where ‘we’ means the whole world. OK. So that is impossible. But WE…
For anyone in a managerial position, the ability to plan is important – as is the ability to recognise when plans must be changed.
When that position is as Prime Minister, there are actually far more important events than elections to worry about!
We came into the COVID-19 pandemic ill-prepared to handle the challenge.
Over the months since the Coalition selected Morrison as their leader, I have gained the impression that he has a very limited idea of what his role really is.
He has spent an enormous amount of time ensuring that he is photographed, in high-vis when appropriate, at every possible opportunity. He basically acts like a flamboyant pop star!
Behind the wheel of a truck, the controls of a ship or in any other innovative and eye catching situation is good for his self-promotional purposes.
He has had the red carpet rolled out at airports as if he were a President rather than only the current political leader – not even the Governor General – of a not very significant country.
Yes – we all love our country, but when you really examine the ranking of Australia, it is not that high up the list.
The people who have done most to help their fellow Australians are not our politicians.
They are our medical personnel, our carers in medical facilities and in aged care accommodation. Few of these get reimbursed or supported as they should be.
Not to overlook our volunteers in services like the fire brigades. who literally put their own lives on the line to help to save ours, and their families have to cope without their assistance when they are called out.
Since the initial concentration on the pandemic, the government has tried to introduce legislation to restrict the ability of registered charitable organisations to actually advocate where they perceive injustice. So far they have failed.
The introduction of JobKeeper was primarily for the benefit of employers. Those who claimed the benefit and were proved to have not really qualified for it have not been required to repay it – unlike the false claims for payments wrongly demanded from those who suffered through the illegal Robodebt campaign.
And hundreds of people were not eligible for JobKeeper and have had very limited – if any – assistance.
Education is clearly a bête noir for this government – despite the fact that many of them, thanks to Gough Whitlam, have never had to repay a HECS debt! Our universities have lost skilled staff and will take time to recover, and yet education is a major foundation of life!
Along with a growing number of people, most of them far more knowledgable than am I when it comes to climate change, I have agonised over our government’s repudiation of even the most basic attempts to make drastic changes in their plans.
I have absolutely no doubt that we have nearly wasted all the time which we should have spent planning to limit the damage we will most certainly incur from climate change.
Since 5 February, 2020, with possibly 4 or 5 exceptions, mainly due to weather, I have sat outside the NT Parliament House for 2 hours every Wednesday afternoon, protesting at the continued support for extracting, exporting and using fossil fuels.
Accepting the need for change is not readily available, and we are digging our own graves by refusing to take the necessary action.
PLEASE make this New Year’s Resolution:
I WILL DO EVERYTHING IN MY POWER TO ENSURE THAT OUR GOVERNMENTS IN AUSTRALIA TAKE URGENT ACTION TO ELIMINATE THE USE IN ANY WAY OF FOSSIL FUELS, AND WORK WITH OTHER COUNTRY’S GOVERNMENTS TO ALSO TAKE ACTION.
This also means we have to think very carefully about how our views on the importance of politics or people’s lives should guide our vote at the next Federal Election!
Like what we do at The AIMN?
You’ll like it even more knowing that your donation will help us to keep up the good fight.
Chuck in a few bucks and see just how far it goes!
I have enjoyed an enormously lucky life. It has not been without traumas, but, at 85, I am ashamed that I am so comfortably off when so many are denied any pleasure or joy in life.
My then husband’s career brought us to Australia, to Darwin in the NT, just over 50 years ago on 1/1/71. I am still here.
Within my first 6 months, I knew I was born to live in the tropics, and I have no desire to leave, even though I am fully aware that climate change will increase the frequency and severity of severe weather events.
Having been here for Cyclone Tracy, and remembering how, in its wake, the city looked as though it had been bombed, I have no illusions about what we might look forward to.
Along with many of my generation, I was late in coming to a realisation that mankind’s actions needed to be re-directed if our grandchildren’s children are going to have a habitable world.
Extra free time in retirement has enabled me to understand the science – and the sordid venality of those who put profits before people.
I grew up in a Christian household and country, and have no quarrel with an ethical system which asks us to do as we would be done by.
But our so-called democracy does not share those values.
To see a need to help others is to be scorned as a so-called leftie.
We have statistics praising the billionaires and their assets, but less well advertised are our poor and under-privileged.
Even less well advertised is how badly we treat them.
Hardly surprising then, particularly in Australia, is the refusal by so many of a vaccination designed to protect lives. After all, given how little the current government really cares about the poor and their needs, who would think they were genuinely trying to help?
The COP26 has just ended – badly.
Australia is a developed country which has contributed more than most, on a per capita basis, to the emissions which are – ever more rapidly – destroying the world as we have known it.
Yet we are one of several, totally selfishly governed, countries which are demanding to be able to continue to mine, sell or burn coal – source of one of the most damaging greenhouse gases.
In fact all fossil fuels should be left in the ground until we have stabilised the greenhouse gas situation.
In fairness to some countries, their leaders lack the power to legislate necessary changes, despite their certainty that they are vitally important.
I do not believe in causing harm and loss to others, but I deeply sympathise with those who feel driven to violence in their disgust with governments which refuse to acknowledge the fact of climate change and its dangers.
Since 5/02/20, when COVID-19 really reared it head, I have sat outside the NT Parliament House every Wednesday afternoon for 2 hours ( I have missed a few through rain and health issues) to remind anyone who stops to chat of the urgency of action on climate change.
I shall continue doing so until all Australian governments have recognised that failing to take action is dooming our descendants to a world which will be increasingly destructive of life as we have known it.
Many Australians – probably more than 50% – would largely share my view.
Sadly we have elected politicians, a majority of whom do not.
We have an election coming soon.
There is only one issue of importance.
Are the candidates prepared to take serious and appropriate action on climate change?
We still have time – just – to change the future.
Another 3 years of Coalition government will be pretty certain to seal an unfortunate fate for life on Earth.
I do not trust Labor, either, although I think their actions will be less damaging than those of the Coalition.
And please remember that the Coalition, with help from Clive Palmer, has already made it crystal clear that they will happily lie and distort the truth if it helps them discourage people from voting for the ALP.
So please use your preferences with extraordinary care!
Our best outcome would be a sufficient number of climate conscious independents on the cross bench!
This next election will be more important than many people realise.
Like what we do at The AIMN?
You’ll like it even more knowing that your donation will help us to keep up the good fight.
Chuck in a few bucks and see just how far it goes!
Clearly, the people elected by the Australian people to govern them are either stupid or insane.
If I read the science correctly, we need to be well on the way to reducing our greenhouse gas pollution by 50% by 2030 – NOT 2050 – to have a real hope of bequeathing to our descendants a world in which they have a hope of enjoying life.
So far as I can see, most of those who claim to be ‘Christian’ are actually adhering to a cult.
I grew up in a Christian (Presbyterian) household, I studied the Old and New Testaments at a C of E school, (as well as Comparative Religion) and am now sufficiently uncertain as to the existence of a loving God as to regard myself as an agnostic.
I am, however, totally certain that no one can truly regard themselves as being Christian unless they clearly follow the teachings of Christ. Selflessness and honesty are two virtues which I fail to detect in many, like our PM, who falsely and misguidedly claim to be guided by a Christian God.
The whole world is finally waking up to the fact that Earth is under threat from climate change – but not yet sufficiently awake to realise how massively – and hastily – we need to act if our descendants – ie the grandchildren of the latest generation of parents – are to be able to enjoy a life which is not being destroyed by fires, floods and famine.
Selfishness seems destined to destroy mankind, and it is certainly accelerating species loss and biodiversity.
Many of us have already installed solar power, and will – when we can afford to – purchase a battery. But these are luxuries for most of the world’s populations. And it is totally wrong – morally and really – for the wealthy to be able to survive in comfort, while the poor are pushed aside and ignored. It is absolutely NOT Christian behaviour!
I am denied access to an electric car because of a government which refuses to accept the desperate need to reduce emissions.
Australia is both one of the wealthiest and – in too many ways – one of the most backward countries in the world.
We have manufacturing facilities which could be revived to build EVs and the knowledge to ensure that re-charging is readily available.
We also have a Coalition government which appears to lack any ability to plan for a viable future.
Today, schoolchildren are demanding that governments take action as a matter of urgency, as their whole future is at stake.
In the very near future the existing government will draw on the selfish instincts of the electorate to seek a further term in office.
I am deeply unenamoured with the alternative government, but would still rather vote them in, than risk seeing the future for my grandchildren and their children destroyed by the selfishness of those currently at the helm.
Like what we do at The AIMN?
You’ll like it even more knowing that your donation will help us to keep up the good fight.
Chuck in a few bucks and see just how far it goes!
There would have been few people who were not deeply shocked by the revelations of the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse.
Now we have similar concerns revealed about the Jehovah’s Witnesses.
I spent a considerable part of my school years studying the Bible, followed by examination of Comparative Religion, at a C of E secondary school in the UK.
The picture that this presented to me was that the Jews, followed later by the Muslims, and unlike the Greeks and Romans, chose to believe that there was one god, and that he effectively existed for the Jewish people.
Muhammad, of course, did not acknowledge that Jesus was, as claimed, the son of god – he saw him as another prophet, and, originally, maintained a more favourable view of the Jews than might be the case for modern Muslims.
Jesus’ message, that the god of the Jews loved everyone, was not accepted by the Jews, who did not oppose his crucifixion by the Romans.
The process followed by his disciples has resulted, over the centuries, in increasing numbers of groups developing what have, in many cases, become cults, which have enabled mainly men to exert a level of unholy power over their flocks!
The essential message, that Christ wants you to love your fellow beings, has been warped and distorted by many of those cults, and the longest enduring of them, the Roman Catholic Church, has concentrated on developing a level of power which has proved highly destructive.
Pope Francis would, it seems, if left to his own devices, try to bring the church into the 21st century, but, even for former Catholics, the attitudes of the church seem to implant guilt rather than love.
The conflict between much of Jesus’ teachings in the New Testament, and the practices of most of the so-called Christian sects, leave me totally puzzled that anyone could genuinely believe that could say they were spreading his words.
And all of that assumes that a god actually exists.
I became an agnostic decades ago!
The recent examination of the Jehovah’s Witnesses throws grave doubts on the extent to which its existence is actually desirable.
The Pentecostal branches, like that to which our Prime Minister adheres, seem to love money more than the people outside their organisation, and my personal feeling is that religion should be a private matter and receive no support from governments.
For many that might seem too radical, if not actually blasphemous, but, given the appalling behaviour which has been revealed in so many of these sects – including just a few like the Catholic Church, The Plymouth Brethren, Scientology and the Pentacostalists – I seriously think we have to ask whether they deserve the favours they are granted.
Same sex marriage has been a major bone of contention for many of the ‘religious’, who cling on to ancient biblical messages, ignoring modern science.
And recent events in Afghanistan have highlighted the fact that many religions refuse to recognise that the knowledge of the founders of the religions were ignorant of much that has since been revealed by scientific research.
We have to stop living in the past, teach science properly in all schools, let people follow any beliefs they choose – as long as they do not harm others in so doing – and teach ethics in all schools, while the money saved from ceasing to give tax benefits to existing bodies – except for genuinely philanthropic activities – should be used to help all the people who are currently struggling to survive.
Far more important than religion, is ensuring that all can survive, and that demands attention to climate change!
Like what we do at The AIMN?
You’ll like it even more knowing that your donation will help us to keep up the good fight.
Chuck in a few bucks and see just how far it goes!
In The New Daily, on 19/08/21, the following was recorded:
On Sunday, the Taliban swept into Afghanistan’s capital as the government collapsed and President Ashraf Ghani fled the country.
“The former Afghan president has left the nation,” the head of the Afghan National Reconciliation Council and a longtime rival of Ghani, Abdullah Abdullah, said in a video announcement on Facebook.
“He has left the nation in this state; [for that], God will hold him to account.”
Days earlier we had reports of a severe earthquake in Haiti, causing severe injuries and loss of life and now the people are enduring torrential storms.
Severe fires have caused damage in Greece, most recently in the Greek island of Evia, as reported by ABC News; Tom Joyne on 15/08/21:
All over the island, there is a white-hot anger over the government’s disorganised response to the fires, for which the country’s Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis has apologised.
Thousands have been forced to flee their homes across Greece as devastating wildfires spread throughout the country. He has described the catastrophic wildfires as “the greatest ecological catastrophe of the last few decades”.“The climate crisis – I’d like to use this term, and not climate change – the climate crisis is here, and it shows us everything needs to change” he said on Thursday, in his first news conference since the fires broke out.“This is a common crisis for all of us.”
And this is just one of many fires occurring around the world.
Just what will it take for the Australian Prime Minister, Scott Morrison, to realise that the whole world is enduring disasters which we are all making worse than they might be, because of failure over the past 40 or 50 years to begin to rein in our wanton use of fossil fuels.
OK! So maybe the Afghanistan debacle is not a climate change disaster.
But the behaviour of our PM, in refusing to take urgent action to rescue those who helped our Australian forces over the past 20 years, knowing that the USA was pulling its forces out of Afghanistan, has now left hundreds at real risk.
His re-election in 2019 was off the back of lies about Labor’s policies and their consequences, aided by enormous financial support from Clive Palmer which helped the Coalition.
Sadly – because I believe that, in general, the Labor Party supports the workers, while the Coalition supports the wealthy – I have little faith in the ALP’s current policies. Many are being adopted in order, they hope, to have greater appeal, rather than because they are convinced that they represent good policy. We do NOT need to reduce taxes for the wealthy – in fact we need to increase them.
But the thought of Morrison winning the next election, and continuing to refuse to take action on global warming, to reduce emissions and generally clawing back money from the desperate while allowing big businesses to keep funds to which they are not entitled – I am glad I do not suffer from high blood pressure!
No country is doing enough to make a sufficient dent in undoing the damage which has followed, inevitably, from the Industrial Revolution.
Too many countries are claiming China is the villain and that taking action is wasted effort as long as China is pumping out emissions.
So we all continue behaving like idiots while China’s leader regards us as fools!
Our Prime Minister is incapable of planning.
This has been evidenced in many ways, not least of which has been his failure to procure a sufficient supply of COVID-19 vaccine in a timely manner.
Add to that his support for the NSW Premier in her attempts to keep people happy, when her job is to keep them safe, so that the virus was able to happily multiply and create a disaster, and those who voted the Coalition back in deserve every criticism that we can hurl at them!
We need a consensus government, which forgets about bad-mouthing the politicians on the other side, and concentrates on ensuring that future generations will have a world they can live in.
The current world situation, with so many countries suffering from the pandemic, some suffering from drought affected crop losses, so many determined to make as much money as possible, with no thought for the consequences, and the desperate need to counter global warming – it is enough to drive us to desperation, which is the last thing we can afford to allow!
We have some excellent independents in the current Parliament – as well as some abysmal idiots.
Clearly those whom we have elected reflect the nature of our population – so we must make sure that we end up voting in the ones who support the vitally important policies.
Now that the pandemic has taken hold in some NSW First Nations communities, it is absolutely vital that we are led by someone who can make good and timely decisions instead of hiring consultants who fail to perform!
We have got to be out there, converting everyone to understand that party politics are what has created our present mess, and competent policy and law makers are desperately needed to get us out of it!
Now go and get them!
Like what we do at The AIMN?
You’ll like it even more knowing that your donation will help us to keep up the good fight.
Chuck in a few bucks and see just how far it goes!
We have run out of time for obfuscation (lovely word!) because we have wasted too many decades ignoring the truth.
It is not a question of how much will it cost to change tack and really start reducing emissions.
It is a question of what cost will our descendants have to bear because of our stubborn refusal to accept that – like those experts whom we believe when it comes to directing how to deal with a pandemic – the climate scientists have been right all along.
Our negligence in choosing which politicians should be given the freedom to lead this country has led us up a blind alley.
We need to backtrack ASAP and REALLY reduce emissions, forgo convenience when it means our descendants will have to pay the cost, and accept that the whole world is suffering because of the selfishness of the richest nations.
Many of those of us who are over 80 – particularly those of us who have migrated to Australia – are well aware that people WILL accept a loss of privileges and comforts if the aim is to ensure our descendants can survive.
Conservatives cling to the notion that change is dangerous, but climate change is more than dangerous; it is life shattering and must be opposed as a high priority.
We have, and can use, alternative sources of energy.
Unfortunately, we also have a stupid government which has failed to realise the need for us to be manufacturing and importing electric vehicles, so that their availability and cost would now make them readily accessible.
We banished vehicle manufacturers from our country, and, in doing so, cut out own throats.
We are currently held hostage by a government which denies responsibility for our safety and – much more importantly – for the safety of coming generations.
Why?
Far be it from me to try to get inside the serpentine minds of our current leaders, but I suspect status and immediate wealth and advantage have heavily outweighed their understanding of their duty to keep all Australians safe.
Until and unless we get a change of government – preferably to a consensus-oriented one – I fear for the future for our descendants.
The damage done to date by climate change, as a direct consequence of ignoring all the warnings we have been receiving for decades, cannot necessarily be undone.
To wait longer before commencing effective action would be suicidal!
Like what we do at The AIMN?
You’ll like it even more knowing that your donation will help us to keep up the good fight.
Chuck in a few bucks and see just how far it goes!
I am both a realist and an optimist, so I am not looking for a ‘yes’ or ‘no’ response, rather trying to start a conversation about how we can ensure that future world conditions will be viable for our descendants.
Between the pandemic and global warming, the situation is not looking so rosy!
I was born in the UK, 3 years before WWII, so my awareness of the possibility of living under government dictates and restrictions is something I can take for granted. The rationing and restrictions experienced by the British – which were no doubt shared throughout Europe, but with the UK avoiding being occupied by enemy forces! – were way past those experienced in Australia. We could not even buy petrol for our own cars!
I was brought up in a non-Conformist Christian household, but am now an agnostic.
Despite BBC programs like the Father Brown series, the only part of the British Isles which is firmly Catholic is Eire, and Guy Fawkes ‘bonfire night’ is still enthusiastically celebrated!
The ethics taught by Jesus, as recorded in the Bible, were the basis of religion as I knew it, growing up, and the actual official church in the UK is the Church of England – which generally allows its Ministers to marry.
Because the UK was originally Catholic, and Henry VIII wanted a son, the resulting mish-mash of religions in the UK, as in the world, are many and varied.
At least the UK was enlightened enough, when it decided to use Australia as a convict colony, to ensure that the Australian government could not dictate a religious framework in its Constitution! And that was before Islam had become a major world religion.
So we have conflicts over religion, affecting internal and external relationships within and between countries.
We also have countries seeking to take over control of other countries, and – as currently in Myanmar – military juntas deposing elected leaders.
Looking at the mess that human beings are making of their own immediate environment, plus China and Russia seeking status by means of force and deception, I am left wondering whether the world really deserves to survive at all – let alone in peace!
And now we have a worldwide pandemic, with established nations looking after themselves first, and throwing the scraps to the undeveloped countries, all while we are recognising the effects of climate change, but keeping our heads in the sand when it comes to taking really serious steps to at least slow down global warming.
Do we deserve to survive?
We obviously would like to – but we equally obviously have not a clue how to persuade our nations that the wealthy nations need drastic changes in their lifestyles.
Everyone now seems to centre entertainment and convenience as the essentials of life.
Unselfishness is sneered at and acceptance of difference is also more obvious by its absence than its acceptance.
Discipline is essential for survival, and that, too, is despised.
As for our national leaders, the POTUS is trying to restore the USA from the damage done by his predecessor, whose legacy is a cohort determined to resist. The UK and Australia are among a group of nations where the electors have failed to understand what a leader should be. India’s resistance to religious tolerance, plus its size, is destroying itself, while China is travelling a dangerously authoritarian path.
I shall be long gone by the time the final outcome is resolved, but it will not be a good one unless and until people realise that acting for the common good is the only way to survive, sharing is good for everyone, helping other people is incredibly satisfying, and having all you need is much better than having all you want.
Now we need to take a good look at who we are electing to lead us!
Like what we do at The AIMN?
You’ll like it even more knowing that your donation will help us to keep up the good fight.
Chuck in a few bucks and see just how far it goes!
And – more importantly – so is the future of our descendants.
The Coalition government is deaf to the pleas of those who understand the science, and who are asking for realistic action to reduce the risks associated with acknowledged global warming.
IMHO, anyone who votes the coalition government back into power is accepting responsibility for deaths and disasters affecting current and future life on earth.
Have the giants of the fossil fuel industries offered him a reward he feels he cannot refuse, or is he just both stubborn and stupid?
A quick examination of his past – and current – career is not inspiring.
He clearly lacks even a modest level of competence at planning and his highest priority is to avoid taking any actions which might cause his political allies to consider ousting him.
Every day there are new reports of global, climate-change linked, disasters.
He might be the Prime Minister of Australia, but Australia is only a small part of a world where all other developed nations are frantically trying to reduce their carbon emissions by moving away from fossil fuels.
Is our PM’s ego so overpowering that – like the Emperor who believed he was wearing magnificent robes when he was really naked – he does not realise how stupid he seems to those with far greater scientific knowledge than he possesses?
How can we accept his policies when every other developed nation is frantically trying to act to reduce the damage of climate change – and consequent global warming?
The only question that can be validly put is – have we already left it too late?
We do, fortunately, have State and Territory leaders who mainly understand the need for action – hence our progress in developing sources of renewable energy.
But more needs to be done, and faster, and the State/Territory actions need to be also those of the federation.
We need an EV industry.
We need to be building batteries.
We need to be prepared for more climate-change linked disasters – as well as for more pandemics!
We need a government which is not stupid and self-satisfied, but which expands CSIRO and stops being so smug and self-confident, by realising that we should be relying on expert knowledge to a far greater extent.
Clearly, our population is far from being well enough educated to recognise that our government is not using expert advice to our advantage.
Smart politics is not the answer to a world-threatening disaster!
WAKE UP!!!
Like what we do at The AIMN?
You’ll like it even more knowing that your donation will help us to keep up the good fight.
Chuck in a few bucks and see just how far it goes!
Australia is unique in being a country, a continent and a former convict settlement.
At present, the latter part of our background seems to be the dominant feature.
Apart from officer’s wives, the earliest females to arrive here from England were largely from lower-class backgrounds – often prostitutes already – and were seldom treated well.
Existing First Nations women were also ill treated, and largely regarded as available to the first man to lay his hands on her, so that existing patriarchal attitudes were reinforced by settlers from convict and non-convict backgrounds alike.
I arrived in Australia from the UK on New Year’s Day 1971, when Joh Bjelke-Petersen was already entrenched as Premier of Queensland, and, whilst much of his biography in Wikipedia might not be 100% accurate, it is still politically enlightening!! Joh retained power through issues such as malapportionment which gave country areas influence to a greater extent than was justified by their proportion of the population.
This resulted in the Fitzgerald Inquiry and the last link will provide those, less well-informed about Joh’s period of corrupt government, with some clues as to why I raise this period of corruption in Queensland in an article about today’s pork barrelling!
The current situation with regard to the pandemic, and the immediate chaos in NSW, added to the PM’s distinctly different – and highly political – treatment of the health care processes in Victoria (highly critical) and NSW (golden standard – prior to now!) – are highly reminiscent of the political attitudes towards Joh’s antics in Queensland.
Just by way of explaining why I am so critical of the current sexist attitudes of Australia’s male politicians – in September 1954, having passed the necessary entrance exam, I started studying for a BSc (Special) Mathematics at what was then the Imperial College of Science and Technology, London.
The main College building was adjacent to the Royal Albert Hall (as can be seen in this photograph – taken during its construction) where the graduation ceremonies were held.
Image from imperial.ac.uk
As the last link demonstrates, just before I enrolled, the student numbers there were about 1500, divided between the 3 foundation colleges (Royal School of Science, covering natural sciences – including mathematics), City and Guilds College (C&G) (covering all areas of engineering) and Royal School of Mines (covering mining, geology, earth sciences, etc).
During my time there, the student population was clearly, given the subject choices, predominantly male. I believe there was one female student in Mines, 3 in C&G and, in my year’s maths group, there were 6 among a total of 30 students. Total number of female students was about 150, and we were all treated with courtesy and respect!!
Now simply Imperial College, London, and issuing its own degrees, it ranks in the top 10 world universities, it has expanded significantly and now includes medicine among its specialist areas, and has been involved in the vaccine development for COVID-19.
So, as a young woman, I came from an ordinary, middle class family, I passed the 11+ exam, went to a government Secondary Grammar school, and, having passed IC’s own entrance exam, as well as gaining the necessary A Level results, I received a grant from my County Council to cover my university fees and travel expenses – I lived on the outskirts of West London and commuted to College via the London Underground.
Just to clarify – neither of my parents had qualified for university, both were/had been Civil Servants, my mother in particular saw education as really important for girls as well as boys, and insisted on supporting us to the full.
Enough of the personal, but remember, England’s history goes back much further in time than that of white men in Australia!
Few States in Australia have avoided scandals over pork barrelling, but now, as witnessed by a statement by Gladys Berejiklian, they have become the norm!
I am one of a no doubt diminishing number of voters who thought we elected our politicians to run the Territory, State or Country for the benefit of at least a majority of voters.
Naïve, aren’t we?
Disgusted, as well, at the openness with which our politicians rort the system for their own personal gain!
If I were 20 years younger, and prepared to renounce my British citizenship, I would stand for the Australian Parliament as an independent.
Those women, who have done so, successfully, in recent years are streets ahead of most of those supported by the Party machines.
They genuinely care about the needs of the average citizens.
PLEASE will someone tell Scott Morrison that ‘normal’ no longer applies to the life of the future.
Global warming IS the top priority.
Failure to take action to keep emissions down – to actually reduce them – guarantees destruction of our last toehold on normality.
Between politics, pandemics and pork barrelling, a ‘normal’ life is doomed!
Like what we do at The AIMN?
You’ll like it even more knowing that your donation will help us to keep up the good fight.
Chuck in a few bucks and see just how far it goes!
As an agnostic, raised in a (UK) Christian household, in a nominally Christian country, I believe that life is more satisfying all round when we make a reasonable effort to help those who most need help.
After living in Australia for 50 years, I wonder how its government has managed to become what it now is – a cruel, racist, sexist, selfish rabble.
Not every individual conforms to that description, but Julia Banks’ recent book makes it clear that the desire for the elected individuals to retain power and place is greater than their desire to change their leaders.
The thought that Peter Dutton might still become our Prime Minister sends cold shudders down my spine.
The failure of the government to seriously punish the blatant corruption associated with the sports and car park rorts (which are just the tip of the iceberg of malfeasance!) is disgusting.
The fact that 3 Parliamentarians who do not meet the pub test – at least one of whom, Christian Porter, is still a Minister – have not been asked to resign (or better still been thrown out) is more than alarming.
To prosecute Witness K and Bernard Collaery for trying to protect us from government mischief is appalling.
And our refusal to help Julian Assange is unforgivable.
The whole developed world – except Australia – is convinced that climate change is real and action must be taken.
What are we doing?
Promoting gas – a seriously harmful fossil fuel! Plus throwing money at Carbon Capture and Storage – which has been proved, over and over, to be both expensive and ineffective.
Labor instigated the NDIS and Medicare – both of which are under serious attack from Coalition policy changes.
We still call genuine refugees ‘illegal arrivals’ – despite being signatories to the refugee UN Convention.
We have no Human Rights legislation yet are still discussing protection for the religious – ignoring the fact that all necessary protection is provided quite adequately in the Constitution. And we ignore the fact that many of the so-called religious organisations – like Hillsong – are actually really sects which worship at the altar of wealth and power!
Having had a mild stroke in January, I have written little since for the AIMN as my drive seems to have been muted.
But we are due for an election in the next 12 months or so and I am desperate to do what I can to ensure that the Coalition is not re-elected.
Sadly, Labor does not present a good alternative and their inability to develop a reasonable liaison with the Greens is both selfish and childish.
Well – the Coalition has the Nationals under its wing, despite the willingness of Barnaby Joyce to undermine their policies!
We need all the people who care about the needs of the poor, sick, helpless and hopeless to unite to force policy change.
If you, like me, have enough for yourself and your family, please stop and think about those who have little or nothing.
We can donate to charity, but we need a government who is in there, working to help them – not telling them that they are useless!
Remember Robodebt?
Who gets more pressure from government to contribute to the country’s finances – the out of work poor or the tax-avoiding wealthy?
Please take a real interest in the effects of the politicians on those who cannot help themselves.
We need another, more disciplined, Whitlam because it really is time to stand up to fight corruption, self-interest and cruelty!
COVID-19 will be with us for a long time and our plans for dealing with it have, so far, been puerile!
I am ashamed to be Australian, and to have to admit that we have a government that refuses to see how the future of this planet depends on ALL wealthy nations – including Australia – planning effectively for global warming.
I am not a fool.
I have an honours science degree from Imperial College, London, plus an Australian law degree.
I believe the scientists.
I understand that we have an increasingly limited time in which we can make the changes necessary to ensure that our descendants will have a world which they can live in, and still have a reasonable level of comfort.
I lived in the UK through WWII, so I know that we can support rationing and restrictions and change generally – at least it will be easier when we are not suffering air raids and sea battles!
We have grown soft and complacent – and selfish.
Most of our population has sufficient resources and it would be easily possible to ensure that no one was below the poverty line.
We are destroying the habitats of multiple species and allowing the few to accumulate wealth – which buys them power – while watching the lives of millions in poorer countries being damaged beyond repair.
We must act to ensure that we elect politicians who will work, with leaders like the USA’s Joe Biden, to ensure that not only our own citizens, but the global population, can hope for a future.
We are at a decision point.
It is up to us all to make sure that we have governments prepared to make the right decisions.
We are running out of time, and electing governments like our present one will simply lead to irreversible damage.
I am no fan of the current Labor leadership, so they, too, need to think really hard about what they can do to ensure the global population really has a future.
What should have been our agenda since the 1980s, has now to be completed, properly, in less than a decade.
Get stuck in, folks.
It really is a matter of life and death!
Like what we do at The AIMN?
You’ll like it even more knowing that your donation will help us to keep up the good fight.
Chuck in a few bucks and see just how far it goes!
