“May God bless you, may God bless your work, may God bless the country you are helping to protect and prosper.”
So said Tony Abbott at the swearing in of his latest security appointment, Roman Quaedvlieg, the commissioner of Australia’s newly created Border Force which merges the frontline functions of Customs and Immigration.
It will be responsible for immigration security at Australia’s air and sea ports and will also patrol Australia’s waterways, with Operation Sovereign Borders falling under its control. It will also be responsible for Australia’s detention centres.
The blind arrogance of suggesting that God would bless anything to do with Australia’s treatment of asylum seekers is breathtaking.
God’s ‘representative on earth’, Pope Francis, made an appeal to the diplomats of the world.
‘Here, in your presence, I appeal to the entire international community, as I do to the respective governments involved, to take concrete steps to bring about peace and to protect all those who are victims of war and persecution, driven from their homes and their homelands.’
In January this year the Australian Catholic Migrant and Refugee Office published a media release Government response to Manus Island protest disturbing – Warning of further protests
The Australian Catholic Migrant and Refugee Office (ACMRO) is deeply disturbed at the unfolding events on Manus Island.
Since Tuesday, 13 January 2013, close to 700 asylum seekers have embarked on a hunger strike with 40 asylum seekers sewing their lips together and others swallowing razor blades.
Asylum seekers on the Island resorted to such drastic measures after being told that they would be resettled in Papua New Guinea; an unimaginable place for most, who fear being tortured by resentful locals.
As the hunger strike has progressed, asylum seekers have gone without food and water simply shouting “what do we want? Freedom!” One asylum seeker is quoted in the Guardian Australia pleading “let your government to kill us. Let your government to kill us. We are human beings. We are not bad people … Please help us. Please help us. We begging you to help us.”
The Australian Government response to the protest is one of secrecy, denial and blame shifting. Asylum seekers protesting for their rights to freedom and a safeguarded future have been labelled as “irresponsible” by the Minister for Immigration and Border Protection, Peter Dutton.
ACMRO finds the government’s lack of transparency on Manus Island, particularly at a time when the lives of individuals are at stake, highly worrying. The current protest bears much similarity to last year’s occurrence on Manus Island that escalated out of control and resulted in the death of Reza Barati.
The Director of ACMRO, Fr Maurizio Pettena calls for transparency on Manus Island. The Australian public has a right to know the truth about what is happening on Manus Island, given that their taxes are channelled there and asylum seekers are indirectly under their care. Asylum seekers too have a right to information and to know their future prospects of resettlement, regardless of how they arrived on Australian shores.”
Fr Maurizio cautions “Protests will continue to occur on Manus Island. Asylum seeker claims need to be processed in an efficient and safe manner, leading to reasonable resettlement options. There is no excuse for keeping people detained for periods as long as 18 months. The frustration will boil over time and again and lead to further protests.”
Would Fr Maurizio face jail under our new border protection laws?
In March this year, the Australian Catholic Social Justice Council released a briefing in response to The Forgotten Children report.
Among the findings are the following revelations on the impact of the detention regime:
- 34 per cent of children detained in Australia and Christmas Island have a mental health disorder of such severity that they require psychiatric support. The rate is likely to be higher on Nauru.
- There were 128 incidents of self-harm amongst children over a 15 month period from 2013-2014.
- There were 27 incidents of voluntary starvation involving children over the same period.
- 128 babies were born in detention, many having their first birthday without ever knowing freedom.
- Children have been exposed to unacceptable levels of assault, including sexual assault and violence in detention.
- Children live in very cramped conditions where disease and fear spread quickly.
Following the release of the report, over 230 Australian human rights organisations and community groups have signed a joint statement calling on all members of the Federal Parliament to take action to end the detention of children once and for all. Coordinated by the Refugee Council of Australia (RCOA), the statement urges the Parliament to introduce legislation to prevent children from being detained for immigration purposes in the future.
The statement was supported by national peak bodies, religious groups, refugee and asylum seeker support agencies, international development agencies, health services, welfare agencies, legal centres and human rights groups, including the Australian Catholic Social Justice Council.
In addition to arguing for legislative change, the statement calls for the release of children and families detained in Nauru and for allegations of child sexual abuse in Australian-funded detention centres to be referred to the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse.
‘The Australian Human Rights Commission report is a well-researched, detailed and deeply disturbing account of the harm inflicted on vulnerable children as a direct result of decisions taken by successive governments,’ RCOA chief executive officer Paul Power said.
‘All of the politicians and bureaucrats involved in detaining children knew what they were doing, as the consequences for children’s mental and physical health were clearly outlined in the Commission’s 2004 report on the detention of children and numerous research reports and parliamentary inquiries.
In highlighting the flight of thousands from their homelands in search of sanctuary, including those who are particularly vulnerable – children at risk of people trafficking, orphaned children and unaccompanied minors – the Pope spoke of the mindset that allows us to ignore the plight of these children.
“Rejection is an attitude we all share; it makes us see our neighbour not as a brother or sister to be accepted, but as unworthy of our attention, a rival, or someone to be bent to our will. This is the mindset which fosters that “throwaway culture” which spares nothing and no one: nature, human beings, even God himself. It gives rise to a humanity filled with pain and constantly torn by tensions and conflicts of every sort.”
Well may he say God bless our border forces, but nothing will exonerate the Prime Minister and our politicians who, for cynical political reasons, are prepared to sacrifice the lives of the children who came seeking our help.
Tony is God for Christ’s sake!
Who is God? We are NOT America and I am sure those in detention do not feel that their gods would be blessing the enterprise, judging from efforts to date!
may god bless. it is a new three word slogan
As you demonstrate Kaye, drawing on contemporary Catholic Church sources, the medievally-minded Abbott is now our nation’s anti-Christ.
It’s a strange, strange world we live in where the majority of voters either approve of what is being done or think that the ‘authorities’ should be even tougher and stranger still is that it has overwhelming political endorsement’
Lest we forget!
The education system has much to answer for.
I reckon it is time that all living thinking people understood the negative value of being ruled by dead schizophrenics. It just breeds more evil politicians
Sickening, truly sickening. I cannot adequately express my distress and disgust at this government and its masters. The Abbottoire is the evil that needs to be stopped.
From all I have read and heard of Fr Maurizio Pettena he is an honourable man, doing his utmost to help Asylum Seekers and improve the appalling conditions Abbott has approved for them to barely exist in.
Now is the time for Fr Pettena and his Catholic colleagues to take the fight right to Abbott’s front door. Not in letters, email, social media but in person waving the Popes recent words in his face and as a Catholic Priest demand Abbott as a Catholic start respecting the words of Abbott’s Catholic Leader HH Pope Francis.
It is not good enough for the Catholic Church, well not all the Church as many of the Priests and Bishops are too comfy in their cosy privileged world to upset abbott to any degree. However there are some who are very unhappy with abbott and his policies, they are the voice that abbot must hear and he must be given the message it is not good enough to play at being a catholic when it suits his political agenda.
We know he ignores just about everybody, however with the Church he still retains some respect for it and that Church has a duty to take this monster aside and tell him in no uncertain terms, what he is doing to Asylum Seekers is against the teachings of the Church and the Pope himself. Fr Pettena also must ensure abbotts actions and policies are known to the Holy Father.
As a Catholic I am totally ashamed the Church is not doing its duty and taking steps at the top to bring this physco PM into line with human decency, more so since last weeks Papal Encyclical and the Popes words on refugees
Agree philgorman. When I read that he, Abbott, had said that, I felt ill. Each day brings its new horrors from this wicked government. Never before in over 60 years of voting have I seen a government that not only does not represent the interests of all Australians, but actively works against them.
Abbott, as a Catholic, should believe that if he goes against the laws of the church, he will go to hell. I think that it is apparent to all now that he has absolutely no belief in an invisible entity or anything like consequences for his actions after his death. In my opinion, he is not a christian at all.
Get religion out of our politics!
From August last year….
In the past four months, 45 religious leaders from many different denominations have been arrested after holding prayer vigils in offices of MPs from both major parties.
http://www.smh.com.au/federal-politics/political-news/nun-arrested-at-hockeys-sydney-office-20140812-103ecv.html
Kaye, you never miss a trick, I’m glad that you are on our side.
How warped is this man’s mind? How skewed are his “Catholic” values? His abhorrent actions can only lead to civil discord.
Kaye –
Your article is brilliant … and your latest comment ref. the link a real eye-opener. …
I wonder how many more protesters have been ‘removed’ in the latest 11 months ? … Not something we hear about because of what I now see as forms of censorship of certain media. ( not Murdoch rags of course – but even they have had a few go’s at the prime em. recently ).
I too felt ill, when I read the ” God Bless you’s” that he heaped on his now ultra important head of the new Australian Border Force. …. ‘Force’ – not a kindly word in any way, conjures up another arm of the military ? … and that is precisely why it’s been named that way. ….
………..
David ….
Your post says it all … totally agree that the Catholic Church should haul their errant member in to answer some very pertinent and hard questions. … He needs to be stopped, and perhaps his church is the best instrument to start it all. …
He’s not a christians’ bootlace.
“May you’re God go with you” was how Dave Allen finished all of his broadcasts. For those not old enough to remember him, it’s an easy “Google”. Way before his time, the assumption was ‘You can have your God and go in peace”. It was accepting, not disparaging, that there were different Gods. It assumed that one God was not greater than another. It, to me, assumed that all God’s were equal in the eyes of their believers. It never, to me, presumed that you, having your God, gave you a right to lecture me about my God, or lack thereof. When ‘the State’ invokes the protection of a God, over the teachings of the God (most of the scripture’s I have read relate to ‘Do unto others’ more prolifically than ‘An eye for an eye’), I recall a sign my brother had in his shop.
In God we trust. All others pay cash.
By any definition, he is not invoking the help of the God’s, he is seeking the blessing of the godless. What a miserable excuse he is, for anything. As, always, grateful, Ms Lee. Take care
‘Have to agree with your article Kate,you have nailed it,and to me the most disturbing part was Abbott and staff singing the national anthem along with the border force officers. The first image that flashed into my head were images of the Nuremburg Rally,the only difference it was done on a much smaller scale of course,but the comparison was similiar,all that was missing from Abbott and his staff were the uniforms and it should have made any Australians blood run cold.”””””
Hey Kyran, thanks for the Dave Allen input. I have been a great fan of his humour and with a Co Cork dad, many an hour we laughed at his oft irreverent humour directed at the Catholic Church (being a self confessed atheist, lapsed Catholic himself, so he claimed ) gave him a great source for his jokes.
I was toying with a post similar since reading Kaye Lee’s contribution, but you have said it eloquently. Dave Allen was a gem and while he made fun of the Catholic teachings and the religious I never regarded his humour over the top. I doubt abbott would have been amused, publicly anyway.
Allen never suffered fools such as abbott kindly.
if anyone hasn’t seen/heard Dave Allen a short example…may your God go with you, will enjoy it too
I am past revulsion.
I have shared your article, Kaye; but I find myself unable to comment – like Stephentardrew, I am past revulsion. I have arrived at fear.
aravis1 ….
May I respectfully suggest you leave your arrival point, and retrace your steps.
To ‘arrive at fear’ is EXACTLY what this vile spokesperson ( in particular ) for this government … wants to happen.
He wants that form of dominance over the entire population. … I am not afraid of this mongrel, and I never will be … not in my heart or where I live in my soul. ….
Never give him the satisfaction.
….
I too saw the line-up of anthem singing monsters on TV and my flesh crawled. …. If ever there was a perfect portrait of this alleged leader, it was then – a cruel countenance taken from side on, head stuck out in a defiant and hostile way ( and frankly, I don’t think he knew all the words !! ).
Body language speaks volumes. …. I hope he cringed when he saw the replay.
When will the Catholic church ex-communicate Tony Abbott?
How can the church claim to be humane and caring whilst they allow him to terrorise innocent people?
Tony Abbott, earlier this year said he wished the heads of the Muslim faith would say that Islam is a religion of peace and mean it. I wish the Catholic church would call out Abbott for being the war mongering, child abusing, un christian, torturer he is?
I guess that’s why I’m a staunch atheist.
The hypocrisy is unconcionable.
The Jesuits publish some welcome thoughts in Eureka Street but I do so wish they would speak out directly, front and centre, about the products of their education system – Abbott, Hockey, Shorten et al
Students from Tony’s old school sent a letter to him, Barnaby Joyce, Christopher Pyne, Joe Hockey and Bill Shorten – all Jesuit educated.
“We feel compelled to express our disappointment that, as graduates of our Jesuit schools, you would allow those principles, cultivated in our common tradition, to be betrayed,” Henry writes.
“We look for heroes among our alumni, for insignes (generous and influential people, as Ignatius styled them). Instead we see only allegiances to parties that trade human lives for political expediency, that choose the lowest common denominator to woo the populace, and that speak of economic problems rather than the dignity of the human person, especially the most vulnerable.”
The letter says the policies of the Coalition and Labor “betray our national character of being large-hearted, of giving someone ‘a fair go’, and of ‘helping the battler’. They lack moral courage and, in the light of our international obligations, may be illegal”.
http://www.smh.com.au/federal-politics/federal-election-2013/tony-abbotts-old-school-hits-out-at-asylum-seeker-stance-as-betraying-moral-values-20130821-2savt.html
You are right, of course, Annie B. Fear is not usually my reaction to him and his works; but it’s getting to the point where a comparison to Hitler is no longer over the top. I remind myself that he is terminally stupid, but then I see these signs of psychopathic cunning. I’ve never lived in such a place before. I can only hope that as it gets worse, we may draw together and unite against him. The damage he is doing to our society is appalling. Long live decency! Australians, let us all UNITE.
“Give me your tired, your poor,
Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free,
The wretched refuse of your teeming shore.
Send these, the homeless, tempest-tost to me,
I lift my lamp beside the golden door!”
Hey David, he was a gem. “Allen never suffered fools such as abbott kindly”. Try some of Barry Humphries stuff for the Australian contemporary. It’s not about the church, or the ideology, it’s about the extremism. Ms Lee’s last post distracted me. “Dirty Boulevard”, Lou Reed. Take care
@Annie…I nearly threw up such is my revulsion of this foul lowlife abbott. You hope he cringed on viewing the video, view he will have most certainly done. Here’s your answer of him cringing..he didn’t, wouldn’t, can’t.
He is narcissistic personified. The world renowned Mayor Clinic lists a Narcissistic person as…take your pick, you can’t lose.
DSM-5 criteria for narcissistic personality disorder include these features:
Having an exaggerated sense of self-importance
Expecting to be recognized as superior even without achievements that warrant it
Exaggerating your achievements and talents
Being preoccupied with fantasies about success, power, brilliance, beauty or the perfect mate
Believing that you are superior and can only be understood by or associate with equally special people
Requiring constant admiration
Having a sense of entitlement
Expecting special favors and unquestioning compliance with your expectations
Taking advantage of others to get what you want
Having an inability or unwillingness to recognize the needs and feelings of others
Being envious of others and believing others envy you
Behaving in an arrogant or haughty manner
Although some features of narcissistic personality disorder may seem like having confidence, it’s not the same. Narcissistic personality disorder crosses the border of healthy confidence into thinking so highly of yourself that you put yourself on a pedestal and value yourself more than you value others.
Is it possible that the choice of that sharp, black uniform for the border Force is a quasi nazi Freudian şlip??
And the mad monk is looking for terrorist threats in boats carrying asylum seekers !!
He could not tell the truth about anything.
And shorten … MIA as usual.
Visit the following link and figure out for yourself where the REAL threat of terrorism is most likely to come from.
https://www.thesaturdaypaper.com.au/news/politics/2015/06/27/secret-australia-saudi-deal-intelligence/14353272002053#.VZUL8UZWGkw
Australia, you are your own worst enemy … by far.
David ….
You are right. As soon as I had hit ‘ post comment ‘ … and had not availed myself of the 4 minutes edit time, except for some piddly little alterations, did I realise that the comment I had made was superfluous – about the p-m cringing at his own displays.
A person of his ilk, would most likely be super proud of his appearance, no matter where he is, or in what clothing he wears !!! . …. Narcissistic personalities don’t care how they look – as long as they are seen, noticed and have opportunities to display their own self-importance. … One can only hope that the fragile self-esteem that lurks behind the narcissist, comes to the fore at some time – if for no other reason than to turf him out on reasons of unsound mind, and put our country back on the track to which it belongs – and has belonged for many many decades ( give and take at times ).
I don’t believe that 100% of Liberal MP’s are goof-balls. …. They would see what is happening, and be very concerned about it – and in the near future, DO something about it. …. Unless that is, he has them also by the proverbials ? … He seems to have managed to hoodwink Shorten ( or has he ? ).
Guess anything is possible from a person so hell-bent on dictatorship and power over all he surveys.
….
I’m getting to the stage that every time I see Abbott doing a presser I feel a bit ill. And there is always some strange looking person(s) standing behind him nodding and licking their lips.
Luke Hartsuyker (rhymes with…) comes to mind as a favourite.
At least when Ball Scrotum gets on air, the head wobblers look usually like normal people.
“When I despair, I remember that all through history the way of truth and love have always won. There have been tyrants and murderers, and for a time, they can seem invincible, but in the end, they always fall. Think of it–always.”
― Mahatma Gandhi
@ Ken Butler.
Something else did make me feel very uneasy when I saw that newly elected leader of the Australian Border FORCE, appointed – and speaking. …. I could not at the time put my finger on it, it sort of ‘filtered through’ – but I realise now it was the blackness of the uniform ( to my knowledge we have NEVER had black uniforms for anything, ever before in this country ) … it rang a few muted bells ( I had about 4 things going on in the kitchen at the time ).
The bells are no longer muted.
http://www.canberratimes.com.au/national/public-service/border-forces-menacing-logo-a-lesson-in-getting-design-right-says-its-creator-20140715-zt7pk.html
This link shows the prototype of a logo to ( perhaps ?? ) be used by the Australian Border FORCE … albeit maybe a mistake by the artist ? … but the comments below the post say a lot. … It was there, it stood on display, and as was stated in the article ” these things tend to have a life of their own.”. …. The lid might’ve been put on it rather quickly, or not. ? …. Remains to be seen. … The ‘faceless ones’ – once seen, forever etched in the memory. … hmmm.
I am now waiting for the next step – will it be the ” Totenkopf ” … the skull and cross bones used by the 19th > 20th century German military and the Gestapo SS during WW 2. The insignia has been used by a number of countries over the centuries, including the U.S. Airforce 400th Missile Squadron, but that was allegedly, a ‘modified’ version. ??
Surely the LNP – because of their leader – are slowly and ingloriously, hanging themselves ?
Thank you Kaye Lee …
for that insightful reminder, from the great Gandi. ….
We should all make that our personal mantra.
When I saw the title of this piece I very nearly did not open it.
BUT it being written by Kaye Lee I thought I would give it a go.
Oh my goodness!
Every time I read Kaye’s well researched and composed pieces I am gobsmacked. Every time I hear of Abbott’s latest ( for I cannot always watch him) I think it must be the lowest ebb THIS time. And then this.
God this God that God God God.
I have had two very good Christian aunts. They were feisty opinionated Right wingers who were considered ‘the salt of the earth’ and very ‘good Christian women’. Whenever they rang to talk to me they would let loose their judgements about anything from ‘single mothers’ to ‘homosexuals’, from Muslims to ‘foreign doctors taking over our hospitals’.
At the end of each call they would intone after the hour long diatribe where my silence was ignored;
“Goodbye dear and God Bless”.
It seems to be a sign of ignorance, or selfishness, or ease of throwing a crumb from the high fallootin’ to the poor relative. Either way the Narcissism was always evident.
And now this from our cruel, self serving, brainless, compassionless Prime Minister.
Disgusting, shameful and frustrating. Frustrating because there is not a goddamn thing I can do about it.
From the saying of the “Lord’s Prayer” in Parliament, to the influence of a paedophile protecting Priest, I feel the Australian Constitution is so thin, so weak, so tame, so plain re the separation of Church and State that I feel a lost person in this sea of religious hypocrisy that seeps throughout our Land.
I am sad and powerless. Not only am I a woman, a mother, a carer, a grandmother and a socialist but I am the picture Abbott paints every time he wants to vilify and demean an example of ‘bludger’, ‘against us’, ‘bleeding heart’, worthless piece of a citizen.
The only hope I feel is that I am his enemy, his real enemy, in that I represent every thing he does not understand and wants to get rid of out of ‘his’ Team Australia.
Well suck it up mate coz I am here to tell you I will see the end of you yet!
<
Abbott is Militarised, Corporatised and Americanised.
All Australians should feel safer now that there is another "Force" to protect them.
Only Abbott & "god" knows why Customs and the RAN couldn't do the job.
Kaye Lee stand clear …. another Abbott fear bomb will be landing in your and our lounges.
It's now become a daily event.
Kyran and David (Daffyd),
Sincere thanks for the Dave Allen reference and post. Even as a kid I loved his humor.
May your God bless you,
In the name of the father, the son, and in the hole he goes.
I talk with people on pages on Facebook, Annie B, – not the LNP pages, which have banned me – and Shorten is angering almost all progressives, myself included. But I am forced to wonder if he knows things that we as lay people, cannot see. It’s not only Bill; none of the Labor leaders, except for a few specific comments, say much. An agreed policy? Probably. But can we take hope from that? These are experienced politicians, they see and hear close-up views and talk. They know, as we do, that the Libs are another form of political life, and are digging themselves a deep hole. They must be seeing as we are, that the slippery slope the Libs are on is getting slipperier by the day; black uniforms! God bless! Insanity creeps.
What worries me most is that the Prime Moron is putting us at odds with each other. He has caused such anger at Bill Shorten that one cannot attempt to reason that Labor is necessary for getting rid of the LNP, without being charged with one-eyed stupidity. So that instead of talking about how to get them out, we find ourselves fighting with each other. The anger is being deflected, onto ourselves. That does suggest more than stupidity; it suggests an agenda learned from others in other parts of the world. But how to change it? I’ve worn myself out, with “sweet reason” and it is ignored. As if blinkers had been clamped on the majority of us. Is this what Germans experienced, in the decade before WW2?
May I ask that we all who care about our country, try to talk with our friends and acquaintances and help them see that unity is vital in this fight. Disunity may have an unthinkable result.
Ditto re Gandi quote…made the start of another day with the physco abbott at the helm, a little easier to take.
To : aravis1
I hung on for a long time, long after others had begun to give up, to the thought and belief that Bill Shorten is actually playing a very very hard game in the sport known as ‘politics’. …. And then I began to doubt, seriously, his ability to do anything, to say anything or to look in any way effective. …. You have echoed here, what I still have a thread of hanging on in my mind … that Shorten and his party know, what we as laypersons cannot see. ….. And that it well might be an agreed policy, to largely keep their mouths shut. …. The ALP giving the LNP enough rope to hang themselves ?
In Parliament, the abbutt makes bullets, but it is the Beehive Bishop who fires them. … Abbutt spits and blusters his daily imaginings, and when queried by the opposition, the queries are shut down from the speakers chair ( admonishments and shutting down of questions to date – 400 against ALP – 7 against LNP ). .. Which effectively takes away MSM interest – how can one report on someone who does not – or is not permitted – to say anything. …. No-go.
We all know the abbutt does a lot of lying. …. is Bill Shorten doing the same thing ? …. most likely yes – by agreeing to bipartisanship on certain matters ( with provisos, many of which have been successful in reducing / restricting the guv’mints intentions ) …. with a future plan to restructure / destructure much of the leglisation that has been passed by the current Senate – after the ALP gets into power. … It’s been done before, and can be done again. …. Apparently, all is fair in love and war – and politics.
However, it is a gamble – and a big one at that. …. The government has managed to pass so very few actual bills through the Senate ( so something must be working ). … and their resultant ‘back door’ way of changing laws, defunding anything and everything they can get their hands on, and flying in the face of e.g. climate change, which IS reported by the MSM. …. Less reported in MSM however, is the shocking mis-handling of refugees, the wicked dangers they face, the complete lack of care and consideration by this government, in that situation. … It is left up to international outcry to deal with it. … yet there was bipartisanship on parts of that as well ??
IF the abbutt has succeeded in getting us to fight with one another – then he has won – as it would be one of his prime intentions to cause discord within the populace. … But are we indeed fighting with one another ? At ground level – no.
Leopards do not change their spots – and Shorten has shown himself to be a hard, harsh, competent and at times devious player in the past – he’d have had good grounding in that during his Union affiliation days, and certainly showed his proclivity for same, when involved in the shuffling around of leaders of the ALP ( which ended up being a mistake, shown most effectively in the 2013 election ) … I doubt that Shorten has changed.
*******
Interesting to date, that the polls still reflect a preference for Labor over Liberal – 2PP – ( admittedly tho, that can change in a heartbeat ) ….
Well summarised, Annie B. Time… time will tell. Not sure how I am going to wait though; fraying nerves are causing me problems! Will try to return to my usual optimism… 🙂