Ashton Agar: Now Freelance Gun for Cricketing Hire

Alex Malcolm in ESPNcricinfo, 20 April 2024  ……………… https://www.espncricinfo.com/story/it-gives-me-flexibility-ashton-agar-opts-for-freelance-life-while-still-committing-to-australia-1429880

The spinner explains he decided not to take a domestic contract with WA in order to maximise playing opportunities globally while he remains intent on playing for Australia.

Ashton Agar has become the latest Australian player to make the bold decision to become a freelance global gun-for-hire, and he couldn’t be more excited about it.

Devastating Israeli Assaults on Rafah

  Observer in a Black Sea Town … writing on 7/8th May 2024 after Israel’s devastating assault began the day before.

Israel has just launched its devastating attack on the densely populated city of Rafah promising to use extreme force against 1.4 million Palestinian citizens. The Wankers of the White House, may shed crocodile tears for the slaughtering of Palestinans and they will wank on about it not being a good idea, but the fact remains that the US did absolutely nothing to prevent it, which means they condone it.

Smoke billows from n Israeli bombardment in Rafah, Gaza, May 6, 2024 ©  AFP

The Story of Palestinian Christians from 1948 ….. Submerged & Sidelined

An Item in Journeyman Pictures on 19 March 2024 with this title: ”   “The Story Of Palestinian Christians | The Stones Cry Out (2013) … Full Film”  … an item referred to me by Dulip Karunaratne of Brisbane

In 1948 the history of Palestine changed forever, but little is ever said about the upheaval faced by its Christian minority. Christians have lived side by side with Muslims and Jews for almost two thousand years. An integral part of Palestinian society, they have shared in the events of recent history, yet their voices are seldom heard and worse: their existence often ignored.

A NOTE: by 19 March 2024  this TALE had received 109,306 views Mar 19, 2024

Some Striking SNAPs

God GANESH  ‘holed’ by cannon shot ……. a classic ‘shot’  during the course of the Eelam Wars by that intrepid cameraman Dominic Sansoni 

 

Hot Press from Columbia University Today

Thalif Deen … in Email to Roberts, 1 April 2024**

At a press conference last night, New York City Mayor and his Police Commissioner tried to justify the police intervention against pro-Palestinian demonstrators at Columbia University claiming the protests have been corrupted by “outside agitators.”

I think this is a steaming pile of horse-shit.

A Sri Lankan Lady Bishop for Wellington, NZ

This item was sent to TPS with this title: “Wellington celebrates Bishop Ana” ….. Note: “Ana” sould be voiced as “Aaana”

The Wellington Cathedral of St Paul thronged with well-wishers on Saturday 13 April as 600+ people turned out to celebrate the Rt Rev Anashuya Fletcher’s ordination and installation as Assistant Bishop of Wellington.

Ranasinghe Premadasa: As Pragmatic as Visionary in Political Method

Dr. Mahim Mendis, in Daily FT, 26 April 2024 …. where the title runs thus: “Revivial of Premadasism the Way Forward for Sri Lanka,”

…in DailyFT, 26 April Truly cultured men and women have the capacity to be thankful for the progressive measures taken by Ranasinghe Premadasa. He was a true embodiment of Social Democracy, governing the entire social, political, cultural, and moral order. He was not a mere propagator of a Social Market Economy, when he took over leadership from a right wing, J.R. Jayewardene led UNP that tried to dislodge Deputy Leader Premadasa from his well-earned Presidential candidature in 1989. The same right-wing forces in the UNP, tried to impeach him together with Feudalist sympathisers, who lost all their social status due to Premadasaism

Journalistic Articles from my Pen: A Bibliography, 1996-2009

Michael Roberts

Articles that appear in academic journals are subject to a refereeing process before they, so to speak, scale the heights and enter the academic world. But there are numerous forums at the cutting edge which serve up essays on hot topics. These are not necessarily run-of-the-mill mundane pieces. They can be spin-offs presented by writers in the academic field.  As I look to the future when my mortal steps in this world will no longer generate any sound, I present here a listing of some of these ‘pop-articles’ produced in the period 1996-2009.  Many of them relate to the Eelam wars and the Tamil Tiger commitment to “sacrificial devotion” (a term I deploy in lieu of “suicide missions”).

ANZAC DAY Commemorations Today … 25 April 2024

The Ceremonial “Markings” in Turkey and Elsewhere: Momentous & Indelible Recollections

GALLIPOLI, TURKEY – APRIL 25: New Zealand Lieutenant General Jerry Mateparae speaks at the ANZAC Day Dawn Service at ANZAC Cove on April 25, 2010 in Gallipoli, Turkey. Today commemorates the 95th anniversary of ANZAC (Australia New Zealand Army Corps) Day, when First World War troops landed on the Gallipoli Peninsula, Turkey early April 25, 1915. Today April 25 is commemorated with ceremonies of remembrance for those who fought and died in all wars ….. Photo by Phil Walter/Getty Images   

Ironies in the Metaphors of Anzac Cove in Australian Lore

Richard Koenigsberg plus ….

Addressing the practices of remembrance in Australia, Richard Koenigsberg has noted the irony that a battlefield defeat at Gallipoli in World War One, 1915, served a people as an emblem of nationhood: the “Australian nation, came into being on the foundations provided by the slaughter of its young men.”

There is more irony. The commemoration of Australian courage, sacrifice and manliness at Gallipoli (and subsequently on the Somme) was threaded by tropes of youthful innocence that drew on classical Hellenic motifs; while the monuments and epitaphs that were crafted in Australia to mark this event were manifestly Greek in form. The gendered masculine metaphor, in turn, was often embodied in the seminal image of a full-bodied blonde young man. “Archie Hamilton” in Peter Weir’s classic film Gallipoli was/is one such trope (and he died of course).