Farmers Rejoice As Rain Boosts Crops

It wasn’t really Gourmet Farmer Matthew Evans who inspired me to write about wheat and how we so much take the bread of life for granted. As you may have noticed, we spent last week cruising around the tiny hamlets of Yelarbon, Talwood and Thallon, part of the south-western Downs grain belt. At Talwood and Thallon in particular, the landscape is dominated by man-made mountain ranges of wheat, pinned down under blue tarpaulins. This takes…

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Clean Jobs Plan Tackles Climate Change

Three big topics of 2021 – Covid-19, Climate Change and Job Creation, are inextricably linked to the future of the planet. The official climate report is in for 2020, with global temperatures tying with 2016 as the hottest ever recorded. Although Australians sweltered through an early November heatwave, the summer so far has not been too hard to endure.(except SA,Victoria and NSW are likely to see temperatures exceeding 40C this weekend. Ed The data cited…

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Down the rabbit hole, looking for trouble

The phrase ‘going down the rabbit hole’ could well apply to my activities earlier this week, as I set out to research ‘alternative’ social media networks including those adopted by the right wing. Before I disappeared down the burrow, I had some idea what I would encounter, having last year researched 4Chan and 8Chan. My research was thwarted right at the start by Amazon’s reported move to ban Parler from its web-hosting network. Apple and…

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Why borders are important

Breaking events in Washington tempted me to change course, but when wise people like Barack Obama and Jacinda Ardern have already had their say, I’m staying with today’s topic. Before Covid-19, restrictions at Australian border crossings were limited to bio-security controls, primarily on carrying fresh fruit and vegetables and plant materials from one State to another. Travellers, particularly those who take their households with them (camper trailers, caravans and RVs), should download this detailed booklet….

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