Scotland is being “imprisoned in the United Kingdom against its will”

Scotland is being “imprisoned in the United Kingdom against its will”, Nicola Sturgeon said as the UK government ruled out a second independence referendum.

Michael Gove, chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster, said there would not be another ballot on separation even if the SNP won a majority in the Scottish parliamentary election in 2021.

The Federation Drought

The Drought, Sheep at a Dry Creek by Samuel Calvert, 1879,

The Federation Drought began in 1895 and reached its peak in 1901 and 1902.

During the drought river systems across the nation suffered, notably the Darling River which virtually ran dry at Bourke, New South Wales. In Victoria, the Murray River ran dry through the towns of Mildura, Balranald and Deniliquin causing river transport to suffer or cease.

Except for Queensland, most parts of the nation received reasonable rain in 1900 and early 1901, however very dry weather set in again across eastern Australia during spring 1901. The drought broke mid December 1902 when heavy rain fell in Victoria. Rain extended to New South Wales and southern Queensland, while northern Queensland had reasonable falls from December onwards.

Economic depression and labour strikes added to the effect of the drought. As a result of the drought sheep and cattle numbers fell from 91 to 54 million, and 11.8 to 7 million respectively. Rabbit numbers increased to plague proportions, resulting in some farmers losing everything and walking away from their properties.

https://knowledge.aidr.org.au/resources/environment-federation-drought/

Eddie Obeid home for Christmas

Disgraced former NSW Labor minister Eddie Obeid has walked free after spending three years behind bars.

The 76-year-old was convicted of misconduct in public office in 2016 and was sentenced to five years' prison with a non-parole period of three years.

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2019-12-14/eddie-obeid-granted-parole-after-spending-three-years-in-jail/11800078

The New Zealand White Island volcano disaster has prompted offers of skin donation.

Dr Stefan Poniatowski reaches into a freezer where skin is kept at around –150C

In the aftermath of the White Island volcano tragedy, it emerged that Australia's three skin banks were at risk of running out of human skin.

So, how can you donate skin?

Unless you're having a skin graft done in hospital, where you're essentially donating skin from one part of your body to another, skin donations can only be taken from those who have died.

Dr Poniatowski says the best thing you can do is tell your family you want to be a tissue donor…..

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2019-12-13/how-to-donate-skin-new-zealand-white-island-volcano-explainer/11796426?pfmredir=sm

Roberts-Smith war crimes defamation case: ‘witness wasn’t there’

……Lawyers for Mr Roberts-Smith told the Federal Court that one of the conspirators in the alleged 2012 murder of Ali Jan was not on the SAS-led mission to the village of Darwan on September 11, 2012 — the date when the murder is said to have taken place.

The claim, if proven, is a major blow to The Sydney Morning Herald, The Age and The Canberra Times, which are being sued by Mr Roberts-Smith over a series of 2018 articles that he claims portray him as a war criminal, a bully and an abuser of women……

https://www.theaustralian.com.au/business/media/robertssmith-war-crimes-defamation-case-witness-wasnt-there/news-story/dd0e39576e35f50a2bbd2458ea5b86ed

Senior Sydney obstetrician Dr Hans Peter Dietz Suspended.

Senior Sydney obstetrician Dr Hans Peter Dietz told doctors the medical industry was “increasingly vulnerable because it’s increasingly female”.

……“The main issue seems to be that women and men are somehow supposed to be the same, interchangeable.

“Well, here are a few more inconvenient truths. Women colleagues are more likely to drop out during the year, and they’re more likely to fall ill, which is why it’s harder to staff departments these days, in particular towards the end of the year, in particular O/G departments [obstetrics and gynaecology] with 80-90% female junior staff.

 “In fact, they’re more expensive to train in the sense that their lifetime work years will be less.”

https://www.sbs.com.au/news/australian-doctor-slammed-for-saying-more-women-make-workforce-more-vulnerable

Prince Andrew asked to leave Buckingham Palace

The Queen gave Prince Andrew an indication of her support as they went riding in the grounds of Windsor Castle

PETER NICHOLLS/REUTERS

The Duke of York is being forced to move his private office out of Buckingham Palace, The Times can reveal.

In the latest humiliation for the beleaguered duke, which has been authorised by the Queen, he has been told that he will have to clear his staff out and find other premises.

Prince Ancrew TV interview a train wreck

One of the royal family’s favourite charities is considering severing its links with the Duke of York as the backlash over his friendship with the sex offender Jeffrey Epstein grows. 

Trustees of Outward Bound, which works extensively with young people, will hold an urgent meeting this week to discuss the fallout from Prince Andrew’s BBC interview in which he said he did not regret his relationship with the billionaire paedophile. He also failed to express sympathy for Epstein’s victims.

Craig McLachlan's indecent assault trial begins

A three-week contested hearing is underway in the Melbourne Magistrates' Court after Mr  Craig McLachlan 54, was charged earlier this year.

Four women will give evidence over the coming days, but their testimony will be in a closed court — so only lawyers, police and some supporters for complainants will be allowed into the court.

Prosecutors have briefly outlined their case, in which Mr McLachlan is alleged to have indecently assaulted the four women between late April 2014 and mid-July 2014.

Bushfires rage across NSW and Queensland

NSW Rural Fire Service volunteers Bob (left) and Greg Kneipp, a father and son, embrace after successfully defending a property in Torrington, near Glen Innes.

https://www.rfs.nsw.gov.au/volunteer/volunteering-with-the-rfs

Jackson Pollock painting found in Arizona

A Jackson Pollock painting found in an Arizona garage is expected to sell for up to $15 million at auction.

Australia's trophy painting, Jackson Pollock's Blue Poles, is now worth about $350 million, an appreciation of more than 300-fold on the $1.3 million paid for it in 1973 under the Gough Whitlam government, a world record price at the time and one that caused a huge controversy.

Poppies were a common sight, especially on the Western Front. They flourished in the soil churned up by the fighting and shelling. 

The flower provided Canadian doctor John McCrae with inspiration for his poem 'In Flanders Fields', which he wrote whilst serving in Ypres in 1915. It was first published in Punch, having been rejected by The Spectator.

In 1918, in response to McCrae's poem, American humanitarian Moina Michael wrote 'And now the Torch and Poppy Red, we wear in honor of our dead…'. She campaigned to make the poppy a symbol of remembrance of those who had died in the war.

In Flanders Fields

BY JOHN MCCRAE

In Flanders fields the poppies blow

Between the crosses, row on row,

    That mark our place; and in the sky

    The larks, still bravely singing, fly

Scarce heard amid the guns below.

We are the Dead. Short days ago

We lived, felt dawn, saw sunset glow,

    Loved and were loved, and now we lie,

        In Flanders fields.

Take up our quarrel with the foe:

To you from failing hands we throw

    The torch; be yours to hold it high.

    If ye break faith with us who die

We shall not sleep, though poppies grow

        In Flanders fields.

Flammable material found in 444 buildings across NSW

Grenfell Tower in London

A list of 444 buildings across NSW potentially clad in flammable material (similar to that used in the Grenfell Tower in London) has been released to the NSW Parliament, but will not be shown to the public after the government deemed the privileged document a security risk.

The list was handed to the NSW Legislative Council on October 31 after all non-government parties voted for the government to turn it over, but the Department of Customer Service said releasing the list would increase the risk of arson and terrorism.

In its bid to keep the list secret the government lodged a privilege claim, which included the security risks as well as saying its public release could hurt property owners, potentially mislead the public and breach expectations of confidentiality.

It comes as a trade union demands federal intervention in a wider “national construction crisis,” which is estimated to have cost the country $10 billion over the past decade because of a lack of adequate procurement and infrastructure proficiency within state governments…….

https://www.smh.com.au/national/nsw/cladding-list-kept-secret-amid-demands-for-action-on-construction-crisis-20191104-p537dg.html

Fox news remains undefeated in 2019

Fox News remained undefeated in 2019 as it finished the third quarter as the most watched cable network in both primetime and total day, according to Nielsen.

In primetime, Fox News averaged 2.4 million viewers during the period of July 1 to Sept. 29 -- down 1% from the same period in 2018 -- besting cable news rival MSNBC and sports network ESPN, which finished tied for second with 1.5 million viewers. Fox News has topped the primetime charts for all three quarters in 2019, according to Nielsen.

HGTV finished in fourth place for the quarter with 1.2 million viewers, followed by USA Network, CNN and TLC, which all tied for fifth with 1 million viewers each. Hallmark Channel (972,000), Investigation Discovery (893,000) and History (892,000) rounded out the top 10, according to Nielsen……

https://www.multichannel.com/news/fox-news-most-watched-network-third-quarter

Lt. Col. Alexander Vindman testifies at impeachment inquiry

Reuters / Tuesday, October 29, 2019

Lt. Col. Alexander Vindman, director for European Affairs at the National Security Council, arrives to testify as part of the U.S. House of Representatives impeachment inquiry into U.S. President Trump led by the House Intelligence, House Foreign Affairs and House Oversight and Reform Committees on Capitol Hill in Washington. REUTERS/Erin Scott

Vindman is the first impeachment witness to have listened in on the July 25 call between Trump and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, during which Trump said he wanted a “favor” after Zelensky broached defense cooperation between the U.S. and Ukraine, a key component of which is American military aid.

Followers of Lenin

Moscow, Russia

Cadets and Communist party activists and supporters attend a flower-laying ceremony at Lenin’s mausoleum

Photograph: Dimitar Dilkoff/AFP/Getty Images

Environmental activists in Melbourne

Melbourne, Australia

Environmental activists clash with police during a protest outside a mining conference

Photograph: James Ross/EPA

Grenfell fire disaster find London Fire Brigade wanting

Fewer people would have died in the Grenfell disaster if London Fire Brigade had not suffered "serious shortcomings" and "systemic" failures in its response to the fire, the official report into the tragedy has concluded.

The damning 1,000-page report also accuses Dany Cotton, London Fire Brigade’s commissioner, of "remarkable insensitivity" after she gave testimony insisting she would have done nothing differently.

Virgin Galactic's first day of trading

Richard Branson, Founder of Virgin Galactic, rings the First Trade Bell to commemorate the company's first day of trading on the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) on October 28, 2019 in New York City.

Founded in 2004, Virgin Galactic has spent years developing its space program, and after a fatal accident in 2014, has twice crossed the barrier into the final frontier. The company plans to offer weightless flights to six passengers at a time, at $250,000 a ticket for the first customers from the Summer of 2020, though it has yet to begin commercial launches.

Bottle of Macallan single malt whisky sold at Sotheby’s for record £1.5m

In 1926, a foresighted member of the Macallan family distillery in Moray, Scotland sealed a cask of single malt whisky that would not be disturbed for another 60 years. He was sealing in liquid gold.

Yesterday, one of the 40 bottles from that cask set a new world record when it was sold at auction for £1.5 million, the equivalent of about £54,000 per measure, not that anyone is ever likely to drink it.

Am Fasarinen pinnacles, Scotland

John “Jock” Calder standing on one of the Am Fasarinen pinnacles in Torridon, Scotland. Taken by John Paterson from Boat of Garten.

Dakaar 2020

Dakaar rally manager and sports coordinator drive in Saudi Arabia during preparation for the next Dakar 2020.  The race will kick off on January 5 in Jeddah and run until January 17.

Boris Johnson's hopes dashed

People react on hearing the result of a Brexit vote in the House of Commons during the Together for the Final Say march organised by the People’s Vote campaign on 20 October 2019.

Prince Jean-Christophe Napoleon gets married

Prince Jean-Christophe Napoleon and his wife Olympia Von Arco-Zinneberg come out of the cathedral under the gaze of the statue of Napoleon at the end of their wedding at Les Invalides on 20 October 2019

Jean-Christophe is the great-great-great-great-nephew of Emperor Napoleon I (who has no legitimate direct descendants) through the emperor's youngest brother, Jérôme, King of Westphalia.

Flying Fox

An emaciated baby black flying fox receives medical treatment. Flying foxes, including threatened species, have been dying or taken into care in large numbers due to a food shortage in their habitat in eastern Australia. Experts believe the cause is the prolonged dry conditions, which have reduced the availability of food such as tree blossom.

Photograph: Mandi Griffith