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