Nigella Lawson's ex-husband threatens suicide

Nigella's anguish and pain clearly visible after choking incident

It seems that Nigella Lawson's ex-husband Charles Saatchi has descended into a very dark place.  He's having a tough time accepting the loss of his wife and is appalled that he now has the reputation of being a wife-beater.  Only he knows which one he values more.

He bombarded Nigella with texts and phone calls day and night and said he would kill himself if she didn't speak to him so in the end, she gave in.  He now understands that the marriage is over and she's not coming back.

Nigella's career hasn't skipped a beat and she is one of the few British cooks to break into the American market.  She is currently on holiday in Italy with her sons but will return to the US to continue working on The Taste, where chefs take on amateur cooks in a cooking competition. She is not only a presenter but an executive producer and will return to London in October to start filming the British version of the show.

Friends of Charles said he became "unhinged" when Nigella remained silent and didn't defend him by telling the world that he was not an abusive husband, but she chose not to say anything, and sadly for him, that's what he'll be remembered for.  Apparently Charles is a very clever man and a very rich one.

It's strange how things work out, the shocking photos of Charles choking his wife ended up working in her favour, and as he descends into a deep depression, Nigella's star continues to rise.

Geoff Lake calls Kathy Magee a slut

Geoff Lake

Labor has just pre-selected Lawyer Geoff Lake to run in Simon Crean's safe Victorian Labor seat of Hotham. "The measure of a man is what he does with power" Plato once said, and Geoff Lake is heading for Canberra.

Labor's shining light for Hotham, Lawyer Geoff Lake, has admitted he abused a woman in a wheelchair when he was mayor in 2002 and also admitted to stalking a political rival.

When Geoff Lake was a young mayor in 2002 and Kathy Magee was a fellow Monash Councillor, she did or said something to upset him.  "I lent over to Councillor Magee and said "I can't believe what you did you f...... bitch.  You are a .... for doing that" he said.

When documents were lodged with the Victorian Equal Opportunity Commission, he admitted his behaviour was "demeaning and degrading" and offensive to women and said he was very sorry. "I was a young mayor and I got angry one night and I spoke to her in an angry way, which I acknowledged then and I acknowledge now" he said.

Kathy Magee

"If I had used any other word but 'slut' this would not be an issue" Lake said.

"When someone calls you a slut, it tends to be offensive" Ms Magee said.  "I have never had someone call me that before, you don't talk to a colleague like that, he was definitely an interesting person."  Ms Magee also claimed that Lake tried to charge drinks and brunch to her hotel account at a council conference, but it didn't work and he eventually paid up.

But wait, there's more!  Lake was also accused of stalking fellow councillor Tom Morrissey who applied for an intervention order. Lake accused him of rorting his travel expenses and gave out his mobile number which resulted in dozens of abusive phone calls. But he didn't stop there.  He went to his place of business and displayed placards, detailing how he had ripped off rate-payers.  Mr Morrissey has since passed away.

"I regret attending the business premises of Mr Morrissey.... and apologise" he wrote.

Late yesterday Lake rang Mr Magee to apologise again but it was too late, she had already spoken to the media.

Something is seriously wrong with Labor's pre-selection system if Lake is the best they can come up with. They either didn't know about his past or if they did, decided it didn't matter, but it does matter - a whole lot. There are already enough scoundrels in Canberra, we don't need another one. 

Edit 11 August 2013:  Kevin Rudd said it was "inappropriate for Mr Lake to continue as the endorsed Labor candidate for Hotham'' and asked for his resignation.

US closes embassies across Middle East

Sana'a, capital of Yemen

A young man passed through Heathrow's airport security without a hitch. In his backpack he had a few books and a diabetic kit with a syringe inside.  It's unusual for someone so young to be an insulin-dependent diabetic, but not unheard of.

Safely on board, the 747 takes off for Chicago and somewhere over Ireland, he goes to the toilet.  He injects the insulin into his stomach and quickly returns to his seat.  And then the plane blew up.  Flight No 4201 with 416 passengers on board disintegrated in mid air and there were no survivors.  The "insulin" he injected was the liquid chemical explosive triacetone triperoxide (TATP) which detonated the plastic explosive in his stomach.

This scenario didn't happen but it could have.  A suicide bomber hid a bomb inside himself last year and tried to kill Afghanistan's head of security Asadullah Khalid.  Having survived two assassination attempts, Khalid was suspicious when a man from a peace envoy asked to see him.   The visitor was taken to the basement and ordered to strip in front of CCTV cameras.  When nothing was found, he was presented to Khalid and at that exact moment, he blew up.  Khalid survived but continues to suffer from severe internal injuries and wounds to his hands and legs.  

Al Qaeda's master bomb maker Ibrahim al-Asirir has invented a fool-proof way of killing us, the enemy, by concealing explosives inside the body that can't be detected by sophisticated airport scanners. They plan to surgically implant bombs in the abdominal cavity, buttocks and female breasts.  

Last Friday the US said they would close two dozen embassies and consulates across the Middle East and North Africa and issued a travel warning to their people.  France and Germany have closed their embassies in Yemen and the British have also shut up shop and urged their people to leave.

But Australia is "still reviewing the situation" and has no plans to close any embassies.  I just hope they know what they're doing.

Australian Muslims celebrate end of Ramadan

Muslims across Australia filled mosques this week to celebrate the end of the holy month of Ramadan.  It was cold and raining in Sydney on Thursday morning but that didn't stop the faithful from filling the Lakemba mosque.  Roads around the mosque were blocked off to allow the congregation to spill onto the street.


Lakemba mosque is one of the largest mosques in Australia and is owned and managed by the Lebanese Moslems Association.

Albanese has a beer with Craig Thomson

Craig Thomson

Someone took a picture of Anthony Albanese having a beer with Craig Thomson the other night and the Sydney Daily Telegraph played it up big time.  Today's front page shows Kevin Rudd as Colonel Klink, Anthony Albanese as Sargeant Schultz and Craig Thomson as Colonel Hogan with the caption "Albo's explanation for German beers with Thomson: I know nuthink!"

Craig Thomson is a pariah and Albanese should have known better, having a beer with him was a bad political mistake.  Thomson stole from the Health Services Union (HSU) and followed the tradition of other Labor union officials down through the ages - he discovered he had his own personal money tree at his disposal.  He could withdraw union funds at will and was accused of taking overseas trips, paying school fees, visiting prostitutes and taking regular cash advances of up to $100,000, all paid for by the poor suckers who paid him their union dues.

Anthony Albanese, Deputy PM

But although the Labor Party sacked him, it seems he's untouchable and will never be held to account for what he did because it happened so long ago.  He's even going to stand as an Independent at the upcoming federal election.

But we have long memories and every image of this despicable man walking around as though he's done nothing wrong, reminds us that politicians are a protected species and instead of having a beer with Albo, he should be in jail.

Major Nadal Hasan's revenge on America

On 5th November 2009 at an American military base at Fort Hood, Texas, a massacre took place.  A lone American soldier lost his mind, they said, and started shooting unarmed, unsuspecting soldiers, hoping to kill as many as possible.  Thirteen soldiers died and 32 others survived to tell the tale.

Major Nidal Malik Hasan was a US Army psychiatrist, 39 years old at the time.  He is charged with 13 counts of premeditated murder and 32 counts of attempted murder and if found guilty, will face the death penalty.  It was later discovered that he was in email communication with radical Yemen cleric Anwar al-Awlaki who helped radicalize him over several years.  He was born in America to Palestinian parents.

Check-in outside court

Hasan is paralysed from the chest down and confined to a wheelchair. He uses a catheter, wears adult nappies and has to take stretching breaks every 20 minutes.  After firing his lawyers, he's representing himself and will get to cross-examine many of the survivors.

In his opening statement, he apoligsed for his actions and said "We are imperfect Muslims, trying to establish the perfect religion."  He admits his guilt, saying that the evidence clearly shows he was the shooter.

It wasn't a spur of the moment manic frenzy as many believed at the time, Hasan had his attack all planned.  He bought a gun and went to a target practice range and deliberately chose a situation where unarmed, unsuspecting soldiers would be.  He chose a crowded Fort Hood medical building where deploying soldiers were waiting for check-ups and vaccinations.  Hasan actually sat down among them with his head down, before he suddenly jumped onto a desk, shouted "Allahu akbar" and opened fire with two handguns, pausing only to reload.

Judge Col Tara Osborne will not allow Hasan to argue that he made the attack in "defence of others", ruling there was no evidence the soldiers posed any threat to the Taliban leadership. The judge also ruled that the US commitment to the war in Afghanistan was not up for debate and he will not be allowed to make speeches about his beliefs at any time during the trial, especially when cross-examining surviving soldiers due to give evidence.

But the society we have created for ourselves in the West has given him an "out".  If found guilty and sentenced to death, Hasan will be eligible for numerous appeals and even if they are unsuccessful, it could be decades before his eventual execution.

Another nail in the coffin of Islam - the so-called religion of peace.

Peter Dowling MP, serial sexter

Peter Dowling MP

The LNP MP for Redlands in Queensland, Peter Dowling, has just announced he is stepping down while issues relating to his travel history are investigated.

But the suggestion that he rorted his travel allowances is the least of his worries because now his wife and family knows what type of man he really is -  a man who took a picture of his penis in a glass of red wine and sent it to his mistress on his mobile phone. "He wanted a red wine"....Dowling said in the text message.

There were several other explicit text messages including a full frontal picture of his genitalia.  Peter Dowling is obviously very proud of his manhood.

His mistress, who asked not to be identified, said her lover conned her into believing they would be united properly after the 2015 election.  He told her mother that he was in love with her and that the situation would change.

She said they had sex in his office at Parliament House and had visited him there at least 10 times. "I used to visit the electorate office at night when all the office girls would leave and we would have sex or on weekends, it would be during the day."

So what happened to end the affair?  They both received anonymous letters and Mr Dowling was warned by senior Queensland party figures and a Federal MP.

But here's the bottom line - this pillar of the community and conservative representative of the people, a man married for 27 years and father of two, is head of the Ethics Committee which deals with complaints about the conduct of parliamentarians. 

"I can't and won't defend any part of it" Dowling said.  "I am voluntarily stepping aside so this matter can be fully investigated and considered by the Clerk of Parliament."