Cinema

Gadfly 2021 By Robert Macklin So, where is James Bond when we need him? Who better than JB with his license to kill at a time when an unbalanced dictator is threatening the world with a nuclear holocaust? Why doesn’t ‘C’ send him off to the Kremlin to do his stuff? But since he’s not actually with us, surely our real-life assassins – be they singular or gathered around a drone monitor in the desert near Las Vegas – can do the job for us. Of course, it probably won’t happen for two main reasons. First is the leader’s club, an agreement of sorts that makes them mutually immune from such direct action. It’s okay for the US to proudly send the Navy Seals to assassinate Osama bin Laden who commanded the loyalty and affection of a massive following, but not Syria’s President Bashar al-Assad who bombed and gassed his own people. They executed Saddam Hussein after a show trial when he wasn’t president anymore, but only because an American President attacked his country with a demonstration of ‘shock and awe’ after some made-up fibs. The second reason is, we might miss. And if Putin knows he’s a goner he might just order that nuclear holocaust so we all go down together. But he might do that anyway; and for that we have the authority of no less a personage than Dennis Richardson, former Secretary of Defence, head of ASIO and as Secretary of DFAT privy to the operations of our overseas intelligence gathering. On Q&A he confided that his Russia specialist friends who have been watching Putin on TV are concerned about his ‘mental health’, especially since he is not restrained by a Politburo as were his predecessors. Richardson is not alone in having such friends. Others, such as the former British Foreign Secretary, David (now Lord) Owen attributed the Russian President’s recent hostile actions to his abuse of anabolic steroids, which generate aggression in the abuser. And you need only to recall Putin’s bare-breasted horsemanship to catch a glimpse of his testosterone induced behavior. ‘That would explain a lot about his demeanor and his rhetoric in the past few months,’ Lord Owen’s friends say. ‘His brain is reacting to a chemical stimulant that is potentially lethal to himself and makes him a danger to other people.’ So, what to do? What does ethics say about our appropriate response? Our best guide, perhaps is the classic ‘Trolly Problem’: There’s a runaway trolley barreling down the railway tracks. Ahead on the tracks there are five people tied up. You are standing some distance away but next to a lever. If you pull the lever, the trolly will switch to a different set of tracks; but then you notice that there is one person on the side track. You have only two options – do nothing, in which case the trolley will kill the five people on the main track; or pull the lever, diverting the trolley on to the side track where it will definitely kill one person. Which is the ethical option? What is the right thing to do? Pull the lever or do nothing? Of course, you and I, dear reader, don’t have to make that choice. But each time I see the wreckage after a Russian missile has crashed into an apartment building, or a terrified young child and her weeping mother are holding each other in an underground bomb shelter, I can’t help thinking, ‘Bond… James Bond.’ robert@robermacklin.com

Reading—A beer with Baz The bar erupted as Mick entered and the happy birthday day gree ngs le him red faced. He smiled awkwardly and took up his bar stool next to Bazza. The bar a endant brought over a full pint of beer and Mick raised his eyes in acknowledgment. ‘Well Mick, happy birthday. Crikey, you have got a few kilometres on the clock now. How old?’ ‘Well…… sixty…… ish, Bazza but I s ll feel pre y young. I have a daily swim and ride the bicycle, but I hate birthdays these days.’ Mick had a small sip of the pint and rubbed his brow. Bazza took out a marking pen and drew a ny line about two thirds of the way down Mick‘s pint glass. Mick screwed his face. ‘Just helping you out, Mick. The way I see it you are about two thirds of the way through life and maybe you should think about just drinking down to the mark and saving the rest for the next thirty years.’ ‘You’re all heart, Bazza. It’s a sad old day when the wife gives you a hearing aid for a birthday present and the daughter thought it was a great laugh to give me a Zimmer frame. Everyone seems to find this ageing process a great laugh. It’s a bloody conspiracy, Bazza. They keep making the print on all the labels smaller to make you get glasses. And I don’t know who designs chairs these days but they seem to be ge ng lower. In the old days, when they made chairs at a decent height, I would spring up. It’s the same with beds. I need a forkli to get up some days.’ Bazza laughed. ‘Ahhh…… come on Mick, you qualify for all those senior discounts these days. Haircuts, rail travel and the like, at a cut price.’ They both took a decent drink. ‘Well, Bazza…… the bloody haircuts should be cheaper. There is less of it. Anyhow, they have organised a party and no doubt I’ve got to give a speech.’ ‘Should be easy enough, Mick. We had a neighbour who turned eighty awhile back. He didn’t want to give a speech but we asked him to divide his me, on this earth, into twenty year blocks. It ended up as the funniest impromptu birthday speech I’ve heard. The young ones even loved it. A speech of a couple of anecdotes that capture your three score….. and ish….. years, Mick, would be the go.’ Mick shook his head and was back to taking small sips of his pint. ‘Come on, Mick, cheer up. The way I see it if you last a few more decades you can be pleased you spent more me in this century than the last one.’ Mick smiled and laughed so ly. ‘I guess so, Bazza but I kinda think those same passing decades will s ll leave you in the last century……….. And now, I can enjoy that drink.’ Have a beer with Bazza at john.longhurst59@gmail.com

AMUSU THEATRE. – Pictures and dance every Wednesday. See ‘If Only Jim,’ a Western drama at the Amusu on Wednesday. ANOTHER MILL CLOSED. – Owing to the 44-hour week, which resulted in a considerable decrease in the output, Mr. A. H. Preddey has been compelled to close down his Tuffwood sawmill at the Heads. This means a loss of £80 in spending power per week in this town. INTERMEDIATE CERTIFICATE. – We are pleased to note that amongst the long list of successful candidates who gained Intermediate Cer ficates, are the names Miss Ena, only daughter of Mrs. R. N. Carden, and who is a pupil of Loreto Convent School, Normanhurst, and Miss Dorothy Lynch, of Sydney, and a pupil of Bethlehem Ladies’ College, Ashfield. SAD DEATH. – Very deep sympathy is expressed for Mr. and Mrs. H. J. Clarke, whose only daughter, Jean Nanice, passed away on Wednesday morning. This bright li le girl, who was born in Taranaki, N.Z., and was 6 ½ years of age, was about five months ago operated on for adenoids and tonsili s. Another opera on, however, was deemed necessary, this being performed by Dr. Cutler on Wednesday, but when coming out of the anesthe c the pa ent collapsed and died from heart failure. The funeral took place on Thursday morning. … SHOW BALL. – The Show Ball, which took place in the Amusu Theatre on the first night of the annual exhibi on, was well a ended. Mr. C. de Saxe officiated in his usual courteous manner as M.C. and Miss Kurz and Mr. J. Buckley rendered their customary harmonious strains of music. Under the capable management of the wives, sisters and friends of the commi ee a recherche supper was set before the patrons. The door takings amounted to £16 15s. RECOVERING. – We are pleased to report that Miss S. Cannon, of Mynora, under the care of Dr. Cutler, is progressing sa sfactorily a er her recent severe accident, through a horse ge ng out of control of its rider, - Cragon (who was returning to Mr. A. Lou t’s on the second day of the Show) and galloping over her. The vic m had a number of teeth knocked out, her face lacerated and her body considerably bruised, as well as sustaining a shock to her system. NERRIGUNDAH. – (From our Correspondent) At Nerrigundah on Tuesday, 14th inst., the following cases were heard in the local Court House before Mr. Shropshire, P.M.: Commissioner of Taxa on v. F. Davidge – Fined £5, 8s costs, and 7s 6d witness expenses; Commissioner of Taxa on v. D. Constable – Fined £2, 8s costs, and 7s 6d witness expenses; Commissioner of Taxa on v. W. Lavis – Fined £3, 8s costs, and 7s 6d witness expenses; Commissioner of Taxa on v. T. S. O’Grady – Fined £2, 8s costs, and 7s witness expenses.