AS the final waves of World War II Diggers pass away and social and demographic trends shift, many of the registered RSL clubs across the nation are closing down in the face of unprofitability.
Once considered a bastion of the nation’s social fabric, particularly in rural cities and towns, the registered RSL clubs’ demise is causing dilemma for many who have long called their local RSL a second home.
In NSW, 43 RSL clubs have been closed or amalgamated since 1995 while in Queensland, country areas such as Goondiwindi, and even the mining boom town of Mount Isa has recently seen the doors to their local RSL club permanently closed.
“It’s just devastating what’s happening to the clubs,” said Paul Phillips, a former Goondiwindi RSL president who had worked for the club for 30 years.
“For so many people, the local RSL has long been a way of life, the lifeblood of communities.”
There are a varied number of reasons for the closure facing many RSL clubs, but according to Victorian RSL president David McLachlan, the biggest culprit is nature. “As a consequence of the Second World War veterans going to their maker, we are seeing a lot of closures,” Major General McLachlan said.
Peter Lanigan, the president of the RSL in the affluent eastern Melbourne suburb of Hampton, which is facing severe financial difficulties, agrees.
“The traditional market base of WWII returned servicemen has almost disappeared and the children of those people haven’t got the same emotional connection to the clubs their parents had,” he said.
“There is no doubt a lot of pressure on borderline gaming venues and old-style branches.
“It’s a constant rationalisation. The number of clubs is reducing and will continue to close because a lot of them are past their use-by date”.
RSL Queensland branch chief executive Chris McHugh said one reason for the pressure on RSL clubs — and many clubs in general — was shifting social trends.
“In a lot of occasions, closure has been due to a combination of poor management, market forces, demographic changes and societal changes that have affected the industry,” Mr McHugh said.
“Younger people on a night out are opting for bars, cafes and nightclubs. They’re not going to clubs anymore.” It is clearly evident that RSL clubs have failed to identify this and failed to adapt to the shifting needs of the younger generation. It is has been too an attitude of “more of the same” when it has come to running the clubs, and the younger generation feel to see its relevance to their needs.
In the cities, particularly in NSW, where poker machines are entrenched in the RSL club culture, there is a split between the affluent inner city and less well-to-do outer suburbs branches. The nation’s biggest RSL club, the Rooty Hill RSL in Sydney’s outer west, is hugely profitable.
Rooty Hill RSL and Holiday Inn Phoo: Wikipedia
Last year, its patrons collectively lost an average of $1 million each week in the club’s poker machines and other forms of gambling — $48.8m for the year — which was about two-thirds of the club’s revenue. Take away the gambling revenues and it can be seen that the club is not doing as well. In clubs were members can not afford to use the poker machines, and revenues are much less, these are the clubs going to the wall.
Chief executive Richard Errington said the club had in recent years reduced its dependence on poker machine revenue, opening a major childcare centre, a bowling alley and a hotel.
“Gaming is still an essential part of our business but it is not the only reason we are here,” Mr Errington said.
At Cabra-Vale Diggers in Canley Vale in outer southwestern Sydney,the second-most profitable NSW RSL last year in terms of gaming revenue, punters collectively lost $47.5m in poker machines and other gambling.
But poker machines were not a panacea for all RSL clubs, said Mr Lanigan, as residents of richer regions were less inclined to use the machines.
In Sydney’s east, many RSL clubs have been closed down or amalgamated, including in Clovelly, Bronte, Maroubra, Botany and Mascot.
In Newcastle, north of Sydney, clubs have closed in Merewether, Hamilton, Adamstown, Lambton-New Lambton and Belmont. Some of these to close were the big, prosperous clubs, that perhaps failed to adapt to the generational changes required of them to attract younger patrons. In the case of Lambton-New Lambton its location in the shadow of a large and profitable leagues club, a bowling club and successful pubs did not help its operating position.
The RSL Sub-branches themselves are facing a similar dilemma, as they too fail to attract the young veterans from conflicts in Iraq, Afghanistan, the Solomon Islands and Timor-Leste into their midst. With strategic changes to RSL policy which enable all ex-serviceman — whether veteran or non-veteran — to join as full members, sub-branches have still failed to grow their numbers, as young servicemen and women perceive the sub-branches as old, conservative and out of touch. What the young veterans fail to identify is the mateship, camaraderie and mutual support that the members can offer them.
What is the future for these sub-branches as the older members die out? Only time will tell.
The recent arrest of an Australian 60 Minutes TV crew in Lebanon, has had (Australian) media outlets outraged that a TV crew could be arrested for reporting the news.
What they gloss over in their outrage is that the crew were filming a kidnapping and abduction of two children of an Australian woman who was in Beirut with their Lebanese father. True, the father had failed to return the children after an access visit, but still a kidnap and abduction has occurred.
The TV crew was not just there filming the abduction. No, it is alleged that the 60 Minutes producers had actually financed the abduction by hiring a professional company to carry out the grab. it is alleged that AU$115,000 was paid by Channel 9.
That makes the TV crew complicit in the action, and an accessory to kidnapping and abduction, assault and conspiracy, all serious crime in the Lebanon.
The mother and the TV crew could find themselves in detention in Lebanon for some time to come.
If found guilty, they could face up to 20 years in jail.
Dr Denis Muller, a media ethics expert at University of Melbourne, believes Channel 9 did the story because they thought it would “rate its socks off”.
“An Australian mum was rescuing children, bringing them back to a great life in Australia, that’s what it was all about,” he said.
“I can’t imagine Channel 9 looked into the risk and I can’t imagine they would have knowingly put their staff at risk like this”. But it appears they did just that.
However, the reporter at the heart of the issue, Tara Brown, has maintained a level of integrity stating, “I cannot talk, I don’t want to jeopardise anything. It has been fortifying to get messages of support, support from my family, friends and colleagues. I am being treated extremely well and the other women here are incredibly generous and kind.”
Will this action receive unbiased reporting from the Australian media?
Post traumatic stress disorder affects many who have served this country but little is being done to meet their needs.
As a kid during school holidays, I would be sent off to a country town to stay with elderly friends of the family, who I called Nan and Pop. There, I would roam the streets unsupervised from morning to dusk, saying hi to neighbours and patting their dogs.
There was one particular man I was scared of, however, who would sit on his front porch all day, several doors down from Nan’s. He had only one leg and would stare blankly for hours on end. He looked so sad, it seemed as if he was perpetually crying.
Off to war: It’s time our nation’s government provided better services to our veterans, many of whom suffer ongoing conditions such as depression and PTSD upon their return.
Photo: ABC Publicity
Generally there was a respected truce between us. He would see me and I him but neither would acknowledge the other. One day I asked Nan what had happened to the man’s leg and why he was so sad.
“He lost his leg in the war,” she answered. “Don’t be scared of him. Reg is a lovely, gentle man. I’ve known him since he was a kid. He’s just not been right since he came home from the war. A lot of the boys who went from here aren’t.”
I took this on board as well as a seven or eight-year-old can, and the next day I decided to wave to Reg. To my delight, he waved back.
That afternoon I took the 20 cents I had earned cleaning out Nan’s chook pen and bought two Paddle Pops, one for me and one for Reg. I was tenuous climbing those stairs to his porch but Reg’s reaction was worth my tiny terror. The soldier’s face lit up and a tear trickled down his bristly cheek.
Reg didn’t say much but I visited him every day during that stay, telling him how Nan’s chooks kept escaping and how she swore as she tried to catch them. Sometimes Reg would have a Mintie or a biscuit for me. I believe we became firm friends.
It was a year before I returned to the town and the first thing I noticed was Reg wasn’t at his porch, so I ran to ask Nan why. She looked distressed and put me on her knee and told me Reg was “gone”.
“He just couldn’t take it anymore,” she said. “We can only hope he is in a happier place.”
I couldn’t comprehend suicide at the time, but hell – I do now. I’ve had several friends and many more acquaintances take their own lives over the years, and today I have one dear friend I worry about daily, who I fear may do the same.
It’s because my friend today has the same blank look as Reg, half here and half somewhere else he doesn’t want to be. My friend was a policeman and now suffers acute post traumatic stress disorder (PTSD).
If it wasn’t for his loving family and their constant care, I have no idea how he would survive. The fact that the very force he suffered for has all but abandoned him to deal with an aggressive and cruel insurance company for compensation is beyond me. It disgusts and angers me to my marrow. And the police force is only the tip of an insidious iceberg of neglect in this country.
Tomorrow I will be attending a rally in Melbourne, on the steps of Parliament House, joining veterans, families and supporters calling for a royal commission into the Department of Veteran Affairs.
From 1999 to the start of February 2016, some 249 soldiers returned from wars in the Middle East have committed suicide, more than 30 in 2015 alone. This is only a roughly accrued estimate – the actual number is probably far more. Compare this to how many soldiers died in war in Afghanistan – 41 dead and 261 injured – and it becomes clear the real battle these soldiers face is not at war but home, in the country they fought for.
Since 1975 Australia has deployed 120,000 troops on overseas operations. The numbers suffering mental illness is estimated to be between 20,000 and 30,000.
Yet these men may have been better off staying in battle, where at least they would have received attention, because little is happening here.
As the number of post-1975 veterans has been growing, the DVA has been reducing staffing numbers and cutting back entitlements. There are different processing elements, depending where you are in Australia, with most still operating a single file, paper-based system. Veterans have no way of telling where claims are up to or in which state they are being handled, and files are often lost.
Veterans are required to attend up to five appeals to gain their proper compensation because of this poor administration, and the use of adversarial work cover assessors under-evaluating veteran incapacities to lower compensation amounts.
From lodgement of claim to payment – if the claims go through the appeal process – can take up to five years.
This is too long! These people are suffering now – good men like Reg, haunted by what they have seen and done protecting our freedom. It is a national disgrace and one every citizen should get on board to protest.
And while we’re at it, let’s look at the police force leadership and demand they treat their own with respect, dignity, care and compensation too. Because I will be damned if my friend decides there is “happier place”. That place should be his home, and it is up to all of us to ensure it is.
Source: Saturday Age columnist Wendy Squires is a journalist, editor and author.
To piously impose a pay freeze on the men and women who keep the state running, paramedics, nurses, firefighters and teachers, while simultaneously helping themselves to tens of thousands of dollars – often for doing absolutely nothing – is an absolute farce.
It is a damning indictment on Premier Mike Baird and Gladys Berejiklian when they declare the state is broke when it comes to improving the modest salaries of public sector workers, but they can easily find a lazy two million to shovel at their mates.
New South Wales is a state being run for the one per cent, and the first members of the elite to get their gravy train top ups are the members of the Baird Government.
It seems Mr Baird is never short of a quid when it comes to bonuses for his MPs and funding for his social media advisers. But when it comes to paying public sector workers with dignity suddenly there’s not a cent.
The State’s public services have been cut to the bone. If there is money to spent it should be on these emergency service personnel and teachers, and not on wholly unnecessary bonuses to government MPs.
Like their Federal Liberal counterparts, the NSW politicians too have their snout in the pay and allowance trough!
Daily Telegraph Uncovers Academic ‘Invasion’ Plot… 20 Years Too Late
Settlement or Invasion?
Australia’s least trusted newspaper may have just broken the record for ‘world’s oldest scoop’.
Yesterday’s (30/03/2016) Daily Telegraph’s scoop – that the University of NSW is “controversially” instructing teachers to refer to the “settlement” of Australia as an “invasion” – is based on a teaching resource produced two decades ago which was published under the auspices of the Howard government.
Entitled, Teaching the Teachers: Indigenous Australian Studies for Primary Pre-Service Teacher Education, the teaching guide was the culmination of more than two years consultation and research, and produced by UNSW in cooperation with the federally-funded Council for Aboriginal Reconciliation.
It was released in 1996 by UNSW and CAR as a guide to appropriate terminology when discussing First Nations issues. Ironically, the Prime Minister at the time, John Howard – went on to spark the ‘history wars’, after abolishing the CAR.
The guide was inspired by Aboriginal poet and activist Oodgeroo Noonucal (Kath Walker) and distributed widely throughout schools and universities around the country, in particular NSW primary schools.
Since then, it has been used widely as the basis for university guides on appropriate terminology when teaching about issues affecting Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Australians.
Australian universities, including Flinders in South Australia, UNSW and Queensland University of Technology have all produced guides based on the document.
An entire section of the teaching guide – page 13 – is devoted to dealing with the issue of invasion. After noting the term ‘settlement’ is “less appropriate”, and the term ‘invasion’ “more appropriate”, the guide notes:
“Australia was not settled peacefully, it was invaded. Describing the arrival of the Europeans as a ‘settlement’ attempts to view Australian history from the shores of England rather than the shores of Australia.
“The use of the word ‘settlement’ ignores the reality of Indigenous Australian peoples’ lands being stolen from them….
“The fact that most settlers did not see themselves as invading the country, and that convicts were transported against their will is beside the point. The effects were the same for Indigenous peoples.”
New Matilda reader Serena O’Meley – a community and union activist – located the original resource at the State of Library of Victoria early this morning.
She told New Matilda: “This particular curriculum resource is highly auspiced, and it’s been around for 20 years. It was a seminal text involving substantial consultation,” Ms O’Meley said.
“It’s just sensationalist reporting by the Daily Telegraph, and it has to stop.
“Invasion is a fact, it’s not a political position. Once again they’re playing into the hands of racists and people who want to change history to suit themselves.”
Notwithstanding the motivations of the Telegraph, Ms O’Meley said some good would likely come from the debate.
“I think it’s been useful in the sense that it’s opened up a discussion, because younger people born during the history wars haven’t been properly educated about these issues,” she said.
“I’m personally a product of poor history teaching, and I know many of my peers have been as well. It’s taken me many years to understand the real basis of Australia’s true history.
“I cannot imagine what young people know and understand about these issues, so a curriculum resource like this is immensely valuable.”
New Matilda has sought to interview the Daily Telegraph reporter responsible for the story, Clarissa Bye, but at the time of press no reply was forthcoming.
A spokesperson for the University of NSW told New Matilda that the teaching resource at the centre of the Telegraph’s coverage had actually been in place since 2012. The spokesperson also noted that the resource does not mandate language from teacher’s rather it suggests ‘less and more appropriate’ terminology.
According to dictionary.com, one definition of the term ‘invasion’ is “entrance as if to take possession or overrun”.
It’s use to describe the gradual arrival of people, against the will of an existing population – as opposed to an immediate military force – is uncontroversial. The Daily Telegraph has used the term itself to describe the gradual arrival over time of asylum seekers to Australian shores.
Source: Chris Grahamon March 31, 2016
Comment/Thoughts
In the mindset of the initial European arrivals to Australia’s eastern shores, the British government of the time would have seen this as settlement rather than invasion given information supplied by James Cook. It is not possible, nearly 250 years later, to reassess the mindset of that time, when acting under the official instruction of the government of the day.
At the time Australia was considered to be ‘Terra Nullius‘. However, this is clearly clearly incorrect as instead of admitting that it was “possessing” land that belonged to Aboriginal people, Britain always acted as it were settling an empty land.
If James Cook said that Australia was “Terra Nullius“, who in England was a position to dispute this assertion?
It could be argued that the original settlers were in fact, not settlers at all! As convicts coming to a penal colony, they were hardly coming of their own free will. Once their sentence had been completed, they were hardly in a position to take themselves home! They became settlers, rather than invaders, by no choice of their own.
Academia and academics often have outspoken and controversial views which are not held by the mainstream population and government.
This story does remain an example of poor reporting on the part of the Daily Telegraph.
Speed kills. Speed cameras save lives. We have heard it all before. But, two-hundred and forty-nine people people died in fatal traffic accidents on Victoria’s roads last year — a 2.5 per cent increase from 2013’s figure.
This is despite a record number of fixed and mobile speed cameras deployed on roads in Victoria, and around Australia.
For years, the governments have been claiming that speed cameras save lives and that speed is the greatest common factor in fatal car accidents.
But with road deaths on the rise, could it be that speed cameras actually don’t save lives and in fact are contributing to our road toll by breeding poor driving practises?
Since Saab introduced seat belts as standard in 1958, occupant safety has been improving every year, and the sedans, wagons, utilities and SUVs we drive today are safer than ever. And safer cars will undoubtedly go further in reducing the road toll than speed cameras.
Speed cameras certainly have their place in society, but not with the draconian enforcement of low-level speeding and covert tactics, such as hiding in bushes and unmarked mobile speed cameras, as occurs in Victoria, at least, more needs to be done.
The proof is in the numbers. People are still crashing, they are just safer doing so.
The figures show that revenue from speed cameras alone — on the spot police fines are not included in this figure — in 2010 was around $236 million. Fast forward to 2013 and that figures jumps a whopping $57 million to $293 million. Imagine ripping almost $300 million from government coffers; speed cameras have become like a drug addiction that governments can’t help but feed off.
Included below is a graph (click here to see larger version) that shows the relationship between hospital stays shorter than 14 days, longer than 14 days, fatalities and revenue from speed cameras. The graph shows that the increase in revenue from speed cameras isn’t commensurate with a reduction in hospital stays. Hospital stays of fewer than 14 days and more than 14 days during this period trended steady.
When asked about speed cameras and levels of enforcement, a spokesperson for the Department of Justice and Regulation told CarAdvice:
“Broadly speaking the rate of people being fined by cameras is not changing, but as the population grows, so too does the number of fines issued.
“The overall number of infringements issued annually is increasing as Victoria’s population grows and there are more cars on the road.
“Over 99 per cent of vehicles passing fixed cameras and over 98 per cent of vehicles passing mobile cameras comply with the speed limit.
That’s because people know that they are there. Drivers slow down for the cameras, and then once past them, they resume their normal driving habits – Ed.
“Fixed and mobile road safety cameras reduce speeds and cut road trauma because they are placed in high-risk or high-speed areas, areas with history of road trauma, or areas that will provide a road safety benefit.
This is not always so! In 2011 a NSW review of the placement of speed cameras was carried out by the Auditor-Generals Department, and a large number of cameras, 38 in fact, were identified as being placed to interrogate the speed of a large number of passing vehicles, or where the speed limit had been reduced from a higher limit; e.g. passing from a 90kmh zone into a 70kmh zone, with no identified high risk factors or adverse trauma history – Ed.
“100 per cent of the money from camera fines is allocated to the Better Roads Victoria Trust Account. The funds from this account are used to improve road safety for all road users.”
With an enforcement focus skewed on speed, ask yourself this question: how many speed cameras did you travel through (whether it be a fixed or mobile one) in the past month? Now, ask yourself how many times were you stopped to be tested for drugs or alcohol over the same period?
Similarly, in the past 10 years, how many times did you undertake driver training to improve your skills?
The unfortunate reality of speed camera-biased enforcement can be demonstrated with the tragic death of pedestrian Anthony Parsons and husband and wife Savva and Ismini Menelaou, who were passengers in a Ford Falcon struck at the intersection of Warrigal and Dandenong roads in Oakleigh, Victoria last year.
Brazilian national Nei Lima DaCosta was high on ice and drove through one fixed speed camera at 30km/h over the speed limit minutes before careering through the intersection of Warrigal and Dandenong roads at 120km/h (40km/h over the speed limit) through another speed and red light camera. He killed three innocent people. These two cameras did nothing to help save the lives of three innocent people.
This particular example illustrates why so much more needs to be done on enforcing and dealing with poor driving, whether it be due to drugs, lack of skills or visible policing.
There seems to be a reluctance, at least in Australia for police to perform in a pro-active role. Whenever police are seen on highways, it is always in the role of enforcement, speed checking, number plate recognition activities and the like, revenue raising activities – Ed.
Speed cameras alone will never be a useful immediate enforcement or protection tool against drivers excessively speeding, or people who don’t know how to drive to start with.
Those people that use the idiom “don’t speed and you won’t get caught” simply don’t understand the reality of driving safely. If I had the preference of watching the road or my speedometer, I know which one I would choose.
What is needed is an overhaul of driver training, the proper blitzing of drink and drug driving testing, along with the removal of low level speed enforcement. Who would have an issue with being stopped twice a day for drug or alcohol testing if it meant impaired drivers were taken off the road more promptly?
We also need more transparency on where the money generated from speed cameras goes and where it should be spent.
With all the roads around NSW in such poor condition, serious doubt has to raised as just where income from fines is actually spent on – Ed.
Primarily, the Russian people have only been driving for a short time. Prior to the fall of communism in 1989, private ownership of motor vehicles was severely restricted by cost, but more importantly, to restrict the free movement of the population within the former Soviet Union. Access to motor vehicle ownership in the last 27 years has increased exponentially! What has not increased however is the skill, ability, psyche and consideration that goes with the operation of a motor vehicle. Accompanied by this, is a distinct lack of experience, discipline and courtesy needed when driving on a public road.
There also appears to be no concept of consequence in Russia. This results from a lack of lateral thinking which is not nurtured in Russian society as well as their education. So they drive like aggressively without regard for road rules believing they’re not causing any harm. Russians believe the bigger the car they drive, the safer they are. Hence why drivers of 4x4s tend to be even more aggressive then drivers of a Fiat Punto.
Russia: The only place where you can be rear-ended whilst overtaking, driving the wrong way up a one way street!
Corruption
Corruption is rife in Russian which means that money can buy anything, including a driver’s licence. Russian get drivers licences with no knowledge of road rules or even the ability to drive a car! As a result there is little reason to learn the highway code. Thus everyone has their own view as to what the laws of the road really are. Continuing with corruption, if you drive like a idiot and get stopped, you can generally bribe your way our of being punished. Thus there is basically no fear of punishment which reinforces the belief that Russian drivers can behave at the wheel as they wish with impunity. Police are generally nowhere to be seen. They might occasionally pull you over nearer the centre of a city by being flagged down but a police car pulling someone over? Never! There are no cameras, except around the city centre but even if you are sent a fine, there is no system in place to actually guarantee payment of that fine. Many Russians who have been sent a fine have never paid it. So again, you can act without fear of punishment,
“There are only two types of Russians – those who give bribes and those who take them.”
So all in all, this theme finds its way into the Russian psyche. The Russians are not stupid because, if you are stupid, you still know the difference between right and wrong. 80 years of communism has lead Russians to be disillusioned and somewhat primitive. There is a big difference.
Driving in Russia is hazardous: Last year, 200,000 traffic accidents killed 27.025 people in Russia in 2013. Addressing those high levels, President Dmitry Medvedev blamed the “undisciplined, criminally careless behaviour of our drivers,” along with poor road conditions. However, Medvedev made no mention of the totally dysfunctional Russian traffic police!
Russians consistently ignore red lights, overtake on the inside, overtake on the outside when unsafe or blind, speed and couple this with little or no technical expertise or driving ability, this is a recipe for disaster!
While accepting that drivers certainly play a role, Medvedev did not mention Russia’s traffic police, which, “is known throughout their land for brutality, corruption, extortion and making an income on bribes.”
According to information published by New Times(2009), one day’s corrupt income for a traffic policeman is $1000. Everyone regards the law enforcement agencies, chiefly the police, as extortioners in uniform and it is generally recognised that a policeman’s official salary is only part of his income. Medvedev’s police reform, carried out by the police establishment itself, has failed. The overwhelming majority of Russians have no more faith in the police than they did in the Soviet past.
Russia ranks 133rd among the world’s nations in corruption (where number one is the least corrupt), according to Transparency International. So going to the police with a legitimate complaint is far from sure to produce a good result.
In addition to authorities they deem untrustworthy, Russian drivers must contend with the possibility of being attacked by another driver. The below video compiles fights between drivers that feature crowbars, slapping, punching, and worse.
Then there are pedestrians who get themselves hit by cars on purpose, for a payoff. A video compilation (below) of failed scams offers a few examples.
Overall, in a country where traffic conditions are horrible, insurance scams and roadside fights are always a possibility, and the police are widely viewed as corrupt, video evidence of one’s innocence can be a very valuable thing.
There are are number of things which also contribute to this situation:
Harsh climate. It means foggy mornings in the summer, rainy autumns, snowy winters notorious of its blizzards and ice, springs with huge lots of wet dirt.
Poor road conditions. Yes, that is no secret, that the bigger part of roads in Russia are not good. Perestroika, the crisis of 90’s and other economic problems including theft and corruption inside the Road construction department resulted in poor roads conditions
Large distances. It is much more easy and convenient to build and service roads in a small country, neither in Russia where distances between settlements sometimes can be counted in hundreds of km. Living in Siberia, one can take a ride from one city to another and not see civilisation for hours with only taiga forest around. In Australia, large distances are also an issue, but Australians do not have the poor driver behaviour as exhibited in Russia!
The Russian government did not expect people to have so many cars. The number rose dramatically over the last 25 years. In the west, the culture of proper driving was formed over a longer period, while in Russia it just boomed. The problem is much worse for big cities of 1 million citizens or more. Here we see too many cars on tiny roads and a lack of parking spaces. It makes people nervous while driving.
The other factor is culture. Russian people today haven’t learned to respect each other. And they won’t until the economic situation improves.
Vehicles and Vodka
Russia has a long history of alcohol consumption. The average Russian drinks 20 litres of pure alcohol per annum, nearly twice as much as their nearest rival. This of course carries onto the streets of Russia.
According to data, the number of drunk drivers has been steadily increasing in the past few years. In the last eight months of 2012, the number of accidents caused by drunk drivers rose by 3.5%. In that time, there were 152 alcohol related accidents in Moscow, which caused 15 deaths. And Moscow is far from being the worst city in Russia: in the Krasnoyarsk region there were 433 drunk driving accidents over the same period.
Some worry that stricter laws will mean serious punishment even for drivers who don’t drink, since Russia’s laws don’t specify a blood alcohol level at which one is considered drunk. United Russia lawmakers think that establishing specific criteria for drunk drivers is essential to the success of a stricter law. A threshold is important because human blood will always contain some alcohol, which could be detected in blood tests. Russia had an alcohol limit until 2010, but then-President Medvedev thought drivers interpreted the law to mean they could drink up to that point, and changed the law to zero-tolerance.
On the other hand, people who knowingly drink and drive might not be deterred by the new law at all. The police say people who regularly drive under the influence and accumulate suspended licenses for years simply ignore the sanctions (such as the driver in the recent accident in Moscow, whose license had been suspended in 2010 for drunk driving).
In the past two years, more than 18,000 drivers have had their license suspended for drunk driving. Among those drivers, some had been punished for drunk driving 100 times or put in administrative arrest 16 times for driving without a license. The law has no effect on this type of person, so a completely different approach is needed with them. It has been suggested that if they can’t stop themselves from drinking and driving, they need to be under the strict control of the courts and medical staff.”
The Russian Dash-Cam
In Russia, everyone should (and does) have a camera on their dashboard. It’s better than keeping a lead pipe under your seat for protection (but you might still want that lead pipe).
The conditions of Russian roads are perilous, with an insane gridlock in the city and gigantic ditches, endless swamps and severe wintry emptiness of the back roads and highways. Then there are large, lawless areas you don’t just ride into, the police with a penchant for extortion and deeply frustrated drivers who want to smash your face.
Psychopaths are abundant on Russian roads. You best not cut anyone off or undertake some other type of maneuver that might inconvenience the 200-pound, six-foot-five brawling children you see on YouTube hopping out of their SUVs with their dukes up. They will go ballistic in a snap, drive in front of you, brake suddenly, block you off, jump out and run towards your vehicle. Next thing you start getting punches in your face because your didn’t roll up your windows, or getting pulled out of the car and beaten because you didn’t lock the doors. These fights happen all the time and you can’t really press charges. Point to your broken nose or smashed windows all you want. The Russian courts don’t like verbal claims. They do, however, like to send people to jail for battery and property destruction if there’s definite video proof. That is why there’s a new, growing crop of dash-cam videos featuring would-be face-beaters backing away to the shouts of “You’re on camera, fucker! I’m calling the cops!”
Dash-cam footage is the only real way to substantiate your claims in the court of law. Forget witnesses. Hit and runs are very common and insurance companies notoriously specialize in denying claims. Two-way insurance coverage is very expensive and almost completely unavailable for vehicles over ten years old–the drivers can only get basic liability. Get into a minor or major accident and expect the other party to lie to the police or better yet, flee after rear-ending you. Since your insurance won’t pay unless the offender is found and sued, you’ll see dash-cam videos of post hit and run pursuits for plate numbers.
And sometimes drivers back up or bump their pre-dented car into yours. It used to be a mob thing, with the accident-staging specialists working in groups. After the “accident,” the offending driver–often an elderly lady–is confronted by a crowd of “witnesses,” psychologically pressured and intimidated to pay up cash on the spot. Since the Age of the Dash-cam, hustle has withered from a flourishing enterprise to a dying trade, mainly thriving in the provinces where dash-cams are less prevalent.
And then, sometimes, someone will jump under your car at a crossing, laying on the asphalt, simulating a badly hurt pedestrian waiting for that cop conveniently parked nearby. This dramatic extortion scheme was common, until the Age of the Dash-cam. Oh, and there are such juicy, triumphant tales about of would-be extortion victims turning the scheme around and telling the cast members to pay them money or they’re going to jail for this little performance! Don’t try it.
While those lucky enough to traverse the Russian roads with an American or other Western passport are hassled less, the Russian Highway Patrol is notorious throughout their land for brutality, corruption, extortion and making an income on bribes.
Russian websites go for the uncut, the horrible accidents–trucks flipping over, people being smashed into pieces and sedans flying up in the air and exploding. Given that television programing is mostly vacuous and heavily censored, dash-cam videos are very popular in Russia. It’s uncensored–drama, comedy, tragedy, horror, thriller and educational genres fused into one super-genre of “dash-cam.” Who needs Klitschko when you can watch to tough guys box in the street?
To better understand and navigate this “community service”, here’s a Russian Dash-cam Video Thesaurus for the blog tag cloud. It is comprised of purposely misspelled hick and thug slang and phrases used sarcastically…while people die. Ah, Russian humour.
поциент – “Patient.” The poor bastard, the dumb idiot in the video getting pulverized, run over or smashed into. A wordplay of “potz,” the Russian translation of the Yiddish “schmuck.”
летчик – “Pilot.” The idiot who zooms by and crashes in the grand finale of a video.
слабоумие и отвага – “Courage and dementia.”
последние секунды жизни – “Last seconds of life.” Videos featuring persons before and after fatal accidents.
кетай как всегда пиздец – “China is always fucked.” Clips from China that feature severe crashes and frequently feature passersby ignoring the bodies and car debris.
кирпичи – “Bricks” (as in “shitting bricks.”) The audio track often features the driver panting or shouting the entire Russian vocabulary of swears at the top of their lungs. Used for videos with near misses or close shaves.
железобетонное очко – “Anus of Concrete.” Honorific given to drivers who, faced with sudden danger like a huge truck coming head-on, remain calm, only saying “shoot” or “darn” quietly in the background, and efficiently steer away from danger, displaying some seriously fucking great driving skills.
наварра – The infamous video featuring a black Nissan Navarra SUV swerving to the oncoming freight liner and being smashed into a cloud of small pieces. It is the metaphor for a gruesome, intense, fatal accident.
But there are moments of humanity among the Russian people,. At a city accident scene, you could see as many as twenty cars pulling over, drivers running out to the scene. This comes from the recognition of the fact that on a 300-mile stretch of uninhabited territory, help can only come from passing vehicles and not emergency services. Most Russian long-distance routes East of the Ural Mountains are that way. There is really only one highway like that in North America: the Western Canadian to Alaskan Stretch of the Pan-American Highway. The camaraderie between strangers, shoveling the snow and hailing a freight truck or tractor to pull the car out. The kudos. The cheers. The knowledge that you could be very well be next.
And don’t you forget it. Aside from the kindness of strangers, it’s just you and that little gadget versus the hell that is the Russian people on the road.
A new poll shows only 30% of voters want the new blue, black and silver fern design. Photo: John Borren
New Zealanders will choose whether to ditch the flag in just over a month, but that prospect appears unlikely according to a new poll.
A Newshub/Reid Research poll has revealed that only 30 per cent of voters want the new blue and black silver fern design.
Sixty-one per cent said they did not want a change. The alternative flag design has put off some voters who want change but do not like the chosen design, and 16 per cent will vote for the current flag, despite being broadly supportive of a flag change.
Debate about a flag change is intensifying ahead of the second referendum, which starts on March 3.
Prime Minister John Key is displaying the alternative flag on the gate of his Parnell home, and Air New Zealand chief executive Christopher Luxon has flown it outside his home for several months.
Other high-profile Kiwis are not so impressed. Actor Sam Neill has said he is sticking with the old flag, tweeting that he could not vote for “the beach towel” alternative design.
Sometimes something that looks legitimate is not always what it seems.
For example, have look at the clip below were UK police pulled over and booked the driver of an ambulance responder unit. The public would have perceived this as an incredulous situation! But, the ambulance turned out to be a bogus unit.
A quick look a the vehicle should have raised suspicion, as the vehicle clearly has no specific ambulance service markings on it, only than the generic word “AMBULANCE” on the front and rear, and the Battenburg pattern hi-viz pattern applied to the exterior of the vehicle, and the blue light bar on the roof.
What the driver of the vehicle expected to achieve by this subterfuge beggars belief! There is no financial reward as a result of this behaviour. Delusions of granduer, perhaps?
However, senior ambulance officers in Britain’s NHS trusts say the ongoing privatisation of ambulance services has meant “sham” crews are able to operate legally. There is nothing illegal in writing “Ambulance” in bold letters across your car or wearing a flashy jumpsuit with “paramedic” emblazoned on it. The use of blue lights and sirens on public roads would constitute an offence.
John Divall, principal training officer of the Royal Berkshire NHS Trust, who has gathered nationwide reports on paramedic impersonators, said: “The NHS Executive Intelligence Unit are aware of this. They’ve been gathering cases of these Walter Mitty people who seem to want to trade on the prestige of real crews. And there is nothing we can do about it.
The other thing of note here is the quiet professional way the police went about their business. No throwing the “offender” against the vehicle, no raised voices, no slamming of doors, no behind-the-back handcuffing. All very quiet and purposeful.
The offender attended caught and was convicted and was fined for his efforts. I am led to believe that he re-offended, and received a prison sentence. He has since been at it again. refer to this article.
A very sad affair, with a man with clear mental health issues. Hopefully whist in prison he may receive treatment for this.
When deposed as prime minister, Tony Abbott pledged: “There will be no wrecking, no undermining, and no sniping.” We all knew what he meant: he would be no Kevin Rudd.
His pledge lasted all of a week before the wrecking, undermining and sniping began. It’s continued this weekend. L’esprit de Rudd is back in the air.
In two interviews with News Corp since his demise – the first brief, the next long and considered – Abbott has shown an embarrassing determination to play the sore loser in spite of his promise that he would not.
A post-spill surf: Tony Abbott. Photo: Nick Moir
He first undermined Scott Morrison’s reputation just as he took over as Treasurer by effectively calling him a traitor, telling the Daily Telegraph after the top job was already long lost: “I’m afraid Scott badly misled people. He badly misled people. I was doing all I could to save the government, that’s what I was doing.”
Then on Saturday, in another interview with News Corp, he doubled down, this time wrecking Malcolm Turnbull’s pitch that his is a new administration – new people, new approach. As George Brandis went on to fashion it on Insiders on Sunday: “This is a very different government.”
Except not really, according to the leader of the old one. “In a policy sense there is very little departure,” Abbott said, referring to the differences between the Turnbull administration from his. “Border protection policy the same, national security policy the same, economic policy the same … even same-sex marriage policy the same, and climate-change policy the same.
“The policy hasn’t changed and indeed the rhetoric hasn’t changed. Again, it is not about me but obviously these are questions that people may ponder.”
Yet, in giving those interviews, he has made it all about him. He seeks to salvage his trashed reputation, aiming for a long-term revision of it from a disastrous premiership into faithful service of the Australian people which was not given credit for the far-reaching, future-proofing measures he introduced.
His attempt to fashion himself as hero misunderstood is classic myth-making, glossing over the greatest failure of a prime ministership since, well, the last two.
Anyone so brutally kicked out of a job – even if he was not up to it – is entitled to be bitter and surly for a while, but only if kept to a small circle. You can whinge to your family, and to your mates at the pub, but being bitter in public helps no one but your opposition.
Abbott has now managed to kick his successor, his party’s bid for re-election and only helped Labor in its attack lines.
In doing so, he has confirmed the correctness of the Liberal party room’s decision to dump him, and increased the community’s relief that he has gone.
For his sake, and for the prospects of the Turnbull government, he should finish off the business of his departure. Given an apparent inability to play the elder statesman with more grace than he led the nation, he should leave the Parliament and give his reputation a chance of some small recovery with time, service and silence.
He should read The President’s Club, a 2012 account of how former US presidents have found their feet – or not – after leaving office. No one wins when former leaders carp about new ones or the manner of their demise. Reputations are built not by revisionism as to their time in office, but by later actions for the good of the country. Even Richard Nixon managed to recoup some of his lost reputation through service to subsequent presidents.
Abbott’s inspiration should be more George Bush the elder, not Rudd the underminer.
Bush was a oncer, like Abbott, although he got four years in power rather than two. He was defeated by Bill Clinton in a bruising election.
Yet he wrote his successor a letter, left in the White House to be read after the inauguration, which read: “You will be our President when you read this note. Your success now is our country’s success. I am rooting hard for you.”
Leaving the odd Americanism aside, the sentiment is astonishing, not that it should be. Bush was no longer his nation’s leader; Clinton was. The patriotic duty of a patriotic American was to wish for the team leader to succeed.
If Abbott was serious about his team Australia rhetoric, he would see that the country would be better served by him leaving politics. He doesn’t need to be Pope Benedict and disappear, but there’s nothing as damaging to the country than the presence of a bitter ex who’s outstayed his welcome.
George Brown is a decorated soldier and health professional and 40 year veteran in the field of emergency nursing and paramedical practice, both military and civilian areas. He has senior management positions in the delivery of paramedical services. Opinions expressed in these columns are solely those of the author and should not be construed as being those of any organization to which he may be connected.
He was born in the UK of Scottish ancestry from Aberdeen and a member of the Clan MacDougall. He is a member of the Macedonian community in Newcastle, and speaks fluent Macedonian. While this may seem a contradiction, it is his wife who is Macedonian, and as a result he embraced the Macedonian language and the Orthodox faith.
His interests include aviation and digital photography, and he always enjoys the opportunity to combine the two. Navigate to his Flickr site to see recent additions to his photo library.
Џорџ Браун е украсени војник и професионално здравствено лице и 40 годишен ветеран во областа на за итни случаи старечки и парамедицински пракса, двете воени и цивилни области. Тој има високи менаџерски позиции во испораката на парамедицински услуги. Мислењата изразени во овие колумни се исклучиво на авторот и не треба да се толкува како оние на било која организација тој може да биде поврзан.
Тој е роден во Велика Британија на шкотскиот потекло од Абердин и член на Kланот MacDougall. Тој е член на македонската заедница во Њукасл, и зборува течно македонски. Иако ова можеби изгледа контрадикција, тоа е неговата сопруга кој е македонски, и како резултат научил македонскиот јазик и ја примија православната вера.
Неговите интереси вклучуваат авијација и дигитална фотографија, и тој секогаш ужива во можност да се комбинираат двете. Отиди до неговиот Фликр сајт да видите последните дополнувања на неговата слика библиотека.
Discussion on the law that applies to or affects Australia's emergency services and emergency management, by Michael Eburn, PhD, Australian Lawyer. Email: meburn@australianemergencylaw.com
Oh, let's see...distinguished Gen-X'er, frustrated writer and mom living in the confines of a small town that thinks it's a big deal. And have I mentioned Walmart yet?
Words, By George! 