I’ve been remiss in not acknowledging some of my correspondents and following up on an item raised earlier. You may remember I asked for details or confirmation of the New Diyala Bridge contract, an Iraqi reconstruction project supposedly worth a cool $50 mill to George’s business cronies.
Thanks to Richard P, Dave P and Chris M for further links, but they all seem to lead back to the same story. I’m almost ready to declare this a fake unless someone can come up with some corroboration.
Going, going …
Following Wednesday’s post Brendan S informed me Wellington has its own Arthur Stace: “Those with keen eyesight may notice the occasional ice block stick with ‘Brain Research’ scrawled on it. Sometimes ‘Brain Research’ is written in other places, but I've mostly noticed the ice block sticks. Could be an idea for our own sculpture? Maybe a large one in parliament grounds?”
What can I say to that? Kiwis are weird.
Mark E reckons there was an Aerobics Oz girl called Cheetah. Or was it a quirk of his adolescent memory?
I thought Cheetah was on Gladiators, Mark.
Paul C responded to my comments about the fake letters used to support allegations Iraq was trying to buy radioactive “yellowcake” from Niger: “I wonder if they included the paragraph, ‘and I need your help to transfer 1,000,000$ out of this country.’
Mark G filled in some details about Canberra I missed when I was down there: “You talked about the portraits but didn't mention the copy of the Magna Carta in the central hall. I think the APH's collection of exhibits is a good example of Canberra's weirdness.
“There are some nice pictures, a model boat, a few tea sets, and they blew about a million dollars on one of the better versions of the Magna Carta. I'm thankful you missed the civic artworks down Alinga Mall too, they're bloody embarrassing.
“If you ever come back there are three other good things I'd recommend. National Library (often has very good exhibitions), Questacon (fantastic for kids) and the High Court (nice just to walk through, easy to get to).”
Finally, several of you reacted to Granny’s orgasm, including Raewyn, who said: “Lovely column today - you really know how to hook the reader in to the story. Granny's line had me laughing out loud (which is a rare enough event).”
Aw, shucks. And it was all true!
Keep ‘em coming. We can see the site statistics growing nicely each month, but it’s even better to get your feedback.