What I cooked last night.

Last weekend, Alan Kohler flagged an alternate universe to the panic-stricken one run by the timorous politicians and their health officer bureaucrats who see no problem in sending the engine room of the country over the cliff (see previous post). In the same paper, Adam Creighton reviewed the priorities of the left, of which he says 'a common theme is now sanctimony, and vast reservoirs of it', quoting the UN: David Beasley, executive director of the UN's World Food Program, warned in April that millions could starve as a result of the economic slump induced by the hysterical response to the coronavirus by advanced countries. Creighton pointed the finger at bureaucrats and politicians: ... the university-educated bureaucrats, teachers, public health advocates, consultants and executives dependent on government contracts, et cetera, whose incomes are more stable (than the poor, itinerant workers, small business owners and independent professionals). More stable? ...

Alan Kohler (Weekend Australian Business Review, 20/6/20) has been talking to the hospitality industry. Right now, 3.3 million people and their employers are being supported by JobKeeper at a cost of $10bn per month. ... JobKeeper (ends) September 27 ... there's a very large and very specific problem with the deadline: the four square metres rule. Kohler suggests the only way this can be lifted is if a vaccine exists, and if the rule is still in place after 27 September hospitality businesses go into receivership en masse and hundreds and possibly millions of people will be thrown out of work. An economic catastrophe would ensue - an industry that represents 7.2 per cent of GDP and more than 10 per cent of the workforce would close. ... each restaurant that keeps to four square metres per patron would need each diner to spend at least $2500 per sitting in Sydney and $1500 in Melbourne. ... It's not possible. ... For another month the waiters, chefs and dishwashers thus un...

Where else would I be? (Apart from walking through that piece of scenery in the previous post.*) There's a million things to which you just would not get around in the normal course of events. One of them is reading pieces of paper found inside the sleeve of an LP record purchased on December 12, 1972 (correct: I used to write in very small script the date of every record I purchased, inside the sleeve in order not to mark the artwork). One of these pieces of paper was an advertising flyer from Festival Records. Here's some of the text: Festival Records proudly presents this comprehensive catalogue of over 700 top selling albums from world renowned artists. These include the greatest overseas and Australian talent such as, Joe Cocker, Herb Alpert & The Tijuana Brass, Creedence Clearwater Revival, Cat Stevens, Elton John, Shirley Bassey, Wendy Saddington, Blackfeather, Sergio Mendes & Brasil 77, Bee Gees, Freda Payne, Carole King, Burt Bacharach, Chain, Sandy Sco...