Author: Kim du Toit

Oz Reich (4)

Gummint, Mocking Furriners

Looks as though the worm is starting to turn in Oz:

Wild scenes broke out in Richmond as a group of hooligans clashed with police trying to contain the violent ‘freedom rally’ march.

…with predictable results:

Police arrested 235 people and while most were taken away for breaching health directions, some were charged with assault, riotous behaviour and weapons and drug offences. Each will be fined $5,452, with 193 infringements handed out so far.

Naturally, police blamed the Deplorables:

‘Angry aggressive young males (were) there to fight the police, not to protest about freedoms,’ he told the media late on Saturday.

Then again, I myself might have turned into an “aggressive male” (i.e. man) had I witnessed thuggery such as this:

An elderly woman was shoved to the ground and doused with pepper spray by two policemen during the Melbourne anti-lockdown riot. The woman was bowled over by the two cops before they fired the spray directly on her face as she lay defenceless on the road trying to shield her eyes.

Because this is Oz, public opinion was divided into two camps, i.e. “bastards” and “she deserved it for breaking the law”.

Please join me in a couple minutes’ silence to allow the RCOB to subside.

Note to the various OzGovs:  “breaking the law” means things like murder, robbery and violence towards the undeserving.  Protesting against totalitarian government is NOT breaking the law except in totalitarian countries like Iran and Communist China.

And now, it seems, Australia.

Plus One

Entertainment

John Nolte provides a list of Clint Eastwood’s “offbeat” movies and characters, and I can’t really argue with any of them.

I just wish he’d made it a “top six” and added the much-ignored but superb Tightrope, wherein Clinty plays a New Orleans cop who is nothing like his Harry Callahan forebears:  he’s a single dad, vulnerable, a below-average cop who makes mistakes almost every step of the way.  He doesn’t even carry a .44 Magnum, but some teeny little .38 snubbie.

But the best part is that his investigation takes him into the murky world of deviant sex — which at first repels him, but after some time, and despite all his better instincts, starts to attract him and in so doing, draws him into his prey’s world, making him the hunted.

One of the most attractive features of Clint’s typical movie personae  is that he is strong in his beliefs, and when he straddles the line between right and wrong, he’s always aware of the line.  Not in Tightrope.  And his portrayal of the moral confusion and temptation to which he begins to succumb makes it, I think, one of his most compelling performances.

Watch it if you can get it.

Yikes

Drive Time

In a tangential post to the Goodwood Revival, I see the following bit of news:

Each California Spyder Revival will be built by hand from a donor car, using parts produced by GTO Engineering; the company is a renowned Ferrari restoration specialist, and aims to equal or better the quality standards of the original car. The iconic Scaglietti-designed body, for example, will be hand-formed from sheet aluminium using GTO’s own, bespoke tooling.
Despite the focus on authenticity, the California Spyder Revival will also be highly customisable. The customer can choose between three versions of Ferrari’s Columbo V12, from a standard 3.0-litre engine to upgraded 3.5 or 4.0-litre units. The original four-speed gearbox can also be swapped out for a five-speed item, and bespoke exterior paint colours can be specified. The interior is trimmed in leather of the buyer’s choosing, with the option of a smaller wooden steering wheel than the original car.

The purists may wail and shout a bit, but I think it’s fantastic.

Officer Class

Military

To Americans, who unlike the Brits are self-consciously class-indifferent, this piece might be a load of old nonsense, but here we are:

When your job involves abseiling out of helicopters, kicking down doors and taking out the bad guys, you might be forgiven for thinking that it doesn’t really matter what school you went to.
But the SAS is getting worried that not enough posh officers are applying to command its high-stakes operations.
The elite regiment has typically been led by former public schoolboys whose privileged education is said to instil the leadership skills and poise required.
‘The typical SAS officer is confident, relaxed, bright and unflappable,’ said one of the regiment’s warrant officers. ‘Many of the most successful officers have been to the top public schools, but recently we have seen a number of guys coming forward who just don’t cut it. It’s a shame, but they are just not posh enough. The bottom line is that the officers shouldn’t be speaking like soldiers. We don’t want officers who are shouters or know-it-alls.’
…

Former officers of the SAS include General Mark Carleton-Smith, the head of the Army, and Major Jamie Lowther-Pinkerton, a former Private Secretary to Princes William and Harry, who one source described as ‘the archetypal SAS officer’. Both were educated at Eton, while other recent commanding officers attended Winchester and Harrow.

Over There, the term “officer and a gentleman” used to be something of a redundancy — one could only become an officer if one was of the privileged class — but it seems like it has been somewhat undermined, and not to everyone’s liking, either.  Imagine taking orders from this guy…

Round about now, Mr. Free Market (who was an officer in the Paras under the old regime) is chuckling into his whisky.