The Daily Astonisher Has A Great(ish) Year, Notching Up A National First, With Little Help From Fate.

The bubbly must be justifiably flowing down in the Bulletin bunker … the paper has recorded the highest Monday to Friday readership growth in all of Australia. The excellent news is, however, tempered by figures that show one vital area of the paper is continuing to decline .

And while we’re around this bend in the river, The Magpie has suddenly worked out (seriously) why the Bulletin has such a regular wrestle with simple English … the old bird is ‘woke’ (ugh!) and shares.

Also, this uncharacteristic mood of conciliation from The Magpie extends to Mayor Mullet, when the old bird finds one instance where he fully supports her otherwise dopey and doomed attempt to get the power to fine negligent property owners, particularly in the CBD. It is a truly disgraceful instance.

And is the Townsville Council broke? If not, why is it reported to The Nest its payroll could not be processed by the Commonwealth Bank a week or two ago, and gave staff a number to call for ‘hardship’?

And Halloween in America … somehow, just one of the less scary days in Trump’s lunatic asylum.

But first …

SCOMO Goes All Queen Gertrude And Declares “They Doth Protest Too Much, Methinks’

Presumably, our bible-bashing PM resorted to Shakespeare’s Hamlet because he couldn’t come up with a biblical quote in announcing tough new laws aimed at limiting environmentalists disruptive shenanigans. The ‘Pie would’ve thought ‘smote hip and thigh’ would’ve worked, especially since Sampson was whacking it to the Philistines. And it would be a pretty simple strategy to carry out against twerps who glue themselves to roads and chain themselves to various bits of machinery.

No matter what the chattering luvvies have to say about the PM’s, and Palaszczuk’s, proposed measures, it is clear that disruptive tactics that impact so unfairly on the everyday life of private citizens is a bridge too far for the majority.Especially secondary boycotts of firms doing business with Adani. In their hubris of believing they are ‘right’, the zealots have taken it upon themselves to dictate unfair disruption is justified to support their cause. If they are allowed to continue in these arrogant tactics unchecked, then this will quickly become a blueprint for all aggrieved causes, from car emissions to topless sunbathing – this latter one offering some interesting glueing possibilities.

But the PM himself somewhat overstepped the mark by trying to tell private enterprise companies responsible to shareholders that they should hold the line against protestors, and not make decisions in the best interests of those taxpaying shareholders. None of his business, especially strange coming from a conservative politician, that’s the sort of thing you’d expect from Albo.

Bentley is a student of history, and believes some thing never change, just the generations.

But Public Protests Are Just A Sideshow,  The Real Action That Counts Is In The Main Arena

As with all things nowadays, it is the financial market that decides the perceived truth about any issue, and climate change is no different. The moneymen have taken a definitive and life-changing stand on the issue. The tiresome entrenched camps berating each other about climate change deserves little airplay these days but the reality of how serious institutions are responding is what ultimately matters.

So insurance companies are responding. APRA and the RBA have both explicitly connected climate change with financial risk. The ideologues can face off at ten paces, but the world of insurance rates, investment risk appetites and such like, are grinding forward with nary a concern for what the deniers are saying.

Sock It To ‘Em, Mayor Mullet

 

It’s one of those rare moments when The Magpie heartily agrees with the Mayor and the Townsville City Council. There are certain property owners who really need a big stick taken to them over the disgraceful state of some CBD sites. Civic pride if nothing else should prick the conscience of some of these anti-social slackers.

As an example, have a look at this, it’s part of one of the most prominent buildings in Flinders Street …

… with peeling paint, rusted and twisted window frames, junk inside visible from the street, and broken glass that screams ‘derelict and uncared for’ – and in a heritage building to boot.  And is such a visible location. This neglected edifice is no less than the majestic old Townsville Library building next to the Brewery boozarium.

The Magpie says this is an absolute disgrace and the Mayor should not only fine them the maximum $26,000 under the laws she is seeking, but she should put them on her famous ‘mat’ for a dressing down about social and community responsibility.

Let us sincerely hope that the former council property was eventually sold to a developer who planned a boutique hotel on the site. If that sale a couple of years ago fell through … didn;’t hear much about i after the first flurry … madam mayor would have to be fining herself … and therefor the ratepayers.  But surely not, our mayor has been so scathing about free enterprise landlords allowing property to rot away, one cannot imagine she’d be responsible for such a slovenly building. But one wonders if that was the state of the building at the time of any sale. Come on, what are you saying, surely she would lead by example, and wouldn’t have the campaigning cheek to have a go at private property owners while having a scuzzy council property of her own shaming us. She just wouldn’t do that, would she?

Don’t the heritage people have rules about this?

Perhaps Mayor Mullet’s Council Doesn’t Have The Dough For An Upgrade

That would seem a very real possibility, if information wafting into The Nest is correct. Recently, so the story goes (and we’re sure our transparent council will provide details), the CBA couldn’t process the TCC staff pay run, for reasons not announced, either publicly or to the staff. However, a council deep throat says all staff received a text from management with a number to call in case this alleged pay stuff up caused ‘hardship’.

Now this may be all flummery, and The ‘Pie will welcome any correcting or verifying of the record, but anything is possible in Jen Il Sung’s Hermit Kingdom.

The January Monsoon Blows Fair For The Daily Astonisher

 

Like many embarrassed newspapers, the Bulletin no longer publishes circulation figures, which they always fiddled anyway. But when a respected independent survey company like Roy Morgan says that the Bulletin’s 14.3% rise in readership in the past year is the best performing daily publication in Australia, you are inclined to believe it. These figures are thousands.

Looking back over the three-monthly readership totals, The ‘Pie figures the January monsoon made all the difference for the paper. It’s blanket coverage of the event at the time and shortly afterwards was good reporting, excellent pictorial coverage and was boost for sales and giveaway copies. There was clearly a residual of goodwill, some of which has been retained with editor Jenna Cairney trying to restore the paper’s credibility with campaigns that actually interest the community – not the usual ’10 best hamburgers’ tripe. And a growing willingness to openly question the mayor about some but not all contentious matters.

And the second set of figures – 47k and 41K – are the off-setting dip in the flagship weekend edition which almost exactly wiped out the Monday to Friday gain, but that probably didn’t surprise anyone … it’s a national trend no doubt a symptom of the digital age. This is what the Roy Morgan people had to say about that across the board.

Weekend Newspaper Readership down from a year ago

Australia’s best read weekend newspaper is again Sydney’s Sunday Telegraph with an average issue print readership of 656,000 – down 21.6 per cent over the past year – ahead of southern stablemate Melbourne’s Sunday Herald Sun which has a print readership of 586,000 (down 23.3 per cent). Other major titles to decline included the Saturday Herald Sun down 20.9 per cent to a readership of 560,000, The Weekend Australian down 6.5 per cent to 547,000, The Sunday Mail in Queensland down 11.8 per cent to 532,000, the Saturday Sydney Morning Herald down 25.9 per cent to 449,000 and Melbourne’s Saturday Age down 19.9 per cent to 443,000 readers.

Here’s a more comprehensive list.

But The Astonisher’s On-Going Wrestle With Grammar Continues …

… and The ‘Pie thinks he knows why.

First, here’s the sort of thing we’re talking about, which is not only wrong but actually says police were breaking the law. From The Bulletin this week.

‘Undercover cops supplying drugs’? The clear inference, indeed not even that, it’s the clear statement of fact, that says that police were using illegal entrapment to catch drug dealers. You have to actually read the story (behind the pay wall) to find out that the cops posed as buyers (legal) not pushers (illegal as in probable entrapment).

So here’s the thing, as the kiddies say. The Bulletin’s pics and story précises, free for all, are where the biggest grammatical and spelling errors happen so regularly, but are mostly edited out in the print or full digital editions. These potted summaries are meant to encourage readers to be curious enough to subscribe. And the paper knows that to expand its readership, it needs a younger audience. So it would seem the strategy is to employ young and inexperienced (and apparently unsupervised) younger journalists to write their briefs in – hopefully -language best understood by a younger generation. One golden rule seems to be lots and lots of adjectives, a lamentable trait of youthful writers. Or – and this could be a major blunder – an older journo who THINKS he/she can speak in a younger voice. ‘Woke’, as the latest appropriation of ill-educated Afro-American speak has it. Which simply means ‘awake to’. And younger generations can spot a phoney a mile off.

It’s a dangerous game, because defamation can occur and is no less actionable across any of the paper’s platforms. It’ll happen some day.

Heritage Rules Need Not Be A Bogeyman To Progress

This article in the Courier this week confirms a long held idea of The ‘Pie’s, which could be utilised in Townsville.

A little history.

Adaptive reuse has been an urban planning policy for more than 50 years now, where old buildings of beauty and historical value have been converted to modern uses while retaining their original aesthetic value.

There are a couple of outstanding examples of adaptive reuse in Townsville believe it or not … the old hospital site in North Ward has been successfully converted into elegant apartments by developer Robert Zammit, with an exterior that is somewhat reminiscent of the nostalgic glory days of Hollywood Boulevard dreamscapes. When the gardens in front of this building slowly mature, this will be a stand-out Townsville landmark. Developer Zammit should be commended for continuing the redevelopment in the face of maddeningly detailed nit-picking rules from heritage people in Brisbane, and for withstanding the buffeting of financial storms beyond his control.

And another one is the is the old (ES&A?) bank building on the corner of Stanley and Flinders Streets, which retains it’s heritage exterior while housing modern units inside. Another will soon be the re-purposed West End state school, shortly to become part of a private hospital. Similarly, the wonderful Queens Hotel on the Strand is promised to be returned to its former glory, albeit backed by what is in Townsville is laughingly called a skyscraper tower block. And it is that proposed development that offers a unique opportunity.

The luxury of maintaining stand-alone beauty may well be one of the old ways we have to let go.

But it doesn’t have to be the baby with the bathwater territory. There are charming examples of what are known as hold-outs enhancing cityscapes around the world. Here’s a few from New York, including the world’s most famous example that goes close to what The Magpie is talking about.

And that brings us to the next step on this journey, and we have an ideal opportunity for displaying Townsville’s possible Point Of Difference.

A Step Beyond Adaptive Reuse Is Adaptive Incorporation

The St Paul’s Terrace plan in Brisbane could be our blueprint.

Could not the authorities, certainly the council and state government, make certain advantageous provisions for developers (rate breaks, head works discounts et al) to offset certain costs to have the Criterion Hotel incorporated, perhaps even enveloped UNDER a new modern ‘skyscraper’. A great talking point, a breakthrough design would be possible on what once was, and possibly will be again, some of the most valuable land on the entire Queensland coastline. Especially if the main thrust of this development is entertainment venues on the lower floors.

Another wonderful opportunity could be the grand old Dance North/Triple TTT building on the corner of Walker and Stanley, should a high rise building be planned there.

This sort of thinking also offers an opportunity for developers to dispel much of the (unfair) taint with which their industry is generally regarded, a way of returning to the community values that would otherwise be lost to the almighty dollar, while still providing fair rewards for initiative and risk taking.

Women Aren’t The Only Things President Trump Touches Up

Now on closer inspection, you might think that this photograph – Trump seemingly awarding a medal to the pooch that helped corner the Isis leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi – was photoshopped.  You might think it the work of an anti-Trump prankster causing mischief.

But guess what? It was released by The White House, in the wake of President Fruitcake’s appallingly undignified and untruthfully embellished gloating over the death of the ISIS leader. An aide confirmed that the photo came from the White House, but official records show that there was no such ceremony scheduled for that day, and no media were present, which in itself highlights the lie. In fact, the dog in question was probably not even in the country. So compare these.

Weird doesn’t even start to cut it.

And Halloween provided plenty of material for Trump watchers, but trying to make this maniac even more grimly funny through horror is clearly redundant. But this agent orange killer might be getting a slight idea that the tide is turning, when he was  booed at the world series baseball game, with the crowd chanting ‘lock him up’.

A Note From The Bay

A birdie on the 7^th.

And Have A Think About This

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