Patriot Realm

When my daughter was little, we used to say that she was a Pollyanna. Always wanting to play the glad game. No matter how tough things were, she always tried to see the positive side of things. 

Her little face and cheerful smile would always lift our spirits and make us feel happy that we lived in a world with the joy of childhood laughter and a pair of little arms wrapped around our necks while she told us not to worry. " It would all be alright. " 

She is now approaching her 50th birthday and is still playing the glad game. She visited yesterday morning and I saw that same little girl who has rewarded life with love and generous dollops of kindness that she has sprinkled on all she knows since she first was introduced to me all those decades ago. 

Her own life is challenging, her home life is demanding and her incredible resilience is astounding. I put it down to her early introduction to Pollyanna. 

For centuries, dogs have been regarded as indispensable allies in the ongoing battle against pests, particularly rats. Their keen senses, agility, and unwavering loyalty has made them invaluable assets in various fields, from agriculture to urban sanitation. 

Rat plagues have haunted our societies since who knows when. The Black Plague was spread by rats. Most children have heard the tale of The Pied Piper of Hamelin. 

We talk of " rats deserting sinking ships " and rats being used as euphemisms for liars and traitors. So today, I want to talk about rats. And the dogs who were bred to catch them. It makes me wonder who our modern day Jack Russell's and Fox Terriers will be.... 

The Adelaide River Stakes is the name given to the mass exodus of people prior to and following the Japanese air-raid in Darwin on 19^th February, 1942. Thanks mainly to an ill-informed statement by a former Governor General, Paul Hasluck, that it is a story full of shame for our national persona, but it is a myth.

The truth is that with much closer examination it was anything but a shameful episode in our most serious year of peril.

The propaganda disseminated by the government of the day was based on inadequate information, over-the-top censorship and a failure to take the population into its confidence. The faults lie with a succession of failed civilian and military administrations which, like the behaviour of most politicians, was a deliberate trail of cover-ups and refusal to admit fault.

Wine snobs are a bore, don’t you think?

As a one-time food writer, I was often asked to suggest specific wines to go with this or that type of food.

The pretentiousness connected to that sort of business leaves me mostly confused. 

Predetermining the taste of an unopened bottle and matching it to a sauce yet to be savoured I leave to prophets and others who take delight in fooling none but themselves.

I expect such blatant heresy leaping from the chronicle of a food writer will send wine bores and budding oenophiles bolting to the nearest maison de vin for spiritual reaffirmation. The truth is, ever so few of us have the  well-tuned palate of a Master of Wine.

This is the story of the story of Ireland's trailblazing seafarer – Grace O'Malley. She met with Queen Elizabeth I at Greenwich Palace. 

Grace O’Malley (a. 1530 - 1603) is one of the most famous pirates of all time. 

From the age of eleven, she forged a career in seafaring and piracy and was considered a fierce leader at sea and a shrewd politician on land.   

She successfully defended the independence of her territories at a time when much of Ireland fell under the English rule and is still considered today ‘the pirate queen of Ireland.’