why are australian people so grudgeful?

No book event tonight. Someone , somewhere, in some line of work had to decamp to Jakarta on account of some dreadful threat to existence etc. This book world is full of drama and intrigue!
Wednesday night at the Many Library of course.

Sun is out again this morning, Walked along the Cooks River. Formerly an industrial sewer, reclaimed as an inner western sydney idyll. Quite lovely. Old factory stacks and Victorian era mills set against grass rolling down to the banks. Saw a large flock of black cockatoos hanging about like a gang of bikers. A large Pelican sitting on a convenient pole in the water. Lots of garbage in the river though. Not for swimming just yet.

A man is building a two storey Victorian style house. From scratch. He knocked down the Federation era one and is going back to an earlier style. Why? Because he wants to I guess.

It is striking how good life is in Sydney. Australia in general really. Yet the screeching of the talkback radio and the anti Labour Government , pro big business newspapers make it seem as if we are in a movie such as "escape from New York". marauding "illegals" with knives in their mouths climbing into our tiny (!) country, business being squeezed by green fantasists etc. Alan Jones on the radio in the morning. he feasts on public anguish which he creates and fans the flames of even higher . Every day! Shouldn't such a rich and powerful man be happy? He carrys on like an old woman with bitterness in her veins. Horrible tone and style. This morning it was all about "the corruption of this labour government!" relentless. there is a younger generation of jocks on air now. Supposedly warmer and more caring. Paul Murray and Chris Smith ( Who led the anti carbon tax marches in every city last month) WE drove into town listening to Paul Murray going on about Sharia Law in Australia and health care being given to "illegals". The whinge of the week is about people who have invested in solar panels not being able to profit from them. The Jocks are wagging the tail of the state government they cheered into power.
Asylum seekers are everywhere on people mouths of course. That an issue can be so dominant is ridiculous.

But the trains in Sydney are great. They have people working at the stations. Yesterday I drove into the heart of the city at 4:30 , parked, did some shopping and drove out at 5:30. Parked on the street! Then i drove down george street and out Parramatta road to Canterbury road and the traffic flowed all the way. I mean the city works.
The Sydney Morning Herald had stories about climate change today. Their opinion pages consisted of a story by Gerard Henderson from the right wing Sydney Institute and a fellow called Ted from the equally right wing Institute of Public Affairs. All these think tanks do is trade in anxiety.

Television is full of adverts by the mining companies telling us how good we have it because of them. Getting truckers to pimp for them. A rugged working face. Tobacco companies are spending just as much to tell us how precious their brand names are and what a civil liberty it is to infringe on their rights. Jeez. What times we live in! What overt bullshitters are bullshittting us so severely!