The PR Blog

At dawn today (30^th July) mid-winter in sunny Queensland, it was zero degrees on the lawn outside our kitchen and the small water tub for our chooks was iced over.

Every morning, as soon as it gets light, Judy puts a winter coat over her jamas, adds gloves, glasses, rubber boots, a beanie and a walking stick (icy grass is very slippery). She then trudges down the hill to check any new-born lambs and then lets the sheep out of their dingo-proof night-camp into their paddock for the day. As soon as they are let out, they dribble into a long line and, led by the wisest old ewe, they wend their way across the frosty flat and then make their way up the hill to the highest point facing the morning sun.

The term "the sport of gentlemen" is most commonly associated with cricket. This phrase reflects cricket's origins and the culture of fair play, respect, and sportsmanship that traditionally surround the game.  One such sportsman who displayed all of these qualities was Sir Don Bradman. 

He belonged to an era when being a sportsman involved sportsmanship.  Unlike so many men who identify as women and seem hell-bent on destroying sportsmanship along with fair play and display so much of that thing that gives truth to the words " It just ain't cricket. " 

Playing by the rules is about decency and being a gentleman. And while being a " gentleman " as a term can be deemed in today's insane woke world as ' sexist " .... being a gentleman is so much more than a word. It is a code of living. A rule book for Life if you will. And there are no loop holes in a gentleman's rulebook. 

With the latest debacle over the opening of the Paris 2024  Olympics,  I find myself looking back to when we could, as Nations,  do it and do it right. Politics has always been part of the game,but there was a time when the competition was fought out on the playing field, not the media. 

The Olympic Games were held in Melbourne between 22nd November and 8^th December, 1956. The first time they had ever been held in the Southern Hemisphere.

Australia’s sporting prowess was well known world-wide through the triumphs of our tennis players and cricketers but when it came to Olympic sports we were virtually unknown; despite our success in all Olympiads since the inception of the modern era.

The simple fact was that generally speaking Olympic sports were not huge spectator sports in Australia so the world wondered what this little nation of 9 million people and 170 million sheep at the bottom of the world was thinking about when it had the audacity to apply to stage the Olympic Games.

We the people, all around the world, just witnessed one of the most morally bankrupt and depraved displays of woke exhibitionism that it is possible to have endured. What were the organisers of the Games thinking?  Our young children and grandchildren sat wide eyed watching images of mockery and ridicule beamed across the planet. Men mocking women, people mocking the Christian faith and laughing at our love of normality. 

What a disgraceful insulting and horrific way to " celebrate " the so called leading sports event in four years. No wonder the organisers are frantically removing videos of this appalling orgy of debased exhibitionism. They dishonoured the Church, the women and men and the children. In fact, they celebrated the downfall of humanity. 

Is this what we have come to? Satanic rituals beamed  across the world? 

I have to ask the question: What comes next? 

It was many, many years ago, we went horseback riding. In true style, Redhead ( Mum, now aged 92 ) approached this task with true grit. She had never ridden a horse since her childhood. Like most of us in the " club. "  

A friend of mine went horseback riding . Up a beach on a sunny Queensland day. She trotted, galloped and felt the wind in her hair as she and her friends celebrated a birthday of a man now in his 78th year. '

It must have been glorious. A group of friends celebrating the joy of life on an open beach in the sunshine and leaving the cares of the world behind. 

And it took me back to a day, about 50 years ago, when Redhead rode a horse and her bra strap broke. I republish this today for those who never read it last time. Enjoy my tale about the day my 92 year old mother was Bodicea. 

Here we are on the doorstep of the 2024 Olympics. Personally, I find them to be lacking in joy, expectation, or anticipation. For some reason I am more concerned about seeing someone keel over from a stroke or myocarditis - or worse, being attacked by rampaging thugs in the streets of Paris. Or worse...... 

I wonder if the games will be more opening a Pandora's Box or a very large and unpleasant can of worms.

It was 2016 when I fronted up to watch a film called " Eddie the Eagle. "

It was a story inspired by the British Olympic Ski jumper, Eddie Edwards who represented Britain in the 1988 winter Olympics in Canada.

This remarkable young man dared to do something that he knew would not end in a medal. He dared to take a Leap of Faith and give it a go.