POLITICS IS NOT ENOUGH

My title is a deliberate crib from the almost last words of the famed World War I British nurse Edith Cavel, who said shortly before her execution: "Patriotism is not enough, - I must bear no ill will in my heart towards anyone".

In the aftermath of the recent election victory by the Liberals some of us may now ask; Can politicians and political methods solve the problems which concern members of F.O.R.T., or does the panacea lie outside the political domain ??

Whenever I queue up to buy a train ticket at a Sydney station I will hear the words concession used by up to two thirds of commuters; these concessions are generally neither school children nor aged pensioners. They mostly seem to be young adults. People buying bus tickets repeat the pattern.

I was recently introduced to a moderately successful speculator in stocks and shares; He is under 60 and on a pension so I am told.

Way back in the balmy 1950's moviegoers were happily scandalised by a movie called Blackboard Jungle. It portrayed the antics of dead end kids in a New York high school. It was ahead of its time as most American high schools were not like that in the 1950's. Now lots of them are, to the extent that teachers require the services of armed security men and electronic surveillance systems.

Poor old N.S.W. has not yet caught up, not quite, but take heart you cultural cringers, for several very active drug rings have already been detected in local high schools complete with standover tactics, gang warfare and perhaps even laundered money at the local laundromat - who knows?
One graduate bit the dust to a blaze of headlines in 1995, he was just 20. R.I.P.

Being a died in the wool sceptic I must also be an advanced backslider as I love Christmas carols; I could listen to 'em for hours. But now we are told that children in N.S.W. schools  are being told to put a sock in it and why in the name of Voltaire and Lord Bertie Russell should this be so? Well you see they might cause offence to those of their class who are of non Christian backgrounds; such as children of Moslems, Buddhists, Jews, Zoroastrians, Shamanists, Dionysians and druids. After all we doan wanna offend noboddy do we mite,.....roight,roight;yeah, she'll be roight.

On the memorable night of March the 2nd, I was having dinner with friends. We were not celebrating the victory of little Johnny as they were 'apolitical' though I did inflict an hour of televised tally room counting on them - there was nothing else on. When I got back to town it was 1:30am. I got off the bus at Town Hall and walked up William street, along Oxford St, past Taylor Square and thence home. It had been one hell of a party and the streets had been littered with 'gay' debris and thronged with painted, powdered and plumed revellers. Later estimates of the 'Gay' mardi gras crowd ranged from 500,000 to 750,000 which makes it the biggest one night stand in Australia and one of the biggest in the world. Take a bow Sydney; but on second thoughts don't do it in Oxford St, as talent scouts for the next big bash are always on the prowl in that neck of the woods, and your conversion could be sudden and unsolicited.