Daily round up of the papers

I must admit, I love the news, listening, reading and hearing what’s going a round your suburb, the town, the state, the country and especially the world. Sure some media outlets are complete trite, but they each give you a little taste about what’s happening. I won’t go into which ones are reliable and which aren’t, but a few things stood out to me today as I took a much needed day off from all the hustle that’s been going on.

I found this hillarious

Thanks to Sex & The City and Desperate Housewives, Sydney stepping up its offensive against Melbourne as the country’s #1 cosmopolitan city. After reading Sam & The City (for pure research purposes only) there’s an urban legend that Sydney’s suffering a man crisis, ie a ratio of more single females than single males. While I never really believed in the idea, a few of my friends from the fairer sex have confirmed it. For those who ever frequent any of the water front bars in Sydney (The Loft, Bungalow 8, Cargo, Woolooomoloo Bay Hotel, James Squire Bar, Home, Pier 26 … the list goes on) take careful note because you might too. A few of my single friends have described it as the 21st century condundrum; plenty of fish in the sea, but none are neccessarily biting. You’d think it’d be the other way round? Of course for the study to be true, you’d have to visit every bar in Sydney with a notepad and a pint, which I wouldn’t particularly mind… it is for research after all.

Raised in Sydney I can’t help but feel patriotic about this should-be-Australian-capital. Working with a few Melbournites, we often argue about which city is in fact the best city. This often leads to mindless insults, for example making fun of Sydney’s bad tasting water (which I still don’t quite understand) and Melbourne’s love of AFL, well after all, what else is there to do in Victoria?

Of course, Melbourne boasted one of the best things in the world, it’s Mayor.

 

John Chun Sai So (Traditional Chinese: 蘇震西, pinyin: Sū Zhèn Xī; born 02 October 1946 in Shunde, China) is the Lord Mayor of City of Melbourne, the capital of Victoria, Australia. He was the first Lord Mayor in the city’s history to be directly elected by the people; previously, Lord Mayors were elected by the Councillors. In office since 2001, So is currently the longest-serving Lord Mayor of Melbourne.

Late last year Mr So won the World’s Best Mayor Award, beating the likes of Augsburg Mayor Paul Wengert, Harrisburg’s Stephen Reed and even Mayor of Amsterdam Job Cohen. It was mainly for his can do attitude and the fact that he pulled off one of the most successful Commonwealth Games in the history of the psuedo-olympic event. He’s also a stand up bloke, with many Melbournites wearing T shirts with slogans such as ‘John So, He’s My Bro’ an ‘John So for PM’.

However the Good Mayor managed to get himself into a bit of political trouble after a bit debacle over excess funding on marketing the city. Suddenly the Best Mayor in the World, Mr So now earned himself the prefix ‘Embattled Melbourne Lord Mayor’ … perhaps he should enroll in Kevin Rudd’s school of damage control.

Most people who know me well enough will know which way I swing my vote, but Rudd seems to play his cards to the mark and always comes trumps. Jeanette Howard will be remembered as the charitable first lady down under, but Ms Rein will always be the woman who put politics before business.

Last but not least, I really pray that Madeleine McCann is found soon. Her parents have done an excellent job getting so much media attention that it’s now only a matter of time. Meanwhile I applaude the continuing efforts of JK Rowling, successful author, icon & philanthropist.  Not only has she offered to include book marks picturing missing Maddie, but also contributed more than $3 million (total figure undisclosed) for her safe return.

 

 

Bring Madeleine Home – http://www.findmadeleine.com/ 

~ by debraj on June 3, 2007.