This week's (Grand Prix) compendium

Here’s this week’s compendium. It’s devoted to the Australian F1 Grand Prix tomorrow afternoon. The event’s financially, environmentially and socially irresponsible. And the people involved with it are, well, judge for yourself:

1. Journalist Alan Attwood sets the scene – regarding the finances; and some people, notably Australian GP boss Ron Walker and F1 supremo Bernie Ecclestone [1]. QED.

2. The event’s official blog can’t spell Ecclestone’s name correctly [2]. And in the nine days since that post went up, it’s remained uncorrected. Who said petrol doesn’t cause brain damage.

3. Walker calls Ecclestone’s fee ‘wretched’ [3]. Who negotiated it? Walker, of course. How big’s the fee? The public doesn’t know – because the contract’s secret.

4. Tourism Australia [TA] has quantified the tourism flowon from Oprah Winfrey’s recent Australian odyssey [4]. Despite Walker prattling on for the last 18 years about the GP showcasing Melbourne, has TA ever quantified its tourism flowon? You know the answer. And the reason for it.

5. The government’s commissioned Ernst & Young to report on this year’s event [5]. What will it conclude? Whatever the government wants it to.

6. In a bid to save costs, and the event, Walker’s talking about relocating it to a permanent purpose-built venue [6]. Given accumulated losses of $253M since 1996, why's it taken 15 year for the penny to drop for Walker? Because it’s the taxpayers’ penny – that’s why.

7. Meanwhile Ecclestone, presumably realising the pressure the event’s under, will be in New York – not Melbourne – tomorrow [7]. If that’s not a kick in the guts for Walker and his cronies, I don’t know what is.

8. But never fear, readers dear, the GP’s on the comeback trail [8a]. Who said so? Oh the GP Corporation's CEO Andrew Westacott – the same man who, when asked about the 10,000 free tickets given to the corporate sector, said he didn’t have ‘an exact number’ [8b]

Finally, I wish you, dear Farmdoc’s Blog readers, a wonderful week.

Australian F1 GP: yet another balls up

There’s no compendium this week. The reason? I’m too busy with my work. Sorry.

It’s 15 days to this year’s Australian Formula 1 Grand Prix. And there’s big pressure on the Grand Prix Corporation to reduce the event’s loss. It can’t increase revenue. Because the beast’s ailing. So reducing cost’s the go. What does the GP Corp do? Axe the gala ball [1]. Gee whiz. Good one. A ticket to last year’s ball cost A$795. And even then they couldn’t run the damn thing at a profit. (Otherwise why did they ditch it.) Probably too many freeloaders with their snouts in the trough. So thank you, sucker taxpayers. Great use of public money. GP head honcho Ronald J Walker denied the ball’s demise was to cut costs – Major Events Minister Louise Asher contradicted him – and proclaimed it was ‘hard to create new ideas every year for a function like that’. Oh diddums, Ronnie. Losing our imagination are we. The Age also reported the Corporation ‘is attempting to pare back at least A$1M in costs’. Given the 2010 stated loss (almost certainly much less than the real loss) was A$50M, a 2% reduction’s piss weak. The government and its GP Corporation should hang their heads in shame. Will they? Don’t answer that – it’s a rhetorical question. By the way, the cost cutting drive hasn’t stopped the Corporation donating 50% of the Thursday general admission ticket revenue to a children’s research institute [2]. Warm and fuzzy stuff, that. Should net the Institute enough dosh to buy a couple of test tubes.

Finally, I wish you, dear Farmdoc’s Blog readers, a wonderful week.

This week's compendium

Here’s this week’s compendium – belated and short, as being in Victoria’s thrown my schedule out of whack. This week…

1. actor Charlie Sheen (whether he’s Jewish or not) [1a] and Christian Dior head designer John Galliano [1b] added themselves to my list of anti-Semitic racist bigots. They joined notable luminaries Mikis Theodorakis [1c] and Mel Gibson [1d]. And also 23% of Australians [1e].

2. Alan Krinsky explained why ‘Much-maligned Israel still the pick of the Middle East [2]. I suppose it never hurts to state the bleeding obvious.

3. Bernie Ecclestone suggested artificial rain to liven up Formula 1 ‘races’ [3]. Hard to tell if the little man said it with his little tongue in his little cheek. Or not.

4. Greg Baum (who I’ve previously lauded [4a], brilliantly sent up Ron Walker and the Australia F1 Grand Prix [4b]. Of course all satire contains truth.

5. Pope Benedict XVI declared that Jews bear no collective responsibility for Jesus’s death [5]. Great news. Now I’ll be able to sleep better at night.

6. in the MJA, high profile nutritionist Rosemary Stanton wrote [6a] that doctors need to exercise caution when recommending products bearing the Heart Foundation’s tick [6b]. As do consumers browsing supermarket shelves. Is the Foundation sacrificing ethics for commercial gain?

Finally, I wish you, dear Farmdoc’s Blog readers, a wonderful week.

Lunacy? I rest my case

‘Luna’ is the Latin word for moon. And according to the Online Etymology Dictionary, the adjective ‘lunatic’, which dates from the late 13th century, means ‘affected with periodic insanity, dependent on the changes of the moon’ [1]. Though the moon causation’s long been debunked, the words ‘lunatic’ (as an adjective and a noun) and ‘lunacy’ (as a noun) remain in the English lexicon. And because ‘neurons that fire together wire together’ [2], in my mind they’re inextricably linked to the Australian Formula 1 Grand Prix [AF1GP]. On 27 January I wrote that Melbourne Lord Mayor Robert Doyle questioned the AF1GP’s future on cost grounds, and after a meeting soon after with Premier Ted Baillieu, AF1GP chairman Ron Walker announced that the event’s costs would be cut [3]. Clearly a major component of its expenditure is Bernie Ecclestone’s licence fee. But Ecclestone’s avowed that the fee won’t be reduced [4]. Because Albert Park’s a temporary circuit (that masquerades as a public park for the rest of the year) another major cost is transporting, erecting and dismantling infrastructure (including grandstands, barriers, sound systems, video screens). Even Blind Freddy [5] could see that a permanent circuit would eliminate infrastructure costs. So what did Walker do? On 1 February he challenged the Geelong mayor to lobby for the event – on a temporary circuit along the regional city’s bayfront Esplanade [6, 7]. Lunacy? I rest my case.

Why Lord Mayor Doyle's like a stopped clock

Melbourne Lord Mayor Robert Doyle (pictured) isn’t one of my favourite people [1, 2]. But even a stopped clock shows the correct time twice each day. Like last weekend, when he made a thoughtful, insightful, pragmatic comment: that the Australian Grand Prix [AGP] in Melbourne’s Albert Park has run its race [3]. His reason’s the event’s massive and increasing fiscal losses: A$249M since 1996, including A$50M in 2010. Doyle intended his comment to open a public debate on the event’s future. Predictably, Doyle’s comment was opposed by AGP chairman Ron Walker – who pointed to the world-wide media exposure the event gives to Melbourne and Australia [4], though without any estimate of the size of the benefit, if any, that exposure results in, say by tourism or trade. Last Monday, after meeting with Victorian Premier Ted Baillieu for two hours, Walker announced the AGP’s costs would be cut [5]. Makes one wonder what Walker’s been doing all these years while the event’s annual losses have been rising exponentially. I bet that if Walker had been spending his own money rather than taxpayers’, he’d have managed the AGP’s finances more prudently and responsibly. If the AGP’s not cancelled altogether, the best way of improving its fiscal performance would be to abolish all Albert Park spectators – analogous to this classic Yes Minister scene about the hospital without medical staff [6]. Abolishing spectators would massively cut infrastructure, promotional and other costs whilst allowing Walker’s sacrosanct global media exposure to continue. Ho hum.

Greg Baum - you're My Man.

Have you ever watched paint dry? Or grass grow? If so, you’ve done something infinitely more interesting and edifying than viewing F1 motor racing. There’s little that’s more brain numbing than observing noisy wheeled billboards driven repetitiously in a circle. So unsurprisingly the main story of the Australian F1 Grand Prix eight days ago wasn’t the race. Rather it was an F1 driver – Mr Hamilton, a Briton – doing a burnout [1] in a sponsor’s Mercedes, on a public street. The police impounded the car but neither charged nor fined Hamilton. Another F1 driver – Mr Webber, an Australian – leapt to Hamilton’s defence by calling Victoria a ‘Nanny State’ because it has too many rules and regulations, adding he’s ashamed whenever he returns here. Also leaping to Hamilton’s defence was Australian Grand Prix Corporation chairman Mr Walker who dismissed Hamilton’s burnout as youthful exuberance. To me, that the police didn’t treat Hamilton as they would’ve you or me had we done what he did, is another deplorable abrogation of the Rule of Law [2]. The whole saga’s beautifully summed up in a piece [3] in last Saturday’s Age by Greg Baum (pictured) [4, 5]. Hard-hitting, incisive, acerbic journalism laced with irony’s always a delight to read. It’s infinitely more interesting and edifying than watching paint dry or grass grow – let alone F1 car racing. Very well done, Mr Baum. I hereby add you to my list of favourite journalists [6, 7, 8].

This week's compendium

Here’s this week’s compendium. This week…

1. US health reform legislation was approved by the House of Representatives [1]. No-one knows the exact implications. But surely the outcome will be a massive improvement on the status quo ante

2. the latest estimate is that peak oil will occur around 2014, i.e. a decade earlier than previously predicted [2]. Good news – the environmental and geopolitical effects of fossil fuel use are catastrophic.

3. Australian F1 Grand Prix boss Ron Walker underwent brain surgery [3]. Eh?

4. regarding the GP circus which runs for four days ending in the race tomorrow, the media, acting out of altruism in the public interest (sorry, that’s a joke), continue to promote the unpromotable [4]. Attendance will be abysmal this year, again requiring a massive injection of public money.

5. the JAMA reported that women with normal food intake require 60 minutes per day of moderate-intensity physical activity to prevent significant weight gain [5]. This is a big increase over the previously-advocated figure of 150 minutes per week.

6. a Lancet article by Australian researchers concluded the placebo effect is under-recognised and under-used [6]. I agree. The placebo effect confounds the fundamentalism of Evidence Based Medicine – which can only be a good thing. The art of medicine mustn’t be removed.

7. UK supermarket chain Sainsbury, known for its environmental initiatives including electric vehicle charging stations and converting waste food into energy, is moving into another area that’s a supermarket first – beekeeping [7]. Sainsbury makes Australian supermarkets look positively neanderthal.

8. the amazing Daylesford Organics gained sixth place on Australian Traveller magazine’s list of ‘100 Greatest Australian Gourmet Experiences’ [8]. Kate Ulman and Brendon Eisner: I am just so proud of, and happy for, you. xxxxx

Finally, I wish you, dear Farmdoc’s Blog readers, a wonderful week.

farmdoc's blog post number 681

Last Sunday night Sweetheart Vivienne and I watched, the 2-part Australian Story titled ‘Something in the Water’. Originally screened on ABC TV last month, it can be streamed from here [1, 2]. It’s about water pollution in north east Tasmania [3]. I found it riveting – partly due to the focus and persistence of Drs Bleaney and Scammell. But much more so due to the nay saying – no, antipathy – by politicians and bureaucrats who have clearly lost sight of the fact that their only raison d'être is to serve the Tasmanian public interest. I should’ve known better. I learnt the lesson years ago that politicians and bureaucrats march to a different drum. From 1996 when the first F1 Grand Prix [F1GP] was held in a subjugated Albert Park, it’s been obvious to the proverbial drover’s dog that the event in that location’s a triple-bottom-line disaster. And it always would be. Years ago Save Albert Park advocated a purpose-built state-of-the-art permanent venue. Our proposal fell on deaf political, bureaucratic and media ears. In fact it was met with scorn. Until now [4]. Why the change? I don’t know; but 2010’s an election year. Of course now even a permanent venue’s anachronistic – because in this peak oil era, motor sport’s immoral and antisocial. In any event (pun intended) judging by this Herald-Sun item [5], you can’t rely on Premier Brumby or F1GP boss Walker (pictured) to make wise decisions in the public interest. I don’t.

farmdoc's blog post number 524

A compendium is a publication containing a variety of works. Starting today, each Saturday’s Farmdoc’s Blog post will be a compendium – comprising multifarious snippets from here and there, with Farmdocs’s comment on each – in italics. Ready? Let’s go…

1. In the week of his 70th birthday, Ron Walker was forced to abandon his bid to remain chairman of Fairfax Limited [1]. It couldn’t have happened to a nicer guy. Not. If he’s unfit to run Fairfax, why’s he still running the Grand Prix Corporation? P.S. Happy birthday, Ronny.

2. Tasmanian police were forced to abandon their prosecution of over 40 people who were arrested for trespass during a blockade of the Upper Florentine Valley four months ago. Why? Because Forestry Tasmania gave police incorrect information about the forest exclusion zone, and most of the protesters were arrested about 300 metres outside the boundary [2]. The police are lackeys, and Forestry Tasmania’s full of morons who aren’t fit to be trusted with stewardship of our precious forests.

3. In the 2010 F1 calendar, the Australian F1 GP’s no longer the season opener. The Grand Prix Corporation tried bravely to put a positive spin on this slight [3] The GP Corp’s full of bullshit. And their spin won’t help – because the 2010 event will make a record loss.

4. Consumer body Choice has slammed the exorbitant credit card fees levied by Qantas and Tiger Airways on credit card fare bookings. [4] ACCC chairman Graeme Samuel and his ilk couldn’t care less. Neither could the government. None of them pays for their own air travel.

5. Iranian President Ahmadinejad’s UN General Assembly speech was to a half-empty chamber. Many delegates either didn’t show up, or walked out in disgust [5]. I’m proud the Aussie delegate walked out. I’d have been prouder if he hadn’t attended at all.

6. Finally, thank you WriterBee for writing so beautifully about life, and death, on our farm this week [6, 7, 8, 9]. I never have any trouble at all realising why I adore Writerbee.

Finally, I wish you, dear Farmdoc’s Blog readers, a wonderful week.