#Three Principles Australia

[threeprinciple]

If you're seeking support and guidance to improve your mental well-being, look no further than Three Principles Australia - a website dedicated to mental health coaching. Their team of highly skilled and compassionate mental health coaches are committed to helping individuals overcome challenges and achieve personal growth. With their expertise in the transformative and powerful Three Principles approach, they provide a unique and holistic perspective on mental health. Through their website, you can access valuable resources, including articles, blogs, and podcasts, that offer insights and practical strategies to enhance your mental health and overall quality of life. Whether you're struggling with anxiety, stress, or simply seeking a greater sense of clarity and happiness, Three Principles Australia is your go-to destination for personalized support and transformation. Take the first step towards a brighter and more fulfilling life by exploring the wealth of knowledge and services offered on their website, and embark on a journey of self-discovery and empowerment with the guidance of their exceptional mental health coaches.

[threeprinciplesaustraliaa]

Only at Three Principles Australia can you find the best and most practical three principles coaching services that will help you find meaning in your life and make the necessary adjustments to realize your goals. Dive deeper into how you can truly manage your life, visit our website now!

[empyrealix]

⊹ ࣪˖ MY LOVE, MY LIFE | #CS55

pairing. carlos sainz x linguist!reader

synopsis. in which everyone thinks you and carlos should get married

warnings. none; linguistics rambles

note. i rambled a bit about linguistics in this one, i'm sorry

MASTERLIST ; requests open

yn

liked by carlossainz55, georgerussell63 and 365 others

yn Happy birthday to the man, the myth, the legend Paul Grice, whose pioneering work (alongside J. L. Austin) is the reason pragmatics exists as its own subfield in linguistics. Central to Grice is the cooperative principle, conversational implicature, and his maxims (of which there are four: maxim of quality; maxim of quantity; maxim of manner; maxim of relation/relevance). Grice thought that speakers may communicate either by breaking the maxims or by obeying them, when a maxim appears to be violated, a pragmatic inference is created. This is only possible if the speaker is believed to be cooperative. An important point is that speakers—as long as they are cooperative—are generally guided by these maxims.

Happy anniversary to me and Carlos too, I guess.

view all comments

alex_albon please wish him a proper happy anniversary, he’s been whining for ten minutes

yn Sorry, but Grice > Carlos

charles_leclerc yn, please. he cornered me in the paddock, and now i’m late for a strategy meeting 🥹

scuderiaferrari Get to the meeting right now, Charles. -Fred

user1 yn is so real for that

carlossainz55 happy anniversary, mi amor <3 i love you, and i cannot wait for our dinner later today

yn I love you more, Carlito <33 I’m so excited to see you later and to celebrate our anniversary

carlossainz55 i love you the most, actually

user2 PLEASE JUST GET MARRIED ALREADY

user3 okay, so yncarlos marriage when?

user4 second this

user5 fourth this

user6 MOTHER

carlossainz55

liked by yn, alex_albon and 467,075 others

carlossainz55 she brought me here only to spend the entire time talking about accents

view all comments

lando there was a race?

carlossainz55 and? she’s more important

charles_leclerc you’re so whipped

alex_albon you’re so whipped

user7 GET MARRIED PLEASE

georgerussell63 photo credit: georgerussell63

user8 guys, what if they’re already married?

user9 that’s delusional

user10 there’s no way charles would be able to keep it secret if that was the case

charles_leclerc I CAN KEEP A SECRET

lando no, you can’t

alex_albon no, you can’t

georgerussell63 no, you can’t

yn No, you can’t

carlossainz55 no, you can’t

charles_leclerc you’re all so MEAN to me

yn You loved it

carlossainz55 i love you

yn

liked by charles_leclerc, carlossainz55 and 643 others

yn Since it’s race weekend here in Australia, it is only right that some facts are shared about the variety of English which is spoken here, Australian English (AusE, for short). English came to Australia through convicts being transported from Britain. It eventually became a killer language, which means that it replaced the aboriginal languages which already existed in Australia—and had existed in Australia long before English made its entrance. Unlike other varieties of English (like British English and American English) there is little regional variation in AusE, but there is social variation. When talking about AusE, it is possible to differentiate between three main varieties: broad AusE, general AusE, and cultivated AusE. Some noticeable features of this variety is that it has two productive noun suffixes: -ie and -o; she may be used as a generic pronoun; and it has highly characteristic vocabulary. Regarding phonetics, AusE is non-rhotic, which means that /r/ is only pronounced in front of vowels. Another notable feature of AusE phonology is that it has HRTs (this is sometimes referred to as Australian Questioning Intonation). HRT is short for high rise terminals; this means that declarative sentences often end with a rising pitch.

view all comments

user11 my favourite part about the races is yn’s linguistic rambles

user12 my favourite part of her instagram is her linguistic rambles

user13 when’s the wedding?

user14 stop asking them about when they’re getting married. it’s getting weird

charles_leclerc thank you, this was very informative

user15 i imagine carlos asking a million questions and getting increasingly confused

carlossainz55 i understood all of this actually

yn You got distracted and asked if we could get ice cream in the middle of my explanation of killer languages.

carlossainz55 i still enjoy listening to you, even though most of it goes over my head

user16 ditch carlos, yn, i’ll listen to your explanations of killer languages

carlossainz55 don’t flirt with my wife??

user17 WIFE? WIFE? MR SAINZ?

carlossainz55

liked by yn, williamsracing and 923,460 others

carlossainz55 summer break spent in spain with the love of my life. i’m ready to get back to racing and scoring points

view all comments

williamsracing We’re excited to see you back in the garage carlossainz55

carlossainz55 i'm excited to be back!

user18 MR SAINZ, YOU HAVE TO EXPLAIN THE WIFE COMMENT

user19 what wife comment??

user20 on one of yn’s posts carlos referred to yn as his wife

user19 i log off for one day and suddenly carlos has a whole WIFE??

user20 we don’t know for sure, yet

yn Carlos <333 please come back to bed :(

carlossainz55 i’ll be right there, mi vida

yn

liked by carlossainz55, alex_albon and 1,230 others

yn So sad I couldn’t be at the race this weekend, but duty called. I wish Carlos, Alex and Williams the best luck this weekend!

view all comments

williamsracing Thank you, yn. We’re so sad you couldn’t be here this weekend, but we’ll see you at the next race?

yn Absolutely!

lando god, just get married already

carlossainz55 we did??

yn CARLOS

user21 did anyone else see carlos’ comment or am i going insane?

user9 what if user8 was right?

user8 I TOLD YOU BUT YOU ALL THOUGHT I WAS DELUSIONAL

carlossainz55

liked by yn, georgerussell63 and 943,124 others

carlossainz55 three months ago, i married the love of my life in a small courthouse in a coastal town in spain

view all comments

yn And I got to marry the love of my life. Here’s to many more years with you

carlossainz55 to the rest of our lives

user8 WHAT DID I TELL YOU, BUT NO, I WAS DELUSIONAL

georgerussell63 congratulations, you two!

charles_leclerc I KNEW IT

user22 THEY’VE BEEN MARRIED SINCE THE SUMMER BREAK? I’M SICK

williamsracing Congratulations on your wedding! We’re so happy for you!

user23 A YNCARLOS MARRIAGE?? FINALLY!!

user24 OUR PRAYERS HAVE BEEN ANSWERED

lando i feel betrayed, you were married for three months and didn’t tell me?? we are no longer friends

yn

liked by carlossainz55, lando and 943 others

yn Does the language people speak influence the way they think? If you ask Edward Sapir and Benjamin Lee Whorf, that is true. Though neither Sapir or Whorf coined the term “Sapir-Whorf hypothesis” they have come to be associated with it. The central idea of the Sapir-Whorf hypothesis is that the languages a person speaks determines the way people perceive and think about the world. There are three version of this hypothesis: the strong Sapir-Whorf hypothesis, which claims that the only conceptual distinctions people can make are those encoded in language because language imposes these distinctions on sense data; the restricted Sapir-Whorf hypothesis claims that some topics are such that the only conceptual distinctions are those encoded in language. This is because language imposes these distinctions on relevant sense data. The last version of the Sapir-Whorf hypothesis is the watered-down Sapir-Whorf hypothesis. This version claims that there are some topics that are influenced by language, specifically this happens for things that are habitually or stereotypically thought about, an example of this is grammatical gender. The strong Sapir-Whorf hypothesis is false; the restricted Sapir-Whorf hypothesis is unproven; the watered-down one is the only one which may be true. The answer to my question, then, suggests that languages influences the way people think in respect to scarcely perceptible cognitive biases and subtle stereotypes.

view all comments

user25 GIRL, you just got married to THE carlos sainz and you’re talking about linguistics

yn Linguistics is the love of my life

carlossainz55 i cannot wait to spend the rest of my life listening to you talking about linguistics

yn Forever <3

lando oh no, they’re more insufferable now than they were before

carlossainz55 this is your fault

yn I second that

user26 yn really said the Sapir-Whorf hypothesis is more important than her husband

user27 an icon

[zvaigzdelasas]

[YNet is Israeli Private Media]

Britain, France and Canada issued an unusually strong joint statement Monday, warning they are considering imposing sanctions on Israel over the "intolerable level of human suffering in Gaza." The statement, released by UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer’s office alongside French President Emmanuel Macron and Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney, called for an immediate halt to Israeli military operations in the Palestinian enclave and the unrestricted entry of humanitarian aid.

“We call on the Israeli Government to stop its military operations in Gaza and immediately allow humanitarian aid to enter Gaza. This must include engaging with the UN to ensure a return to delivery of aid in line with humanitarian principles,” the leaders wrote. The statement also demanded the immediate release of all hostages held by Hamas. The leaders accused Israel of failing to provide essential aid to civilians, warning this may constitute a violation of international humanitarian law. They also condemned statements by Israeli Cabinet ministers suggesting the forced relocation of Gaza residents, calling such remarks a breach of international law.

While acknowledging Israel’s right to self-defense, the joint declaration criticized the scope of the latest IDF campaign, known as Operation Gideon’s Chariots, as “wholly disproportionate,” and said their governments would not remain passive. “We will not stand by while the Netanyahu Government pursues these egregious actions,” the statement read, noting that targeted sanctions are among the measures under consideration.

The three countries also addressed developments in the West Bank, urging Israel to halt settlement expansion, which they labeled illegal and a threat to the two-state solution. They vowed not to hesitate in taking further action if necessary.[...]

The criticism comes as 25 Western countries and major humanitarian organizations issued a joint statement Monday urging Israel to immediately allow the resumption of large-scale humanitarian aid to Gaza. The statement, released by the UK Foreign Office and signed by foreign ministers of Canada, Germany, France, Japan, Australia, Spain, Sweden, Italy and others, warned that more than two months of aid restrictions have caused acute shortages of food, medicine and essential supplies, raising fears of mass starvation.[...]

Meanwhile, the Washington Post reported that senior Trump administration officials reportedly warned Israel that continued military operations in Gaza could result in the U.S. withdrawing its support. A source familiar with the matter told the paper that American pressure on Israel has intensified in recent days, particularly following Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s decision to allow humanitarian aid into Gaza without a Cabinet vote, after months of restrictions.

19 May 25

[saintescuderia]

pancakes (pt. 7)

AKA - the story of how the naive australian rookie befriended the gym junkie F1 hospitality worker with the shoe collection - and inadvertently broke the grid's most treasured and unspoken rule: you don't go for y/n.

series masterlist here :) // the pancakes recipe here :)

A/N: here we are! and CHARLES WON MONACO! (also sorry for the lance slander RPM influences me far too much)

P7 - 2.5L water bottle

"Oh for fuck's sake."

The lyrics rapping over the Metro Boomin beat were cut off as you turned off your engine. You huffed spotting the asshole in green getting out of the Aston Martin in front of you.

Mother fucking Lance Stroll.

Stroll got on your every nerve from the fact that he, as a paid driver, was the epitome of what you hated about F1 and the cash is king nature of the sport. It didn't help your opinion of him that his treatment of the Hospitality workers was very telling of his personality (i.e a spoiled little bitch) - but he also treated the rest of Aston Martin like that.

His engineers he bossed around. His PR team he bossed around. His fucking team principle he bossed around. You had never ever seen a driver be able to literally pick and choose what Media they wanted to do until Lance Stroll. Not even Räikkönen had gotten away with things that way Stroll did.

The worst part of it all, though, was that Lance's attitude of I can do whatever I want meant that he really thought he could get any girl he wanted.

Namely - you.

It didn't help that your weekend had already been screwed over and you had driven to work with a pit of dread in your stomach.

At first, the Australian Grand Prix was off to a great start. Sleeping at home meant that you had more comfortable waking in a bed that was familiar - and not stuck in some isolating three star hotel room that made you question the hotel rating system. 

Three stars with suspicious smells coming from the closet? No, thank you.

Instead, you got to wake up to your own bed. You had a good gym session, showing progress with your training. You dropped another kilogram off with the cut working well and then you were ready to go to the safe confined of the McLaren motorhome. 

By car.

You drove yourself. In your beloved Supra, the one that had essentially taught you everything you knew about cars (that and Top Gear) were finally united.

There were a small handful of circuits in where you had a car in the country and could actually drive yourself. Australia was one of them. Japan was another. Monaco was the other. 

Then again, Monaco was far too crazy to be driving during a race weekend anyway. Still, it was nice to be able to play some calming lo-fi beats as you drove the familiar Lakeside Drive that led up to the street circuit that was built around the lake. Your lake. 

And then you parked and everything went to shit.

Your phone informed you of the shitty divine intervention of a change in your shifts. Which provided a change in your mood.

Sorry bro. There's been a change in the roster because Mack called in sick. You're going to be covering him at Ferrari for the rest of the race weekend.

Suddenly, your peaceful morning was ruined. The familiar pit of dread of a Ferrari shift came back to haunt you as you would spend the next three days walking on an extra set of eggshells.

And now... Lance Stroll.

Your Supra wasn't exactly inconspicuous and Lance had (unfortunately) been in F1 long enough to make the connection that the flash JDM car parked in the lot tended to belong to you. And even though your windows were tinted a few shades darker than legal limit, there was no chance he didn't know that it was you.

If anything, he likely made his driver park next to your Supra on purpose.

"Lord give me strength." You muttered seeing him come up to your window.

But then Lance Stroll had the fucking audacity to tap on your window.

You immediately reached for the handle and opened the door which caused him to stumble for the lack of space as you did so. "Oh, woah! Hey!" The Canadian accent pissed you off for no other reason than it reminded you of Drake. Someone else you fucking despised.

"Don't touch my car." You said, voice flat.

"Oh, er. My bad. Nice looking ride."

"Thanks." You said curtly, internally cringing at how he said 'ride' like that. You went around and grabbed the vast array of things you always hauled with you. Said items for today consisted of your gym bag, your workbag, your lunch bag and your comically large 2.5L water bottle. You always were carrying a lot.

"Need help?"

"No."

"I insist."

"Don't."

"Why you always gotta play hard to get?"

You said nothing, forcefully biting your tongue. You were out of practice with Lance Stroll's shit since Domenicali had finally relented and cut the amount of shifts you would be rostered on Aston Martin. Which had been a shame since the crew were quite nice and you really missed taking the piss with Nando.

Still, Lance Stroll was insufferable - and you were evidently out of practice dealing with his spoiled delusions. You were just glad his father wasn't around. God help you when it came to the European races.

"I have to get to work." You said and locked your car. There was a call from behind where some Aston Martin people were waiting Lance but he ignored them. Instead, he fell into step with you.

"I don't see you around Aston Martin anymore." He said, trying to make conversation.

You kept ignoring him, hoping he'd get the hint. Pulling out your phone, you started to compose a text to Oscar. He would coming here with Lily and had said something about finally introducing the two of you. Your eyes checked the time at the top of your phone screen. Based on what time it was, Oscar should've been here by now - and could save you from Lance Stroll.

to: piazzas 👼

where the fuck are u ?? lance stroll is trying to talk to me send help

"I don't know." Was all you said, typing away with one hand as the other held a bag, hoodie, bottle and lanyard. You lifted the arm to tap in through the gate and then continued to ignore Lance - who continued to walk beside you and speak.

"That wouldn't be because you're working for McLaren." Lance said. This made you fingers pause as the blatant comment caught you off-guard. You sucked your teeth and took a deep breath. You adjusted your grip on your bags and continued to type another message.

to: piazzas 👼

srsly im gonna fucking rage at this point

"I don't know what you're on about." You said and felt relief seeing the Read time-stamp arrive below your sent message and three dots finally pop up as Oscar typed a response.

Lance made that irritating sound - his laugh. "You know my dad will pay you double what they're paying."

from: piazzas 👼

I'm at the McLaren motorhome. In a meeting with some PR. Can you come?

You huffed and pocketed your phone. Your shift was now apparently at Ferrari today and so there was no logical reason for you to walk into McLaren. Especially after Lance's comment.

"What do you say?" The annoying idiot in question stood there, still waiting on you apparently.

"What?" You asked, shifting the items in your hand and pausing in your steps. You were in front of Ferrari right now and considered going in to dump your stuff before sneaking off to McLaren. That would at least get rid of the Canadian fuckwit.

"Just say the number. How much. Dad wants you onboard and so do I. And all that legal stuff we can sort out." Lance said with a nonchalant shrug that pissed you off more than it should've. "My trainer isn't really working for me anyway."

You stared at him. Was he being serious right now? Your mouth fell open at the audacity and you glanced at his manager behind him who was looking up at the sky, clearly uncomfortable. But, of course, unable to say anything.

"Ah, Stroll! Mademoiselle is with us today!" You turned your head to the French accent of your other favourite Team Principle. Fred Vasseur arrived with one half of the Scuderia drivers beside him. Your eyes widened on the sight of Carlos there, sunglasses pushed up in the head of hair that had its own fan-accounts and was the star of many, many Tiktok thirst edits.

Fuck.

Last night, your uncle had thrown you for a loop. Carlos Sainz Jr. had somehow infiltrated your uncle's sphere with a video of him refusing to sign a Barcelona jersey.

This, your uncle took as a good omen. He had sent you the video and said you had his approval.

"Approval for what?"

"None of these drivers are worth your time. But this one seems good." Your uncle's voice had sounded through the speaker function of your phone as you balanced a ball on your head. Last night was his routine call to check in on his favourite (and only) niece. And, apparently, his newest idea was not Jude or Vinicius - but Carlos Sainz Jr.

"What? Because Carlos didn't sign a Messi jersey?"

"His name is Carlos? Ah, of course. Brilliant. Perfect." Your uncle, a man named Carlo, obviously was pleased by this. You, in turn, just groaned. You half expected him to make some ridiculous comment about the similar names being another good omen or something.

"Yeah. Carlos Sainz."

"Sainz? Hm." There was a short pause from your uncle. "Is his father a rally driver?"

"Yes." You had frowned, not expecting that. Carlo Ancelotti made an effort to not get involved with motorsports.

"Ah! I know him. Good family."

"What?" The ball dropped from your head. "How!?"

Carlo ignored this. "Why didn't you tell me about him before?"

"Because... " You fumbled. Why hadn't you? Because you never knew there was a connection? Sure, you knew Carlos was a Real Madrid fan but... well, you never took much note of that. "Well, I never noticed Carlos." The football you had been kicking slowed as you found yourself frowning at the phone on the kitchen table. "It's... I don't know. It's just Carlos."

"I want you to talk to him. To 'Just Carlos' as you say." Your uncle was not relenting. "Go have dinner together. He has a good face."

Your uncle's attempts to get you married to what he deemed was a 'respectable man' and not, in his opinion, 'the limpy Frenchman' (to which you reminded him Charles was from Monaco - and were just friends) or 'a tatted up Australian wanna be Italian' (to which you reminded him that Daniel barely identified as Italian).

However, all of your uncle Carlo's options had always been footballers which, you and Dia knew, was just a ploy to move you from car circuits to football pitches.

But last night Carlos Sainz apparently had the Ancelotti tick of approval and was adamant you and Carlos apparently go out for dinner.

You took your uncle's comments to be why you suddenly found yourself feeling a little awkward seeing the driver in the flesh. The one you admittedly never paid much attention to before.

"Maybe next race you can have her." The Spanish driver - who apparently had your uncle's approval - said. Carlos took a sip from the small coffee cup in hand. He was on his piccolo, you noted.

Carlos came up to you and you felt yourself caught out and taken aback by him openly reaching for the strap of your gym bag and your bottle, prying them for your hands. The surprise had you letting go and once Carlos had a grip on them, he nodded at everyone in green. "See you guys on track." And put a hand on your back to guide you into the home. His clear dismissal towards Lance made you smile and it made your face warm up.

Your smile dropped.

What the fuck?

"Um. Thank you." You said, once you were out of earshot.

"He's an idiot." Carlos said, with a tired sigh. This made you laugh.

"You're telling me."

It was then that you realised your laugh was nervous. You cleared your throat. You were going to rip into your uncle. And then yourself for being so stupid. Because this was stupid. You barely ever noticed Carlos.

What? You find out he really hates Barcelona and has really, really great hair and suddenly you're tongue-tied around him?

"Ha. Yeah. I get that. And I can hold that." You went to reach for the strap of your bag on his shoulder. Carlos moved away.

"Don't insult me." He said, tsking you with a grin on his face. "Let's go. Fred spoke all morning about your pizzas."

"Yes! I did." Fred said, reappearing with his assistant who was handing him a paper he was half reading as he spoke. "Guenther didn't let me have any last time."

You couldn't but smile, remembering Guenther's loud curses echoing throughout all of Haas when he found you plating some aside for Fred. You gave Fred a salute. "I'll get right to it. Let me just dump my things in the backroom."

"I'll take them there." Carlos said, evidently not relenting. You sighed and let him carry them for you as you both made your way to the backroom.

Unfortunately, this meant walking through the entire motorhome in which case many Ferrari staff did a double take seeing you walk with Carlos. Whilst it wasn't uncommon to see you around, nor for you to have any interactions with drivers - you literally made their food and coffee - but Carlos was holding all your many, many belongings and walking to the small backroom that were reserved for Hospitality.

"Thank you." You said, appreciating the chivalry. What you didn't appreciate, however, was how your body was reacting to Carlos.

You didn't get why you were suddenly so... hyperaware around Carlos. You took a deep breath. This wasn't you.

And so your mouth just came out with it.

"My uncle likes you."

"What?"

You quickly elaborated. "He saw a video of you refusing to sign a Barca jersey."

You had seen the video before Carlo had sent it to you. The driver windswept in his Ferrari, driving off when a fan passed him a pen and the blue and maroon jersey. You had to admit he did look good in the video and the way he drove off like that had made your eyebrows shoot up, impressed.

"Your uncle... Don Ancelotti?"

"Yeah." You said with a laugh at the name. The Don. You were proud of your uncle and what he achieved, earning him such a nickname. Dia always said her brother's intimidating Don cigar smoking aura had been passed down to you - and not his own children/your cousins.

You weren't surprised Carlos knew about who your uncle was. It wasn't exactly a secret. You two had spoken about football here and there. And considering the world of Formula 1, that wasn't even the craziest connection for someone working in the Paddock. An Alpine techie was distant cousins with Mbappé, a Haas mechanic was close cousins with LeBron, and Valentino Rossi's babysister's best friend's brother was the PR manager for George Russell.

So, no. No one really paid much attention to you and your uncle. The most it had ever come up was the odd few comments of the Paddock's EPL fans coming to you lamenting Carlo Ancelotti moving from Everton to Real Madrid.

"Woah, that's pretty cool." Carlos said, his eyes widening. "I definitely need to let my dad know."

"Apparently they know each other?" You asked, hoping that might shed more light on the connection your uncle somehow had to Sainz Sr. Your uncle hadn't thought to explain that bit.

"Do they? He never said." He said with a shrug and you blew a raspberry. You really were going to give your uncle a piece of your mind. You shook your head and Carlos laughed, saying something that went to deaf ears as he took his sunglasses off his head - causing some strands to fall across his forehead as he was looking down at you.

Fuck.

He used the other hand to run through said black locks.

Double fuck.

The man seriously could've made it as a hair model.

You looked down from his hair to meet his eyes and felt yourself flush even more knowing he'd caught you staring at his hair. You cleared your throat again - when had it gotten so dry? - and spoke. "You um, you could really make bank doing hair endorsements, you know?"

"Bank?" Carlos asked, not picking up the slang.

"Money." You explained the slang and then thought of the Spanish translation. "El dinero."

"Ah, so was it the Don who taught you Spanish?" Carlos asked, lips turning up to grin.

"Nah I don't really speak Spanish." You shook your head and explained. "I just know that word from some from lyrics and stuff."

"Stuff? From living in Los Angeles?" He asked, raising an eyebrow. You blinked, surprised he knew that tidbit about you. "I remember you telling Max about it back in Toro Rosso."

Carlos' observational skills evidently had you in surprise. "I, uh. Yeah for a year and a bit. I worked in a garage." You explained, feeling more awkward and, well, something else that you refused to acknowledge as nervousness.

You didn't get nervous. You had literally served countless celebrities and prided yourself on not getting starstruck or fucking nervous.

And yet, here was Carlos running a hand through his hair catching you off guard with how hyperaware you were of him.

"Ah." Carlos laughed and you stared at the way a thin gold chain glittered around his wrist. "Well, if you know any hair sponsors you'd recommend, let me know."

"Oh, yeah. Done." You said, going back to the previous conversation. "But I'm expecting a cut, then." You said, opening up a locker and beginning to stuff the bags into it. "Hoy por ti - "

" - mañana por mi." Carlos finished the phrase, amused. "It's different in Spanish, though, you know?"

"What is?"

"English you say scratch my back or something. In Spanish it's more about generosity. You take care of me so I will take care of you next."

"Oh." You said, taking in the mini Spanish lesson. Admittedly all your Spanish came from working with Ty in the garage on Fairfax Ave and, of course, song lyrics. There had been a few funny conversations with Fernando - but nothing intimate such as I will take care of you.

You didn't really know what to say next. Your face was already flushed and you'd probably be able to cook something on your cheek from how hot it was.

In short, you were going to kill your uncle. Real Madrid could win Champions League without him. And even if they didn't - well, Guenther would be happy to see another team finally have a chance.

"Also," Carlos casually continued, unfazed - or not noticing - your lull, "there's going to be a game tomorrow night. I'm not sure if you were planning to watch it."

Thankfully, his words momentarily did distract you from the inner monologue.

You thought of the fixtures. It wasn't Real Madrid playing this weekend. Atletico Madrid was.

Then again, maybe with Carlos being from Madrid he just watched all the games. You didn't follow the Spanish league religiously and, either way, it wasn't a game you had intended to watch.

"Oh, I mean I like Griezmann." You said, referring to the famed Atletico player, "but I don't watch La Liga games unless Real Madrid is playing." Besides, if you showed any interest in any other team, The Don would have your head. Your uncle still didn't know you owned a jersey of another team. Even if it was only for Mo Salah.

"No, the Liverpool game." Carlos corrected. "They're playing Manchester United, are they not?"

This was surprising. There had been no indication in the past of Carlos ever caring about any other team besides Real Madrid - let alone being that interested a whole other league. If you ever were going to talk EPL with a driver, it was probably a passing conversation with Lewis. Maybe George if the Wolves were involved. And that was when the drivers themselves initiated the conversation.

Max, and his love for your team's biggest rival Barcelona, was who you used to talk to about football, who you used to stay up and watch games or play Fifa with.

And since that was no more, you sort of lost any passion for it.

So this was very much news to you.

Carlos Sainz. Talking to you about EPL.

More than that - asking you if you were going to watch an EPL game.

"Uh, yeah maybe." You finally spoke. During your drive to work, you had vaguely thought about changing your schedule so as to be able to watch the game. You had played around with the idea of doing a workout after your shift tomorrow so you could stay up after qualifying and watch the match.

The only issue was that this would you mean you wouldn't be able to work out before the race on Sunday - and you were definitely going to be stressed working a whole weekend at Ferrari.

Suffice to say, you hadn't yet made up your mind.

"Lando and I were going to watch it. He's a fan of Manchester United." Carlos said, looking at you expectantly. "Don't worry, I won't tell the Don."

It was that look which made your eyes widen slightly, the thought suddenly dawning on you: was Carlos asking to watch the game together?

Something erupted in your stomach.

However, your reflex to any driver interaction had immediately kicked in.

"Oh, nice. I'm not sure if I'm going to be able to watch it with the schedule. You guys enjoy, though."

Carlos opened his mouth but thankfully someone, a man dressed in the red uniform, appeared in the doorway calling for Carlos. The interruption was very much welcomed as the driver nodded and was resolved to leave you before your body gave you any more confusing signals.

You took a second, a steading second, before you slammed your locker shut and went to look for Oscar.

“And there’s the young rookie, Oscar Piastri. Looking really good after his amazing win in Jeddah. 9th, outperforming everyone’s expectations!"

“Yes! He’s just arrived with his - is that his trainer?”

“She looks tough enough to be one. Wait is that — “

The commentators immediately realise and change the subject to something else to do with Fernando’s winning streak and Aston Martin’s upgrades. You sigh at the clip that had been playing on the TV in front of you where you could be seen handing him the Antinal Dia had been adamant Oscar have.

Zak had informed Oscar who had informed you about the conversations had between all the TPs about, well, you.

It was startling to say the least. 

"I'm afraid people are starting to catch on." Oscar's PR Manager said with a stern look as she stared at both you and Oscar. Her name was Sophie and despite her young age putting her in the same ball-park as you and Oscar... it still felt like you both were students in trouble, being told off by your teacher.

Oscar had asked you about a Sophie Wright a few months ago. You briefly knew of the girl from her interning days, following other PR members around the McLaren motorhome over the years. She was a little on the shorter side, the chubbier side and, unfortunately, these two appearance traits meant she was excluded from the other PR girls who definitely already had a group chat going.

However, you also knew this meant she would be good at her job. Sophie could blend in the background quietly, unnoticed and do her job well. You also doubted she would easily jump around for a better opportunity and do Oscar dirty. Then there was the fact that when you served her a skinny latte one time, she made sure to read your name badge and thank you with a genuine smile.

And so you had given Oscar the thumbs up.

Never, in a million years, did you think you would be here though. Getting a debrief from her as Sophie Wright tapped on her iPad. You risked a glance at Oscar who looked indifferent and nonplussed.

"Sorry Soph," he said, "but I'm not exactly aware what this means exactly."

There was some noise at the door and in walked Zak Brown himself. He was still talking to someone outside in the hall and said a 'yep, bye!' and then finally turned to address the room he was halfway in. "Ah, here we are. Just the people I need to see." His eyes fell on you and you shifted uncomfortably in your seat.

"No trouble at all. I know you're friends with Oscar and just wanting to help him out." Zak said, coming to sit down. "Ah, so you've seen the clips." He looked at the TV where Sophie's iPad was still screensharing the clip from yesterday.

Thursday's media days was always the least loved day for everyone - save for the bloodthirsty journalists. Drivers hated all the mundane questions and the paranoia of microphones and cameras everywhere. And you hated media day because it meant extra long barista shifts.

"Yes, Sophie showed me before but I thought Tezza should see it." Oscar explained, using your nickname. Your heart warmed at how considerate that was. You met his eyes and smiled softly at him. Your love for the kid grew daily.

"Good thinking!" Zak said, nodding agreeably to his driver. You fought to keep your face passive as you regarded the McLaren CEO.

Your opinion of Zak Brown was that he got further than he ever dreamt to get from starring on Wheel of Fortune. And whilst you did admire him for not being brought up in the snobbery and pretentiousness of the generational wealth that F1 tends to circulate through... you did note how he sucked up to the those snobs and their pretentious generational wealth.

Namely, how he did anything and everything for to make Lando Norris happy. In your opinion, it was a lil cringe at times.

"Well, the problem is that it's getting harder and harder for me to just make it out to the rest of the Paddock that you and Oscar are just friends spotting one another at the gym." Zak said. "Horner is running rampant, scared you'll turn Oscar into the next Max Verstappen."

You snorted at this. Unfortunately this drew everyone's attention to you and you knew you would need to explain. "Max and Oscar are polar opposites."

Oscar could very easily become a World Champion without you. He was smart, dedicated and very talented. And whilst Max was all those things, he didn't need someone to train him up so much as tame him down after all that Jos did to him. You guys had just as much sessions on anger management as you had sessions on endurance training.

"Either way, it's coming to be viewed as a breach." Zak said. "And if you breach your contract then - "

"I know." You interrupted him. He didn't need to explain that to you.

"There's also the issue that people think you two are dating." Sophie spoke up from the front. She tapped on her iPad a few times and up came up a few screenshots of Twitter threads hypothesising about the two of you. "Your Twitter had a followed increase of 150% since Oscar followed you. Which didn't help."

"And whose fault was that?" You said, looking at Oscar with an unimpressed look. "You're lucky I deleted that shit so quickly."

"Yeah look, my bad. The timing was off." He said, accepting responsibility. You still remember all the notifications of the Twitter shit-storm Oscar set off. You literally had to delete your account because of it.

"Yes, Christian did bring that up." Zak said. "And it's a good thing Oscar's lovely Lauren is here - "

"Lily, sir." Sophie quickly corrected her boss. You wanted to groan. Oscar just looked down to hide his smile. Under the table, you kicked at his legs.

"Lily! Sorry." He gave a sheepish look to Oscar. "Yes, you and Lily this morning was a good idea."

"Unfortunately, Daniel did like a few of these Tweets." Sophie added, bringing up the screenshots of a Tweet about you and Oscar that was liked by none other than @danielricciardo.

You clenched your fist, your nails digging into your palm as you thought of how fucking petty that was. Daniel wasn't a fucking idiot. Aside from the fact that he knew your type - (admittedly, the tall/dark features combination always got you) Oscar was so young.

If anything, you thought of Oscar, genuinely, as a younger brother. As you had Max. Daniel knew that. So he knew exactly what he was doing by liking those kind of fucking Tweets. Tweets you wouldn't put past Red Bull to send out themselves.

Because, if anything, they would be praying it wouldn't be true about you and Oscar. Otherwise Christian Horner wouldn't have any leg to stand on. That was how you got around being connected to Charles, anyway. Family was the exception.

"I know your contract has you tied to only working for Red Bull and Ferrari's drivers but--"

"Red Bull and Charles Leclerc." You corrected in a tight voice, your eyes falling down to the table in front of you. "I was only granted exemption to work with Charles as he was considered family."

This caused him to frown as he pulled out his phone and began typing at it. "I thought you were allowed to work for Red Bull or Ferrari. No new teams."

"Yeah, no." You said, making Oscar chuckle at the Australianism. "No new teams outside of Red Bull and Toro Rosso." You specified.

"Christian didn't say that." Zak said.

"It was kept really quiet." You explained. "Charles was, um, he granted exemption from my Red Bull contract because he - well, he was considered family." You cleared your throat, not able to even look at Oscar. "I was signed for Toro Rosso and Red Bull. Never Ferrari."

"That's not what Toto said at the meeting." Zak said, shaking his head. "He made it seem that you could work for Ferrari."

You said nothing. Toto Wolff had approached you once or twice but your answer had always been the same, no matter what he offered. Eventually, he dropped it. You just didn't realise he dropped it because Toto had sought out the fine print.

"Wait so why aren't you Charles' trainer?" Zak asked, looking up from his phone. "He'd be insane to not have you!"

You froze. How were you supposed to answer that? For once, you had hoped the F1 rumour mill had properly run its course and Zak would know better than to ask that obvious question.

"Eh, Leclerc's loss." Oscar interjected with a casual shrug. "Let's be glad we don't need to worry about that."

The hidden meaning behind his smooth words were clear and you felt your love for the boy increase tenfold at his save.

"What - if I may," Sophie started, trying to be sensitive with her wording and her eyes darted between you and Oscar, "what were the grounds for family?"

You took a moment to think of how you might answer. You really didn't want to but if this might help the boy beside you, you would. "Charles - and I, like, I dunno. We grew up together? Everyone just knew." You pulled at your hoodie sleeve, feeling every bit uncomfortable with the question.

"You didn't date?" Sophie asked. Your face must've shown something very unpleasant because she was quick to amend. "I'm only saying because the grounds for family are always a grey area."

You pressed your lips together and went back to staring at the table. "There was nothing romantic between Charles and I." You said. The room fell silent for a moment as Zak tapped on his screen a few times and then he spoke up.

"You also trained Daniel. He told me in 2021." Zak said and put the phone down and you wanted to roll you eyes. Of course Daniel would say that. "And I don't want to get into all the drama but you were dating him back when you were training Verstappen."

Zak did have a point.

A key point that you had forgotten.

You paused and watched the screen in front of you and the liked by @danielricciardo Tweet. "Christian's always had a soft spot for Daniel so..." You trailed off. "But yeah, you're right. It was fine even though I was contracted to Max under Toro Rosso then Red Bull."

"Hm." Zak said, bringing a hand to his chin as he leaned back, pensive, in his chair. "I can see how romantic grounds could be argued." He said it with a laugh, looking between you and Oscar.

You raised an eyebrow at the comment. You honestly weren't sure if this was just Zak Brown being Zak Brown - i.e saying dumb things to suck up since he was out of his element - or if he actually meant that. Either way, it pissed you off.

Because there was no fucking way you'd let that happen to Oscar.

"No it can't. Contracts aside, I'm not forcing someone I think of as my younger brother into a PR relationship with me." You said.

"It could work, though." Sophie said, taking a professional tone as you turned your glare to her. "This is what I was trying to say before. The Twitter comments about you and Oscar are not necessarily negative. If anything you've helped increased Oscar's public image and Red Bull wouldn't able to say anything about you two on romantic family grounds."

You were seething.

Thankfully, Oscar was more level-headed than you.

"Yeah, look guys. Tezza's pretty but not my type." He finally chimed in, lighthearted. "Besides, I think we should focus more on the car and that way it's a fair advantage to both me and Lando."

You looked back at him and took a deep breath. Oscar smiled at you, chill as always, and you took another breath. You wanted to give the boy a big hug.

"Look, Zak," you said, looking back at the TP, calming down a little more, "I'm sorry. I'm causing you all this shit."

"You got Oscar into the points." Zak waved off. "Don't worry about it. I just want to find a way that works for everyone." You sucked on your teeth. Whilst it was nice to know that Zak Brown was willing to take risks on you also wanted to know how this conversation would've gone if Oscar hadn't finished 9th in Jeddah last weekend.

Such was the way of F1.

Sophie then tapped on her iPad and the TV showed a picture taken by Ky Millman. It was of Oscar hugging you after the win in Jeddah. Some comments were displayed and you found your lips turning up as you read them. They were, as Sophie said, sort of positive.

kymillman

liked by mclaren, saintescuderia and 15'483 others

kymillman SUPPORT FOR SUCCESS! Oscar surprised many with his amazing performance in Jeddah and goes to celebrate with a F1 Hospitality worker and friend @ynusername!

view all 76 comments

halaaaamadrid girl help his shoe game pls

ln44girlieee @mclaren we need content from this duo plssss u have them right there

logansversion as if mclaren is going to post a couple?

f1fanforever they're friends?

ln44girlieee idc the level of sarcasm between them would be SO GOOD

oscarpastries i love THIS! 😫😫😫

justanotherinchident omg charles finna be RIOTING!

team44roscoes wait why would charles be upset ?? i thought @ynusername was with dannyric?

maxiel4eva_16 yeh 😒 jumping on all them aussies

You rolled your eyes at the last comment. Maybe it was a good thing you were off Twitter and barely used Instagram anymore.

"It'll be hard to argue that Oscar is family since you haven't known him as long as you did with Charles," Sophie spoke up, bringing your attention back to her, "but we can maybe try to build it up from a PR point a view."

"That Oscar and I are family and not dating?" You asked. Sophie nodded. You looked at Oscar, wanting his confirmation.

"Yeah, sure thing Vin Diesel." He laughed.

"Hey, hey. Fuck you." The grin on your face was contagious and he broke out laughing also. You liked this new idea and turned back to look at Sophie a lot more positively. You were glad McLaren gave Oscar the intern, you liked her.

"Okay, so what do we do to show the world I've adopted Oscar?" You asked.

"I think you'll find my dad's already half adopted you." Oscar corrected. "He wants to see your Supra."

"That's perfect!" Sophie said, excited. "Maybe Oscar can post a story of the interaction sometime this weekend? Make sure Lily is there. Maybe you can play the tired third wheel of them!" Sophie looked at you as ranted off her ideas. You nodded, suddenly less excited.

Whilst it was nice to know there was a plan in place to help you and Oscar continue to work together, you didn't like the way Sophie said for you 'play' a role. The one, sole consolation you had going for you these past few years working in Hospitality was the lack of needing to play any PR role. Hearing Sophie speak was giving you flashbacks to times long gone.

"Happy with that gang?" Zak said, placing his palms on the table. "We'll work on building the PR and hopefully that will get Red Bull off our back as we also improve the car!" He stood up and left, not joining Sophie and Oscar as they said goodbye to the boss.

"Wait, does this mean I need to actually start using Instagram?" You asked.

"Yes." Sophie said. Then she looked up from her iPad. "Don't you? You were tagged in it?"

"Like, I have an account but I stopped using it. I'm pretty sure I deleted the app." You said, pulling out your phone to see that yes, there was no pink app downloaded. You pressed the download button, knowing what was in store for you.

"Download it. You're already at 102.4k followers." She said, bringing up your profile on the TV screen.

"The fuck?" You blanked. "I had like a thousand or so last time I was on it."

Sophie was nodding as she tapped on her iPad some more. "Your growth has increased since you started training the F2 winner who followed Y/N Tessio after the most controversial Formula 1 Tweet that ever was Tweeted." Sophie said, eyeing Oscar with a raised eyebrow.

"I already said sorry about that."

"Do you know how stressful you made my first day? Helen scared me!" Sophie asked, though humour clear on her face. "Though, nothing like jumping in the deep end."

The Instagram app had finishing downloading and you logged onto it - thank you pre-saved passwords! - to be met with a fucking plethora of notifications that suddenly had you overwhelmed. As such, you immediately went out of the app and put your phone in your pocket. You could deal with that all later.

"I'm not using Twitter again." You said, thinking back to the Tweets Daniel had liked. "Fuck that."

"Understandable." Sophie nodded once more. "Alright, okay, perfect. I'll draft up a PR plan. In the mean time, do you mind if I review your profile and send you some tips?" Looking at you for the last bit.

"By all means." You said, half wishing you could give her control of it like most drivers did and be done with it. You just wanted to be able to work with Oscar without causing him any trouble and not having to worry about this PR bullshit.

"Alright, okay, perfect!" She said, beaming. You were starting to sense this be a catch phrase of sorts for her.

Your phone buzzed. It was a text reminder about you needing to go back to check on some dough you'd prepared. Back at Ferrari. You sighed and stood up.

"Alright, sounds good. I gotta get back to work. Take your supplements and electrolytes. The green one." The last bit was aimed at Oscar as you met his eyes and then turned to leave the room and walk, head down, out of the McLaren motorhome.

You took a deep breath as soon as you made it into the open air. With how things were going, it was likely that you would be having another gym session today. You arrived at Ferrari and saw the back of Carlos' head. You felt yourself gulp and turned to hide behind the coffee machine. Maybe you would watch Liverpool play.

The mention of your connection to soccer was also pointed out in the room you had just rushed out of. Sophie made a small sound and rounded on Oscar, shoving something in his face.

"Did you know that half of Real Madrid are following her? Jude Bellingham just commented on the post!"

She stared at Oscar, hoping he might provide an answer. The young driver just shrugged. "She did say something about her uncle coaching a team." Sophie stared at him, incredulous. "How was I to know? I don't watch soccer."

< prev ch [6] | next ch [8] >

taglist:

@eugene-emt-roe @spookystitchery @vicurious28 @taytaylala12 @c-losur3

@hiireadstuff @samantha-chicago @fionaschicken @casperlikej @bookstore-of-dreams

@itsjustkhaos @sam-is-lost @laneyspaulding19 @formula1mount @bokutos-babyowl

@stampiej @alilcloudy @bingussthirdtoe @sisinever @lilymurphy03

@inlovewmarlenemckinnon @charllleclerc @richardniixon @sp1rl @nikfigueiredo

[axvoter]

Fusion delusion and HTV confusion

This week, the Fusion Party—whom I reviewed at considerable length and not because I think they are a good option—posted how-to-vote cards (HTVs). Today, they retracted some of them and deleted posts from social media platforms. So, it's going well!

It seems there was very little vetting, with candidates not just free to allocate their own preferences but also with no review or questions asked before the HTVs were posted publicly. It speaks poorly of party processes that evidently nobody said "uhh hey what's going on here?"

Luckily, I saved a couple of the worst HTVs for individual seats, and the Victorian Senate HTV is still up. Shall we have a look? Let's begin with that Senate HTV:

I will get the obvious dunk out of the way: this is an atrocious design, busy and unpleasant on the eye. The emojis are completely unserious. But, look, HTVs are rarely artistic masterpieces. They should communicate a party's agenda concisely—which this one does not do, there's way too much text—and set out some preference recommendations to aid their supporters.

And hoo boy look at those Fusion preferences: Libertarians in 5th above Labor in 9th and the Greens in 10th. The Libertarians are one of Australia's most loathsome minor parties and they stand against what Fusion claims to be their core values, such as a denial of the reality of climate change that is at odds with the "Planet Rescue" part of Fusion's current registered name. How would you feel if you were a member of Fusion constituent party Vote Planet? I'd assume not great, although I also understand Kammy Cordner Hunt, the Victorian lead Senate candidate above, is from that wing. A penny for her thoughts!

Fusion have been taking some serious flak for this on social media. If you have a Facebook account, here is the announcement of the Senate HTV, with reactions and defensive replies by the official Fusion account and some candidates. People are not happy about that Libertarian preference, and the second candidate on the Vic ticket, Simon Gnieslaw, has been responding at length (hi Simon, I'm sure you're reading; yes I remember you getting upset in my DMs in 2022 because I called your centrism "waffle" and your website "amateurish"). I've screenshotted three choice replies below.

This is quite silly rhetoric and it seems that some Fusion organisers have been taken in by smooth talk from one of Australia's most distasteful parties. The Libertarians' lead candidate in Victoria is a literal con artist and the party are bad-faith actors. It is little wonder that in private they can make soothing noises of "good will" and massage the ego of Fusion delegates in preference discussions. Gnieslaw's comments (particularly that third screenshot) also evince a naive belief in "compromise" above everything else. Forever seeking compromise rather than sticking to principles is just a way to allow bad-faith actors to drag the Overton window towards themselves. This is delusional stuff.

As for the Greens, they have little incentive to deal with electoral lightweights such as Fusion. The Greens' preferences are certain to be distributed after Fusion is already out of the count, if distributed at all. Unlike the Libertarians, who as a fellow micro-party need all the favourable HTV treatment they can get and will say whatever it takes to get a good placement in the hope it pays off in the contest for the last Senate quota, Fusion are the ones who need to get the Greens to want to work with them, not the other way around. It seems Fusion can't play with the big kids who have built a seat-winning constituency in every state—possibly because Gnieslaw has a personal grievance against them over the Israel–Palestine conflict, as articulated on his candidate page. The HTV above claims Fusion is "the only party with a Tangible Peace Plan for the war in Israel and Palestine" (oh yeah sure you've solved a century-long conflict) and even more ridiculously suggests that Fusion is "already working in the background to deliver this plan" (solving the problems of the world over beers at the pub is not "working in the background"). You can read this Tangible Peace Plan for yourself; perhaps you'll agree with me that would be better summarised as intangible principles.

One more comment on the Senate HTV before I move on to some of the House HTVs: if you looked closely, you would have noticed that among the unnecessary emojis are three other symbols. One, a circle with 3 Rs, indicates support for the Climate Rescue Accord, which Fusion developed through negotiations with the Animal Justice Party, Australian Progressives (contesting this election as part of Fusion), and Reason (now de-registered, with Fiona Patten standing for Legalise Cannabis). It has reasonable enough objectives mixed with the sort of futurism about R&D into technologies that some would dub optimistic and others fanciful. The second is a Khamsa symbol, which indicates parties who have given in-principle support for Fusion's "Tangible Peace Plan". And the third is a symbol indicating support for a Universal Basic Income.

The thing about these symbols is that they mean nothing to the average voter, and although they are explained on the Senate HTV, Fusion has used them on HTVs for seats in the House of Representatives with no explanation. They're simply mysterious icons beside their name and that of some other parties. If you are even mildly inclined to conspiratorial thinking, you might wonder what they are meant to communicate and to whom.

So, let's turn to HTVs for specific seats. Remember, Fusion has recently incorporated the Australian Progressives (who, despite their name, now claim to be in the "sensible centre") and Democracy First (a fringe right-wing org of serial candidate Vern Hughes). It seems candidates had freedom to distribute their preferences however they wanted, and some went... off message.

First, the Fusion candidate in Melbourne, Helen Huang:

Yes, she is sending her second preference to independent Tim Smith and her third to the Liberals. Smith is not the disgraced ex-Victorian Liberal politician of that name, but a contestant from Married at First Sight who says that "I don’t like politicians" and promotes the "strategic" use of social media outlets like Instagram and Tik Tok to gauge public opinion instead of holding referendums (wait until this guy finds out about constitutional law!). As for why on earth the Liberals are third, above Labor or the Greens, the HTV itself says this is because of Steph Hunt's "credentials in peacebuilding to end wars and bring people together". Yes, Liberal credentials in peacebuilding. Ponder that one!

But the real humdinger is the HTV for McEwen candidate Erin McGrath. See if you can spot the issue among the preferences:

That's right: Family First is preferenced fourth, above any of the major parties. Yes, the Family First, the party of vile anti-LGBTIQ campaigner and professional eater-of-shit Lyle Shelton. They could scarcely be more at odds with core Fusion values.

But it gets better because people pressed Fusion about this on Twitter and they simply couldn't pick a lane. The original post has now been deleted—it just had some HTVs including McGrath's for McEwen—but if you have a log-in you can view a surviving comment chain here. One reply flagged some of the bizarre decisions, and the official account began by saying that they were made based on personal interactions:

So, at first, Fusion are fine with preferencing "one guy" from Family First for being "vaguely reasonable". Then, as the negative response grew, they deleted and offered this explanation:

Yup, apparently this was simply a production mistake. If that is true, it speaks very poorly for the party's internal oversight, because multiple people clearly did not think to say anything when making, approving, or posting the HTV. And when pressed on this, Fusion replied with an absolute gem:

Things had changed?? It's Family First. WHAT CHANGED.

The party says it is a mistake, but these contortions are worthy of professional gymnasts. It seems the reality is more straightforward. The party's own list of candidates includes a small logo showing which constituent of Fusion the candidate is aligned with. Some, such as Huang in Melbourne, appear to be unaligned, but Erin McGrath in McEwen is aligned with—you guessed it!—Democracy First. She's part of Vern's right-wing rabble. I am far more prepared to believe she genuinely sympathises with the Family First candidate than that "things had changed". The only thing that changed is people noticed this laughable preference at odds with Fusion's own stated values.

We will see what an updated McEwen HTV looks like and if any others are amended. In any case, this further affirms for me that Fusion is not—or at least is no longer—a decent choice, least of all for left-wing voters who might have positive memories of some parties that are now part of Fusion.

[tomorrowusa]

Damn, South Korea has all the luck! 🇰🇷

Former President Yoon Suk Yeol declared martial law in December. There was immediate outrage and he was forced to withdraw his declaration. But the South Korean parliament had enough of Yoon and impeached him. Under the South Korean system, the impeachment has to be upheld by the country's Constitutional Court. That approval came Friday.

South Korea's president has been removed from office after the Constitutional Court voted unanimously to uphold his impeachment. Yoon Suk Yeol was suspended from duty in December after being impeached by parliament, following his failed attempt to impose martial law. The ruling on Friday was met with tears of joy and sadness among Yoon's critics and supporters, who had gathered in various parts of Seoul to watch the verdict live. A snap election to vote for Yoon's replacement must be held by 3 June.

So we can add South Korea's June 3rd presidential election to a string of important elections over the next three months: Canada - April 28th (parliamentary); Australia - May 3rd (parliamentary); Portugal - May 18th (parliamentary); and Poland May 18th (presidential, first round).

Anyway, I wish we had a chief justice like Moon Hyung-bae.

The Constitutional Court was damning in its criticism of Yoon's authoritarian power grab, as all eight judges voted to remove him from office. Moon Hyung-bae, acting president of the bench, said Yoon's short-lived military takeover was not justified, and that he had "[gone] against the people he was supposed to protect". He added that the implementation of martial law "damaged people's basic political rights" and "violated the principles of the rule of law and democracy".

Trump with his idiotic tariffs will be an issue in the June 3rd election.

Yet South Korea urgently needs a new leader who can advocate for the country as a whole, having been without one for months. It quickly needs to figure out how to deal with President Trump, having started on the backfoot. His 25% tariffs on cars and steel have dealt Seoul, and its ailing economy, an early a blow, but many believe worse is coming; that it is only time until Mr Trump turns his gaze to the Korean peninsula, and when he does he will try to force South Korea to pay more for its defence and cut a deal with Seoul's arch enemy, Kim Jong Un.

This is the second time in eight years South Korea has ousted a president. ♥️

In 2017, former president Park Geun-hye was forced from office over her role in a corruption scandal involving a close friend.

[iwtvfanevents]

Rewind the Tape —Episode 1

Art of the episode

During our rewatch, we took note of the art shown and mentioned in the pilot, and we wanted to share. Did we miss any? Do you have any thoughts about how these references could be interpreted? How do you think Armand and Louis go about picking the art for their penthouse in Dubai?

The Fall of the Rebel Angels

Peter Bruegel the Elder, 1562

This painting is featured in the Interview with the Vampire book, and it was important enough to be included in the draft pilot script!

Bruegel the Elder was among the most significant Dutch and Flemish Renaissance artists. He was a painter and print-maker, known for his landscapes and peasant scenes.

Three Studies for Figures at the Base of a Crucifixion

Francis Bacon, 1944

Bacon was an Irish figurative painter, known for his raw, unsettling imagery and a number of triptychs and diptychs among his work. At a time when being gay was a criminal offense, Bacon was open about his sexuality, and was cast out by his family at 16 for this reason. He destroyed many of his early works, but about 590 still survive. The Tate, where these paintings are displayed, says this about the work: "Francis Bacon titled this work after the figures often featured in Christian paintings witnessing the death of Jesus. But he said the creatures represented the avenging Furies from Greek mythology. The Furies punish those who go against the natural order. In Aeschylus’s tragedy The Eumenides, for example, they pursue a man who has murdered his mother. Bacon first exhibited this painting in April 1945, towards the end of the Second World War. For some, it reflects the horror of the war and the Holocaust in a world lacking guiding principles."

On the Hunt or Captain Percy Williams On A Favorite Irish Hunter and Calling the Hounds Out of Cover

Samuel Sidney, 1881 [Identified by @vfevermillion.] and Heywood Hardy, 1906 [Identified by @destinationdartboard.]

Sidney was an English writer, and his prints usually accompanied his publications about hunting, agriculture, and about settling Australia during the colonial period. Hardy, also British, was a painter, in particular an animal painter. There's also a taxidermy deer, ram, and piebald deer on the wall.

Iolanta

Pyotr Tchaikovsky, 1892

The opera Louis and Lestat go to was composed by Tchaikovsky, another gay artist. The play tells a story "in which love prevails, light shines for all, lies are no longer necessary and no one must fear punishment," as put by Susanne Stähr for the Berliner Philharmoniker.

Strawberries and Cream

Raphaelle Peale, 1816 [Identified by @diasdelfuego.]

Peale is considered to have been the first professional American painter of still-life.

Outfits inspired by J.C. Leyendecker

Leyendecker was one of the most prominent and commercially successful freelance artists in the U.S. He studied in France, and was a pioneer of the Art Deco illustration. Leyendecker's model, Charles Beach, was also his lover of five decades. You can read costume designer Carol Cutshall's thoughts on these outfits on her Instagram.

The Artist's Sister, Melanie

Egon Schiele, 1908 [Identified by @dwreader.]

Schiele was an Austrian expressionist painter and protege of Gustav Klimt. Many of his portraits (self portraits and of others) were described as grotesque and disturbing.

A Stag at Sharkey's

George Wesley Bellows, 1909 [Identified by @vfevermillion.]

Bellows was an American realist painter, known for his bold depictions of urban life in New York City.

Mildred-O Hat

Robert Henri, undated (likely 1890s) [Identified by @nicodelenfent, here.]

Henri was an American painter who studied in Paris, where he learned from the Impressionists and determined to lead an even more dramatic revolt against American academic art.

Starry night

Edvard Munch, 1893 [Identified by @vfevermillion.]

Munch was a Norwegian painter, one of the best known figures of late 19th-century Symbolism and a great influence in German Expressionism in the early 20th century. His work dealt with psychological themes, and he personally struggled with mental illness.

If you spot or put a name to any other references, let us know if you'd like us to add them with credit to the post!

Starting tonight, we will be rewatching and discussing Episode 2, ...After the Phantoms of Your Former Self. We hope to see you there!

And, if you're just getting caught up, learn all about our group rewatch here ►

[cyber-corp]

And now, a Dubya Shoe Sunday special:

George W. Bush: What the fuck was he?

I cannot tell you coming from someone who was born in Australia during his second term how fucking bizarre George Bush was. But I can try.

First of all, the Bush doctrine, which defined his whole run. According to Wikipedia, "the principles include unilateralism and preemptive war." Imagine being so unbelievably sure of yourself that the Middle East are planning "weapons of mass terror" that Wikipedia states "Oh yeah. That was his main thing. Starting fights without knowing fuck all."

But of course, you can't make the decisions of a madman without speaking like a madman. There's a reason there's a whole article on "Bushisms". Here are some of my favourites:

"Welcome to my hanging." (At the unveiling of his presidential portrait, 2008)

"You work three jobs?....Uniquely American, isn't it?" (Nebraska, 2005)

"I'll be long gone before some smart person ever figures out what happened inside this Oval Office." (Washington D.C, 2008 (side note: what does that fucking mean))

Who voted for this man? What did he say that persuaded them? What the fuck was happening over there? Were you all alright? Do you want a drink? Like milk and cookies or something?

This has been a Dubya Shoe Sunday special.

Fuck Bush.

[theofreakingbell]

LWML fans who saw my other post, I GOT THE BOOK

it is in shockingly good shape for being so old. the pages feel sturdier than some modern paperbacks. It belonged to someone named Mildred in 1893 (inscrbed). thanks for the book, ma'am.  

it also has a sticker indicating it was sold in Australia at some point before ending up back in England (and then on to me in California)

my theory was partly right and partly not. While the book is deeply mistaken about many things it was actually very mixed about Loki, there is no one central page calling him evil. I find it super interesting they chose to include the Loka Tattur, a Faroese story where he is very kind, and theorise about why he may have been seen differently over time. there IS one page that makes him sound like a ticking time bomb though which I have included below as I think it resembles the book the most, in addition to a few other interesting sections about Loki that I found in the book, true or not. 

there's random lil illunstrations of birds and stuff throughout to decorate the pages it's adorable. illustrations in general are very cool, however this is not a good norse mythos book overall and author is WAY too happy veering into race science at random and using the word Aryan and stuff, so please do not use this book as a source. lol

EXCERPTS AND IMAGES BELOW

From the gods profiles section

Loki, the father of terrible Hel, the Fenris-Wolf and Midgard-Snake; Loki, the crafty god who is ever devising evil, now steals forward that we may observe his corrupt practices and his real character. In primeval times he was Odin's brother by blood, the god of life-giving warmth, and in particular of the indispensable household fire. As a destructive conflagration arises from a hidden spark which gradually increases in strength and volume, until at last it bursts out furiously and consumes the house and all that it contains, thus, as we shall show later on, the conception of Loki was developed in the minds of these old races, until he was at last held to be the corrupter of the gods, the principle of evil."

From a section on the different mythological races

"The first divine trilogy given us was that of the sons of Bör, ie.

Odin, Wili and We; and these correspond to the elements, air, water and fire. The last of the three gave the newly created human beings blood and blooming complexion; he was therefore a beneficent god. Nevertheless he was also represented as a giant in the trilogy Kari, Ögir, and Logi, another form of air, sea and fire. That he belonged to the race of giants is proved from further evidence, by which it appears that his father was the giant Far-bauti (oarsman), and his mother the giantess Laufey (leafy isle), the former of whom was perhaps the giant who saved himself from the flood in a boat, and the latter, the island to which he rowed.

At the beginning Loki was a helpful and a great god, as the pretty Faroe-island song of the Peasant and the Giant shows. He was not regarded as the principle of evil, until he had been completely separated from the element to which he belonged, and had been developed into an independent personality. The idea of the destructive power of fire was equally connected with the giant Muspel, but he never showed himself as an active agent of harm.

His sons, the flames, alone threatened evil in Glow-heim or Muspel-heim, and finally mustered in great force for the Last Battle on the field of Wigrid."

Musings and biography after the Loka Tattur

"The above story is still told on the Faroe Islands, and in fuller detail than we have been enabled to give it. It shows us an important fact, that Loki was not always looked upon as the principle of evil, as the enemy of gods and men.

Originally he was the god of the indispensable household fire, the god of the beneficent, kindly hearth; therefore he regularly appears in the trinity: thus the sons of the primeval giant Ymir were called Kari (air), Ogir or Her (water), and Logi (fire); and similarly on the creation of mankind the trinity appears, Odin, Hönir and Lodur. Loki also accompanied Odin and Hönir on their travels to the giant Thiassi.

The father of Loki was Farbauti and his mother was Laufey (leafy isle). The former was probably the same as Bergel-mir, the giant who escaped drowning in the Deluge by taking refuge in a boat, as another name for his mother was Nal, ship. Logi, the element of fire, was distinctly separated from Loki, for we saw that when in the balls of Skyrnir or Utgard Loki, the two were rivals in a wager as to which could consume the greater quantity of food in a given time. At first Loki was held in high honour as the giver of warmth and god of the domestic hearth, and was looked upon as the brother of Odin and Hönir, for the elements air, water and fire are intimately connected. He therefore belonged to the Ases, sat in their council, and often helped them out of difficulties by means of his cunning. As fire is not always the friend of man, but is also the element of destruction, the Loki of the myth developed ever more and more the dark side of his character. He showed himself as a cunning adviser, a false, traitorous comrade, and lastly as the murderer of all that was pure and holy. He destroyed innocence and righteousness, became the blasphemer of the Ases or their evil conscience; and although he received immediate punishment for his wickedness, he yet succeeded in bringing about the universal destruction.

The name Loki has been derived from the old word "liuhan," to enlighten. It therefore has the same origin as the Latin lux, light. Thus he was also related to Lucifer (light-bringer), a title of honour which was given to the Prince of Darkness. In like manner as the northern tempter was chained to a sharp rock, Lucifer was believed in the middle ages to be chained down in hell. Saxo Grammaticus describes his Utgarthlocus (Utgard-Loki as laden with chains in Helheim, which proves that the myth of Loki and his punishment was believed long after the Christian era.

As has been said before, Loki had three wicked children by the giantess Angurboda (bringer of anguish), Fenris, Hel and Jörmungander. But he also had a lawful wife, the faithful Sigyn, who brought him two sons, Wali and Narwi, and who remained with him during all the misery his punishment brought upon him. He had no servants or subjects, for the Salamanders or Fire-spirits which played a part in Roman and Oriental mythology were unknown in the north. But he had other mighty relations, namely Surtur of the Flaming Sword and the sons of Muspel, who helped him in the Last Battle when he had got rid of his bonds. The Dwarfs and Black-Elves that needed fire for their labours were in alliance with him, but were not subservient to him; indeed, as we have already seen, they were often his enemies.

Apologies for any errors, I am very sensorily disabled and was unable to read the book in full or take more pictures. But yeah here is a book that would have existed for Theo and Loki to read!

(the entire book is also available for free as a pdf if u want to look at it on archive.org here. again, do not use as a source lol given the problems but it was fun to look at)

[threeprinciple]

If you're seeking support and guidance to improve your mental well-being, look no further than Three Principles Australia - a website dedicated to mental health coaching. Their team of highly skilled and compassionate mental health coaches are committed to helping individuals overcome challenges and achieve personal growth. With their expertise in the transformative and powerful Three Principles approach, they provide a unique and holistic perspective on mental health. Through their website, you can access valuable resources, including articles, blogs, and podcasts, that offer insights and practical strategies to enhance your mental health and overall quality of life. Whether you're struggling with anxiety, stress, or simply seeking a greater sense of clarity and happiness, Three Principles Australia is your go-to destination for personalized support and transformation. Take the first step towards a brighter and more fulfilling life by exploring the wealth of knowledge and services offered on their website, and embark on a journey of self-discovery and empowerment with the guidance of their exceptional mental health coaches.

[threeprinciplesaustraliaa]

Become a three principles practitioner with Threeprinciplesaustralia.com! We have the best three principles coach training solutions for you to choose from to boost your inner confidence and prepare you to make an impact in your professional life. Please visit our website right now!

[bundaberg-drinks]

Exploring the History and Origins of Ginger Beer in Australia

Ginger beer, with its unique spicy kick and refreshing taste, has become a staple of Australian beverage culture. Over the years, its popularity has increased, with more and more Australians turning to this unique drink as an alternative to traditional soft drinks. But what is the story behind ginger beer's rise in Australia, and how did it become one of the country’s most beloved beverages? In this article, we’ll explore the history and origins of ginger beer in Australia and trace its journey to becoming the best ginger beer Australia has to offer.

The Early Beginnings of Ginger Beer

The origins of ginger beer can be traced back to the 17th century in England. Originally, it was a fermented beverage made from ginger, sugar, and water. The drink was not only valued for its flavour but also for its medicinal properties, as ginger was known to soothe upset stomachs and aid digestion. Ginger beer, in its early days, was brewed with the help of natural fermentation, which gave it a slightly alcoholic content and a fizzy texture.

The drink gradually spread across the world, and by the 19th century, it had made its way to Australia. It was likely introduced to the country by early European settlers, who brought their traditional recipes and brewing methods with them. As Australians began to settle and form communities, they adapted their new surroundings and local ingredients, continuing to brew ginger beer in much the same way as they had back in England.

The Emergence of Ginger Beer in Australia

While ginger beer was initially enjoyed for its medicinal qualities, it quickly gained popularity as a refreshing soft drink. By the early 20th century, ginger beer had firmly established itself in Australia as a beloved non-alcoholic beverage. It was commonly sold in glass bottles and enjoyed in homes across the nation, particularly in warmer months, due to its cool, crisp flavour.

The Revival of Craft Ginger Beer

In recent decades, there has been a noticeable shift back to artisanal, small-batch production, particularly in the world of craft beverages. As Australians have become more health-conscious and discerning about the drinks they consume, the demand for high-quality, authentic ginger beer has grown. This resurgence has led to the rise of craft ginger beer brands, with some even going back to traditional fermentation methods and using natural ingredients.

Among these brands, Bundaberg Ginger Beer stands out as one of the best ginger beer Australia has to offer. Bundaberg Brewed Drinks, established in the 1960s, has remained true to the principles of crafting ginger beer the old-fashioned way. Their commitment to quality and natural ingredients has earned them a loyal following both locally and internationally.

What sets Bundaberg Ginger Beer apart is the way it’s brewed – it is naturally fermented for up to three days, allowing the flavours to develop in a way that mass-produced sodas cannot replicate. Using real ginger and other high-quality ingredients, Bundaberg Ginger Beer offers a smooth, balanced flavour that’s become synonymous with quality in Australia.

The Modern Popularity of Ginger Beer

Today, ginger beer has become a drink of choice for many Australians, with its popularity reaching new heights. The increasing awareness of the negative health effects of sugary sodas, combined with the growing interest in natural and craft beverages, has led consumers to seek out better alternatives. Ginger beer provides a perfect solution, offering a spicy, refreshing alternative that doesn’t rely on artificial flavours or excessive sugar.

Additionally, ginger beer is now commonly used as a mixer in cocktails, such as the Moscow Mule and Dark ‘n’ Stormy, giving it a new lease on life in Australia’s vibrant cocktail scene. This versatility, combined with its refreshing flavour, has solidified ginger beer’s position as a favourite among drinkers of all ages.

[covid-safer-hotties]

Also preserved in our archive

By Oscar Grenfell

The report of a government commissioned inquiry into Australia’s response to the COVID-19 pandemic was released on Tuesday.

The inquiry spanned a year. The report runs to 892 pages. It is, however, completely worthless from an analytical or scientific standpoint, adding nothing to an understanding of pandemics and public health in general, or the experience of COVID-19 in particular.

Instead, the report is a crude promotion of the profit-driven “let it rip” policies that persist to this day. It is noteworthy only as yet another marker of the assault on public health and the rights of the population that this homicidal program has entailed.

That conclusion was preordained. When the Labor government initiated the inquiry in September last year, they instigated a “public discussion” that focussed solely on the adversity associated with public health measures, such as social distancing, lockdowns and school closures. In one interview, for instance, Labor’s Health Minister Mark Butler referred to these measures, declaring: “We don’t want to do that next time. We don’t want to do that in the next pandemic.”

The government selected a three-person panel that was always going to arrive at the conclusion Butler had already outlined. Robyn Kruk, who has been in the upper echelons of the public sector bureaucracy, working with pro-business governments for decades, was its chair. Economist Dr Angela Jackson was on the panel. The only individual of the three with medical expertise was Professor Catherine Bennett, Deakin University chair of epidemiology.

Throughout the pandemic, Bennett was one of the epidemiologists who most aggressively supported the lifting of public health measures and insisted that the population would have to “live with the virus.” Under conditions where many principled epidemiologists and doctors sharply denounced this policy, the selection of Bennett as the sole public health expert on the panel made a mockery of its purported independence.

Most fundamentally, the report presents the COVID-19 crisis entirely as a thing of the past. In a document supposedly about official preparedness for pandemics, the pandemic that continues is all but ignored.

With the dismantling of official testing and reporting across the country, case numbers and other metrics are almost impossible to track. But it is clear that the virus continues to spread. In fact, COVID-contributed fatalities this year have occurred at a rate of 497.5 per month, barely lower than the 512 per month recorded in 2023.

Other basic elements of the pandemic are simply ignored. The fact that COVID deaths resulted in the first decline in Australian life expectancy in at least 50 years does not rate a mention. To the extent that the mass deaths are referenced, more than 25,000 official COVID fatalities, it is in the coldest and most unsympathetic manner.

In a report of such length, there is inevitably substantial padding. The authors attempt at times to adopt a pretence of even-handedness to bolster the credibility of their findings. But the overall thrust is a denunciation of the successful public health measures that limited COVID deaths in the first two years of the pandemic to 2,239, and an insistence that they never be implemented again.

The authors boldly declare: “There was no ongoing monitoring of proportionality of responses… Interventions such as lockdowns should only be used as a last resort, not as a frontline disease control measure.” In regards to lockdowns and other measures such as mask mandates, they complain: “Effectiveness was inferred from overall reported case numbers, but this is a very limited approach to evaluation and did not reveal which [restrictions] were effective and whether the stringency settings were right.”

Those unqualified assertions, denouncing measures that saved lives, are all the more striking, given that the report notes, “Australia would have had between 15 and 46 times the number of deaths if it had experienced the same COVID-related death rates as comparable countries like Canada and Sweden.” That is, but for the measures that the report denounces, hundreds of thousands, or even more than a million people would have perished out of a population of 25 million.

The report asserts that lockdowns and school closures damaged mental health and caused other negative impacts, such as an erosion of trust in public health authorities. The real concern is made evident by its dozens of references to the “economic” impact of such measures, which it states means they should have been ended sooner. The “economy,” in this case, is a reference to the profit-making demands of the largest corporations and banks, which dictated the adoption of a “let it rip” program.

To justify its claims, the report presents an entirely false narrative of the pandemic. It essentially asserts that the public health measures were imposed by force on a population that was skeptical and then increasingly hostile to them.

To the extent that credit is given for the life-saving public health measures of the first two years of the pandemic, it is to the governments and official institutions. And to the extent that responsibility is assigned for the “reopening” of the economy which led to mass death, it is to the population, which was supposedly braying against lockdown measures.

This turns reality on its head. When the pandemic began in early 2020, Australian governments, no less than their counterparts internationally, were intent on prioritising profit over lives. They implemented limited public health measures for several interrelated reasons. Going into the pandemic, Australia had one of the lowest rates of staffed hospital beds per capita. Governments knew that if the virus spread, the system would completely collapse.

This intersected with fears of mass opposition from the population. The first public health measures were implemented under the direct pressure of the working class, including health workers, teachers and others. The report is compelled to acknowledge that official directives for school closures in early 2020 were preempted by parents withdrawing their children and schools themselves shifting to online learning. But the implications of this, in terms of mass popular sentiment, are simply ignored.

The report is able to point to elements of the official response during the first two years of the pandemic that produced public anger. That included the extensive use of police and the military, above all targeting working-class areas of the major cities.

But the use of repressive state forces was not intrinsic to the public health measures. They had far more to do with the half-hearted character of the public health policies, which always included sweeping exemptions for business, particularly impacting low-paid and vulnerable sections of the working class, and fears of social upheaval, bound up with the growth of social inequality during the pandemic.

Notwithstanding this, the public health measures retained overwhelming support. In Queensland, Labor won a major victory in the 2020 state election, and in Western Australia it received a similar overwhelming response in March, 2021. In both instances, those results, bucking the trend of sharp swings against incumbents, were because the Labor governments were identified with the public health response. In Victoria, where lockdowns were the longest, a fact that was sharply denounced in the report, all contemporaneous polling indicated overwhelming support for the measures.

The real dynamic, covered up in the report, was a continuous campaign against this popular sentiment by the corporate press and the ruling elite. Everything was done to sow confusion, while the governments themselves were continuously looking for an opportunity to follow their counterparts in Europe and the US and adopt an open “let it rip” program.

One aspect of this was the ever greater promotion, by sections of the corporate and financial elite, of a virulent anti-lockdown movement. Demonstrations involving a tiny fraction of the population were given extensive airtime and their views were depicted as being representative of popular sentiment. The rallies were also centrally bound up with anti-vaccine misinformation, and in many instances were led by far-right and even fascist organisations.

With the arrival in Australia of Omicron in December, 2021, they found their excuse. The report simply lies, when it states, “Unfortunately Australia’s reopening coincided with the arrival of the even more transmissible Omicron variant in December 2021. In New South Wales and Victoria, ‘test, trace and isolate’ measures were pulled back because they could not sufficiently control the spread of this new variant.”

In reality, governments deliberately allowed Omicron to spread, and then invoked the increased transmission to justify a “reopening” of the economy. That was exemplified by the infamous statement of Paul Kelly, Australia’s Chief Medical Officer, who declared that Omicron was a “Christmas present” because it would justify the end of public health measures.

This statement, and the outright medical misinformation that was promoted at the time, including claims that Omicron was “mild” and that its spread would increase population immunity, are simply not mentioned in the report. In other words, the real crimes of governments, which resulted in the vast majority of Australia’s more than 25,000 deaths and counting, are excused. For a report detailing the pandemic response, the fact that masses of people died in early 2022 and all the way through to 2023 as a consequence is given extraordinarily short shrift. The other result of this program, in deliberately spreading mass confusion and promoting a popular indifference to public health, is similarly buried.

There are a host of recommendations. But none of them address the obvious issues needed to address the current pandemic and future ones. There is no call for an expansion of the public healthcare system, which is in its greatest crisis in decades, even worse than during the most acute phase of the COVID crisis. There is no reference to hospital-acquired COVID infections, which account for a substantial proportion of the ongoing deaths. There is no recommendation for air filtration measures to be rolled out, under conditions where principled epidemiologists insist that this is essential to addressing the dangers posed by airborne viruses such as COVID.

Instead, many of the recommendations focus on communication, i.e., government public relations and the need for greater consultation with business and other sections of the corporate elite.

A bogus methodology and lying assertions

The report has, predictably, been welcomed in the official press, with its “independence” and the esteem of its authors lauded and their conclusions denouncing the COVID restrictions cited uncritically. The report, however, would not survive a rigorous academic peer-review process.

“We heard that lockdowns have lost credibility with the Australian public,” one of the most quoted passages of the report declares. That may or may not be the case, but for so sweeping an assertion, one would expect a citation referencing serious research.

The inquisitive reader, who checks the footnote accompanying that declaration, will find “956: Meeting 157; Meeting 29; Meeting 67.” There is nothing in the report or anywhere else in the public domain about those meetings, including who participated in them.

That is a theme throughout the report. The authors state that across more than 250 meetings they had “consulted stakeholders on a ‘no attribution’ basis, which allowed frank and fearless discussions on a wide range of sensitive topics.” The “stakeholders” included government representatives, “community groups, industry, business and unions, and experts from a range of fields.”

In other words, many of the assertions in the report are the claims of anonymous individuals, likely politicians and business leaders directly responsible for the mass COVID deaths, who would not even put their names to their self-justifying statements.

This method, already dubious, is used by the authors to place completely false and unscientific statements in the report. For instance: “A stakeholder suggested decision-making did not adequately consider international evidence that pointed to low rates of transmission in schools and reduced health risks to children and young people.” There is simply no such evidence. Every school reopening was followed by mass outbreaks.

Elsewhere, the authors themselves make claims that they do not even attempt to substantiate. For instance, they declare: “The risk of developing long COVID reduced with the latest variants.” There is no footnote, no explanation and no proof for that assertion.

When they do reference academic studies and official figures, the authors on occasion present the data misleadingly.

In the section about the impact of public health measures on young people, which particularly condemns the school closures, they write “The rate of intentional self-harm hospitalisations for females aged 15 to 19 years spiked in 2020 to 2021.” But if one checks the actual data, an almost identical spike occurred in 2017‒18. If one were to attribute the tragic 2020‒21 spike to COVID and public health measures, one would have to also explain why a major spike occurred prior to the pandemic.

Other examples could be cited.

Another source prominently featured in the report are the results of “focus groups” and “interviews” which supposedly provide an insight into popular opinion. Just 176 people participated. And again, the methodology is highly suspect. The inquiry decided to focus on the experiences of certain cohorts, including Indigenous people and those with disabilities, meaning that aside from the minuscule sample size, the survey results are non-representative.

More troublingly, among the eleven “vulnerable” cohorts selected were anti-vaxxers. Their anti-scientific views are uncritically relayed in the report, despite the fact that they are a tiny minority. While over 95 percent of Australian adults have had at least two COVID shots, opponents of vaccination constituted up to 13 percent of the survey respondents.

Yet the report lends credibility to the anti-vax argument. “The Inquiry heard many personal stories from the pandemic, including on the use of COVID-19 vaccines,” it states. “Some of these were profoundly tragic. These may not stand out against whole of population safety figures, but we are thankful for the time and bravery of those who came forward to share their stories of injury following vaccination.”

There is simply no basis for the comparisons between the toll of the virus and the impact of adverse vaccine events. Official figures indicate that 14 people have potentially died as a result of adverse reactions to vaccines, under conditions where an estimated 71,054,100 doses have been administered. The mass vaccination has undoubtedly contributed to saving tens if not hundreds of thousands of lives.

The genuflection of the authors to the anti-vaccine layers points to the assault on public health entailed in the adoption of the “let it rip” COVID policies. While they waffle on about the need to “rebuild” trust in public health and vaccination, the authors themselves seek to undermine it as they fulfill their mandate of producing a tendentious report that will be used to prevent any public health response to future pandemics.

The authors claim that elimination of the virus was impossible. But that is refuted by the experiences in Australia and globally. Australian governments rejected an elimination strategy on the grounds that it would be too costly. But the public health measures they were compelled to implement in the first two years of the pandemic repeatedly eliminated transmission in major population centres. In New Zealand and China, whose governments did initially adopt elimination, the same basic truth was established.

What was also made clear is that elimination could not be maintained in a single country or region. It required a unified global effort, and one that rejected the subordination of health and lives to the profit interests of the ruling elite. But that is impossible under capitalism. The real lesson of the pandemic is that the fight for the social rights of the population, including the elimination of COVID and the prevention of future disasters, requires a movement of the working class aimed at establishing an international socialist society.

[tartlette1968]

The opinion polls were right, not that we had reason to doubt them.

It is hard to even feel this despair, let alone describe it.

We have two animals on our Coat Of Arms, the kangaroo and the emu, chosen because they don't walk backwards. Our national anthem belts out the words, "Advance Australia fair". Yet going forwards, moving, changing is always met with awful resistance. The referendum is just one more moment of needless caution.

Three fifths of the country rejected the proposed alteration to the Constitution, but it goes further than that. A portion of the "No" vote were voting no, no just to a Constitution change, but to the entire principle of the Voice.

In any case, the country has lost.

[allthebrazilianpolitics]

Brazil postpones visa requirements for U.S., Canada and Australia citizens to April

Brazilian officials say they have postponed for the second time the reintroduction of requirements to obtain tourist visas for citizens of the U.S., Australia and Canada

Brazil postponed for the second time the reintroduction of requirements to obtain tourist visas for citizens of the U.S., Australia and Canada, officials said.

Former president Jair Bolsonaro scrapped the visa requirements in 2019 to support the tourism industry, but the three countries continued to demand visas from Brazilians. The South American country requires visas from travelers based on principles of historical reciprocity and equal treatment.

The government initially postponed the visa implementation on Oct. 1. President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva in September then set Jan. 10 as the new deadline. On Thursday night, Brazil's presidency said it would be postponed yet again till April. 10.

Continue reading.