This is an email from the Australian Spectator for the Queen’s Birthday long week-end. Friday 11 June ‘…is the start of the Queen’s Birthday long weekend for much of Australia. Double Shot is taking Monday morning off to scan the honours list and wonder why, yet again, his knighthood isn’t in it.
So today is a bumper long weekend Double Shot, with a feast of additional articles recommended for your enjoyment. Have a great long weekend!
- The PM arrives in Britain for the weekend’s G7 summit in Cornwall. Besides getting an agreement on a 15 per cent minimum level of company tax (but why they can’t also agree on a low maximum is beyond us), it’s clear G7 leaders and hangers-on will focus a lot of attention on the panda in the room – Xi Jinping’s China.
- All eyes will be on how US president Joe Biden performs. Will he be an effective leader of the free world, or will he be auditioning for the title role in a remake of Weekend at Bernie’s?
- Defence minister Peter Dutton is saying Australia’s Collins Class submarines will have $10 billion spent on them to keep them at sea until the French boats start arriving in the mid-2030s. That makes a $50 billion project at least $60 billion. As we commented on Monday, Mr Dutton should take a long hard look at why the French manned submarines are needed at all.
- Melbourne is sort of being let out of lockdown today, with figurative ankle bracelets keeping Melburnians within 25 kilometres from their homes until further notice. But Wednesday’s gracious permission to not wear masks outside was rescinded by the Andrews government after just 24 hours, with no substantial reason given. They want to maintain the false air of crisis and panic that makes meek compliance with the dictates of unelected officials more likely.’ https://spectator.com.au/
