Category: John Mikkelsen
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The Mighty Lions, Cazaly and Young Mikko
by John Mikkelsen, ©2026 (Sep. 28, 2026) — Just when I needed a break from depressing politics dominating the air waves and print media, the see-sawing battle of the titans in the AFL Grand Final provided the antidote, with the Brisbane Lions pulling off a dramatic three-peat Premiership over the Fremantle Dockers. When it had…
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Armageddon and Artificial Intelligence
by John Mikkelsen, ©2026 (Sep. 17, 2026) — Just when some online worry-warts and so-called “climate experts” are starting to ease a little on warnings that the end is nigh thanks to an era of global boiling, we have a new doomsday scenario to contend with which could make all that redundant by the end…
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Throwing the First Stone
by John Mikkelsen, ©2026 (Sep. 11, 2026) — There’s a quote I remember from my Sunday School days that has been brought to mind by this week’s news headlines and political hit jobs: “Let he who is without sin cast the first stone.” Those words were spoken by Jesus when Scribes and Pharisees brought a woman…
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Facts, Fiction, and Institutional Hypocrisy Coming to Local Libraries
by John Mikkelsen, ©2026 (Jul. 15, 2026) — Who’d have guessed that a quick read of an email from our local library would have caused me to almost spill my morning cup of cappuccino as I laughed at the irony and sheer hypocrisy of an upcoming “Matter of Facts Workshop” on misinformation. That topic could be…
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Artificial Intelligence and the Elephant in the Data Room
by John Mikkelsen, ©2026 (Jul. 8, 2026) — Artificial Intelligence is a major issue these days for all sorts of reasons ranging from union concerns over likely job losses to the big question mark hanging over its huge energy appetite, but there’s another fat elephant in the room – can it be trusted as a…
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The Truth is Out There, Donald
by John Mikkelsen, ©2026 (Jun. 1, 2026) — With no clear end in view to the Middle East war, critics are probably partly right in claiming US President Donald Trump has chosen to release numerous files of UFO sightings as an attempt to divert public gaze from stalled peace talks with Iran. But even if the…
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It’s Not a Lie, I Just Changed My Position Your Honour
by John Mikkelsen, ©2026 (May 18, 2026) — While Australia’s Federal Labor Budget has copped a lot of flak from investors and potential property buyers including young people it is supposed to help, it may have created a new defence loophole in legal cases it was never designed to influence. Anyone facing charges of perjury…
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Let’s Turn Back Time, Albo.
by John Mikkelsen, ©2026 (Apr. 10, 2026) — Australia’s Prime Minister in one of his frequently mundane news conferences recently reminded us that “we can’t turn back the clock” when it comes to issues like multiculturalism and economic reform. Well maybe the PM in his DJ Albo guise had a couple of lines from his…
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Whatever Happened to “Keeping the Bastards Honest?”
by John Mikkelsen, ©2025 (Dec. 31, 2025) — There’s an old hackneyed joke about how you can tell a politician is lying – his or her lips are moving. But has it become so commonplace these days that some people just accept it as a fact of life under Australia’s present Labor Government? That’s where…
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Net Zero on Energy Promises
by John Mikkelsen, ©2025 (Dec. 16, 2025) — As we wind down to the dawn of a new year, it’s worth recapping how Australia’s Labor Government has delivered “net zero” on some major energy promises. At the time of writing, there are still a couple of weeks for PM Anthony Albanese to see out his pledge repeated…
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Nothing Sexy about This Sticky Tax Web
by John Mikkelsen, ©2025 (Oct. 29, 2025) — Who’d have thought tax could potentially be an issue for the Sex Discrimination Commissioner or an example of women’s rights breaking an acceptable nexus between male and female? I know many politicians and bureaucrats struggle to define what “female” actually means these days and some states only require a…
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Wartime History Reduced to Rubble
by John Mikkelsen, ©2025 (Aug. 18, 2025) — Last Friday (August 15, 2025) marked the 80th anniversary of VJ Day, when victory over Japan finally ended World War 2. But as celebrations and ceremonies took place, very few of us would be aware that a structure in the north Queensland bush near Townsville had played…
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The Great Barrier Reef Keeps on Living
by John Mikkelsen, ©2025 (Aug. 9, 2025) — It’s a living thing, what a terrible thing to lose…. When the Electric Light Orchestra (ELO) recorded their big hit back in the ‘70s they could have been referring to the Great Barrier Reef, although frontman Jeff Lynne insists it was really just about lost love. The…
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Labor’s Litany of Lies
by John Mikkelsen, ©2025 (Apr. 26, 2025) — With time running out in the countdown to the May 3 Federal election, Australia’s future may well depend on how many voters believe Labor’s repetitive litany of lies. There’s a long list as revealed in the site https://www.laborlies.com.au/ but for me there are a couple of standouts –…
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Surviving the Storm
by John Mikkelsen, ©2025 (Mar. 11, 2025) — Everyone is probably fed up to their eye teeth with cyclone talk after Ex Tropical Cyclone Alfred has stopped pirouetting and taken his final bows before exiting stage left and leaving a trail of damage in his wake, but there are some lessons to be learnt. It…
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Rate Cut Won’t Help Albo Much
by John Mikkelsen, ©2025 (Feb. 20, 2025) — The RBA’s decision to cut interest rates by 0.25 Percent this week should have come as no surprise in the current political climate, with an election looming and the Albanese Labor Government desperate to claw back some credibility. But… the Reserve Bank is independent and doesn’t succumb to…
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Another Green Dream Bites the Dust
by John Mikkelsen, ©2025 (Feb. 5, 2025) — When Queen front man Freddie Mercury belted out the chorus to Another One Bites the Dust back in 1980, he would never have imagined those lyrics could have been a wake up call for today’s green dream believers and in particular the Albanese Labor Government. Freddie strutted…
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Green Aluminium? Tell Albo He’s Dreaming
by John Mikkelsen, ©2025 (Jan. 21, 2025) — A famous line in an Australian film almost three decades old is the first thought that came to mind when I heard Labor’s latest renewable energy pipe dream – $2 billion to subsidise “green aluminium” production. “Tell him he’s dreaming” was uttered by Darryl Kerrigan’s main character in The…
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Will BOM Bomb its Forecasts and Could AI Do Better?
by John Mikkelsen, ©2025 (Jan. 5, 2025) — As we head into 2025 with Australia living up to its reputation of a land of huge weather contrasts, our farmers are not the only people wondering if our national weather forecaster, the Bureau of Meteorology, will get it right this year. It’s a very valid question,…