— Australia's newest Knight Prince Phillip, inquiring with an Aboriginal leader in 2002 about the nuances of indigenous culture
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THE GIST. Prime Minister Tony Abbott awarded Australian Knighthood to two men yesterday: Prince Phillip (the Queen's husband) and Angus Houston, former Defence Chief.
QUEENSMAN. The titles 'Knight' and 'Dame' were traditionally awarded by the Prime Minister to men and women for outstanding services to Australia and/or the Commonwealth, but the government stopped the practice in 1986. Tony Abbott brought back the titles last year.
PURPLEREIGN. Making Prince Phillip a knight is a controversial move. The 93-year-old has made a string of public, often racist gaffes over his many years on the royal circuit. Tones described Sir Phillip's tenure as a "long life of service and dedication."
TISBUTASCRATCH. Abbott took full responsibility for the decision, admitting that his colleagues were in the dark about his "captain's pick." He also defended the decision against its internet backlash, calling the chirpings of the Twitterverse "electronic graffiti." Opposition Leader Bill Shorten was at his wittiest in reply, saying, "I wasn't quite sure it was serious until I realised it was." Zing?
THE GIST. The Greek election has been won by the 'anti-austerity' party Syriza. Their leader, Alexis Tsipras, has vowed to put an end to "five years of pain and humiliation."
RE-GIST. We covered Syriza last week - they're a political party whose name is an acronym for "Radical Coalition of the Left." After the GFC in 2008, the Greek economy fell apart and the government got 'bailout' loans from other European countries to prevent a total Greek collapse. But there was a big string attached, and its name was 'austerity' - i.e. massive cuts to government spending, and increased taxes. Syriza claimed victory on the back of a promise to get rid of, or at least re-negotiate, this arrangement.
EUPHORIA. Syriza's election-winning plan is to reverse cuts in spending, increase salaries and pensions and write off a whole lot of the nasty debt it owes to other Eurozone countries (over 7 billion Euros). Sounds good, but the Greek currency hit an 11-year low after the election results were announced, and global financial markets look set to suffer as well.
REALITY. Tsipras says he's willing to negotiate with other European leaders, and they're already out in force trying to contain the celebrations. The UK Finance Minister said the new government's promises are "going to be very difficult to deliver." German Bundesbank President Jens Weidmann was a little less diplomatic and a little more Godfather, saying Syriza better not "make promises it cannot keep and the country cannot afford."
Prison breaky. Reviewers on the website TripAdvisor have named a restaurant run by prisoners the best in Cardiff, the capital city of Wales. The Clink Restaurant is manned by inmates training to get catering qualifications, and according to one reviewer they provide service that was "better than we have had a some starred restaurants."
Nutty nomme. A recently born baby named 'Nutella' has been stripped of the title by a French judge, who ruled that it was the "trade name of a spread", and that it is "contrary to the child's interests" to have go through life with a name that would "only lead to teasing or disparaging thoughts." The judge re-named the child Ella.
Speccy stock. Renowned Bigfoot hunter, Tom Biscardi, is hoping to raise $3 million to fund his Saskwatch search by getting members of the public to buy shares and invest in his company, Bigfoot Project Enterprises. Biscardi's methods are controversial in the Bigfoot community: prominent Bigfooter Kathy Strain says, "It just makes it a big joke."
Anachronism Noun. Something that is not in its correct historical time, especially a thing or person that belongs to an earlier time: It would have been a real anachronism to make Prince Phillip a Knight of the Order of Australia...twenty years ago.
