Notices by Tim Richards (timrichards@aus.social)

That would be my number one suggestion too - largely removing cars from the Melbourne CBD. It has often been done in European cities, it could work here as well.

"An underground network for moving goods and waste on conveyor belts, transforming empty shops into free spaces for artists and a car-free Hoddle Grid are among the 50 big ideas to emerge from a major summit discussing what Melbourne might look like in 2050."

#Melbourne https://www.theage.com.au/national/victoria/the-cbd-s-future-is-car-free-and-open-all-hours-say-these-big-thinkers-20250509-p5lxvh.html

Seeing we've just had a federal election, let me recommend this book I've been reading which explains how Australia over time developed the distinctive features of its voting system: including compulsory voting, preferential voting, widespread absent voting, independent electoral authorities, etc. Also how Australia very early on gave women the vote and invented the secret ballot. And of course how Saturday voting and the mighty democracy sausage came about!

Sounds like a dry topic but I found it fascinating; Judith Brett does a good job of showing us the personalities behind the various reforms each step of the way. Worth a read, especially if you've ever wondered why Australia's voting system is so unusual in many ways.

More details here: https://www.textpublishing.com.au/books/from-secret-ballot-to-democracy-sausage-how-australia-got-compulsory-voting

#auspol #book #books #politics #Australia #history

I don't give a damn how nice Dutton is to his family and pets. This was a "leader" who never missed an opportunity to punch down or to throw minorities under the bus if he thought there was a vote in it. He had poisonous political instincts and it's a relief to see him gone.

(Yes we in Melbourne will never forget his "African gangs" comments. And attacking the Welcome to Country last week - after the topic was put on the agenda by a neo-Nazi - was a new low.)

#auspol https://www.smh.com.au/politics/federal/on-election-night-we-finally-saw-dutton-s-armour-crack-it-was-too-little-too-late-20250504-p5lwe1.html

Yeah I agree with this. If you've travelled all the way to Japan and find yourself eating McDonald's, you've made a bad life choice. I mean, it's not even good food in the West. Also, ramen!

#japan #food #travel https://www.smh.com.au/traveller/reviews-and-advice/mcdonald-s-in-japan-some-tourists-are-too-tasteless-to-travel-20250429-p5lv4k.html

They're putting in the latte art effort at Axil today. Here's a swan on the Magic. #coffee #cafe #Melbourne

@multiverseofbadness I've noticed that from the perspective of a pedestrian. I assume those idiots are on their phones.

Thoroughly recommend this movie and the subsequent TV series, about the challenges facing a team working in a fine dining restaurant in London. Tense at times! The initial movie is one long 90-minute shot, which is a thing of beauty. In Australia you can see Boiling Point on SBS on Demand.

https://www.sbs.com.au/ondemand/movie/boiling-point/2245293635835

#tv

Seriously, don’t bother visiting the US until 2029. That's my advice. Plenty of fascinating and more welcoming countries out there.

#travel https://www.smh.com.au/traveller/reviews-and-advice/entering-the-us-has-become-more-fraught-here-s-what-you-need-to-know-20250407-p5lpny.html

@skinnylatte I like your approach. I was in hospital a couple of years ago and got a hot tip on an Ethiopian restaurant from a staff member working there.

This book sounds interesting.

Review of 'Mood Machine: The Rise of Spotify and the Cost of the Perfect Playlist' by Liz Pelly.
https://www.smh.com.au/culture/books/how-spotify-s-techno-capitalism-is-stamping-on-the-face-of-humanity-20250403-p5lowg.html

RIP Kerry Greenwood, author of the Phryne Fisher books.

#book #books #Melbourne https://www.smh.com.au/culture/books/kerry-greenwood-author-behind-miss-fisher-s-murder-mysteries-dies-at-70-20250407-p5lpoc.html

I wouldn't want to be a PR person promoting travel to the US right now. Very unappealing.

"Across the globe foreign visitors and their governments are now asking just how welcome travellers really are in the States these days. The land of the free could be morphing into a home for only the braver tourist."

#travel #USA https://www.smh.com.au/traveller/travel-news/an-australian-was-denied-us-entry-for-bizarre-reasons-he-s-not-alone-20250403-p5lov8.html

Had fun visiting Masak Masak in the remotest inland bit of Yarraville yesterday - joined @sister_ratched and @rowangrigg for lunch there. Great food, looked good and tasted good. :)

Cc @nihilistnomya @skinnylatte

So well put by George Monbiot. Applies to our tepid Labor government here in Australia too. People don’t want to be regarded only as economic units, and if you block leftist reform they reach for hard-right chaos.

"The democratic recession does not begin when a far-right party takes office. It begins when a centrist party crushes hope in democracy. When Keir Starmer’s government takes a chainsaw to people’s aspirations for a fairer, greener, kinder country, he cuts off not just faith in the Labour party but faith in politics itself. The almost inevitable result, as countries from the US to the Netherlands, Argentina to Austria, Italy to Sweden show, is to let the far right in."

#UKpol #USpol #auspol https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2025/mar/28/fascism-britain-neoliberalism-opened-door-for-it-labour

New at my Patreon... At the Melbourne Food & Wine Festival we visited pop-up events celebrating two diverse foodstuffs - fancy baked goods and the humble Aussie dim sim:

#australia #food #Melbourne https://web.internal.patreon.com/_ssr_data/posts/dateline-art-of-125417406

The "True Size" site is a fascinating way of comparing the actual size of countries. Here's Australia, superimposed on Europe - showing Cairns to Perth is similar to the distance from Moscow to Madrid.

#australia #europe #map #maps

@skinnylatte Come straight to Melbourne, cut out the middleman ;)

Spoiler: It's not your mum.
---
'Hi Mum' scam continues to trick parents three years on from first texts reported in Australia https://www.abc.net.au/news/2025-03-26/hi-mum-scam-texts-rise-public-education/105095266

#scam #scams

New at my Patreon... Within the Tin Shed at the Clunes Booktown Festival, I interview well-known ABC TV presenter Heather Ewart about her new book based on the TV series Back Roads:

https://www.patreon.com/posts/124898708

#book #books #festival #clunes #tv #travel #ClunesBookTown

@skinnylatte Does hell have good food though? ;)