Q&A star and Women’s Weekly covergirl Belinda Neal has kicked off her 2010 campaign for the NSW central coast seat of Robertson with a trivia night, hilariously hosted by repentant hubby John Della Bosca. Unfortunately, aggrieved members of local branches claim not to have been consulted about the event, which takes pride of place on the NSW ALP website:

The Robertson Trivia Night

Point Clare Community Hall, Brisbane Water Drive (opp. Point Clare train station)

07.11.2009

Belinda neal [sic] MP cordially invites you to attend The Robertson Trivia Night, hosted by John Della Bosca and Kerry Stratford. The event will be full of trivia and laughs, so be sure to come along.

The details of the event are as follows:

Time: 7pm Sharp

Date: Saturday, 7th November, 2009

Location: Point Clare Community Hall, Brisbane Water Drive (opp. Point Clare train station)

Cost: The cost of the event will be $20 p/p with a maximum of 8 people per table.

Complimentary Tea and Coffee will be available.
BYO Soft Drinks, Nibbles and Supper.

RSVP Details

Respond by: 26.10.2009

Kerry Stratford RSVP by 26th October xxxx@yahoo.com.au Kerry: xxxx xxx xxx (after 5pm)

The latest fundraiser follows July’s cancelled screening of Keating! The Musical at Woy Woy’s Cinema Paradiso, which was spiked after copyright issues apparently reared their ugly head.

Was there ever any chance A1GP was coming to the Gold Coast or was that just a ploy to keep the event alive? Given V8SC chairman Tony Cochrane has in the past been very disparaging and libellous towards the people running A1GP and the well documented woes of that body, did he just do this to keep V8SC’s nose in the Queensland government trough? And why did Anna Bligh allow it all to happen?

There are a lot of questions to ask about this event and the level of funding from the Queensland government, but it is not just the sports minister, it is the premier as well. Schoolies for Adults, and all funded by the Queensland government! Now it is not even an international event, so how do they justify it.

Saturday’s Sydney Morning Herald had a tragic story about the closure of the only school in NSW (the Palm Avenue School at Seaforth) that has a live-in program to teach rural dyslexic kids how to read.

According to the story, all the school’s teachers had been sacked; the kids would be sent instead to Westmead Hospital’s live-in program for students with psychiatric illness and severe behavioural problems.

A truly heart-wrenching story — these kids are neither stupid nor mentally ill; they just need to be taught with different methods from most kids. Except … the story isn’t true. The school is relocating … and as of Monday the SMH hasn’t printed a retraction, despite the horror the article has caused the many who need and treasure the school.

I recently read your article on Coles and their liquor stores. I found it really interesting especially the comments around the sales pricing. I just wanted to mention something that has annoyed me for a while. Dan Murphy’s policy of only having men as part of their wine team. The quote below is from a recent publication from Dan Murphy himself.

“I have gathered a band of experts around me who enjoy the old style wine merchant scene — all skilled and knowledgeable wine men who could hold their heads in any wine company”.

I appreciate that it is an old quote but to reprint it today is offensive to anybody who works in the industry. Their latest wine buyers guide (edition 3) goes further to illustrate that only men know about wine showing their full team of wine experts — all middle-aged, grey haired men! Today there are increasing numbers of female winemakers and wine industry people. I think that Dan’s need to take their heads out of the sand, stop alienating 50% of wine consumers and stop suggesting to the wine drinking community that you only know something about wine if you’re male!

Never mind agro forestry failures in Australia … the SMH online has ads flogging Brazilian Eucalyptus (i.e. another weed species) plantations…

“Coincidence or copy”. Is Kerry Stokes looking to SelecTV for ideas?