Australia Day

It's Australia Day on January 28 and we all get a day off to celebrate....well, what exactly?

This year, for those in doubt, the Australian Government has helpfully commissioned ads, enjoing us to "celebrate what's great" and provides a checklist for the day. It includes "overcook a variety of meats on semi-hygienic BBQs" and "make a disparaging remark about English cricket." You could then "fill your togs (swimming costume) with sand" and "exercise your democratic right to give dead-arms."

Even Australians are baffled about why they've done it. It's mildly amusing, if predictable, but hardly worth bothering with on that score. The best explanation seems to be to prove that the country, under Labor, is now run by a bunch of ordinary blokes and sheilas, and not by those effete Liberal toffs.

By the way, one of those sheilas, the Deputy Prime Minister, Julia Gillard, lived in Newport, South Wales, until she was eight and her parents emigrated.

Relax.....

It's always interesting to see what Australian news items make it in the international media and to see how others view the country. BBC News Online had this today and it's about a piece of research that shows that more people in the UK are more likely than in Australia to have heart attacks when watching sport.

No surprise, really. I recall hearing a Kiwi comedienne talking about watching the Socceroos exit the World Cup with a bunch of Aussies. After weeks of hysteria, their demise was greeted with a shrug and "Oh well, there you go." Everything is more relaxed here and it's probably due to a combination of sunshine, space (there's only 20 million of us), and the knowledge that there's always another beer, barbecue or beach just round the corner.

Of course, that doesn't apply to those actually competing, as the England cricket team knows to its cost. I'm grateful to The Guardian for reminding them that "it ain't over til the fat boy spins." Of course, the writer was referring to Shane Warne.