last minute Christmas presents

  God only knows how they did it with the postal workers strike but  tSS was delighted to receive on Boxing Day, 2 books for Christmas that have brought us much delight. One is the 'Complete Prophecies of Nostradamus' by Mario Reading , a weighty tome from which we will bring you some compelling revelations for the future shortly in 2010.




  The other was 'Alison Jackson Confidential', the second publication by this brilliant and very funny photographer. By a remarkable co-incidence Britain's Daily Mail today has run a series of Alison's very funny snaps reputedly of HRH The Queen going about London, one of which we re-produce with no apologies but at least we'll give you the link. Hey, the Mail routinely nicks our stories and pics without attribution but we are perfect gentlemen, if little else.
      Alison's books really are a hoot and feature celebrity look-a-likes with such clever lighting and poses you could never pick them from the real thing.

For the full set of the Daily Mail pics go to the Mail on Line's "Is That The Queen in Tescos?"

As to whether Australia becomes a Republic and with talk of such, expected to ramp up next year with Republican sympathiser PM Kevin Rudd in one corner and Monarchist Opposition Leader Tony Abbot ( a former amateur boxer to boot) in the other, the last word goes to the brilliant editor of the law journal Justinian Richard Akland about the popular choice for our first president, the recently retired High Court judge and world respected jurist Michael Kirby.

         Shuttlers will re-call Kirby, while still sitting on the bench of the High Court of Australia, 'outed' himself in 1999 in his Who's Who entry by quietly naming his long term partner as a Dutch born newsagent, Johan van Vloten.

          The howls of outrage were deafening even with an attempt in Parliament to bring m'learned Judge down via a concocted scandal involving rent boys supposedly picked up at Sydney's infamous under-age prostitute hang-out The Wall, by Kirby cruising about in his chauffeured Commonwealth car. He survived it all to retire this year. As Justinian reports :

"Geoffrey Robertson QC, the plummy barrister, wrote a critique of Kirby's contribution to society and the law: ''Once again, you must be Mr President - not of the NSW Court of Appeal but of the Australian nation … It must be President Kirby, and if homophobes snigger that you have become 'The Queen of Australia', just make the monarchists curtsy to you.''"

     

              Johan van Vloten & and partner Justice Michael Kirby

just for fun

Richard Neville and portrait

Martin Sharp & Neville Wran

One of the nation's true eccentrics, artist Martin Sharp has been given his first retrospective exhibition by the National Trust at the Sydney Museum. Sharp designed record album sleeves for 1960's greats like Cream and Jimi Hendrix and was the illustrator for the infamous Oz Magazine which landed many of it's originators including Sharp in jail twice-in Australia and England. In both the highly publicized cases the defendants were finally released upon appeal and in the course of the trials helped relax strict censorship laws in both countries.

The English trial defending barrister was a young Geoffrey Robertson QC-now a pillar of the British establishment whilst in Sydney another bright young barrister Neville Wran QC helped free the accused.

Wran, now in his 80s and a darling of the left went onto to become NSW premier for many years and launched Sharp's show with a speech about the trial , describing the jailing magistrate as a 'mongrel' to much applause.
No Sharp exhibition would be complete without works based on the showman Tiny Tim whom Sharp helped launch into stardom.