The Great Fairy Bread Scandal

It's a delicacy that has delighted Aussie children for decades. No birthday party for any child under 10 is worth it's salt if the caterer doesn't supply copious quantities of the unique Ausse delicacy: Fairy Bread. A simple concoction: white bread and butter (nothing healthy like Rye)and covered with hundreds and thousands.

So it was understandable that the mighty Rupert Murdoch News Corp empire and it's dozens of newspaper outlets screeched shock, horror when it got wind that a sinister anonymous "woke" mob were demanding a change to the name. The moniker Fairy Bread was deemed an insult to , well we aren't quite sure what..fairies?. We'll never know as for some reason the tale which swept the tabloid pages of the Murdoch tabloids have inexplicably vanished

Possibly because the whole thing was a hoax but by whom? That's still a mystery. Radio annnouncer Ben Fordham had already declared the mini drama a scam during the week but News Corp scribes were not having it. Until Friday that is when the penny finally dropped. At least the mini scandal has delighted fierce Murdoch critic and ex-prime Minster Kevin Rudd who has gleefully tweeted news of the minor furor to his million plus Twitter followers.

. The only real mystery is why the wondrous Daily Mail /MailOnline didn't pick up and run with the hoax. Right up their alley.

She's back !

How pleasing to see our favorite chanteuse and actress Maria Venuti made it to the Bong Bong Picnic Races this week. Maria suffered a stroke earlier this year after she found a stranger in her living room. But she's looking much better and as always, larger than life. Maria is pictured here with two Southern Highlands' residents broadcaster Alan Jones and the always stylish Glen Marie Frost.

There was a time when the Picnic Races had to be cancelled for a number of years due to the attendees imbibing just a little too much in alcoholic refreshments and basically running amok. Now they have returned to calmer times and really are a wonderful day out in a superb location.

Noticeable attendees: broadcaster Alan Jones who tends to be to the right of politics but his new friendship with the former Australian Labor Party candidate for Prime Minister Mark Latham has taken on all the attributes of a bromance. Latham seems to have veered to the right at a rapid pace and now writes for the right-wing website Rebel Media and when he's not castigating "snowflakes" he's cosying up to that Milo character or getting stuck into former Labor colleagues like ex-PM Kevin Rudd and former NSW premier Kristina Keneally who has a real chance of picking up the Bennelong seat in the upcoming by-election which could put Labor in power and PM Malcolm Turnbull out.

We digress: Latham and Jones have teamed up to give the world just what it needs- another cookbook as Mark tweeted with the accompanying photo : "Here we are in the kitchen enjoying the great story about Alan's sultana scone recipe. One of many cracking recipes to feature in the book.'
We can't wait.

Shuttle history on sale

A photograph taken by a Social Shuttle contributor is for sale on Ebay and currently stands at $660  $810. It's a snap of former Prime Minsters Gough Whitlam, Paul Keating and Bob Hawke with the then Labor Opposition Leader Kim Beazley and it's signed by all four leaders. 25 signed copies were produced and many have re-sold for much higher sums
You can bid here : http://cgi.ebay.com.au/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=261277166245

It's Rudd by a Whisker

In all matters astrological we usually turn to Britain's up and coming top stargazer Victor Olliver but so busy is he with his new book Lifesurfing: Your Horoscope Forecast Guide 2014 , now an Amazon bestseller, we have turned to another expert, Marjorie Orr  for a forecast on the September 7th General Election.
It doesn't look too hot for either Tony Abbott or Kevin Rudd but Marjorie seems to see Rudd holding on. Another 'hung' parliament ?. Both leaders have said they won't deal with the minor parties- well they would say they wouldn't they - personally, the Shuttle reckons hung parliaments are all the rage and keep our politicians on their toes as exampled by Julia Gillard's tenure where she managed to negotiate over 300 pieces of legislation.
Over to Ms Orr :

Australian Election - hums and haws  From: Marjorie. (07 Aug 2013 17:48): 
The Australian Election on 7 September will now be two days before the bad tempered Mars in Leo square Saturn rather than a few days after when it was set by Julia Gillard for 14th Sept. So not a generally happy result. Indeed the Australia country chart has tr Pluto conjunct the Sun/Saturn midpoint then so feels like a real drear. Aussies not in chipper spirits.

There's the usual mixter maxter on both charts with no birth time for Tony Abbot.

Marjorie Orr

Kevin Rudd, 21 Sept 1957 12.07pm, has the strongest influence of tr Pluto trine Jupiter/Uranus which helped oust Julia Gillard tho' it disappears briefly in the days following the election. Aside from that he has tr Saturn conjunct his Venus which can denote unpopularity and conjunct his Solar Arc Mercury which can be discouraging; a couple of droopy tr Neptune trine Saturn midpoints which don't look reassuring; and tr Saturn moving to conjunct Jupiter/Saturn a few days later which again is minorly downbeat.

Tony Abbot has tr Neptune trine one Mars midpoint and tr Saturn conjunct Sun/Neptune, neither of which look cheerful. But he does have tr Jupiter trine and sextile Jupiter/Saturn and Jupiter/Uranus. And he may have useful aspects to Ascendant and Midheaven which we don't know with no birth time.
He is certainly running into major problems within a year as his Solar Arc Pluto is then conjunct his Mars/Neptune midpoint. But the same is true of Rudd since he has Solar Arc Neptune square Sun Mars within a year as well. 
Rudd was elected on the party switch round on a Sun Jupiter conjunction trine Neptune trine Saturn which should stand him in good stead. Abbot's opposition party is just ahead in the polls but I wouldn't be surprised if Rudd hung on. But it isn't a clear cut call at all even given the normal uncertainties of election charts."

Copy This ! : Designer's Anger at Newspaper

Strong words have been appeared on Facebook with professional Australian designers expressing their disgust at an advertisement that appeared in the Fairfax newspaper The Sun Herald on the weekend.
Heidi Dokulil, former editor of Monument Magazine and co-founder of the respected Australian Design Unit posted:
 "SMH you should be ashamed of yourself! Yesterday's advertorial for copycat furniture placed opposite the work of an absolute design legend is disgusting. The headline 'make a classic choice' rubs salt in the wound and shows just how low some major newspapers are going to make advertising $$. Design rip-offs hurt the industry and the thousands of hardworking local designers. What next SMH, a feature on Coco Chanel flanked by fakes? I'd like to see how that goes down".  Ouch !.
 Other designers have condemned the positioning of the advert for 'replica' Eames furniture and were busy arranging an email campaign to the Sun Herald. Some have forwarded a complaint to Media Watch. 
An Eames original can sell for around $5400 while the Taiwanese copy, sold out of a showroom in inner Sydney goes for just $1800. In 2011 the US Henry Miller company which distributes furniture designed by the legendary Americans Charles and Ray Eames reached a settlement with the distributor but they are still trading on the valuable Eames name.

left : a genuine Eames chair and right : the "replica"

The Double Bay newspaper Latte Life found recently when it discovered a local shop flogging handbags that looked identical to well known brands like Gucci and Louis Vuitton, that the law is difficult to get enforced and authorities can be apathetic much to the annoyance of other shopkeepers in the Bay selling genuine goods. 
China is famous for producing 'replicas' (today's speak for rip-off) of just about anything including a Rolls Royce Phantom, Mini Cooper and the humble Toyota Corolla. While the Rolls copy, labelled a Geely GE sells for just $30,000  a genuine Rolls Phantom can cost up to $1M.
 Australia is not new to rip off designs. In the days before the Internet one fashion store chain owner turned property developer was known for having models and friends regularly bring back a suitcase of the latest London and Paris designs which were whipped up into copies in local factories and on sale within days of their appearance on the international catwalks  
                                             ********************************
As the election campaign revs into high gear, a 'replica' front page newspaper war has also broken out on Facebook after the Daily Telegraph published it's front page attack upon prime Minster Kevin Rudd.
Those firmly in the Labor camp were furious and a replica was soon on-line replacing KRudd with Tony Abbott. By the end of the day Rupert Murdoch's face had replaced Abbott's. By midnight News Ltd journalists were in the firing line.
And this is just Day One !

Julia As You Have Never Seen Her

Dancing on stage in the early 90s at a birthday party for fellow Emily Lister and premier of Victoria Joan Kirner who is at the microphone.

Below : those naughty Madame Tussaud's mob today placed their Julia Gillard waxwork outside a dole office.

Superman Fails Julia

In the end, the pleadings of superstar Russell Crowe couldn't save Australia's first female Prime Minister Julia Gillard from the combined attacks from Kevin Rudd and the chorus line of media hacks at News Ltd, Fairfax and the ABC.
Here is Julia Gillard's elegant resignation speech. But following is her real speech- the one she wanted to say channeled by comedienne Jackie Loeb.

exclusive video: Kevin Rudd stalks Julia Gillard

No Dramas at Bill's Show

Ros Oxley & Bill Henson

David Wenhem & Kate Agnew

 The last time the Shuttle attended a Bill Henson show at Ros Oxley's Gallery in Paddington we encountered the State wallopers barring entry and piling the exhibits into a large paddy wagon. Oh for the publicity!.
It spread around the world and even had then PM Kevin Rudd proclaiming the photographs-some of teens - 'disgusting' (although he said hadn't actually seen them) while the Opposition leader Malcolm Turnbull declared them to be art (and as he owned a Henson I guess he would).

SBS TV's Jenny Brockie

Thursday night's opening was a rather sedate affair but all the better for seeing Henson's latest works which really are quite beautiful. The new exhibition  marks the return of Henson’s fascination with the human form, after a 2010 show of landscape photography. In an interview for the Sydney Morning Herald, Henson told art critic John McDonald the exhibition : “will focus more on the body, and less on landscape”. There are 18 works in total and editions of 5 of each at a cool $30,000 a go which makes around $2,500,000 worth of art on the walls. Get out those Box Brownies now and start snapping away.

John Moriarty admires the art

Watch the video below of the 2008 police raid on the gallery.
Bill Henson : 20 Sep-13 Oct Roslyn Oxley9 Gallery, 8 Soudan Ln, Paddington 2021  

Many Men Of Influence

Kelvin Ho

Nick Tobias

To Chiswick in Woolahra for Men's Style magazine's Men of Influence to meet some movers and shakers under the age of 45 from the worlds of business, the arts, design, sports, fashion, management, the media and more.

Top bookmaker Tom Waterhouse & wife Hoda

Michael & Jo Slater

Some of those to make this year's list : actor Lachy Hulme, about to appear in Beaconsfield and later to play Kerry Packer in the Nine network production screening later this year; Josh Lawson, the star of Any Questions for Ben; Daniel Henshall, who scared the hell out of us as John Bunting in Snowtown; the host of Mornings on Nine, David Campbell; swimming’s newest superstar James Magnussen; pop sensation Gotye; Australian cricket captain Michael Clarke; sports presenting all-rounder Michael Slater, and; former wunderkind Kevin Rudd press secretary and now Today show political commentator Lachlan Harris. 
 The night was hosted by Men's Style editor Michael Pickering who says: “Influence can be a hard concept to define but each of these men is inspirational and influential both within and outside their fields. I've found successful people generally have something useful to say about what they have learnt on the journey and that is certainly the case with the men on this year’s list.” 

Paul & Catherine Anderson

Also on the list : founder of the international phenomenon Freelancer.com Matt Barrie, aggressive online retailer Ruslan Kogan and BigCommerce founders Eddie Machaalani and Mitchell Harper. Paralympic wheelchair champion Kurt Fearnley, veteran league champion Nathan Hindmarsh, Wallaby and charity worker David Pocock and GWS co-captain Luke Power.

And one not on the list ; Chiswick owner Matt Moran who has turned Chiswick restaurant into the uber place to be seen. On a blustery Autumn rainy Tuesday evening the place was packed. I'm told on weekends it's almost impossible to get a table unless you book well ahead.

Influential chef and restauranteur Matt Moran surveys a packed Chiswick

Marjorie Orr on Kevin & Julia

Never has an Australian prime minister had to work so hard to justify their existence as Julia Gillard since ousting Kevin Rudd in a party room coup in 2010.

The general public show little interest in Kevin Rudd replacing her but there’s every chance that a leadership spill may become a self-fulfilling event (certainly if News Corp has it away).

Monday’s much touted but disappointing ABC TV 4 Corners program regurgitated claims from 2010 and was much ado about nought, not unlike the great Canberra ‘riot’ of Australia Day when dozens of AFP officers dramatically bustled the PM and Opposition Leader Tony Abbott through a largely docile crowd who had minutes before been merely tapping vigorously on a restaurant window, gesticulating at the two politicians shouting insults no worse than ‘shame shame’. 

Where will it all end?. Perhaps internationally famous Astrology Marjorie Orr has a tip.

 According to Orr (sans the Pluto trines and Uranus square Pluto and other technical jargon):

Julia Gillard’s PMship chart, 24 June 2010 1.03pm is labouring mightily this year with…. by mid-March which is often a sign of an administration's collapse. If by a miracle she survives that destabilising influence returns later in the year...and so on. 

Basically it sounds like Mars and Jupiter may do her in by late 2012.

But there’s more as in Kevin Rudd’s chart:

Kevin Rudd - whom as I recollect no one actually liked when he was in power (in fact he was more popular than any  Oz leader in history, except within the Labor Party Caucus where he was detested) - does have lucky/successful influences in early March especially though he looks to be sagging badly from May onwards….. But he's certainly for all that in a bullish mood through the year with tr Pluto square his Jupiter and tr Uranus in opposition.

Julia is a Libran and Kevin a (by all accounts-the bitchy type ) Virgo.  Virgos holds grudges. For a long time.

So it’s business as usual and Julia will plod on while Rudd plots on, enjoys the speculation and News Corp fans the flames. Which means God forbid, another two years of this.

Winner Of The Week!

She's one feisty lady and sharp as a tack. She got our attention in 2010 when she clambered to the back of utility truck in a Subiaco oval (that's Perth's ritziest suburb)  pearls jangling around her neck, and thrust her arms in the air while gold bangles cascaded down her wrists chanting  :

" we will not stand for this unfair tax...billionaires united- will never be defeated!" (or words to that effect).

Within two months the prime minster Kevin Rudd's career crashed and his replacement Julia Gillard cut back the proposed 40% 'super profits' mining tax to around 30%.

On Sunday West Australia mining magnate Gina Rinehart  barely struggled by on $10 billion. Today that fortune doubled to a staggering  $20 billion when Gina's mining corporation Hancock Prospecting sold 15% of the Pilbara-based Roy Hill project to South Korean steel giant Posco.

The Posco investment pushes Rinehart's combined wealth up to nearly $20 billion, based on the increased value of her holding in the mines.

                                                          But wait-there's more......


Last year the giant Citicorp released a report on Gina's mine holdings and reckoned she is on track to become the world's richest person worth possibly $100 billion. That leaves Bill Gates ($59B) and Carlos Slim Helu ($74B) eating her dust.

Only two women are wealthier than our Gina- French L'Oreal heiress Lillian Bettencourt (left) with $23B and American Christy Walton (Waltons stores) with $24B. She'll see them off by the end of the decade !.

New York, New York-If I can can make it there...

   Daniel Garofali, Matty Bee, Joan Rivers, Rupert Noffs

Twitter & Face book-it's like having a neighbour permanently gossiping over the back fence. No-one escapes your gaze.
The Shuttle has been keeping up with former Sydneysider Rupert Noffs who it appears, has settled nicely into an apartment in Manhattan to the extent of mastering  that all important staple-chicken soup!. Helping out is ace New York publicist Kelly Cutrone whose contacts are next to none in the USA.

Glee star Kevin McHale in his Gideon Shoes NYTimes

According to our new York spy Rupert's also been doing the rounds: fashion week, top night spots, Halloween parties, meeting Beyonce and Joan Rivers, fighting with Lindsay Lohan over a taxi -as one does- but more importantly, promoting Gideon Shoes, the business set up by he and his brother Matt Noffs.

For those not yet in the know, Rupert and Matt are the grandsons of Sydney saint the late Rev Ted Noffs who started the Wayside Chapel in Kings Cross in 1964.

Matt and Rupert have parlayed that charity spirit into Gideon Shoes, the fantastic and stylish shoes that are made ethically in Australia. That means no slave labour in the Third World (or here!).

Respected US writer Naomi Klein tried to tell the world decades ago that ethical manufacturing was the way to go. Local shareholder activist and journalist Stephen Mayne has been saying likewise.

Rupert and Matt started Gideon Shoes in order to fund The Street University, the kid's retreat in Western Sydney set up by Matt and wife Naomi. 11.000 kids a year are benefiting from the Street University and in 2009 they were given the seal of approval with a visit from then PM Kevin Rudd and HRH Prince William.

Now they are tackling the USA and it really is just a matter of time before the penny drops with US fashion editors-their shoes are there to stay. Already the New York Times has featured them with Glee star Kevin McHale wearing a pair. It's surely just a matter of time before Anna Wintour is spotted striding up Fifth Avenue in her Gideons.

## If top New York publicist Kelly Cutrone is on your case, it's pretty well taken for granted that success is imminent. Here is a clip from Dr Phil shown last month on Australian TV where Kelly reads the riot act to a couple of guests.

Kevin Rudd's Wacky Cat Jasper

 Foreign Minister and former PM Kevin Rudd has another reason to celebrate following his successful heart operation two weeks ago, and the news that Colonel Gaddafi may be on the run (he was the only Australian politician to support the Libyan rebels when the coup began).

Kevin has won a competition to produce a unique Australian blend of Twinings afternoon tea. He knocked out 4 other challengers-shock jock Alan Jones, Kerri-Anne and John Kennerely , folk singer John Williamson and world surfing champ Layne Beachley. Proceeds from the sale of the tea go to the RSPCA.

Kev's recipe : smoky Russian Caravan with full bodied Irish Breakfast and then add light Ceylon Orange Pekoe. 
And to show how successful the blend is, we've unearthed a video of Kevin trying to coax his cat Jasper to taste the brew:

Fun, Fearless and Female

Fifi Box looks pleased to win an award.

To one of Sydney's best restaurants, Catalina nestled by the harbour in Rose Bay for Cosmopolitan Magazine's Fun, Fearless & Female annual awards.

Hardly a chore with champagne cocktails and superb food and a chance to mingle with some of the countries nicest ladies as awards were handed out in a variety of categories with almost half a million readers voting on their favourite top gals.

Hunk Daniel meets Shelly Craft

Danielle Cormack

Loving : Radio DJ Fifi Box, Charlotte Dawson's bare tattooed foot, Funny Home Video's host and MC Shelley Craft, Funny Home Videos ex-host Toni Pearon, and gorgeous singer Jessica Mauboy, the pink carpet.


Faces to watch : # 27 year old novelist Jessica Rudd, daughter of former PM Kevin Rudd, based in Beijing and whose novel Ruby Blues earned her a gong as best novelist.

# Actress Danielle Cormack in her first big role as 1930's Sydney crime boss Kate Leigh in Underbelly Razor.

Jessica Rudd

cute Lauren Eagle

Toni Pearon

p 

Dame Edna stars in The Hobbit

Maybe not Dame Edna Everage but her manager (and many say  the two have never been seen in the same room at the same time) Barry Humphries is to join the cast of The Hobbit.

The Peter Jackson $500M movie starts filming next March in New Zealand and Humphries will play the Goblin King.

It's not Barry's first acting role. He appeared as Rupert Murdoch in the 1980's TV series 'Selling Hitler' about the scandal involving the Sunday Times newspaper and the fake Hitler diaries, the Kath & Kim movie and Barry McKenzie Holds His Own based on the Private Eye magazine comic script.

Humphries contributed some immortal lines to the 2 McKenzie films such as when McKenzie is collared at a London party by a pompous  Hooray Henry who asks him : "tell me Mr McKenzie, is it true Australia is full of homosexuals?" to which McKenzie replies:
"No that's just the publicity we put out to attract the Pommy migrants"

Tomorrow at mid-day Dame Edna Everage will give a twenty minute talk at the Black & White charity committee's Woman of Achievement lunch. The Shuttle bring carry a full report.

In the meantime-here is a slice of Aussie culture from a Barry McKenzie fillum with the wonderful John le Mesurier.
And if you think that's an exaggeration  : In 2007 newly elected PM Kevin Rudd dumped former PM John Howard's 'migrant test' that required prospective migrants to know amongst other things who Don Bradman and Mervyn Richardson were!.( Richardson invented a lawn mower).

Ethical Shoes- No Sweat !

Rupert & Matt Noffs at the opening of Gideon Shoes

As long ago as 1991 the writer and 'futurist' Faith Popcorn predicted that ethical manufacturing businesses were the coming wave of the future. Now a new 'ethical' shoe store has opened in Bondi Beach -Gideon Shoes, the brainchild of brothers Matt and Rupert Noffs. They threw a small party to celebrate.

Chrissy Pisotto & Tali Jatali

The Noff brothers come from a family with a history in charitable works.

Their grandfather was the much loved Rev Ted Noffs who opened the Wayside Chapel in Kings Cross in 1964. The Wayside was a drop in centre for down and outs, drug addicts , prostitutes in fact just about anyone who needed to a friendly shoulder to lean on. Ted was famous for his non-judgemental acceptance of anyone no matter what their circumstances were.

Ted had a stroke in 1987 and sunk into a coma where he lingered, finally passing away in 1995. At his funeral in the city the streets where packed with an assortment of people-Hells Angels, schoolkids, captains of industry, powerful politicians, policemen and society figures.
                                                              

musician Damian Downey

When Matt and Rupert decided to start manufacturing their own shoe designs they headed of to Asia but were horrified by the conditions of factory workers there so decided to have them made back home where they are now hand produced. Not only do they refuse to support sweat shops they have a long history of supporting the disadvantaged.

Operating out of the Ted Noffs Foundation run by Ted's son Wesley, Matt and his wife Naomi  started the Street University a retreat for Western Sydney street kids. Rupert opened a unique thrift shop-One Noffs in Randwick where donated clothes are re-styled by fashion students into entirely new garments.

Rupert Noffs, Prince William & Kevin Rudd

The seal of approval was put on the Noff's charity works last year when former PM Kevin Rudd visited them with HRH Prince William.

So forget about your overpriced N*kes run up by Vietnamese kids  (send them some money direct instead) and check out Gideon Shoes which really are fantastic and made of the finest Kangaroo and Cane Toad leather.

You can even have them tweaked to your own design. And they're mighty comfortable.

## over 2300 people have clicked onto our Gideon Shoes report with over 400 from the USA while 4 have emailed to ask if Gideon Shoes are available in the US. That we do not know although there are rumours they may be opening a shop in New York (where I'm sure they'd 'walk' out of the store).
Go to the Gideon website here for the latest news and email them direct-they're a friendly bunch ! :