Everything old is New Again

 It's the title of a Peter Allen song where he refers to fashions being recycled over the decades. But it could apply to the current controversy over the felling of the magnificent Moreton Bay fig trees along Anzac Parade that have survived for 100 years but are now falling to development. The above historic 1914 snap shows Aussie troops marching on the way to Circular Quay to board ships bound

for Gallipoli with the figs in the background and to the left is a Sydney tram.                                                                     
Sydney once had the most extensive tram system in the world. One of the joys of visiting Melbourne is to travel on their superb tram system. It's modern, smooth and gets you everywhere that's worth going to.. But for some reason in the 1960s the burghers of Sydney decided to ditch the trams.
Now they are coming back and that is the reason the Moreton Bay figs pictured above where they remained, grew and prospered for over 100 years are to be felled to make way for tram lines. This has brought the fury of 1000s of inner city residents of all stripes- the well heeled of the Eastern Suburbs and the young alike. Prayers and candles are lit as they line up to watch the trees topple. Tears are shed and occasionally a celebrity like TV presenter James Mathison gets carted off by the Sydney wallopers (police). On a happier note : here is Peter at Radio City Hall in New York with The Rockettes singing his song. We received an invite to attend the latest tree funeral today. And we were there at Peter's concert all those years ago.

Everything Old is New Again :The Daily Mail

The Daily Mail : It's been described as the very worst and the very best of tabloids. Certainly their online version MailOnline is the most read newspaper website on the planet. The printed version has for decades had the most pleasing layout and graphics of any of the British tabloids and an excellent mixture of news, newsy tales and celebrity, society and show biz gossip.
So it's always a great compliment when the Mail takes a cue from Whispers at thesocialshuttle (as is their wont) to bring the public a tale as they did with this piece on 2nd June 2015  : about former Australian Prime Minister Julia Gillard with a fab pic of Julia jiving on stage to accompany the late Victorian premier Joan Kirner at the microphone.
The fact our tale with a similar headline appeared on June 29th 2013 is neither here nor there

JUNE 2015                                                                                       JUNE 2013

Hey a good story is always worth recycling and the Mail are experts at it. We reckon the later Peter Allen may have had them in mind when he penned this song: