"Invasion Of The Super Yachts"

The UK's Daily Mail has published a  feature on the many fabulous gin palaces that have invaded the Thames & London for the Olympics. It's deja vu time and just like a re-run of the Sydney 2000 Olympics when basically the same boats arrived in Sydney and lined up at the wharf in Blackwattle Bay, the only place large enough to host a billion dollars worth of luxury boating.

Hopefully those flogging luxury goods in London will not make the same mistake as several did at Blackwattle and set up stores nearby. A 3 star restaurant opened hoping to cater to yacht owners and several luxury goods purveyors like the South Australian Pearl jeweler who flew in a million dollars worth of gems and built a small boutique from the ground up for the  2 weeks of games. All went broke after the fortnight. Most of the boat owners flew in and stayed at hotels while the only people onboard their boats were staff.

Illona at Canary Wharf

the Murdochs at the Lowy dinner

Frank Lowy

One luxury ship in London is Frank Lowy's  Ilona that is moored at Canary Wharf, not far from his good friend Rupert Murdoch's News Corp.HQ. Lowy owns the giant Westfield Shopping Centres. Rupert & Wendi Murdoch flew to Sydney from New York in 2008 to attend a dinner in honour of Lowy at the Royal Randwick Racecourse as the Shuttle's exclusive pic shows.

Lowy fled Czechoslavakia to France in 1946 but was arrested by British troops and incarcerated at a detention camp in Cyprus, eventually making it to Israel and joining the Haganah. He arrived in Australia in 1953 and partnered with Hungarian immigrant John Saunders to create Westfield, now the largest shopping centre owners in the world. The Shuttle attended a breakfast at the Regent Hotel in Sydney for Henry Kissinger (see pic below with Ros Packer) in 1998. When Kissinger left the stage he was mobbed by the many politicians there but brushed them aside, making his way to Lowy's table where the 2 remained in deep conversation.

The King is Dead, Long Live The King !

It's a scandal of Royal proportions : the gloomy pageant down the River Thames of the lavish gold embossed royal barge with a couple of elderly ring-in pensioners of dubious background whilst Australia was represented by just a few surf lifesaving boats battling along in the rain (and perhaps Rolf Harris). Perhaps God spoke by striking down the one decorated with medals with illness.
The rightful monarch: His Majesty Michael 1 by the Grace of God of Great Britain, Ireland and the British Dominions Beyond the Seas, Defender of The Faith etc etc and so on watched the procession on TV in country Jerilderie

Michael Abney-Hastings

Sadly, King Michael has passed away at the very non-royal age of just 69 in Wagga Wagga NSW, his chosen seat in exile.
Michael Abney-Hastings, the 14th Earl of Loudon died peacefully on Saturday morning.

In the 2004 documentary Britain's Real Monarch the historian Dr Michael Jones proved that the current lot are ring-ins. Her Maj's claim to the throne is predicated on her ancestry to Edward IV 1461-1483.  But Edward was illegitimate as the film showed in detail.
Edward's father Richard Duke of York was off fighting the French near Paris while his mother Lady Cecily Neville was having it off with a local tradesman. While it was normal for royals to give birth to bastards they were usually fobbed off with a title and some land. Not the throne as Edward scored.
Abney-Hastings was born in 1942 in Sussex and emigrated to Australia where he first worked as a fork-lift driver and farmer. He spent his last few years serving on the Jerilderie Council and was popular around town. Although a life long Republican, he was always greeted at the family Christmas dinner table with God Save The King.