Category Archives: Politically Incorrect

Outside the political sphere, much of Australias China panic centres on university campuses. This is hardly surprising, given the deep connections of the Australian higher-education sector to China.

In 2019, before the Covid-19 pandemic hit, higher education brought in some A$12bn in export revenue, most of it from China. With more than 150,000 Chinese international students enrolled, some institutions relied on that single revenue stream to make up a quarter of their total budget before the current drop-off. Mandarin is the second language of campus life in most universities these days; Confucius Institutes have been established at 13 universities; partnerships and MOUs with Chinese universities proliferate in many fields. Australian academics now collaborate more with colleagues in China than in any other foreign country: one report found that an incredible 16.2% of scientific papers by Australian researchers almost one in six were co-authored with researchers in China, with papers in the fields of materials science, chemical engineering and energy topping the list.

Having been among the most enthusiastic participants in the China boom, universities are now bearing the brunt of the political backlash. The public has been presented with a grim picture of the consequences of all of this China engagement. Financial dependency, it is claimed, has engendered political subservience. Critical discussion of China is falling silent, while administrations subcontract their core business to Peoples Republic of China state agencies and pursue partnerships that put Australias national security at risk. Its a picture replete with martial imagery. Andrew Hastie talks of universities as modern battlegrounds of covert influence and interference. Journalist Rowan Callick warns of a war being waged by Chinese international students against politically incorrect lecturers. A military-academic onslaught is how Alex Joske describes Chinas approach to international scientific collaboration.

How accurate is this picture? As a critic of Australian universities, Id never argue that all is healthy within the sector, including in its dealings with China. But as universities have become a microcosm for the wider China debate, its important that we characterise that debate correctly.

In many ways, we face the same choice here as we do in the political sphere: to remedy the erosion of Australian institutions, or to join in a campaign to isolate and exclude Chinese actors from them. At the same time, there are ethical and political questions specific to the university context that administrators and academics alike face. In tackling them, though, we have to remain conscious of the various ways in which university autonomy and academic freedom can be compromised, including of course by the intrusion of domestic political influences.

The language of war that now envelops campuses has, in my opinion, laid the basis for domestic government interventions that present more of a risk to universities autonomy and independence than anything China is doing.

As they do in the political sphere, openings for undue influence exist in universities. However, China is far from the only actor taking advantage of what are self-inflicted wounds. The basic crisis is the inexorable decline in public funding. At 0.7% of GDP, public investment in Australian higher education already sits well below the OECD average and will continue its downward slide thanks to recent reforms. This long-term transformation has put universities at risk from private philanthropists and foreign lobbying ventures alike, wheeling all sorts of ideological barrows into the halls of learning. As governing bodies reshape themselves along corporate lines and restrict the participation of academics in decision-making, transparency is eroded, and the attraction of get-rich-quick schemes only increases.

Universities have been put on the back foot in the current political climate. On the one hand, as public institutions they can hardly avoid the impact of the changing winds of political opinion on China. Yet at the same time, universities have in practice been all but privatised, with many vice-chancellors enriching themselves to the tune of more than $1m annually. Any effort to criticise the direction of Australian policy can easily be met with accusations that they have a pecuniary interest in the question. Its a simple fact that they do. In August 2020, when the Senate announced it would be conducting an inquiry into national security risks affecting the Australian higher-education and research sector, federal MP Bob Katter railed against universities that had their snouts ... well and truly in the trough and had gone from selling visas to selling their souls. Having long encouraged universities to find funding elsewhere, politicians now home in on their ties to China to argue that theyve lost their way, engendering a hostile public mood that blunts criticism of ongoing funding cuts.

What this highlights, I think, is the need for a perspective thats independent of both the government and the corporate university, one thats able to make the necessary criticisms of universities as institutions and international actors, without falling into uncritical subservience to the governments foreign-policy objectives. This is not the first time that universities have had to face this challenge. During the first cold war, through both enticements and pressure, western universities were encouraged to align their work with the states diplomatic and military interests. The conditions then were not conducive to free, critical inquiry, and theyre not likely to be a second time around either.

This is an edited extract from China Panic: Australias Alternative to Paranoia and Pandering by David Brophy, out now through La Trobe University Press

Original post:
China is far from alone in taking advantage of Australian universities self-inflicted wounds - The Guardian

MY father once told me you only find things offensive if you wish to be offended. It is in that spirit I write in answer to all those who think Scotssports fans should be above the Anybody but England mantra.

The history of Scots finding pleasure in English defeats is not a recent one, there is a long history of this sentiment which predates Bannockburn in 1314.

It is the reality of sharing an island with a nation which has long held predatory designs on Scotland and been seen as a blowhard and a bully lang syne.

READ MORE:Italy's victory over England sparks wild celebrations in Scotland

In the past the retribution Scots sought to contain our larger, bullying neighbour was often in raiding the English north as far south as York and on one occasion, with London at our mercy, we turned back at Derby.

These days we Scots no longer raid, kill, rape and pillage to keep our still-bullying neighbour in check. We do this, instead, through the safer prism of sport, where there may still be the odd injury on and off the field yet in the main it passes peaceably in comparison to earlier years.

So it is deep in the Scots psyche where the enjoyment of Englands failings as a nation are embedded. It is a vicarious pleasure but serves the same purpose as seeing any bully and blowhard being taken down a peg or two. It is not and never has been about the people of England but the self-proclaimed image of their nation state and arrogance of their ruling class.

Some may think the Anyone but England mantra is politically incorrect or outdated and should be done away with, they are welcome to their view yet I do not see many Scots will be in agreement as we yet again suffer under a bullying, blowhard Tory government which epitomises the Flanders and Swan view of the English national sense of superiority, reflected in one of their satirical songs, The English, the English, the English are best. I wouldnt give tuppence for all of the rest.

Peter ThomsonKirkcudbright

IT was with total disbelief that I read the letters page today. The rivalry between Scotland and England over any kind of sport has been legendary, if usually only one-sided. I have NEVER heard 1966 mentioned so much as I have this past week. The hype placed on this one game has been totally out of proportion.

Of course, as is usual, the Scots will favour Italy, Denmark, or whoever over the auld enemy, but had it been Scotland against Italy, would we expect the England supporters to rally around us? I think not.

READ MORE:Spectator's Rod Liddle claims 'performing geese' are better than Scotland

Would we also expect the BBC to cover up the destruction in Leicester Square, and Wembley, Italy supporters being attacked, England supporters fighting each other, AND the totally disgusting and offensive racial abuse of the players had this been perpetrated by Scotland fans? I wonder.

We Scots are well prepared to laugh at ourselves, THAT is what gives us the right to laugh at others.

Jim Mc GregorKirkintilloch

INrecent days I have seen and heard several people on the TV and radio complaining that many Scots will not be supporting the English football team. They seem to believe that we have a duty to do so because we are British.

I was interested to see that only 30 million people in Britain actually did tune in for the final. That suggests to me that at least half of the English population were not interested in the game.

Why then should non-English people be more supportive of the English team than the English themselves?

Harry KeyLargoward, Fife

I THINK that letter-writers Lewis Waugh and Pete Rowberry missed the point completely about Saturdays front page. We Scots have a strong sense of humour and it was against a sometimes wildly imbalanced media arrogance that The National chose the cheeky front page.

They should also recognise that we can be equally cheeky and critical about the Scotland team. Whether or not the best result was achieved in the final, theres nothing wrong with many Scots feeling pleased, even amused.

KHW CampbellTroon

WHY did the breakfast programme deliberately keep quiet about the dark side of the English fans and media?

The complete indiscipline with regards to Covid, the break-in at Wembley by hundreds of so-called supporters, the injury to 19 police officers, the incredible amount of rubbish and litter thrown on to the streets, the fans attacking and fighting on the streets, the booing of opponents national anthems, the disrespect of taking off their runner-up medals immediately and so on. And finally the racial hatred meted out to the black players, which is possibly the most repugnant.

D GillKinross

IT is of course very sad that Englands 55 years of hurt must continue, but as a large percentage of the population north of Hadrians Wall have apparently discovered Italian branches on their family trees, does Italys win mean that Scotland can have a bank holiday?

Ruth MarrStirling

ITS not surprising that Gary Neville attacks Boris Johnson after the racial abuse of England stars, as Boris Johnson has no concept of what is acceptable given his history of dubious comments based on race, ethnicity and nationality. His attitude and obvious contempt for Scottish MPs and Scotland at PMQs every week is ample proof that this English leopard has not changed his spots.

John JamiesonSouth Queensferry

I WOULD like to thank with all my heart your support to the Italian team in the final against England. Since ever I admire Scottish people, and I hope that one day your dream of independence can become true. Im sincerely grateful.

Marco Castellivia email

I WOULD just like to say, Saturday and Mondays front pages were without doubt the best front pages on a newspaper I have ever seen.

I live in England but buy The National regularly on my regular trips north. I only hope the front pages can be made into T-shirts.

Well done, absolutely brilliant.

Andy Drummondvia email

Original post:
No need to get offended at Scots adopting 'anyone but England' position - The National

The scholars working on the English Standard Version of the Bible were fiercely committed to producing a strictly literal translation. So whenever the ancient writers used the Hebrew or Greek words denoting slave, the ESV translators used that English word.

The problem, though, is that the connotations of that word for a 21st-century American reader would be very different than they would have been for a Bronze Age or first-century writer. For contemporary English-language readers, the word slave had acquired a monstrous host of additional meaning from centuries of American-style slavery meaning that would not have been intended by the ancient writers or understood by their intended readers. A strictly literal translation could therefore be misleading. Contemporary readers might see the word slave and think of someone like Levar Burton in Roots even though the passage was meant to describe someone more like Zero Mostel in A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum.

Thats not to say that the form of slavery in the Roman Empire was a funny thing. It was oppressive, cruel, dehumanizing, and unjust. But it was also not as oppressive, cruel, dehumanizing, and unjust as the race-based, brutal, lifelong chattel slavery practiced in America. Its injustice was different in both form and degree. That difference matters to any reader who hopes to understand the ancient texts of scripture that address the various forms of slavery practiced in the ancient world.

The ESV translators thus were confronted with the same situation described by Leonard Bacon and a host of other 19th-century abolitionist Christians who as we discussed in the previous post argued, repeatedly, that it was inaccurate and immoral to equate American-style slavery with whatever the biblical writers had in mind when they used the word we translate into slave.

Initially, the ESV attempted to address this with a footnote warning readers not to project the connotations of American-style slavery to passages about slavery in the ancient world. The footnote suggested thinking of these ancient slaves, perhaps, as bondservants an odd, archaic word that I suppose attempts to convey that slaves in the ancient world were a bit more servant-like in their status than the people enslaved by white Americans, but were still in bondage, and not free, hired servants.

But a lot of readers dont read the footnotes. They stick to the holy writ of the main text the part that the ESVs intended audience of American evangelicals regards as inspired, inerrant, and authoritative. So eventually the ESV shifted to using the word bondservant in the text of the translation, with the footnote explaining the translators choice. And then, a few years later, they got rid of the footnote entirely.

Samuel Perry describes this change, emphasizing that its a major departure from the ESVs commitment to a strictly verbatim literalism. Thats worth emphasizing because, as he says, the ESV translators have, for years, condemned other translations for what theyve characterized as a dangerously liberal accommodation to worldly culture for straying from such absolute literalism:

They have marketed themselves as an essentially literal translation that resists the PC push. The general editor, Wayne Grudem, had for years denounced contemporary Bible translations, like theNew International Version, for doing those kinds of things: becoming [politically correct], changing the language to conform to modern sensibilities, that kind of thing, especially with regard to gender.

So for years they have said, Hey, were not going to translate certain things in a gender-neutral fashion, because we want to be as literal as possible, and if you like that its capitulating to the feminist PC culture. So ESV has marketed themselves as a very popular evangelical translation that is used most faithfully by complementarian Protestant Christians for that reason: because its conservative and because its supposed to be literal.

But at the same time, the fact that that the slave language in the New Testament is so obvious creates a real apologetics problem, because of all this talk about slaves obeying your masters, and how slaves should subject themselves not only to good masters but bad masters, and how slaves should stay in the station of life where they were called. It creates this really ugly impression of the New Testament, and especially Paul advocating for slavery.

So what you can see in the English Standard Version is that with each successive wave, from the 2001 revision of the Revised Standard Version to the 2011 revision and then finally in 2016, our most recent revision, was that they started by introducing a footnote in 2001 to the slave word, and then in 2011 they replace the slave word and put it in a footnote, and then they said, Were going to call this a bondservant. So its different from a slave.

By 2016 they didnt use slave language at all. If you read that translation you would have no idea that the original translation and I think the most appropriate translation would be slave. All you see is this kind of Christian-used churchy word bondservant, which you never hear outside of a biblical reference. Nobody knows what that means, but its a way that the English Standard Version and other Bibles like it can kind of say, Hey, these are slaves, but theyre not real,realslaves. Theyre not really bad slaves like we think of in the antebellum South, like chattel slavery. Its something different.

In Perrys description, the change in the ESV was less concerned with clarifying the meaning of the text than it was with defending the perception of the text. Perry calls this an apologetics problem, which is a nice way of saying a public relations problem.*

It would be one thing if Leonard Bacon had produced an antebellum bondservant translation to combat Christian appeals to biblical support for slavery. That might have been understood as unambiguously intended to prevent the use of the Bible as a tool of oppression. But after more than 150 years of reluctant, begrudging white Christian resistance to legal equality, and from vocal proponents of a partisan faith committed to rejecting the Reconstruction Amendments, it seems clear that Perry is correct to view this belated shutting of the barn door as less concerned with opposing injustice than with defending the reputation and alleged innocent righteousness of self-proclaimed biblical Christians.

It seems less like an effort to clarify the meaning of the Bible and more like an effort to defend its reputation and thereby to defend our own.

*That may seem uncharitable, but Perry has receipts to back up his skeptical take. The ESV translators, for one thing, werent bound by any strict commitment to literalism when they altered the language of the Revised Standard Version to make it more conservative in terms of gender roles. They actually made gender language more complementarian, more about mens and womens roles, he notes.

And then, more conclusively, theres the ESV projects abiding concern with political correctness. What does that mean? The only thing it ever means, which is nothing, substantially. The phrase politically correct (or, more recently, woke) is not used to convey meaning, or to name or describe a particular thing, or to articulate and communicate any specific idea. It is, rather, a tribal signifier. That is its only meaning and function. It is a secret handshake indicating ones proud membership in the international brotherhood of disingenuous assholes.

When someone unironically uses the words politically correct or PC, or speaks menacingly of the threat of wokeness, there is no reason to merely suspect that they might be acting in bad faith. They have confirmed that they are. Youre not being uncharitable or unduly suspicious when youre holding their signed confession.

This is also why Im not a fan of Paul Rosenbergs ironic appropriation of this language in his title and introduction to this interview with Perry:When evangelical snowflakes censor the Bible: The English Standard Version goes PC. Thats intended to highlight the apparent hypocrisy of the defiantly politically incorrect ESV marketers, but Im not sure hypocrisy is an applicable category. Its less a matter of a double-standard than it is of a lack of any good-faith standards at all. (See also: McConnell, Mitch.)

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'For you were [redacted] in Egypt' (part 2) - Patheos

When Mary-Kate and Ashley Olsen declined to reprise their role of Michelle Tanner for "Fuller House," some fans speculated that the past comments alleging sexual misconduct from Saget were true (via HITC). But in a 2016 interview with "People Magazine," "Fuller House" producer Bob Boyett reported that when he had approached the twins about returning to the role of Michelle, "Ashley said, 'I have not been in front of a camera since I was 17, and I don't feel comfortable acting,' [and] Mary-Kate said, 'It would have to be me because Ash doesn't want to do it. But the timing is so bad for us'" (via Newsweek).

It's also hard to believe that "Fuller House" would have allowed Saget onto the show without looking into the actor's past. "Fuller House" premiered in February 2016 two years after the actor's memoir was published and eight years after the Comedy Central Roast first aired. "Fuller House" also had to shake up its showrunners in the middle of production after it came out that Jeff Franklin allegedly established a pattern of giving small roles to women with whom he was romantically or sexually involved. If that was reason enough to get fired, "Fuller House" producers would not have allowed Saget onto the show.

For Saget's part, despite the comedian's disturbing past gestures, he recently stated that he had a positive relationship with Mary-Kate and Ashley Olsen. In a 2021 interview with Michael Rosenbaum for the podcast "Inside of You," Saget said, "Ashley and Mary-Kate... I love so much. When I'm in New York or when they're here, when we can, we see each other."

Ultimately, there is no evidence of any actual assaults, just (wholly unfunny) jokes. But, as Devon Godhe noted in his article for The Ramapo News, these jokes and gestures will definitely become more important if serious allegations of sexual misconduct ever do arise.

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The Bob Saget Controversy You Never Knew Existed - Looper

Ananya Pandey broke down into tears when she bid her final goodbye to her grandmother. Her tear-struck face became viral within moments. The renowned actress became inconsolable by the death of her grandmother Snehlata Pandey. Not only she, but even Chunky Pandeys wife Bhavana Pandey bid her farewell to her mother-in-law and shared old photographs from their family album where we see her daughters Ananya Pandey and Rysa Pandey as kids.

In memoriam of her grandmother, Ananya Pandey shared various memories of her childhood on her Instagram handle by addressing he grand-mom as the life of her family. Her heart-wrenching yet mighty post mentioned, Rest in power, my angel. When she was born the doctors said she wouldnt live beyond a few years because of a defective heart value, but my Dadi lived and how. She worked every day up until the age of 85, going to work at 7 am in her black heels and red-streaked hair. She inspired me every single day to do what I love and Im so grateful to have grown up basking in her energy and light.

She further added on a special note, She had the softest hands to hold, gave the best leg messages, she was a self-proclaimed (and very politically incorrect) palm reader and never failed to make me laugh. The life of our family. Youre too loved to ever be forgotten Dadi I love you so much

On Ananyas Instagram handle, she shared some beautiful posts of her grandmother, while on the occasion of Womens Day, she shared, The epitome of grace, beauty, perseverance, humor, badass energy and boss woman vibes. My Dadi and Nani Happy Womens day to my best and happy Womens Day to all the lovely ladies out there you are so very special and everything you need is right inside of you. I love you guys, you rock.

These posts of Ananya received a lot of heart reactions including respectively from Karishma Kapoor, Siddhant Chaturvedi, Navya Naveli Nanda, Neelam Kothari Soni, and few others. Numerous stars, inclusive of Bhavana and Chunkys friends attended the funeral and consoled the family.

We also in the same way extend our well-wishes and consolation towards the whole family and hope that Ananya will be able to fight back to this baffling condition and will not be plunging into it.

We wish her more power, stability, and steadiness. May the family get out of this situation comfortably.

Primary Excerpt Taken From Hindustan Times (Hindustantimes.com)

See more here:
Ananya Pandey Mourns Upon Her Late Grandmother, And Shares A Heart - Woman's Era

Last week, Cape Town announced that it will host a round of the FIA Formula E World Championship in February next year. It will be the first official World Championship single-seater race in Mzansi since the 1993 South African Grand Prix. Motorsport followers in general have a somewhat jaundiced view of electrically powered motorsport. The reasons are simple. Conventional motorsport involves really noisy cars or motorcycles charging around circuits while dispersing eye-watering, noxious petrol, methanol or Castrol oil fumes. The smell of racing fuel is intoxicating and the sound of a bellowing V8 dragster, a shrieking V12 Ferrari F1 or...

Last week, Cape Town announced that it will host a round of the FIA Formula E World Championship in February next year. It will be the first official World Championship single-seater race in Mzansi since the 1993 South African Grand Prix.

Motorsport followers in general have a somewhat jaundiced view of electrically powered motorsport. The reasons are simple. Conventional motorsport involves really noisy cars or motorcycles charging around circuits while dispersing eye-watering, noxious petrol, methanol or Castrol oil fumes. The smell of racing fuel is intoxicating and the sound of a bellowing V8 dragster, a shrieking V12 Ferrari F1 or an eardrum-ripping, stratospherically high revving two-stroke motorcycle orgasmic.

All very politically incorrect and socially irresponsible, yet adored by millions the world over. The mere thought of race cars with hardly any sound seemed like heresy when it arrived in 2011.

From the beginning, Formula E played out in front of large crowds, and motor manufacturers knowing electrical cars are the future grabbed the opportunity to showcase their latest technology to their next generation of customers.

If you havent been following the world of electric racing, here is what you need to know:

Formula E continues to grow apace as the only single-seater race series outside of Formula One to boast world championship status. And, its organisers could not care less what dyed in the wool old enthusiasts think of their car format.

Their show is meant for younger people cell phone addicts and computer junkies. They do not want to travel to a racetrack far from home, pay for admission, endure eardrum-punishing noises and try to keep track of long races.

ALSO READ: Cape Town gets the nod as host for Formula E in 2022

Hence, in 2011 FIA President Jean Todt and Spanish business mogul Alejandro Agag came up with the concept of city-based electric car racing. It was a compelling idea with zero carbon emissions, the cars would be welcome in city centres.

Thus, Formula E attracts many incidental spectators, who happen to be in the city, wander across to see what the fuss is about, and get to witness live motorsport for the first time. Conventional circuit racing would have zero chance of attracting those people.

The South African round will be one of 12, held in a wide variety of countries between the end of January and the middle of August. Cape Town apart, host cities for next years title chase will include Rome, Berlin, London, New York, Monaco, Vancouver, Mexico City and Seoul.

Temporary tracks are erected with the assistance of the involved city. How long are the races? Races are be short today, with the series latest Generation 2 cars, drivers tackle a 45-minute plus one lap format.

Involved car makers currently include Porsche, BMW, Audi, Jaguar, Mercedes-Benz, Mahindra and Nissan.

The current Spark-Dallara SRT05e car has an electric motor power output of 250 kW, weighs in at 800 kg, including the driver, and boasts a theoretical top speed of 280 km/h. We say theoretical because inner city race tracks are designed with utmost spectator safety in mind, which precludes long straights and high top speeds.

The Spark-Dallara has a Hewland sequential gearbox, runs on 18-inch Michelin all-weather treaded tyres and the chassis has the same halo, plus T-shaped safety cage as found in Formula One, Two and Three cars.

Next years third-generation Formula E car will have 300 kW of power. The chassis will be built by Spark Racing Technology, Williams Advanced Engineering will supply the battery and Hankook will bring all-weather tyres to the party.

To keep the new attendees happy, Formula E has added computer game aspects to the show like Attack Mode where drivers can receive an additional 25 kW of power by driving through a designated area of the circuit off the racing line. It worked.

As to be expected, the pace car also has zero emissions and is none other than an electric Mini.

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Formula E is heading to Cape Town: What you need to know - The Citizen

Real Time with Bill Maherhas been on an unexpected hiatus following Bill Mahers COVID-19 diagnosis. Will the HBO late night show return tonight?

Prior to the May 14 episode ofReal Time, it was announced that Maher tested positive for the novel coronavirus. The comedian had been fully vaccinated and reported no symptoms. Still, that weeks episode was canceled as was the show on May 21. It ended Mahers impressive streak of never missing a show, dating back to hisPolitically Incorrectdays.

Thankfully, a new streak can start. There will be a brand new episode ofReal Time with Bill Mahertonight on HBO.

Expect Maher to recap his experience at the top of the show. Its then likely that Maher will want to move on and catch up on some of the stories he missed over the past two weeks. Topics like Marjorie Taylor Greenes controversial comments, states reopening, and more are on the table.

First up, Bill Maher will interview sports broadcaster Bob Costas. The journalist has covered everything from boxing and NASCAR to the NFL and the Olympics.

Hell be onReal Timeto promote his new showBack on the Record with Bob Costas.The HBO and HBO Max series will be driven by in-depth interviews with the biggest names in sports, entertainment, and popular culture.

Journalist and political commentator Nicholas Kristof will be on the panel. Hes aNew York Timescolumnist known for his coverage of human rights issues around the world. Kristofs most recent book isTightrope: Americans Reaching for Hope, which looks at the challenges facing working-class Americans.

Political consultant and strategist James Carville will also join the panel. He currently co-hosts the podcast Politics War Room. Expect him to share his thoughts on the state of the Republican Party and discuss what Democrats need to do to retain power.

Real Time with Bill Maherairs tonight at 10:00 p.m. ET on HBO. You can also watch Real Time onHBO Max.

Are you excited for the return ofReal Time with Bill Maher? Let us know in the comment section below and be sure to check back with Last Night On for all the highlights.

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Is Real Time with Bill Maher new tonight, May 28? - Last Night On

So let's set the scene.

I was selected to take a pack of Cubs Scouts to summer camp many years ago.

My wife was the den mother, but she elected to stay home in the air conditioning (it gets hotter n' heck in July even in Ohio) and appointed me to lead a group of nine boys for a week. My older son was a part of the group.

We arrived on Sunday afternoon, and by Monday, well, things were not going well. Here's what I wrote in a postcard to my wife and younger son:

"I got sick after taking the swimming test (thank goodness I made it to a tree outside the pool before I threw up). I had to scare a bunch of raccoons out of my tent. They walk right in scavenging for food. And then I had to console a boy who was crying and homesick. He had been added to our campsite to give us an even 10.

"But today (Tuesday), things seem to be much better."

The whole camp experience reminded me of Allan Sherman's song from the '60s. It might be politically incorrect today, but it's hard to forget:

"Hello Muddah, hello Faddah

Here I am at Camp Grenada . . .

I went hiking with Joe Spivey

He developed poison ivy . . .

Take me home, oh Muddah, Faddah

Wait a minute, it's stopped hailing

Guys are swimming, guys are sailing . . .

Muddah, Faddah kindly disregard this letter."

Well, what's summer camp without a little drama. Whether it's summer dance camp, 4-H camp at Rock Eagle, Scout camp or a sports camp, it's all part of a learning experience.

Have fun this summer!

AGE IS JUST A NUMBER

My favorite tweets after 50-year-old Phil Mickelson won the PGA Championship this past Sunday at Kiawah Island to become the oldest player to win a major:

"Something strikes me: 50 is older than 46 . . . well done my friend." -- Jack Nicklaus, who won the Masters at age 46

"Chalk one up for the old boys." -- John Daly

"That's my quarterback." -- Tom Brady

LET THEM EAT

It was great to see that Georgia athletic director Josh Brooks said he's planning 100% capacity for Bulldogs' home opener this fall. That was expected.

What really caught my attention: Brooks told the UGA Athletic Board of Directors this week that the price of five concession items will be reduced by almost 50 percent.

The cost of the concessions -- at least for this season -- will be $2 for bottled water, $2.50 for bottled soft drinks, $2.50 for hot dogs, $2 for candy, and $2 for a small popcorn. A bucket of popcorn will still cost you $5.

That's the way fans should always be treated.

MOVIN' IN

You'll have to forgive me, because we have spent most of this week selling our house in South Carolina and getting everything packed and moved here.

Of course, we'd been living here in Milledgeville and helping my Dad before he passed away in February but had never sold our house.

So we'll soon be official Georgia residents again!

I'll do better next week.

Rick Millians, a 1970 Baldwin High graduate, worked at newspapers in Georgia, Ohio and South Carolina before retiring. Reach him at rdmillians@aol.com.

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MILLIANS: Braveheart goes to summer camp | Opinion | unionrecorder.com - The Union-Recorder

But you dont have a duty of moralising where you think they should and shouldnt invest. If theyve found an investment and its legal then that should be where it finishes.

He said if an investment was legal, prudent and makes money then its a good investment. But he declined to say how he and other Nationals MPs would vote on the legislation, noting hed been looking through the bill and how to decipher it.

We are looking for better comfort brought forward by the minister as to why this [power] cannot be exploited. Were very aware of the fact that when the time comes were not in government and someone else is we can hardly argue against something the other side does when you brought in the laws for them to do it, he said.

But if you start saying well I dont like coal, I dont like gas [and] fracking, I dont like the live cattle trade and all this as inevitably would [happen] because the Greens would put pressure on Labor ... then were in trouble, he said.

The legislation also faces a battle over its stapling measures, which attaches workers to their super accounts when they change jobs unless they choose to switch, as some MPs are concerned employees might be stuck to an underperforming fund. The legislation was introduced in last years budget in a bid to improve fund performance and reduce the number of unnecessary multiple funds eroding balances through excess fees.

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Superannuation Minister Jane Hume has previously said the additional powers provided to the Treasurer would be used when there are grey areas that leave the regulator unable to intervene. Labor superannuation spokesman Stephen Jones, who is supported by the super industry, has criticised the powers as an overreach and previously wrote to Colition MPs warning them of its potential use by future governments.

Mr Jones letter warned Mr Joyce the extra powers would unite miners and greenies in their concerns.

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Barnaby Joyce against Treasurers power to block superannuation investments - The Sydney Morning Herald

Sinad OConnor has been pretty much invisible for the past few years. Theres a good reason, though, she tells me with her usual disregard for social niceties. Ive spent most of the time in the nuthouse. Ive been practically living there for six years. She pauses, takes an intense drag on her fag, and warns me off being similarly politically incorrect. We alone get to call it the nuthouse the patients.

OConnor is a music great her 1990 version of Princes Nothing Compares 2 U is one of the most transcendent five minutes in pop history, the solitary tear falling from her eye in the accompanying video one of its most beautiful images. The single topped the charts worldwide, as did the album it was taken from, I Do Not Want What I Havent Got. Astonishingly, in the 31 years that have passed, she has never had another UK Top 10 hit single and only one Top 10 album. And yet she remains a household name.

Perhaps OConnor was always destined to be best known for simply being herself: the angelic skinhead who swore like a trooper and shocked the world with allegations of child sex abuse; a woman who played out her own mental health crises in public; who became a Catholic priest and then reverted to Islam; who had four children by four different men, when all these things were unheard of or taboo. Her albums have often been cussedly uncommercial traditional Irish songs on Sean-Ns Nua, roots reggae covers on Throw Down Your Arms. There have been gorgeous, relatively poppy albums, such as Universal Mother, but even that featured a spoken-word polemic on why the Irish famine was not actually a famine, and compared the country to an abused child. OConnor must be one of pops most reluctant stars. When she was told Nothing Compares 2 U was at No 1 she wept and not out of happiness.

Its not just her eagerness to stick two fingers up at convention that makes her endlessly fascinating. OConnor is an enormously empathic figure; hers is a vulnerability we can all relate to. And she is often proved right, long after the event. Last time we met, 11 years ago, OConnor was a Catholic priest (she had been ordained by a breakaway church in 1999) who had just been vindicated. In 1992, she had torn up a picture of Pope John Paul II on Saturday Night Live as a protest at child sex abuse in the Catholic church. At the time many people dismissed her as a loopy self-publicist. Two weeks later she was booed off stage at a Bob Dylan tribute concert, and her records were publicly smashed. But in 2010 Pope Benedict XVI issued an apology to the victims of decades of sex abuse by Catholic priests in Ireland, expressing his shame and remorse for their sinful and criminal acts. (She viewed the apology as wholly inadequate, calling the Vatican a nest of devils and a haven for criminals.)

Now, OConnor is publishing her memoirs. The book, Rememberings, has been a long time in the making. For the first time, she has written about the childhood abuse she suffered at the hands of her mother. The book is a series of beautifully observed vignettes rather than a conventional autobiography: she takes us from the abuse to the kleptomania, reform school, pop stardom, pope-baiting, heresy, apostasy, breakups, breakdowns, kids, marriages and celebrity shags that have shaped her life. The writing, particularly when recounting her childhood, is lyrical, funny and anguished, and the revelations come thick and fast.

Shes at home in Wicklow when we speak, decked out in grey grey jumper, grey hijab (she changed her off-stage name to Shuhada Sadaqat when she became a Muslim in 2018), grey cropped skinhead and grey fag ash. Shes 54 now, her cheeks more rounded but her eyes still bright. For three hours, she talks and talks eloquent, indiscreet, potty-mouthed, poignant, conspiratorial.

In Rememberings, she captures the way she saw the world when she was young. She describes her fear on the day her father left, and her mother moved her and her siblings into the garden hut and locked them out of the house. She was eight years old. I knelt on the ground in front of the gable wall and wailed up to the landing window to get her to let us into the house when it got dark. That is when I officially lost my mind and became afraid of the size of the sky. This particular incident shaped much of her life, she tells me. Thats why Im agoraphobic. I find it difficult being outside. I dont mind when it turns into black night, but once the hours of dusk come, I get very anxious.

OConnor grew up in Glenageary, County Dublin, the third of five children born to Marie and John. The family were middle-class, fairly well off, practising Catholics and dysfunctional. When her parents split up, she says, her father (a structural engineer turned barrister) became only the second man in Ireland awarded custody of his children and a campaigner for the right to divorce.

In the book, she recounts her mothers physical and sexual abuse, including the times she ordered OConnor to strip naked, lie on the floor with her arms and legs splayed open, then hit her repeatedly in her private parts. She is convinced her mother wanted to destroy her reproductive organs. She had a thing about wanting me to be a boy. She didnt want girls.

OConnor closely resembled her mother. Was she aware at the time of how alike they looked? Yes. Ive often thought she did all this to me because I was the child who reminded her most of herself. Did it worry her that she looked like her? Yeah. I think thats why I continue to shave my head, because if I have hair I look more like her and I dont like to see her in the mirror. Theres no picture of her in the book.

She says it was her mother who forced her into thieving as a little girl. They would collect money in charity boxes, then Marie would steal all the donations sometimes as much as 200 a night. My mother was a kleptomaniac. She would visit houses that were for sale just so she could steal shit out of them. She would take money out of the church plate. But her parents had plenty of money, didnt they? Exactly. My father was very well-off. When my mother died, we were living like she had no money, with no heat, no electricity, no hot water. The bitch dies and theres 250 grand in the bank!

OConnor says she never wanted to steal, but then she found she was addicted to it, like her mother. I became a kleptomaniac as well. My father took me on holiday with the rest of the kids when I was 13 or 14 and I stole a rug out of the hotel room. Id steal shit for the sake of stealing it. She would take things from shops to order for her schoolfriends. The young OConnor was a talented sprinter; shed put on the clothes she wanted to nick, walk to the exit, then run. At the age of 14, she got caught stealing a pair of gold shoes for a mate and was sent to a reform school run by nuns.

When OConnor was 18, her mother was killed in a car crash. In the past, she has said she loved her despite everything, and never recovered from her death. Today, she simply says she was relieved that she died. Does she think her mother was ill or just cruel? I think she was an evil person. But she doesnt believe it was her fault. When I look at photos of the woman she was before she got married, she was a joyful, gleaming, happy young woman, and I feel something possessed her. It was the devil in her.

OConnors worldview has always been one of gods and devils perhaps not surprisingly for somebody who was brought up to believe the incontestable truth of the scriptures. Of her 20-odd tattoos, all but one are scriptural. On the back of her hand is printed The lion of Judah shall break every chain (My Rastafari fist), on the other Lumen Christi (light of Christ), and on her chest is a huge Jesus tattoo. On her neck is All things must pass, another biblical quote. The exception is a tattoo saying Vampire slayer which is what some friends called her after the Saturday Night Live incident.

She began writing her memoir in January 2015 when she was in a good place. But then she had a prolonged and catastrophic breakdown, brought on partly by one of her children becoming seriously ill; she also had a radical hysterectomy later that year. Everything went fucking pear-shaped. I went through what you call surgical menopause, which is like menopause multiplied by 10,000. Then I didnt write anything again for four years. The first half I wrote on a laptop at home, the second half I dictated from the nuthouse. The difference is obvious the early part of the book is economic, tonally assured, poetic, writerly; the latter pacy, gossipy and entertaining.

After the hysterectomy, her mental health took a dive. Nobody had explained to me or my family that shes going to be a crazy bitch because we took her ovaries for no reason. So the children were terrified of me. How was she terrifying? Angry. Raging. I was furious. I was completely gone. I was suicidal. She says she scared everybody off. Nobody could deal with me. I was very isolated and alone. Id be looking at them, thinking, what the hell are they all frightened of?

She admitted herself as an inpatient to the psychiatric hospital St Patricks in Dublin in 2016. OConnor assumed the staff wouldnt be able to cope with her either. She says she was hard work when she arrived on the locked ward. You test them. You show them your ugly side and youre like: I bet you throw me out now. After about three years I realised they werent going anywhere. In fact they loved me very much indeed.

Rememberings is partly dedicated to St Patricks. She calls the hospital her second home. Thank God I spent a lot of the last six years there, because otherwise I wouldnt be alive. Most of the time, she was on an open ward, learning about her mental health. Im 10% bipolar, apparently, 40% complex traumatic stress and the rest is borderline personality disorder. Did she try to kill herself in hospital? No. Never. I went there all the time because I was suicidal. I would take myself there. In the past I have made several suicide attempts. I would take the pills and say to God: OK its up to you, you decide and then of course I would wake up three or four days later. Clearly God thinks Im such a pain in the arse that he doesnt want me either. She grins. Im a strong little fucker. I wasnt meant to die.

It was the times when she signed herself out of their care that the disasters happened. In 2017, she convinced herself everybody in Ireland and Britain had given up on her, so she headed for America to see friends. In fact, she ended up living alone in a motel in not-so-quiet desperation. That was when she put a video on Facebook in tears to tell the world she was in urgent need of help: My entire life is revolving around not dying, and thats not living. It was terrifying for her and for her fans. She managed to get back to Ireland, and readmitted herself to hospital. Today, she says she wasnt only mentally ill at the time, she was in physical agony with gallstones. Social media has often brought the worst out of her. Twitter is really for lonesome people, isnt it? she says. And I was desperately, desperately lonely.

In one way or another, OConnor says, she has always had issues with self-esteem. In the book she writes about how her sister imear tried to boost her. She made me look in the mirror when I was 23 or 24 and say, I am loving, I am lovable, I love and accept myself exactly as I am and shed make me give myself a kiss. And did she believe it? I probably only started believing in January of this year. Has she kept on doing it? Sometimes I still do it. If Ive managed to achieve something; if Ive managed to have a shower or Ive managed to clean the house, Ill say to myself: Youve achieved a lot today, that was great. But I dont do it looking in the mirror. She pauses. Now and again Ill give myself a kiss in the mirror or say, you fucking rock!

Her last stint at St Patricks was her longest eight months. And it was this January that she and the hospital agreed she was fit to leave. Theyd been threading this thing together in me for six years. Both you and your team know when youre ready. How did she feel different? I didnt feel sad any more, I didnt feel depressed, I didnt spend all day terrified, I was able to go out, I was able to have fun, I was able to spend a day not beating the shit out of myself for my flaws. She is cutting back on her work hours to focus on the essentials paying bills, keeping the house clean and not being overwhelmed.

She puts out yet another cigarette, prepares to light the next, then stops. Can I just take a piss? A minute later she returns. Wonderful piss, she says. I ask whether she learned anything about herself from writing the book. I learned how very, very lucky I was. Coming from where I did, and then to walk around the world having this fantastic adventure. Sometimes I would ring my father, saying something bad had happened to me, and hed always say thats part of the adventure, thats part of life. You know the Harrison Ford movies, hes always being chased by a boulder or in a pit of snakes, but its all part of the adventure? Its scary, but its fun.

Towards the end of her stay in hospital, she started to appreciate her talent for the first time. When she was planning to tour (before it got cancelled by the pandemic), she worried that she may have forgotten the lyrics to her songs. So I went on YouTube to remind myself. I had never done that before and I thought, holy shit, thats me; thats quite good! Is she thinking of any particular songs? A lot was about the live performance, like on Jools Holland I did two songs called Fire On Babylon and Famine. I was a skinny young lady and I thought, where did that voice come from?

Did she think she was beautiful? When I look back, I think, yeah, thats a pretty girl. Not any more. And at the time? That was never something in my mind. Im Irish and I grew up in the 70s when to be a good Catholic you had to think you were shit; you werent allowed to boast, you werent allowed to be proud of yourself. You would never declare: I am loving and lovable!

OConnor says she was terrified of reading Rememberings: she thought she would find the chapters on her childhood triggering. There came a point when she couldnt avoid it any longer, because she had to read the audio book. Did she find it tough? No, the only bit that fucked me up was the Prince chapter. When I read it, I was like, holy fuck, that was a really scary night.

She was in America in 1991, soon after Nothing Compares 2 U had topped the charts. Although Prince had written the song for his side project, the Family, hed had nothing to do with her recording. One day she got a call saying hed like to meet her. A chauffeur-driven car arrived to take her to his house. From the off, she says, Prince acted strangely. He told her he didnt like the language she used on TV and made it clear he was unhappy she was not his protege. Things soon got tense. She says the evening ended up with him locking her in his house, insisting they have a pillow fight, then hitting her with a hard object hidden inside the pillowcase. OConnor says she managed to get away and he chased her in his car. Eventually she escaped. She has talked about this night before now, but previously she seemed to laugh it off. Not this time.

What does she think would have happened if Prince had caught her? I think he would have beat the shit out of me. Even talking about it after all these years, she looks shaken. What was the scariest moment? When he was sitting on a chair by the front door and he wouldnt let me out. His irises dissolved and his eyes just went white. It was the scariest thing Ive seen in my life. If he had still been alive, does she think there would have been a #MeToo moment about Prince? There still might be, she says. Im interested to see if that does happen because I know one woman he put in hospital for months. And she didnt make a complaint. I think he was a walking devil. He wasnt called Prince for nothing. Did they ever meet after that? No, I wouldnt go fucking near him, no way. And he never attempted to meet me. I could have gone to the police and made a report, but I didnt. I was just so glad to be out of it.

As well as the traumatic stuff, Rememberings is hilarious at times. Every minute she is falling in love with someone new invariably a priest or yet another man called John. She describes gleefully how she had never fitted the Catholic template: Four children by four different men, only one of whom I married, and I married three other men, none of whom are the fathers of my children. In 2011 she made a call-out on social media for a sweet sex-starved man. After a few unsatisfactory responses, Mr Right offered his services, and this resulted in her brief fourth marriage.

She describes the man who took her virginity at 14 as her deflorist. She admits she stole the term from her brother, the celebrated novelist Joseph OConnor. Is she surprised theres been so much sex in her life? No, because I was a horndog. I was like every other girl in a band. We all fucked our way around America.

She stops, and says she has a confession. To be honest, I exaggerated how slutty I was. I had a couple of affairs on tour with crew members, but I didnt do my slutty years till I was 49. Then I went on a load of dating sites. I never did any one-night stands before, and then I did the entire slutty college years in six months. Did she enjoy it? Oh yeah, I loved it. But it was time for it to stop.

There are also honourable or dishonourable mentions of celebrity boyfriends. She writes that Peter Gabriel, who was divorced from his first wife when they dated in the early 90s, regarded her as his weekend pussy. Did that upset her? Yes, I was really hurt because he had chased me for about a year as if he was madly in love with me. He was the type of dude who youd be away with and hed put a note under the door to tell you hes just about to go out on a date with another girl. And hed get you down for the weekend and then say, you know this isnt going to go any further. She says, Because of Peter, Ive always drilled it into my sons that you must never tell a woman you love her to get her into bed. She says she doesnt want to give the wrong impression of Gabriel, though. To be fair, he also has a great tenderness about him.

Anyway, this is all the past, she insists; the hysterectomy has done for her libido. I dont even look at policemens arses any more, she says sorrowfully. I used to look at them a lot; especially motorcycle cops. Id completely objectify them. A little smile plays across her face. There has been quite a hot electrician around my house for the last while. See, I say, theres still hope. Well, its six years since I either had sex or went out with anybody, and now Ive had six years on my own, I love it. The thought of having to shave your legs, pluck your eyebrows, hold in your stomach, stick out your arse, always stress, stress.

While were on sex, shes got a joke for me. I went to the doctor. He told me to stop wanking. I said, Why? and he said, Because Im trying to examine you. She laughs. I love that joke.

I ask OConnor why she thinks she has has had so few hit records. Simple, she says its never been a priority. For her, music has always been a form of therapy. When she did Top Of The Pops, she just regarded it as an opportunity to get this shit I have to get off my chest. The only reason to make an album is because youll go crazy if you dont. If you make it because you want to be famous or impress the fella down the road or to make money, its not going to be a good record.

Having said that, she did earn a fortune from music. I made 10 million quid on the second album [I Do Not Want What I Havent Got] . I probably should have made more. I gave away half of it. Why? A priest told me: when you grow up and get a job, pay back the money you stole. So as soon as I got the money, I doled it out in various ways to different charities and people. Thats not in the book, I say. She looks embarrassed. No. Because youre not supposed to say when youve done a good deed.

Shes probably still most famous for ripping up the picture of John Paul II. Has that defined her career? Yes, in a beautiful fucking way. There was no doubt about who this bitch is. There was no more mistaking this woman for a pop star. But it was not derailing; people say, Oh, you fucked up your career but theyre talking about the career they had in mind for me. I fucked up the house in Antigua that the record company dudes wanted to buy. I fucked up their career, not mine. It meant I had to make my living playing live, and I am born for live performance.

Despite everything that has happened to her the abuse, the breakdowns, the betrayals and fallouts she has never lost her faith. Yes, she has been hypercritical of formalised religion, particularly the Catholicism she was born into, but thats different. Religions are simply platforms for faith, she says, and she decided Catholicism was a lousy platform, so she chose Islam. I guess I was born with a huge faith and it never left and nothing would shake it, she says.

Why did she become a Muslim? What I like about Islam is that it is anti-religious. In the same way that Jesus was a militantly anti-religious figure, Allah is saying that people are not to worship anything but God. The worst thing that happened to God is religion. She means weve spent too long worshipping priests rather than God. Islam is the most maligned religion on Earth because it has the truths that would make you not worship money, make you not steal, make you be good to your brothers and sisters, make you gentle.

Weve been chatting for hours, so we call it a night. But over the following days she calls and texts with corrections and additional information. There are new stories about her mother, some horrific, some funny (One evening some friends of hers called round she gave them dog food on toast and told them it was pat). There are reminders of how much she adores her father, her children and two of her ex-husbands. (My first husband, John Reynolds [who was also her producer], is still my best friend.) And, most importantly, there are pleas not to misrepresent her. Dont make it all misery, she commands. Just remember, my storys not Angelas fucking Ashes.

Last time we met it was a period of relative stability in her life. At the end of that interview I asked if she thought her state of calm could be permanent, and she bridled. People always say to me, Do you think your happiness is going to last? as if Im teetering on some edge, she said, before telling me it was bollocks.

Now she feels differently. She knows things are going well at the moment she is happy living alone, shes got a good relationship with her children but she knows nothing is permanent. I think Im good now. But Im not stupid enough to think I wont have relapses. Im not stupid enough to think I wont end up in hospital again. Im a recovering abuse survivor and its a lifes work. Its not like you get reborn or something. She lifts her hijab slightly, showing more of her cropped hair, and she smiles again. For a moment, she looks just like the angelic skinhead of old. So yeah, Im always going to be a bit of a crazy bitch, but thats OK.

In the UK and Ireland, Samaritans can be contacted on 116 123 or email jo@samaritans.org or jo@samaritans.ie. In the US, the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline is 1-800-273-8255. In Australia, the crisis support service Lifeline is 13 11 14. Other international helplines can be found at befrienders.org.

Rememberings, by Sinad OConnor, is published by Penguin on 1 June at 20. To support the Guardian, order your copy at guardianbookshop.com. Delivery charges may apply

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