Random Notes from an Irritable Traveller

My flight out of Sydney to Dubai was delayed. My flight out of Dubai to Manchester was delayed. My train from Manchester Airport to Liverpool stood on the platform for 45 minutes waiting for another train to leave. On going back to Manchester Airport to fly to Budapest, my train stopped two stations short. Thereafter, the train was on and off again at least four times. At one point I was making my way out of the station to catch a cab when the call came that the train was on again, only for it to be off again when I reached the platform. Then, amazingly, it was on again.

I was told that a train down the track had broken down, had been fixed, became unfixed, and then became fixed. People around me with a plane to catch were understandably anxious and agitated. I assume things are going to go wrong and had booked a hotel near the Airport for the night, preparatory to my flight next day.

Oh, the joy of travel. No wonder Albo, Bowen and the Davos crowd favour private planes and helicopters. Incidentally, when I alighted from the plane at Manchester three heavily armed policemen were in the tunnel. Bobbies on bicycles two by two is a relic of the past.

Liverpool FC hosted an event at Anfield stadium “to celebrate the holy month of Ramadan.” (Liverpool Echo, April 8). “Anfield was a hive of activity as people from all faiths and backgrounds arrived at the stadium for a Share Ramadan event.” All faiths? Times, they have a-changed.

Apparently, you must have 4G mobile phone coverage to access most EV public charging stations. Coverage is patchy. That is a problem. It might undermine confidence in EVs, The UK Telegraph reported on April 8. Maybe that accounted for the drop in new EV sales from 16.2 per cent last March to 15.2 per cent this March. The government mandate on major car brands is for 22 per cent of new sales in 2024, 28 per cent in 2025, 80 per cent in 2030 and 100 per cent from 2035. Calls are being made to half VAT on EV sales among other incentives. And the government claims to be spending £1 billion to increase 4G coverage. To wit, the unspeakable (read “politicians”) in vain pursuit of the unwantable.

My coffee here in Liverpool is £4.50. Converted, roughly twice the price as in Sydney. (The current exchange rate is one Aussie dollar equals 0.52 pounds.) My Saturday Telegraph cost me £4; that is $8 more or less. What is going on? Must check the Big Mac price.

Now checked.

A Big Mac costs $8.80 in Sydney. It should be higher — closer to $10, based on the UK price, which hovers plus-or-minus around £5. This suggests the Australian dollar is undervalued. On my calculation we should be getting 0.57 pounds for our dollar. We are being diddled. That is comforting for future Australian travelers if markets lift the value of the dollar by about 10 per cent. That said, I still got a feeling that Australia is on the way to joining that band of countries where the low value of the currency means it’s relatively cheap to eat for foreigners. Tourist moolah goes further in the Third World. We are not nearly there yet, of course, but give Chris Bowen more time and he will do his damnedest to get us there.

IN OTHER news, pediatrician Dr Hillary Cass issued her report today (April 10) on children who believe they are transgender. Four years in the making, the report, according to The Telegraph, affirms that gender medicine for children and young people is “built on shaky foundations … cautions against hasty decisions while children’s brains are developing,” and calls for “unhurried, holistic, therapeutic support for those aged between 17 and 25.”

So, what to say? Sanity breaks through. Is this the start of something big? Probably not. The European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) has just ruled that governments have a duty to protect people from climate change. A group of elderly Swiss women claimed their rights were violated due to their government’s failure to act quickly enough to tackle climate change. Reacting, a group of Tories want the UK to leave the ECHR. That won’t happen — and there is no point anyway. Kier Starmer would rejoin when, if as seems likely by the polls reckoning, he comes into power later this year. In any event, judges everywhere are on the road to wokedom. If the ECHR doesn’t get you the local courts will. Down Under, Justice Bromberg et al will be rubbing their hands.

Think about ‘failing to act quickly enough on climate change’. Even the climate obsessive Bowen would come a cropper measured against the aspirations of the Greens and Teals. And I bet Greta Thunberg is in a perpetual state of dissatisfaction with progress. Her human rights are being violated as we speak by all and sundry.