Fitz on a roll?

Good morning Sandy,

Please give Fitz his morning sedative before he starts singing. It sounds like he is very excited for some reason.

It's nice to hear you both together on the breakfast show, hopefully it will happen again some time.

Oh, and Fitz, the Waratahs have no chance of defeating the Crusaders.

Happy Easter!

Samuel Gordon-Stewart
Canberran in Sydney

March 20th, 2008 at 06:00am

Superannuation Insurance

Good morning Jim,

I was listening with interest to the story you read about the superannuation firm signing up their customers to an insurance policy simply by sending them a letter.

It may be perfectly legal, but it sounds to me like a legal form of fraud. Whoever thought up the law which allows superannuation funds to assume that they have the permission to do virtually whatever they like with the compulsory contributions must have had a screw loose, as it makes it just a bit too easy for the people in charge of the super fund to siphon off a few percent of the takings to their cousin's company, or anywhere else they like.

I have to admit that if my super fund had done this, I probably wouldn't have noticed because my statement arrived about a fortnight ago and I didn't open it until I noticed it beside me while an ad break was running on the television a couple days ago.

It's sad to think that we've reached a point where you almost need a lawyer to read through the gibberish in the fine print before you sign anything, for fear of giving your life's earnings to the director of a super fund, or a bank, or any other institution that makes you sign something.

Regards,
Samuel Gordon-Stewart
Canberra

Article: Opt-out Insurance Becomes a Super Trap: Sydney Morning Herald, March 15

March 18th, 2008 at 04:00am

Catch phrases

Good morning John,

I can think of one catch phrase which has been a regular part of the advertising landscape for quite some time but has almost never been used in day-to-day conversation…but may used a bit more regularly in the media depending on the outcome of the US election, and that's "Ah McCain, you've done it again".

If John McCain wins the US election, then I'd be willing to bet that this saying will be a headline of The New York Times during his term.

Regards,
Samuel Gordon-Stewart
Canberra

March 12th, 2008 at 01:30am

Anti-drinking advertising

Good morning Clinton,

I have to agree with your comments about the Rudd government's planned advertisements against binge drinking…they won't work, because nobody will take any notice of them. In fact I think the target demographic (the under-18s) will just treat it as a case of "the adults say we shouldn't drink…well we'll show them".

And, I thought Kevin Rudd was against scare campaigns…how does an advertising campaign to ""scare the living daylights" out of binge-drinking teenagers fit in with Kevin Rudd's comments before the election about the Howard government's awful scare campaigns?

Also I think Joe Hockey would make a great federal Liberal leader…and with Brendan Nelson's approval rating lower than the unelectable Peter Costello, the sooner they switch to somebody…anybody, the better.

Regards,
Samuel Gordon-Stewart
Canberra

1 comment March 11th, 2008 at 01:00am

The weather bureau’s storm warning

Good evening Stuart,

One does have to wonder if the same person is on duty at the weather bureau tonight as was there a few years back when you had the massive hailstorm and the only warning came after the event, and talked about "a chance of small hail".

It's extraordinary the time it takes them to issue storm warnings sometimes…if the activity started at 7:30 and they only issued the alert at 9:59 then there is something seriously wrong. Perhaps the weather channel should have issued their own warnings instead of waiting for the official alert if they have their own on-staff meteorologists and knew there was something happening, as they claimed when you interviewed them.

Enjoy your weekend (and don't get too wet).

Regards,
Samuel Gordon-Stewart
Canberra

1 comment March 7th, 2008 at 10:30pm

Advanced Medical Institute

Good evening Stuart,

About these advertisements for the Advanced Medical Institute, I'm not in the least bit surprised that there have been complaints, I think it's one of their advertising tactics. The ads are very memorable, probably because of their somewhat objectionable and less than subtle content.

I dare say, if the ads were any less subtle, they'd be appearing in your inbox as spam.

Have a great night.

Regards,
Samuel Gordon-Stewart
Canberra

P.S. I don't suppose you'll be attending John Kerr's lunch on the 19th by any chance?

March 5th, 2008 at 10:00pm

Social Networking

Happy Leap Year Day Stuart!

Much like you, I don't fit in to any of the categories in that list of social networking "personalities" which you read out. If there was a category for "been there, done that, and closed my facebook account" then I'd fit in to that one. I had almost no use for it, still don't, and I'm much happier without the endless bunch of useless emails and notifications I used to receive from Facebook.

Enjoy the last few hours of leap year day…you won't get another chance for 1461 days.

Regards,
Samuel Gordon-Stewart
Canberra

February 29th, 2008 at 08:30pm

Clive

Hello Stuart,

I hear that we have lost Clive Robertson from the overnight show…that is a shame, his humour and intellect through the night were really great company and I'll miss the unusual conversations I used to have with him. I just hope he didn't leave because I haven't rung for a while (or maybe he left because I might ring again).

I don't know what we're going to do without Clive…I suppose you could extend your show by five and a half hours or John Kerr could do seven nights a week…or maybe we should just give the show to Abe? Or what about the king…I don't suppose Lawsie is looking to get back in to radio?

I'm going to miss Clive…if you're listening Clive (or even if you're not), best of luck for the future, it was always a pleasure listening to you.

Regards,
Samuel Gordon-Stewart
Canberra

(Thanks to Dan for letting us know about Clive’s departure from the overnight show)

4 comments February 28th, 2008 at 10:00pm

Tiger Woods

Good evening Stuart,

In regards to that email earlier about the likelihood of Tiger Woods attending an Australian event. As you are surely one of the lucky people at the basis of that myth about talkback radio presenters earning millions of dollars per day, you could sponsor one of the events and get him over here?

You could probably get him to agree to less money if you get him on to your show, surely he'd be willing to drop a couple million off his asking price for the chance of being interviewed by Stuart Bocking.

Have a great night.

Regards,
Samuel Gordon-Stewart
Canberra

February 25th, 2008 at 09:30pm

Queen Of Hearts

Good evening Stuart,

It's been ages since I last hear "Queen Of Hearts" by Juice Newton. Thanks for playing it, it's a great song.

I hope all is well in your neck of the woods.

Regards,
Samuel Gordon-Stewart
Canberra

February 18th, 2008 at 10:30pm

Mariana

Hi Glenn,

The email from "Mariana" is, as you say, a scam. I couldn't work out the point of it when I received those emails last year, so I played along for a while…we got as far as her heading to Moscow to catch a plane to Australia, before I gave up out of boredom. I believe the scam was going to involve me sending her money so that she catch a plane to Australia.

I'm about to start the process again with an alias and follow through until I get a definitive answer as to what the scam is.

Regards,
Samuel Gordon-Stewart
Canberra

February 2nd, 2008 at 01:30pm

Storm and the stolen generation

Good evening Stuart,

It sounds like the storm really hit you up there in Sydney. We were supposed to have a lot of storm activity down here in Canberra but (in my part of town at least) it was just a light show and a bit of rain. Probably a good thing because I'm doing a good impersonation of a bear with a headache at the moment…the excess noise of more thunder and hail would not have been welcome.

Also, I can see the floodgates just starting to leak with the apology to the stolen generation. This call to teach the history of the stolen generation in schools is a tricky one, because which version of the story are we talking about…the "nasty white people stole children" version that I was taught in primary school, or the factual "aboriginal children were removed because the government thought it was a good idea, and the debate has been raging ever since" version. Undoubtedly the "history" will ignore the non-aboriginal children who were "stolen".

I clearly remember the day in primary school where we had to write down our thoughts on apologising to the stolen generation, I wrote my opinion that we shouldn't apologise, and was forced to cross it out and write something about how important it is to apologise. I have no problem with the story of the stolen generation being taught in schools, it is after all an important part of our history, but it should be taught accurately, not in the biased way it was taught when I was in primary school.

Regards,
Samuel Gordon-Stewart
Canberra

4 comments January 31st, 2008 at 09:30pm

ACT Health are incompetent

Originally posted 30/Jan/2008
Hi Mike,

I've been on the fence over this issue with the male sex worker and ACT health not identifying his medical condition…I've been leaning towards your argument that ACT Health should have informed the public, but today's revelation that he may have infected 250 people with HIV makes me agree with you completely.

This is a disgrace, those 250 people, if they're infected, could have infected hundreds more people by now, and those people could have infected others and so on…this all should have been announced a month ago when ACT health were first informed.

I can't see find any reference to the court case about this being over, so I'd be interested to hear how this public announcement fits in with Katy Gallagher's statements to you that her legal advice was that she couldn't say anything. If you try to talk to her tomorrow, I'm willing to bet that she'll be unavailable until three minutes to the hour.

Regards,
Samuel Gordon-Stewart

For your reference, here's the story James Goodwin files for 2GB's livenews.com.au this afternoon:

From http://livenews.com.au/Articles/2008/01/30/Sex_worker_may_have_infected_250_with_HIV

Sex worker may have infected 250 with HIV

James Goodwin & AAP

1 hour 54 minutes ago.

Authorities in Canberra are desperately trying to contact hundreds of people who may have been infected with the AIDS virus by a male sex worker.

Hector Scott, 41, has been charged with knowingly infecting someone with a sexually transmitted disease and failing to register as a sex worker.

ACT Chief Health Officer Charles Guest confirmed on Wednesday the man had Human Immunodeficiency Virus or HIV.

"It is a very unusual step to take to mention the diagnosis of this kind in the interest of privacy," Dr Guest told reporters in Canberra.

"But we will be calling people this afternoon and discussing this diagnosis with them so we know that it will be in the public domain today so therefore I'll share that with you."

The health department have begun call around 250 people who Scott has telephoned in recent weeks to warn them they could be at risk.

It is believed a number of the man's clients could have been from interstate.

During 2007 he advertised himself as a prostitute in Canberra media using the names Adam and Josh.

The health department first became aware of Scott's actions on December 20 last year when notified by another jurisdiction. The department alerted police within 24 hours.

But Scott was not issued with a public health order - to stop working as a prostitute - until January 4, when he was arrested.

Anyone who has been in sexual contact with Scott is urged to see a doctor.

Update 31/Jan/2008: Mike Jeffreys interviewed Dr. Guest this morning, they went around in circles for a little while with Dr. Guest insisting that the government’s approach to this issue has not changed. Dr. Guest terminated the interview when he declared that Mike Jeffreys’s summary of the situation was incorrect (despite being almost identical to the story that Dr. Guest had told Mike a few moments prior) and that he didn’t have time to explain the investigation to Mike. Dr. Charles Guest hung up on Mike Jeffreys.

I think the PR people will be having a word with Dr. Guest today, as he was doing fairly well until he decided to hang up…he was holding his ground, and then he threw his credibility out the window by making it sound like an enquiry from the media about an important public issue was too hard and too time consuming. Dr. Guest did himself and the government no favours by hanging up…this is why Katy Gallagher should have been the person to spout non-answers, she could have read the same script, and just re-used her (possibly true) “I have to go and look after the children” line when it all became too much to deal with.

I will say this in Dr. Guest’s defence though, it should not be left to him to deal with the media, it should be the minister facing the media, not a public servant. Making Dr. Guest hold a press conference yesterday was a disgraceful act, and Ms. Gallagher should either be ashamed or discipline the person responsible.

End Update

1 comment January 31st, 2008 at 08:00am

Hair

Good afternoon John,

I can't imagine you with hair, I think the bald head suits you quite well.

As for my hair, I'd be much happier if it didn't grow. I dislike haircuts, and I also dislike having long(ish) hair. If only it could remain short without needing to be maintained!

And welcome back to Canberra, I've missed you since you disappeared to the drive show. I was very excited when I heard your voice after the 3pm news, I hope you're enjoying your new timeslot.

Regards,
Samuel Gordon-Stewart
Canberra

January 28th, 2008 at 04:00pm

Clutterers

Good afternoon Tim,

I'm another self-confessed clutterer. I mainly collect paper, and anything paper based…I even have a disposable christmas design coffee cup from 2006 sitting on a bench as an ornament!

If you look in some places in this house, you'll find a few old catalogues that I just decided to keep for some reason and have forgotten about since then, and I have a Daily Telegraph from the mid 1990s here somewhere…not that I know why I kept it.

Regards,
Samuel Gordon-Stewart
Canberra

January 24th, 2008 at 12:30pm