Ian Craig is retiring. It was bound to happen eventually, but it is sad to see the various voices of racing disappearing.
AFTER 45 years entertaining the racing world with his dulcet tones and classic calling Ian Craig has announced his retirement.
Craig, the longest serving fulltime racecaller in Australia, said the decision to hang up his binoculars was quite an easy one.
“I have been planning to pull the pin for some time now,” Craig said.
[..]
“I have called 35 Golden Slippers and AJC Derbys and thought the time was right to hang up the 10-by-50s.”
Craig, 67, started at 2UE in 1965 before moving to 2KY in 1968. He will call his final race meeting at Gosford on June 24.
He could not single out one performance as a career highlight but rates Kingston Town, Luskin Star, Sunline and Octagonal among the best thoroughbreds he has called.
One wonders who will fill Ian’s shoes for Sky Channel and 2KY. Regardless of who it is, I get the distinct feeling that the days of “personalities” calling races are all but over.
Jon Stewart’s “Daily Show” is quite popular and, at times, amusing, however when people tell me all about its greatness as a news program, I can really only snort with mild amusement as it really isn’t a news show. What it is, is a comedy show dressed up as a news show, placing an emphasis on comedic value over news value. Calling it a news show is akin to describing my opinion pieces as news articles.
Want an example of what I’m talking about? Here’s an example of Jon Stewart twisting the words of a Fox News reporter in order to have some fun (and well lets face it, what comedian doesn’t like to have fun with the odd perception that Fox News is some far-right cuckoo organisation?)
Amusing? Yes. News? No.
Jon Stewart has his place, and is quite successful, but on the rare occasion where he mentions a story which I have missed, I have to find the original source because, quite frankly, I can’t trust a comedy program to provide me with the full story.
Hopefully this clears up a bit of confusion amongst those who have been on the receiving end of my amused snorts and chuckles.
The State Government has confirmed New South Wales police officers are leaving the force at a rate of two a day, but describes the figure as low.
[..]
The state’s Police Minister Tony Kelly says the state has a low rate of attrition.
“The figure is correct, there are 50 leaving a month, but that’s down from 90 a month and it’s a lower rate than the rest of the public service,” he said.
1. Your comparison is not fair Tony. The rest of the public service does not have a similar number of staff to the police force.
2. In the police force, a healthy turnover isn’t a healthy turnover. Whilst new recruits are a wonderful thing, merely replacing experienced staff who are quitting, not retiring, with inexperienced staff is not a plan for success.
3. Tony, is the New South Wales government really in such a bad shape that you’re proud of these numbers? Oh, never mind, I forgot who I was talking to for a minute…you’re lucky that the entire public service hasn’t quit fifteen times over. After all, ministers doing just that (great role models) is precisely how you got your job.
Not only are AAP not including mugshots in their stories, they’re also leaving out vital bits of identifying information.
Police are warning the public to stay away from four prisoners on the run after escaping from a Parramatta jail.
[..]
John Harris, 18, and three 19-year-olds named Ricky Kincheila, Isaac Haines and Jay Williams are described as being of Aboriginal appearance, while Harris has the name ‘Lauren’ tattooed on the left side of his chest.
So anyone reading or hearing an AAP based report of this story is left guessing as to what most of the escapees look like, and can only identify one of them if he isn’t wearing a shirt…great!
Effectively the message AAP are spreading here is “beware of teenage Aboriginal people”.
The New South Wales Police press release is much more helpful, but it’s sad that people have to dig for the information which the Police have released in an effort to protect the public:
*** Editor’s note: Images of the four men are available by contacting the Police Media Unit on (02) 8263 6100. ***
[..]
The first escaped man is 18-year-old John Harris who is described as being of Aboriginal appearance, with a dark complexion. He is approximately 180cm tall, thin build and brown eyes. He also has a tattoo of the name “Lauren” across his chest.
The second man is 19-year-old Ricky Kincheila who is described as being of Aboriginal appearance, with a light complexion. He is approximately 178cm tall and of medium build. He has brown hair, brown eyes and a beard and moustache.
The third man is 19-year-old Issac Haines who is described as being of Aboriginal appearance, with a light tanned complexion. He is approximately 190cm tall with a thin build. He has black hair and brown eyes.
The fourth man is 19-year-old Jay Williams who is described as being of Aboriginal appearance. He is approximately 175cm tall, medium build with black hair and brown eyes.
AAP, I know that lengthy descriptions don’t make for exciting copy, but some things are more important than that. This is one of them.
Welcome back Alan, it’s great to have you back on the airwaves and in good health. You’re sounding great.
Best wishes,
Samuel Gordon-Stewart
Canberra
Update 8:43am: Expect to see Alan on the TV news bulletins tonight. The studio has been filled with cameras and boom microphones all morning: End Update
Originally published May 1, 3:32pm. I’m republishing this because it deserves a wider audience than what it probably received when originally published late on Friday.
An ACTION bus driver is in a critical condition in hospital following an accident at the Belconnen bus depot a bit over a week ago.
Samuel’s Blog has learned that on Tuesday April 21, a bus driver was walking between buses when a bus being driven by an ACTION refueller reversed rapidly, crushing the man between two buses. It is believed that the man suffered extensive internal injuries, including multiple broken bones, as well as having his head forced through the windscreen of the stationary bus.
The man was conveyed to hospital, where he remains in a coma more than a week after the accident.
The two buses involved in the accident, which did not have bumper bars, received significant panel damage.
Samuel’s Blog understand that the incident has revived concerns inside ACTION about the lack of reversing beepers on the buses, and has resulted in drivers being asked not to reverse park buses where other options are available.
It is not known why the incident has been kept quiet by ACTION officials.
AFTER 45 years entertaining the racing world with his dulcet tones and classic calling Ian Craig has announced his retirement.
