Posts filed under 'Talkback Emails'
An email to 2UE’s John Kerr
Good morning John,
Happy April Fools Day! What an interesting day for the daylight saving changeover to occur. There are so many opportunities to work daylight saving in to a prank by deliberately telling people to change their clocks the wrong way, or by the wrong amount, or better yet, tell the Queensland listeners that they will be joining daylight saving when we leave it.
Here's another one I thought of which you might be interested in using one year. In the "On This Day" segment, find out some really mundane things which happened and use them instead of the historical events. For example, on this day in 1904 the United States Surgeon General enacted a close quarantine in Texas. In 1932, "Mobsmen On The Spot", the ninth story featuring a fictional vigilante named The Shadow was published. In 1948, it was a Thursday. And in 1976, the overnight low in Canberra was 9 degrees, the top temperature was 20 and it did not rain.
Actually, there's another idea for you John, just give out different weather forecasts…so give Sydney's forecast for Brisbane, Canberra's forecast for Dubbo and so on and so forth.
Ahhh the possibilities.
Anyway, will you be on next weekend? If not, have a great Easter, and be good so that the Easter Bunny visits.
Regards,
Samuel Gordon-Stewart
P.S. The above historical data is accurate. I have been researching it while I have been writing this email.
April 1st, 2012 at 01:30am
An email to 2UE’s Stuart Bocking, who is filling in for Jason Morrison on the Breakfast show this morning
Good morning Stuart, nice to hear you on a weekday again.
About the proposal to make school zones be in force 24/7. I can't see any point to it. There is no good reason to have a school zone in force when there are no kids around. In NSW the system makes sense as the school zones are in force around the times that children are likely to enter and exit the school grounds, and portable school zones exist around stopped school buses…it's much more sensible than the blanket 8:30am-4pm school zones we have in Canberra where various busy roads are slowed down for no good reason in the middle of the day when kids are in classrooms.
I like the idea of having flashing lights at all school zones, but what I would like to see is the ability to have the school zones be in force at times requested by the school, so for example if the school has an after-school program they could keep the school zone active for an extra hour or so in the afternoon, or if the school will have a class go on an excursion where they have to cross the road out the front, the school zones could be turned on while they do that. This might even be useful if schools ever decide to change their operating hours independently of other schools. Flashing lights would certainly make this easier.
I would also like to see school zones monitored by signposted point-to-point speed cameras so that motorists know that speeding in the school zone WILL result in them being caught and fined. This would hopefully free up police to monitor other roads and perform their other duties, and mean that we require less speed cameras elsewhere because we have more available police.
Have a great day Stuart.
P.S. Is Jason "expecting" this morning? I'm sure the rumour mill is in overdrive due to his absence.
Regards,
Samuel Gordon-Stewart
Canberra
March 28th, 2012 at 06:42am
An email to 2UE’s John Kerr
Good morning John,
That sure was a big win for Campbell Newman and the Liberal National Party in Queensland. I was expecting a big win, but this was even bigger than I thought it would be. It actually put me out a little as normally, even in an election which has a clear result quite early, the speeches don't start until after 9pm, so my plan was to watch the end of the AFL and then focus on the election and the speeches. Instead, I had to switch away from a rather uninteresting AFL match to watch the speeches…it's a good thing the AFL game wasn't very interesting.
I'm pleased to see Campbell Newman win. An exit poll showed that 44% of voters were very concerned about the carbon tax, so I think there is definitely a message for the federal government in this result, even though the election was largely decided on state issues. I hope that Mr. Newman takes his massive majority and hits the ground running, following through on his promises quickly…with that large a victory, he owes Queenslanders that much. I was also pleased to see former NRL referee Tim Mander win a seat. He has done great work with the school chaplaincy program, and it's good to see him take a step up to serve people on a larger scale.
From a national perspective, I now hope that the mining states of Queensland and Western Australia, along with the Liberal-run states of New South Wales and Victoria join forces to battle the mining tax in court on behalf of the residents of those states. It's bad enough that we have a pointless tax on air…we certainly don't need a tax on dirt.
Have a great week John. I'm working nights next week, so I might be able to give you a call after work next week. Unfortunately I have to go to bed now, but I'll be listening until I doze off.
Regards,
Samuel Gordon-Stewart
Canberra
March 25th, 2012 at 02:10am
An email to 2GB’s Glenn Wheeler
G’day Glenn,
You’re absolutely right about the strange bloke behind the Kony video. His so-called charity has one of the worst ratings of all the charities for the percentage of donated funds which actually goes towards charitable activities. Also, did you see the story about how the people who are victims of Kony are offended by the campaign, as they say it is dreadful to try and make Kony famous and put his name on t-shirts etc, regardless of the cause.
Anyway, on to other matters, it’s great to see a good man like Campbell Newman lead a good group of conservatives to power in Queensland. Labor and the Greens suffered strong swings against them, so I think there is a message in this for the federal government and their amazing taxes on air and dirt. State issues were obviously the big issue, but it’s pretty clear that the mining states don’t appreciate these big taxes.
Have a great week Glenn…and good luck to your Sharks tonight…I see they’re in the lead now.
Regards,
Samuel Gordon-Stewart
Canberra
March 24th, 2012 at 10:45pm
An email to 2GB’s Andrew Moore
Good morning Andrew,
Clive Palmer decided to not go ahead with his challenge to the constitutionality of the carbon dioxide mining tax (sorry, got my taxes mixed up). Hopefully someone else does it instead. A 2GB listener class action perhaps?
As for walking to school, I think it really depends on the child, the distance and the area. My walk was less than a kilometre and I started at age nine. There was one busy road, but otherwise it was fairly sedate and I always walked directly to and from school…well, almost. I did befriend a nice elderly man who lived about half way between school and home, so it’s a good thing he had no ulterior motive, and I did occasionally stop at the phone box across the road from home when reverse charge calls fascinated me…being able to run home in time to answer the call in time to accept the charges was fun until the bill came in and my parents saw the charges…$10 per call. I was in a lot of trouble.
It’s a judgement call, and I don’t envy any parent making decisions about giving their child more freedom. It must be terribly nerve-racking when every instinct is telling them not to let the kid out of their sight.
Have a great day Andrew.
Regards,
Samuel Gordon-Stewart
Canberra.
-35.278919149.138626
March 21st, 2012 at 04:25am
Good morning John,
I was very pleased to hear on the news tonight that Jasmine Rae won the Country Music Channel's Australian Artist Of The Year award this evening.
You have played her song "I faked it" a number of times and I quite like the song for its cheeky lyrics and her lovely voice. It's great that good Aussie talent is able to be recognised in this way.
I'm not much of a fan of modern music John, but I like your country music segment because I think a lot of the really good modern talent is in the country music field, and you have a knack for selecting some of the better ones. I think Jasmine is a really bright shining light among those people.
I've included the NineMSN article about her victory below for you, and now I'm off to bed as I have an early start. I'll be listening again at some stage during Antiques and Collectibles.
Regards,
Samuel Gordon-Stewart
Canberra
From http://news.ninemsn.com.au/entertainment/8436597/jasmine-rae-wins-top-country-music-award
Jasmine Rae wins top country music award
22:17 AEDT Fri Mar 16 2012
She is best known for the country anthem I Faked It but there was nothing phoney about the squeals of delight as Jasmine Rae was crowned CMC Oz Artist Of The Year.
The Melbourne singer-songwriter triumphed at the CMC Music Awards on Friday night after collecting the top award from five-time consecutive winner Adam Brand.
Discovered in Tamworth in 2008, Rae has released two albums including the ARIA country chart-topped Listen Here and has toured with international stars Tim McGraw and Alan Jackson.
The 24-year-old will perform at this weekend's CMC Rocks The Hunter festival alongside leading ladies of country Faith Hill and Wynonna Judd but said telling mum was the first priority.
"I'm beside myself, my mum is going to be so proud," Rae said after collecting the CMC Oz Artist Of The Year.
"It was awesome to be nominated but this was a big surprise to beat Brandy who's been taking out everyone for five years."
Other winners on the night included Australian country music legend James Blundell who entered the CMC Hall Of Fame, and Peter McWhirter named CMC New Oz Artist of The Year.
Keith Urban won two awards after being named International Artist Of The Year and his crossover hit Without You declared Music Video Of The Year.
The CMC Music Awards are voted for by CMC viewers and held annually in The Hunter Valley, NSW, to kick-start the CMC Rocks The Hunter festival.
March 17th, 2012 at 12:22am
An email to 2GB’s Andrew Moore
Good morning Andrew,
Well it’s finally arrived, the day of the great circus meeting. Later today the clowns will meet under the big top on the hill in Canberra to vote for a new ringmaster.
Did you know that both of them are magicians? Both of them recant magic phrases such as “moving forward” “let me say this” “clean energy future” and “Mr. Speaker”, and without fail, every time they utter one of these magic phrases, money vanishes from the Treasury coffers!
I’m tipping that Julia will stay in charge, but regardless of the outcome, I don’t think anything will change for the better.
Regards,
Samuel Gordon-Stewart
Canberra
February 27th, 2012 at 04:11am
An email to 2GB’s Andrew Moore
Good morning Andrew,
It’s good to see the NRL commission making decisions, as the NRL seems to have lacked proper decision making for a long time, but I don’t like their decision to scrap the McIntyre system. I like the uncertaintly of the first week. I like the fact that only the top two teams are guaranteed a second chance. I like the battle among the rest. But, the decision has been made, and there are more important things in the world…
Sadly Kevin Rudd is one of them. Hopefully his resignation as Foreign Minister will help to bring down this farce of a government. The situation is so dire that you could see Simon Crean’s eyes light up when he realised that even has half a chance of being Prime Minister.
It’s ridiculous Andrew. We need an election. The people should decide this one, because it’s clear that the politicians can not.
Have a good weekend.
Regards,
Samuel Gordon-Stewart
Canberra
February 23rd, 2012 at 04:51am
An email to 2GB’s Andrew Moore (with some extra bits added to make the context clear for people who did not hear the on-air topic)
Good morning Andrew,
Penalty rates are an interesting dilemma. While I agree that there should be some sort of extra incentive to work weird hours, I also don’t think that I should receive a heap of penalty rates for choosing to work odd hours.
My job contains a whole set of convoluted and expensive penalty rates which see me earn anything from 20% to 100% more than my base 38 hour wage per week. Admittedly my base rate would make me a rather low income earner, so I think a decent compromise would be to increase base rates a bit in exchange for simplifying penalty rates. Odd hours rates and public holiday rates should stay in a simplified form, but weekend rates are just wrong if I only work 38 hours per week. We don’t live in a society where business only occurs on weekdays, and it is expected by most people that businesses will operate on weekends, so it is silly to pay people extra for working on what is effectively an arbitrary two days of the week.
That’s my view…I’m sure there’s a few million other views out there.
Regards,
Samuel Gordon-Stewart
Canberra
February 17th, 2012 at 06:36am
An email to 2GB’s Andrew Moore
Good morning Andrew,
Did I hear you correctly? $200,000 for a branding campaign for the carbon dioxide tax? Well I’ll gladly submit this effort for free in the hope that they won’t spend any more money on the project.
“If you’d just believed us in the first place, we wouldn’t need to spend more of your money to invent false evidence to convince you that the planet is warming…but you didn’t believe us, so we’ll tax you until you do.”
I wonder how our beloved Treasurer Of The Year plans to produce a surplus with wasteful spending like this?
A belated “welcome back” Andrew.
Regards,
Samuel Gordon-Stewart
Canberra
Indeed I did hear it correctly. The Daily Telegraph has a report today about the federal department of Climate Change spending $200,000 on a branding campaign for the carbon dioxide tax.
February 13th, 2012 at 04:31am
Good morning John,
It's a shame (for me at least) that you are going to be away for the next couple of weekends as I don't have to work over the next couple of weekends and so it would be a good time for me to call you. But alas, you'll be away and I hope that it is not a shame for you, but instead is a jolly good time for you and for Rhonda.
About romantic songs, my favourite romantic song is "A You're Adorable". I like the version sung by Jo Stafford and Gordon MacRae. Perry Como also released a version of this song which was more popular than the Stafford/MacRae version, but I think the Stafford/MacRae version is nicer as it really sounds like they're a couple who are deeply in love and are serenading each other with lovely compliments.
In regards to last week's gigantic email, I did write a letter of complaint to the manager of the store in question, but have not heard back as yet. Perhaps it is taking him or her a while to read the five-page letter that I sent.
Have a fantastic couple of weeks off.
Regards,
Samuel Gordon-Stewart
Canberra
February 12th, 2012 at 02:44am
An email to 2UE’s John Kerr
Good morning John,
Sorry to deviate way off topic like this, but I’ve changed my mind about the self-serve checkouts and wanted to let you know why.
I used to think that they were a great idea and a time-saver, especially when I only have one or two small items, but increasingly I have been frustrated by them. This evening just gone, the final straw broke.
After finding out that I was going to have to stay at work for longer than I had expected due to a staff member calling in sick, I decided to use my meal break to go to the Woolworths about five minutes drive from work to pick up some snacks. This was around 11pm. I went in, picked up two small snacks, and took them to the self-serve checkout. As is often the case, the machine’s cash dispenser was out of order and the machine was only accepting EFTPOS. I was hoping to pay with some loose change, but $4 on the card isn’t a huge deal…just inconvenient.
Once I had completed my purchase, I told the machine that I did not want a receipt as I would only have thrown it away anyway. The security guard watched me finishing up at the machine, and then stopped me after I had been through the theft detection alarm and had NOT set it off. He asked if I had paid for the items, and I said that I had. He then asked me for the receipt, showing a clear ignorance of how the machines work. I told him that I had not requested a receipt, but it was clear that he did not believe me and made a comment to that effect. He then started asking the staff there if they had seen me pay for the items, which seemed odd to me as he had been watching me use the self-service checkout, but none of the staff in the store seemed interested in his question.
The guard then made it clear that he did not believe me, but told me to go anyway. I started to leave, but I was incredibly offended, not just with the tone he had taken with me, but with the fact that he had watched me use the machine and saw that I had not set off any security alarms, and yet still stopped me and showed a complete ignorance of how the store’s machines work, and a complete contempt for everything I had said. So I turned back, attracted his attention (which was difficult as he turned his back on me at first and then tried to walk away from me) and informed him that I was very offended by his conduct and that, as a matter of principle (as I don’t appreciate being treated like a thief when the evidence clearly shows that I am not one) I was leaving the items at the store and I would be writing a letter of complaint to the store manager. I then planted the items on the counter in front of him, and left the store.
As I was on a meal break from work, I did not really have time to argue the point with the security guard. If time had been available, I would have gone in to internet banking on my phone and shown him the record of the transaction and requested an apology.
This is not the first time that I have encountered grief at the self-service checkouts. Often, they are unclean, having had various items spilled on them. Quite regularly they do not deal with cash and will only take EFTPOS or vice-versa, which is a problem which rarely ever afflicts the staff-run checkouts (on one occasion, the machine did not give me change and the staff refused to help on the grounds that I could not prove it…it was about 20 cents so I didn’t bother to argue the point) and on one particular occasion when I was purchasing a loose roll from the in-store bakery, a staff member yelled at me for daring to ask how to pay for the roll which did not have a barcode.
While this may indicate an attitude problem with the staff, I have to say that whenever I use a regular checkout with a staff member processing the sale, the process is always pleasant and the staff member is usually friendly.
I shall not be using the self-serve checkouts again, and I shall also be writing to the manager of the store in question, and probably will not be going back to that store any time soon. Other supermarkets are due to be built near it soon, and I dare say that they will be getting my business in future.
Regards,
Samuel Gordon-Stewart
Canberra
February 5th, 2012 at 02:50am
An email to 2GB’s Luke Bona
Good morning Luke,
About this story which popped up over the weekend about a new regulation for the New South Wales police to not have visible tattoos. I think it’s a good idea and about time.
The police are there not only to uphold the law, but to appear to uphold the law and appear to be upstanding and exemplary citizens. They should be the antithesis of, for example, bikie gangs, in appearance and behaviour. Having large tattoos sends the wrong message about the police officer.
In many ways, this is just a logical extension of the uniform which is designed to provide a certain image of police officers, and assist with enforcing discipline. If someone wants to have a tattoo and be a police officer, then they should have the discipline and common sense to have a tattoo which can be covered up by normal clothing.
As for the opposition’s opposition to this measure. This measure is clearly part of a much larger reorginisation of the police force, and wouldn’t be necessary if the previous Labor governments had done their job and given the police the support and resources they need. I put a lot of the blame for the current string of drive-by shootings at the feet of the Labor governments who did not provide the police with the necessary resources to prevent things from reaching this point.
Regards,
Samuel Gordon-Stewart
Canberra
January 30th, 2012 at 03:40am
Good morning John,
Well I can't say that I'm surprised that Mike Carlton does not like any of the Republicans who are vying for the Presidential nomination. Mike Carlton is, after all, a strident left-winger and opposes pretty much everything those on the right believe in. I respect Mr. Carlton's right to hold his views, and his right to support Barack Obama, but I have to say that his portrayal of the Republican candidates was more than a tad untruthful.
I will agree with him on one point: Ron Paul is mad. That is not to say that Mr. Paul is wrong on everything as his views on reducing the size of government and on the UN being an unhelpful and dangerous organisation are right for the most part, but his other stances on such things as disagreeing with much of the US constitution, wanting to almost entirely eliminate the US armed forces, and a bunch of other peculiar stances and changes of mind over his long and bizarre career do point to him being unsuitable for the role of President and probably a danger to national and international security.
As for the other candidates, while none of them are perfect, I believe that any of them would be better than Barack Obama. Mitt Romney's private sector experience stands him in good stead (and unlike what Mr. Carlton attempted to portray, Romney was not a slash-and-burn CEO…rather he ran what we in this country would call an administrator, an organisation which is brought in to fix businesses which are teetering on the edge of total collapse. Wholesale sackings did not occur under his watch, and it has in fact been widely documented that the handful of cases where a large number of people were sacked occurred after Mitt Romney's people had finished their job and other people had taken back the businesses). That said, Mitt has his own issues…his own time as Governor saw him implement a scheme very similar to Obamacare…a scheme which he and other Republicans are fighting and vowing to repeal, and a scheme which is being challenged as unconstitutional in many courts. Mitt talks the talk when it comes to conservatism, but it's hard to work out how much of it he believes, and how much of it he says for the sake of politcal expedience…but there is no doubt that if he follows through on even a small percentage of his promises, the US will be on a much better economic track. The big problem Mitt Romney has though is that he has been running for the Republican nomination for as many election cycles as anyone can seem to remember, and yet still has trouble answering simple questions about his track record…it does him no favours and is now starting to impact his following to the point where other candidates have a realistic chance of beating him consistently.
Newt Gingrich is a very interesting case. His time as Speaker Of The House was incredibly successful, returning surplus budgets and implementing a lot of policies and plans which Republicans promised to do, despite opposition from a Democrat President (Bill Clinton). Newt has proven that he is capable of getting things done, but he can be a bit of a loose cannon, and his private life is an ongoing distraction bordering on a fiasco. That said, it should be noted that the ex-wife who has most recently made a bunch of claims about him was also guilty herself of cheating on him. Two wrongs don't make a right by any means, but the validity of her argument, and the timing of it, are questionable given her own actions in that relationship. The big question with Newt isn't whether he can do the job, but whether he and his administration would be sidetracked by having to put out fires relating to his personal life on a regular basis.
Rick Santorum is the most consistent conservative of the bunch, and has recently seen a surge in his standing, something which I put down to the departure of other strong conservative candidates Herman Cain and Michele Bachmann. Rick Perry has also recently left the race, and I suspect that this will help both Santorum and Gingrich as Rick Perry was seen as the "great conservative hope" when he entered the race and his supporters tend to dislike Mitt Romney with a passion. Santorum is not particularly well known outside of Republican circles, but has a pretty good track record and stands for pretty much everything that the conservative side of politics wants to see. If he can win the Republican nomination, then I'm sure that the party will do more than enough to make sure that everyone knows all that they need to know about him and his policies.
The way I see the state of play at the moment is that Mitt Romney will not get the nomination unless he does something which he will not do: announce that he wants to see everyone paying a 15% income tax rate. I think it's the only way he is going to be able to quash the latest round of stories about his investments, even though he has not broken any laws and is paying the normal tax rate for capital gains…a tax which is itself a tax on income which has already been taxed. Despite the legality of his actions, the way his tax rate looks to many people is going to cause him issues unless he addresses and neutralises the issue quick-smart.
I see the race now as mostly being between Newt Gingrich and Rick Santorum. Newt is getting some big endorsements and his track record as Speaker Of The House is helping him immensely, even though his own words and deeds of the past are causing him some grief. Rick Santorum also has a good chance and continues to gain traction, which is quite an impressive feat considering that, until now, his campaign has been run on the smell of an oily rag due to (until recently) very low poll numbers. I hope that he gets the nomination because I think he is the right person, of those who are left, to articulate conservatism in a way which would completely blindside Obama and his radical socialist agenda. I did prefer Michele Bachmann and Herman Cain for the job, but Rick was always loitering in the background waiting for his time, and it looks like it may have arrived.
All this said, with the exception of Ron Paul, I would take any of the remaining candidates over Obama…in fact, I think the fate of the free world depends on it. As far as I'm concerned, four more years of Obama will result in the collapse of the United States as we know it, and eventually a world war to determine who will be the next superpower and what kind of world we are going to live in. With its enourmous debt and a growing dependance on government by its citizens, America is already in serious trouble…I can't be sure that any of the Republican candidates will solve the problems in their term should they be elected, but I am sure that they would give the country a serious shove in the right direction, with some candidates giving a bigger and better shove than others.
Anyway, I apologise for the length of this email. I'm sure that it is too long to read on the air in its entirety, but I feel very strongly about this and wanted you to know my thoughts on the matter…especially seeing as much of the reporting we see over here about American politics seems to be adapated from a select few news outlets (NBC, New York Times and American ABC in particular) in the US which are heavily in favour of Obama and do their utmost best to destroy and smear anybody who opposes him. Case in point, the singing which Obama did yesterday…he got praise from the media for singing to an audience in the middle of a speech, whereas only a couple months ago Herman Cain got ridiculed for days and days for singing to an audience in the middle of a speech. If you were to ask people in this country, based on the reporting we see about American politics on our news services, what they think Obama's approval ratings are, they'd probably tell you that he is very popular, when in fact that very opposite is true.
I'll leave this here for now because if I write any more I'll probably give you a headache and I'll work myself up too much to be able to get to sleep.
Have a lovely week John. I hope that Rhonda is enjoying her weekend away, and I hope to be able to give you a call soon. It would appear that I am not working next weekend, so that should help.
Kind regards,
Samuel Gordon-Stewart
Canberra
January 22nd, 2012 at 04:33am
An email to 2UE’s John Kerr
Good morning John,
While I was listening to you talking about the Costa Concordia a little while ago, I was looking at some news articles about it and came across one on Britain's Daily Mail's website which contains an astounding aerial photo of the ship. http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2089339/Costa-Concordia-passengers-told-to-cabins-cruise-ship-hit-rocks.html
Like everyone else, I've seen the footage of it on its side, but this aerial shot still amazes me…it just seems to strange to see a boat side-on with the ocean behind it rather than the horizon. I can't begin to imagine how terrifying it would have been for those on board.
That said, it wouldn't stop me from going on a cruise…perhaps not with that captain, but one day I think a cruise would be nice, and this incident doesn't change my mind about this. The way I look at it, any time one uses any form of transport which is not controlled by one's self, there is an extra element of risk, but it is generally so minute as to not warrant concern…I'll be honest and admit that almost every time I get on a bus or a train or a plane or in a taxi, I wonder about the driver/pilot/captain, but it doesn't stop me from making the trip, and hopefully it never will. If that stuff ever bothered me, then I think I'd have to move in to an underground bunker and never come out lest some vehicle goes astray, and that's not a life worth contemplating.
Kind regards,
Samuel Gordon-Stewart
Canberra
January 21st, 2012 at 03:38am
Next Posts
Previous Posts