Squiz Today / 01 November 2021
Squiz Today – Monday, 1 November
%%=Format(@localdatetime, “dddd, d MMMM yyyy”)=%%
Squiz Today Podcast
We’ll give you something to talk about.
Today’s listen time: 9 minutes
Squiz Sayings
“Fluffernutter”
That’s a sandwich made with peanut butter and marshmallow crème that has become so popular, it’s made its way into the Merriam-Webster dictionary along with 454 other new words. TBH, it sounds like a snack for someone working on their dad bod amirite…
Vale Bert Newton
THE SQUIZ
Australian television mainstay Bert Newton died on Saturday, aged 83yo. He had been receiving care in hospital since March. Remembered by national leaders, the good and the great from entertainment and his family as an iconic performer and comedian, his career spanning 7 decades saw him take on roles across radio, television and the theatre. TV critic and actor/writer/producer Graeme Blundell says Newton’s career “was a celebration of the traditional and increasingly obsolescent notion of TV as a virtual community”. And the man himself was the “last survivor of the medium’s beginnings in this country when it was joyfully makeshift, impromptu and live,” he wrote for The Australian yesterday (paywall).
WHY WAS HE SUCH A BIG DEAL?
Because since TV started in the 1950s until the mid-2000s, Bert was on the telly in a big way. Getting his start in Melbourne radio, he jumped to the small screen in 1957 and featured on big shows including In Melbourne Tonight, The Graham Kennedy Show, The Don Lane Show, New Faces (which discovered Keith Urban…), and Good Morning Australia. His contribution was recognised with an Order of Australia, and he won the Gold Logie 4 times and hosted the awards show 19-times. He wasn’t perfect, and some of his comedy has not aged well, but he was remembered well. He is survived by his wife of 46 years, Patti, daughter Lauren and son Matthew, and 6 grandchildren, and he will receive a state funeral on a date to be set.
ANYTHING ELSE?
Russia is also mourning a much-loved TV figure. Igor Kirillov – the man who was the chief newsreader and announcer of the old USSR’s state television outlet – has died aged 89yo. As Moscow’s go-to man to keep the Soviet Union informed, he was the guy who delivered the communiqués of the Communist Party. Known for his slow reading style and calm voice, Kirillov was not a fan when the journo/presenters took over in the early 1990s because he said they were in too much of a rush. “Russians don’t like people talking quickly,” he said at the time.
Squiz the Rest
The G20 has wrapped up
Over the weekend, the leaders of the world’s 20 biggest economies met in Rome and made progress on some big proposals. For starters, leaders endorsed a global minimum tax of 15% aimed at stopping big businesses from hiding profits in tax havens. US President Joe Biden tweeted “This is more than just a tax deal – it’s diplomacy reshaping our global economy and delivering for our people.” There is also a pledge to vaccinate 70% of the world’s population against COVID-19 by mid-2022. So you can see the focus has been health and the economy. The other issue the G20 have discussed in recent years – climate change – was there, but with what’s about to go down in Glasgow, it was less specific than it has been in recent times … All the buzz around the family photo is here, the people in white coats and red uniforms are doctors and Red Cross workers who were there to represent those at the frontlines of the COVID pandemic.
World News… And onto COP26
There’s no rest for the wicked as the summit caravan moves on to Scotland with the United Nations’ COP26 World Leaders Summit kicking off tonight. The 2-day gathering is being billed as “a make-or-break chance to save the planet from the most calamitous effects of climate change”. No pressure then… The aim: to get nations to recommit to the target of capping global warming at 1.5C above pre-industrial levels – and lock in commitments to take action to do that. In the last few weeks and months, scientific reports have concluded that insufficient action and empty pledges will see the world warm by significantly more than that by the end of this century. That would have disastrous effects for the planet and all who call her home. But with immediate action to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, experts say there is a way to head off the worst effects. In a preview of his anticipated COP26 performance, PM Scott Morrison told leaders at the G20 summit that emerging technologies focused on storage, sequestration, industrial processes and climate adaptation are the way through.
World NewsOpen ‘er up
If someone told you on this day in 2019 that they wouldn’t be able to leave Oz for almost 2 years, you wouldn’t have believed them. We certainly would have extended our quick overseas getaway in December before the pandemic, that’s for sure… During the pandemic, 189 countries closed their borders, and by the end of 2020, about half had reopened. During 2021, Australia was one of the few that kept its hard border ban in place, except for an on-off travel bubble with Kiwiland, but we’re not counting that ‘cos they’re our cuzzy bros… That ends today when fully vaccinated Australians, permanent residents and family members will be free to leave the country without receiving an exemption from officials. Also on today, the highly vaccinated jurisdictions of NSW, Victoria, and the ACT are removing the requirement to quarantine when vaxxed travellers enter the country via their airports.
Australian NewsPrince Andrew points the finger at his accuser
As his family focuses on climate change, Prince Andrew will spend the week consumed by the sexual assault case brought against him by Cairns resident Virginia Giuffre. On Friday, lawyers for the royal filed his defence to claims he raped Giuffre when she was underage at the arrangement of disgraced businessman Jeffrey Epstein. The submission says she has instigated a “baseless” lawsuit to “achieve another payday”. That’s a reference to a secret 2009 settlement agreement between Giuffre and Epstein. Andrew’s lawyers have also claimed that Giuffre was involved in procuring underage girls for Epstein as part of a sex trafficking ring – a strategy critics say will see him accused of victim-blaming. The next court hearing on the matter is due mid this week.
World NewsMeta feedback for Facebook
ICYMI, Friday saw Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg unveil his company‘s new corporate brand Meta which “brings together our apps and technologies under a new company brand”. He’s talking about apps like Facebook, Instagram, WhatsApp and Messenger. There’s been a lot said since then about what the point of the move is. Zuckerberg says it’s in recognition that the company’s future is about more than social media as it focuses on building the metaverse – “an expansive, immersive vision of the internet”. Critics say it’s a smokescreen to divert attention from the tech giant’s expansive and immersive scandals. There were some mega Meta memes… And Israel is one country where there’s been a big reaction – that’s because ‘meta’ sounds like the Hebrew word for “dead”. Oops…
Business & Finance TechnologyApropos of nothing
A story of biblical proportions is unfolding in the bird world… Scientists have found that endangered California condors can reproduce via parthenogenesis – aka there is evidence of virgin births. Hallelujah…
There has been a lot going on in the world volcano scene this year. The latest is the eruption of an underwater volcano in the Pacific Ocean with volcanic pumice pebbles now choking Japanese ports and damage vessels. Good for your feet, though…
And this week, shearer Troy Smith will defluff his millionth sheep. He started in 1989 when “a contractor gave me a handpiece and said, ‘don’t whinge and don’t cut them’.” Since then, it’s “become my lifestyle; my life.” What a gun…
Quirky NewsDo the Squiz Quiz
Reckon you know what iconic food you can now find in a vending machine in Italy’s Rome? Have a crack at the Squiz Quiz.
Squiz the Day
9.00am (AEDT) – Former NSW premier Gladys Berejiklian returns to the ICAC hearing into her conduct in office
1.00pm (Qld time) – Queensland’s outgoing Chief Health Officer Dr Jeannette Young to be sworn in as Queensland’s Governor
8.00pm (AEDT) – Resumption of ongoing MH17 hearings – District Court of The Hague, the Netherlands
United Nations Cop26 Climate Summit kicks off (on until 12 Nov), starting with the World Leaders’ Summit (on until 2 November) – Glasgow, Scotland
From today, Australians can leave the country without an exemption
And Sydney and Melbourne airports will receive NSW’s first international arrivals who can enter quarantine-free if they are fully vaccinated and COVID-free
The House of Representatives Select Committee on Mental Health and Suicide Prevention is due to deliver its final report
Company results – Westpac
Let your lip-hair run free… It’s the start of Movember
All Saints’ Day
National Days for Algeria, and Antigua and Barbuda
Birthdays for Apple CEO Tim Cook (1960), rocker Anthony Kiedis (1962), singer Tina Arena (1967) and actor Toni Collette (1972)
Anniversary of:
• the premiere of William Shakespeare’s play Othello (1604)
• John Adams becoming the first US President to live in the White House (1800)
• the deployment of the first aerial bomb during the Italo-Turkish War (1911)
• the first use of the Motion Picture Association film rating system (G, M, R, X) (1968)
• the premiere of blockbuster film Titanic (1997)
Get the Squiz Today newsletter
It's a quick read and doesn't take itself too seriously. Get on it.