Squiz Today – Friday, 5 May

ONE’S HUSBAND STEPS DOWN FROM PUBLIC LIFE

THE SQUIZ
Buckingham Palace has announced Prince Philip, or more formally His Royal Highness The Duke of Edinburgh, will bow out of public life from August. And at 95yo who can blame him? He holds the record as the longest-serving companion to the Sovereign. Elizabeth and Philip married in 1947, she ascended to the throne in 1952 and supporting the Queen has been his life’s work. He is Patron, President or a member of more than 780 organisations and while that won't change, he won’t be attending future events. One is no doubt breathing an enormous sigh of relief. Prince Philip has attended a reception since the announcement – our former PM John Howard was there - and when one man commented he was sorry he was standing down, Prince Philip said; “Well, I can’t stand up much.”

WE THOUGHT IT WAS SOMETHING YUUUGE…
IKR! Us too. We were thinking the Queen may have been stepping aside to give poor Charles and his Duchess a go. Or worse still, that The Queen or Prince Philip had died. But it is pretty big news. 'Phil The Greek' has been a fixture of public life for decades. Looking on the Royal website, we’re impressed with how active he has been – in fact, we think he's been out and about more times in the last month than we've left our apartment all year (although that’s not saying much). He will keep the commitments he has scheduled between now and August but after that, the diary is closed. The Queen will keep on keeping on with her public duties.

WHAT IS PRINCE PHILIP’S LEGACY?
Well, surely his crowning achievement was being made a Knight of the Order of Australia by former PM Tony Abbott, don’t you think? He founded the Duke of Edinburgh awards in 1956 and did all sorts of interesting things ahead of his time, like visiting Antarctica in the 1950’s and driving an electric car in the 1960’s. And, of course, he is known for his brutal comments/gaffes. We just liked that he’s not dull. And we liked him all the more after binge-watching The Crown on Netflix. Bring on season 2 (no confirmed date yet but thought to be in November)!

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C'EST EN MARCHE – FRANCE RETURNS TO THE POLLS FOR ROUND TWO
French presidential candidates Marine Le Pen (far-right Front National) and Emmanuel Macron (centre-left En Marche) will face off this Sunday after two frantic weeks of campaigning. It’s the second round of voting after the field of 11 candidates was reduced to the top two. Marcron has been leading in the polls 60:40. Le Pen and Macron faced off in a televised debate yesterday and it was a brutal affair. Macron probably won, but was criticised for looking like a suave technocrat while Le Pen looked underprepared but stronger on questions about terrorism. Fun fact: Emmanuel (39yo) and wife Brigitte (64yo) have the same age gap as Donald (almost 71yo) and Melania Trump (47yo), just in reverse. Alors, quelle est la grosse affaire? (...with thanks to Google Translate).

OLYMPIC COMMITTEE VOTE CONCLUDES A BITTER CAMPAIGN
Hasn’t this battle been a nasty one? John Coates, the incumbent with 27 years standing, has been accused of bullying staff members and fostering a toxic culture while collecting a $700,000 paycheck.  His opponent is former Olympic hockey player/ Sydney businesswoman Danni Roche. The Coates faction says she’s a puppet for their enemy, Australian Sports Commission head John Wylie (who has his own problems with his deputy Mark Stockwell – the former Mean Machine swimmer - resigning and speaking out today). For her part, Roche has said she’ll improve the organisation and will work for free. The election is a secret ballot of 40 sports (33 summer/7 winter) and Roche has not been allowed to address the meeting. Many are predicting a Roche win, but don’t rule out Coates calling in all the favours from the network. And he is campaigning to the last - last night Coates told ABC’s 7.30 that he would spearhead a bid for a Brisbane-hosted Olympic Games for 2028 or 2032. All the action takes place at 9am on Saturday in Sydney. With each sport, no matter how small or obscure, having an equal vote in proceedings, it could well be the little guys who decide this one.

AGL TO LOCK OUT LOY YANG POWER STATION WORKERS
More upheaval for workers in regional Victoria following a dispute over an enterprise bargaining agreement at the Loy Yang power station. Loy Yang is a yuuuge coal-fired power station near Traralgon in Victoria. Owners AGL will respond to strike action starting on 15 May by shutting the whole show down while workers are out. The plant generates about 30% of Victoria’s power meaning the state risks power outages if the plant shuts down. So the Victorian government has stepped in to ask the Fair Work Commission to terminate the industrial action. There are two things we know about Victorians: the first is they will always ask you what school you went to when you meet them. The second is if the power went out while the footy is on, someone gonna get hurt.

FRIDAY LITES – THREE THINGS WE’VE LIKED THIS WEEK
For extra reading brownie points, these two ‘magazine’ pieces from BBC Online on French Presidential candidates, Marine Le Pen and Emmanuel Macron, are great. It’s also an interesting format for online content, so worth a look just for that.

GOOP, the lifestyle site developed by megastar Gwyneth Paltrow, is always of interest. Sometimes it’s beautiful (the clothes are pretty nice), sometimes it’s scary (there is some pretty questionable health and dietary advice), but sometimes it’s helpful. These tips on how to take a good photo on an iPhone are interesting. We find just cleaning the lens with our sleeve is a good start…

If you enjoyed the story on Monday about the failed Fyre music festival, you'll like this account by someone who was working in it but quit a few weeks ago when she could see it was going to be a trainwreck. Good call! 

SQUIZ THE DAY

Friday

9.15am - PM Malcolm Turnbull meets US President Donald Trump. The meeting has already been delayed once, so watch this space...

Scott Bainbridge, fiancé of Cassie Sainsbury to give a press conference in Adelaide

5.25pm - Women's Rugby League - Australian Jillaroos v Kiwi Ferns - GIO Stadium, Canberra

8.00pm - Anzac Rugby League Test - Australia v New Zealand - GIO Stadium, Canberra

Saturday

9.00am - Australian Olympic Committee AGM and President/Vice President Elections - Sydney

Sunday

French Presidential Election

5.00pm - A-League Soccer Grand Final - Sydney FC v Melbourne Victory - Allianz Stadium, Sydney