Squiz Today – Friday, 9 November

SQUIZ SAYINGS

"You can change your name. You can change your gender. Why not your age?"

Said Dutchman Emile Ratelband, 69yo, about his legal attempts to lower his age by 20 years to help him land a date on Tinder. While Ratelband thinks he’s long on years, the self-identified “young god” isn’t short on confidence…

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FOLEY FALLS, VOWS TO FIGHT

THE SQUIZ
Accusations of inappropriate behaviour at a Christmas party in 2016 have put an end to the leadership of NSW Labor’s Luke Foley. After weeks of speculation, the ABC journalist at the centre of it, Ashleigh Raper, reluctantly put on record her recollections of the night in question. Foley has denied the allegations. More broadly, the case also adds more fuel to the debate about gender and power in Australian workplaces.

BACK IT UP A BIT…
You mean you haven’t been following the ins-and-outs of NSW politicing? Ok then, just for you…

• Mid-last month, a Liberal minister used parliamentary privilege to accuse Foley of being someone who "who had a little bit too much to drink at a party and harassed an ABC journalist". Foley angrily rejected the accusation. But the pressure has only built since then.

• Raper yesterday issued a reluctant statement. Reluctant, she said, because “a woman who is the subject of such behaviour is often the person who suffers once a complaint is made.” On the night in question, Raper said Foley approached to say goodnight. “He stood next to me. He put his hand through a gap in the back of my dress and inside my underpants. He rested his hand on my buttocks. I completely froze,” she said.

• Late yesterday while announcing his resignation, Foley repeated his denial and said he’d retained legal counsel to look into defamation proceedings.

WHERE DOES THIS GO?
This is another example of a subset of #metoo – women who say they were the target of inappropriate behaviour by powerful men, didn't want to complain about it formally (in part because they were worried about what it could to to their careers) but have been drawn into the spotlight nonetheless. And as one case comes to something of an end (think Geoffrey Rush’s defamation trial), another high profile case has kicked off. But to more mundane political concerns - NSW Labor has to regroup now to front up to NSW voters in just four months’ time.

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SQUIZ THE REST

CALIFORNIAN SHOOTING CLAIMS 12
There’s been another mass shooting in the US, this time in Thousands Oaks, southern California. Former Marine Ian Long killed 12 people, including a sheriff’s deputy, and injured at least a dozen more at the Borderline Bar and Grill before killing himself. It was line dancing and college night at the Western-themed bar. Reports say Long served in Afghanistan and was studying for a degree in sports science. A motive for the shooting has not yet been uncovered, but there are reports Long had past mental health issues.

QUICK AUSSIE NEWS WRAP
EURYDICE ACCUSED PLEADS GUILTY - Following an afternoon of drinking, 19yo Jaymes Todd stalked Melbourne comedian Eurydice Dixon for almost 5km from the city’s centre to Carlton before attacking and killing her. Yesterday he pleaded guilty to the crime. Todd returns to court next week.

OUTBACK FAMILY MEETS TRAGIC END - The search for a 12yo boy in the Willowra area (about 300km north of Alice Springs) ended in tragedy yesterday. His body found 120m from where police found a man and woman (both 19yo) and their 3yo son on Wednesday. Their bodies were found 4.5km from their broken down vehicle.

SWAPPING TELSTRA WITH TESLA – Aussie Robyn Denholm will leave her job as chief financial officer of our biggest telco to become chair of the Elon Musk-led car and energy company. She clearly likes a challenge…

AN EVENING WITH MALCOLM
But it wasn't the all-guns-blazing takedown many had hoped for. Former PM Malcolm Turnbull spent a good deal of time on ABC's Q&A Special illustrating his credentials to consider himself a middle-of-the-road kinda guy who, in the end, couldn't hold back the tide of Liberal MPs set on self-destruction. And while he couldn't say why he's no longer PM, he had a list of names of those who should be asked. Also on the agenda: his list of Turnbull Government achievements – jobs growth, same-sex marriage, Snowy 2.0, and the rest – in answer to anyone who said they were disappointed with his time in the top job. What’s next? Business opportunities, particularly involving cool new technology.

FRACTIOUS TRUMP BLASTS AND FIRES
Let’s break it down…

• US President Donald Trump yesterday fired his Attorney General Jeff Sessions. Sessions was on the outer with Trump from the get-go after he recused himself from involvement in investigations into Russian collusion with the Trump campaign and interference in the 2016 presidential election.

• Trump waited until after this week’s midterm election to force Sessions out. The Republicans' loss of control of the House of Reps means it’s game on with the White House, including on Trump’s alleged Russia ties. And Trump needs someone in the game who has his back, and Sessions wasn't in the game.

• By removing Sessions, a new attorney general could move to rein in the Robert Mueller investigation and take some of the pressure off Trump on the Russian front.

And Trump’s blasting of CNN’s Jim Acosta? It’s notable that it got nasty(er) when Acosta asked a question about the Russia investigation.

100 YEARS OF REMEMBRANCE
This Sunday, the eleventh hour of the eleventh day of the eleventh month marks the 100th anniversary of the end World War 1 - 'the war to end all wars’. On 11 November 1918, the Allies and Germany signed the treaty in the Forest of Compiegne in France, and at 11am, the guns fell silent along the Western Front in Europe. Australia has a special place in the tradition of the day. A period of silence was suggested by Aussie WWI veteran and journalist Edward Honey as a sacred gesture to acknowledge those who died. More than 16 million people died during WWI, including 60,000 Australians. Lest we forget.

FRIDAY LITES – THREE THINGS WE LIKED THIS WEEK
For a star, actress Carey Mulligan seems to have her feet planted on the ground. This article with her thoughts on female roles and the (lack of) opportunity to be morally objectionable is a good read.

Michael Jackson’s former New York pad has sold for US$32 million. Expensive, sure. But you do get a nice rooftop deck for that kinda cash…

We’re a bit late to this, but Killing Eve - it’s great. It’s no wonder Sandra Oh was nominated for an Emmy for her performance. It’s on ABC iView so get on it before it’s taken down.

SQUIZ THE DAY

Friday
Doctors scheduled to operate on Bhutanese conjoined twins Nima and Dawa Zangmo

2.20pm (AEDT) - Cricket One Day International - Australia v South Africa - Adelaide

ABS Data Release - Housing Finance, September

80th anniversary of Kristallnacht, a turning point when Nazis rhetoric turned to violence in Germany with the torching of synagogues, Jewish homes, schools and businesses, and the killing of 100 Jews (1938)

Cambodia's Independence Day

Saturday
7.00am (AEDT) - Cricket Women's World T20 - Australia v Pakistan - Guyana

World Science Day for Peace and Development

Start of Australian Food Safety Week

Sunday
4.20am (AEDT) - Rugby Spring Tour - Wallabies v Wales - Cardiff

Remembrance Day, and the 100th anniversary of the end of WWI

100th anniversary of Poland

Anniversary of the hanging of Ned Kelly at Melbourne Gaol (1880)