Rubrica

 When the inventor, entrepreneur and businessman Alfred Nobel died, his will stated that his fortune was to be used to reward “those who, during the preceding year, shall have conferred the greatest benefit to humankind.” The Nobel Peace Prize was first awarded in 1901, and is awarded to a nominated person who the Committee believes has done the most towards promoting peace. This year, the Committee has awarded the Nobel Peace Prize to Venezuelan democracy advocate and opposition leader, Maria Corina Machado, "for her tireless work promoting democratic rights for the people of Venezuela and for her struggle to achieve a just and peaceful transition from dictatorship to democracy." Predictably, the malignant, bloviating orange blob currently occupying the White House, is throwing a full-scale hissy fit over the Committee's failure to award the prize to him, having been duly nominated by that other paragon of peace, the genocidal narcissist, Netanyahu. The White H...

  Once upon a time service stations had workshops attached to them. If one needed something mechanical, one could go to the workshop and a bloke in greasy overalls would come out, wiping his hands on an oily rag, and say something like, "G'day, mate/love [strike out whichever is inapplicable] what can I do for you?" Whether one's problem was black smoke emanating from under the bonnet, or a tyre that needed pumping up, the mechanic would deal with it. Now service stations have retail assistants who stand behind virus-and-bullet-proof plexiglass and sell petrol, drinks, snacks, dodgy pies and sandwiches and who have likely never lifted the bonnet of a car or hefted a spanner. If one wants something mechanical done, one has to go to a Mechanical Repairs Centre, which has a reception area with comfy chairs, wifi, a big screen TV, a water cooler and a receptionist whose job it is to keep the general public as far away from the mechanics as possible. One has to b...