Kiwi Devon Mace somehow snuck in the back door and presents his first piece for Bay 13.
Somehow, I feel that my personal satire and parody output might need to lift after reading this [Dennis]
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Canberra, A.P.
Just 24 hours after announcing Prince Philip as a Knight of the Order of Australia, Prime Minister Tony Abbott has unveiled a further addition to the Australia Day honours list.
Nasser Hussain, the former English cricket captain, has been knighted for “services to Australian cricket”.
Abbott was quoted as saying: “I wish to continue the trend started of knighting foreign-born British citizens with a remarkably trivial link to Australia”.
He went on to say that “Hussain captained England against Australia in two series, with one of them even being in this nation! He may not be an Australian citizen, but his involvement with this country cannot be argued with.”
Experts say that the knighthood of the Indian-born Hussain, who captained England between 1999 and 2003, fits perfectly in line with Prince Philip’s knighthood yesterday.
Among other names recently suggested for future honours are Andy Murray, the Scottish born British tennis player and three time Australian Open finalist, and Boris Johnson, the American-born Brit whose mayoralty of London has seen Bexley Borough become a “Sister City” of Footscray in Victoria.
That’s not to say that the reception has been entirely welcomed.
Opposition Leader Bill Shorten was quoted as saying a pile of meaningless, indecipherable gibberish – however, he did seem to be relaying a negative sentiment.
A senior Liberal MP, who wished to remain anonymous, was also scathing.
“Australia has a huge array of its own fools. There is absolutely no need to knight foreign idiots, especially British Test captains from an anachronistic pre-Big 3 age.”
Professor Benedict Tiddlywinks of the University of New South Wales has gone against the grain of general opinion however, and suggested that Hussain’s knighthood is, in fact, completely out of line with Prince Philip’s.
“The prince was given his honour on the basis of having the token role of patron for over 800 Australian organisations. It was a truly negligible link. Nasser, however, is rightfully knighted for services to Australian cricket – we all know that his decision to bowl first at the Gabba in 2002 won Australia the Ashes that summer. I just hope England return the gesture, and elect to knight Ricky Ponting for his decision to bowl at Edgbaston in 2005.”
What chance of Mumbai born Douglas Jardine receiving such an honour from Australia?
The fact he doesn’t already have one is a disgrace!