In which old Henry does a sheik from Scrubby Creek cry for coal, coal, coal ...

(Above: predictable and imitative always)

Each day the pond is reliably astonished at the antics of the mainstream media.

The Fairfaxians, courtesy of an EXCLUSIVE Fairfax Ipsos poll (well they didn't colour it the way the reptiles do, so the pond had to help them out), think that polling constitutes some kind of interesting reporting on politicians and their policies.

It immediately reduced the pond to the mind-numbing status of a politician. Polls come and go, there is only one poll that counts and that's on the day, the pond never comments on individual polls, and dear sweet absent lord, suddenly the pond is sounding like a parochial Victorian politician:

The premier said pollsters also got it wrong at the last election. "There's only one poll that counts. That's on the 29th of November," Dr Napthine said. 
"If you look back four years ago, the polls were saying that the (Labor) Brumby government were going to win." 
Opposition Leader Daniel Andrews said he takes nothing for granted and would not be distracted by poll results. "Denis Napthine is completely irrelevant to my plan to put people first," he said. (here)

Yes, all Fairfax is doing is adding to the noise in a vacuum, as a substitute for actual reporting of actual events, and thereby imitating the reptiles at the lizard Oz in the most vacuous way imaginable.

Will there be a poll-driven recovery for the Fairfaxians? Up against such urgent Fairfax questions as "Did you see what this cute kitten did next?"

Unlikely.

This is how the Sydney Fairfaxians filled their tree killer edition, and a thesis began to form in the pond's mind:

Thesis: the whole point of the exercise was to run weird/threatening photos of Tony Abbott, as filler between stories about horses. And lordy lordy, did they find a few doozies ...

Sadly the socialists on the Yarra ruined it:

No demonic Abbott? Thesis ruined ...

Even more tragic? That splash, "Independent. Always" at the bottom of both pages as the rags go about the mindless business of buying a front page with a bit of polling that's only of interest to polling tragics, and even then only until the next poll ...

Meanwhile, back in the real world, there are things going down, but you have to head off to the Graudian for those stories:

Yep, over a thousand comments - never mind the quality, feel the width - for IPCC: carbon emissions cuts vital,, and with bonus Nicholas Stern here, and a hearty dose of Queensland weirdness in  Brisbane airport rejects climate change billboard as 'too political'.

Only in Queensland.

But at least it's one way to draw attention to images that wouldn't have attracted any attention, at least until they were banned:

And there's a comedy item, courtesy a Queensland buffoon:

Clive Palmer: Direct Action won't work but it's better than nothing.

Better than nothing?

No, a Cathy Wilcox cartoon is better than nothing (and more Wilcox here):

So what did the pond learn from the Graudian?

Ban added a message to investors, such as pension fund managers: “Please reduce your investments in the coal- and fossil fuel-based economy and [move] to renewable energy.” 

Yes, even that reptile at the lizard Oz, Graham Lloyd, managed to do a straight enough report, without his usual tactic of resorting to denialists for padding, confusion, befuddlement and misleading misdirection:

The report acknowledges the rise in global average surface temperatures has slowed or “paused” over the past decade but says this does not override the long-term upward trend. 
It says to keep global temperature increases below 2C, carbon dioxide emissions need to be cut by between 40 per cent and 70 per cent from 2010 levels by mid-­century and to zero by 2100. 
To achieve this, renewable energy, nuclear, and carbon capture and storage would increase their share of energy supply from 30 per cent today to more than 80 per cent by 2050 and 90 per cent by 2100. To keep global temperature increase below 2C, “fossil fuel power generation without CCS is phased out almost entirely by 2100”, the report says. (no link, it would only lead to a begging letter from the paupers of the press)

What to do, what to do?

Is there a braveheart in the house, a man who can stand up for coal and against wretched sheiks and horse flesh?

Is the pond glad it asked, or what? Drum roll please maestro, and come on down Henry 'desiccated coconut' Ergas:

Yep, Henry is outraged, and it's all the fault of a few sheiks and their horses, and some of this text can be googled if you want to read all the outrage, without scoring a begging letter from the paupers of the press:

The Ruler of Dubai can sleep easy. No such luck, however, for 500 workers at a Muswellbrook coalmine. In a recent decision, NSW’s Planning Assessment Commission rejected Anglo American’s proposal to extend the mine’s life because it might harm the Ruler’s Darley thoroughbred stud and the Coolmore stud, located nearby. 
Not that Anglo’s proposal breaches any environmental standard. On the contrary, the commission accepts “the proposal is likely to meet the relevant regulatory criteria”. It also accepts the proposal has significant economic benefits and at a time when mining is struggling, it recognises its decision means workers at the mine will lose their jobs. 
But none of that gets in the commission’s way. “There is insufficient evidence” it says, “to conclude that meeting the criteria would not negatively impact on … Coolmore and Darley”. 
Complying with the rules is not enough. Nor is demonstrating that the social benefits from a mine exceed its social costs. The mine’s proponents must also show it will create no risk of harm. 
On that test, which requires proving the unprovable, it is merely a matter of time before coalmining in NSW disappears.

Yep, if you read old "Bucket" Henry in the way he intends, which is to say in the style and manner of a press release for the Minerals Council, it seems it's all the fault of that wretched bloody sheik from somewhere far away ...

There were of course other matters involved in consideration of the matter, as you can read, courtesy the Fairfaxians, here.

Viticulturists and tourist industry operators were also vocal, though frankly, if anyone wants a taste of a moonscape, they should forget the dangers of Virgin, and settle for a trip to the Hunter Valley ... never say the pond can't come up with a decent angle for the tourism game ...

Here you go:

And while we're at it, let's do the same to the Liverpool Plains. Think of the tourist potential! Sorry Richard Branson, we'll just sniff the laughing gas while touring the Hunter ...

But Henry 'there's no coal in the bucket' Ergas is determined to be gloomy:

What is certain is that as the boom fades, we face an enormous adjustment challenge. 
Comparing it to the challenge Australia faced in the early 1950s, Pincus notes the economy’s “remarkably smooth adjustment to the collapse of the wool price was due, in large part, to price and wage flexibility”, but “Australia’s current industrial relations regime does not facilitate or even permit such flexibility”; and while adjustment then was assisted by a fiscal consolidation which “improved the ‘bottom line’ by 2.5 per cent of GDP”, the government is struggling “to pass a budget that leaves the bottom line almost unaffected, let alone slows projected government spending”. 
The onslaught against coal only aggravates those difficulties, reducing investor confidence and weakening our resource industries. Tony Abbott understands that, emphasising last week that his government was determined to stop the demonisation of mining; and so does Campbell Newman, who has stripped away red tape that crippled resource development. 
But Mike Baird must get it too. With Pincus setting the record straight, he has no excuse for favouring sheiks over common sense.

It's just a couple of sheiks doing the shrieking?

Meanwhile, on another planet, which, for at least a moment, seems to have allowed Graham Lloyd a temporary protection visa:

Old fossils like Henry and Tony need to get cracking on their CCS technologies and science quick stix ...

Ah that's right, Tony Abbott, at the head of a government at the cutting edge of science ...

(and more here, and amazingly that report was published in May, sic transit gloria mundi).

Ah well, guess it's a pass on that opening line by Graham Lloyd suggesting coal emissions be captured and stored ...

Never mind, the pond is the last site on earth that would dare to demonise coal. It's coal, coal, coal for Australia ... and to hell with those few wretched shrieking Sheiks setting the pace for New South Wales ...

On the other hand ... the pond is half way inclined to agree with desiccated Henry that the punters have bet on the wrong bunch of nags.

Did anyone take a look at the fillies, colts and geldings lined up at the starting gate?

Yep, David Rowe did ... and lordy lordy, what a bunch of nobbled ringers on a slow, heavy track ... could it be laxatives of the kind that nobbled Big Philou?

(Below: and more David Rowe here)

And that, thanks to that desiccated dodo,  Henry "there's no coal in my bucket" Ergas, is the first and last time you'll find the pond talking about horse racing ...