Politics is a dirty word

  UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson has pulled off a Brexit deal which removes Britain from the clutches of the European parliament.More than n ine months of talks  resulted in the deal on Christmas Eve. This ends the saga of the creeping takeover by European countries. In 1973, when Britain joined an entity known as the Common Market. It was simply a trading block but it transformed into a new tier of Government with its own parliament and crippling taxation burden. For years, British people have wanted to escape from the grip of Brussels – now at last they have done it!

  Construction work has started in South Australia on the first of nine Hunter class frigates for the Royal Australian Navy to replace the Anzac-class vessels.. The total cost will be at least AU$35 billion. The ships’ main role will be anti-submarine warfare. Weapons will include short range missiles and torpedos.

  Britain’s Royal Navy is expected to confront European fishing boats (particularly from France) if no deal is organised prior to the January I Brexit date. An additional four patrol ships are being deployed to help the UK protect its fishing waters, They will have the power to halt, inspect and impound all EU fishing boats operating within the UK’s exclusive economic zone (EEZ), which extends 200 miles from the coast. It’s not clear how European Navies will respond to the threat but no doubt Russia will be pleased that the focus has been taken off the operations of its submarines in UK waters. There has been an increase in the number of european supertrawlers operating in the English Channel - which is seen as taunting the UK Government (or calling its bluff!)

Australia's p romised covid19 vaccine has been d umped after s ome trial participants returned HIV test results.The University of Queensland been developing the vaccine with pharmaceutical company C SL but the plans were scrapped when it was realised that the test results could destroy public confidence in th e Government’s vaccination program me .