picture of my mum and dad.Dad the calligrapher and financial consultant, and Mum the Sydney Paddington hat designer/milliner, stepping out in Manly, Sydney, some years back. Nice hat Mum, nice proper upright collar Dad. Dad left school at eleven when his Dad died, to work, and thus supported his Mum and his sisters. He wasn't in the Army in WW2...he was going to be but when Germany started bombing England, he began to admire them quite a lot. Anyone who bombed England was no enemy of his. His life held many compromises but he could not swear allegiance to the King of England. He just couldn't do that. He was loyal to Ireland, one truly United Ireland, loyal to the Holy Roman Catholic Church, and loyal to his Family. He didn't drink or smoke. he could speak Latin. He dallied in seminaries with serious studies of becoming a Jesuit priest for some years before he met Mum. After they found each other, they met clandestinely for some time in her Paddington flat. She married him because she loved his hand writing and respected his passion. He established some of the first Credit Unions in Australia to support the financial needs of working class folk, and they have grown into monoliths and juggernauts. Mum's parents were from London, strict CofE, and so neither sets of parents/relatives would attend the wedding, something which hurt them both very deeply. Mum eventually became the president of the Catholic Womens League, which is interesting, because she never became a Catholic. She just never bothered telling them that. She wore low shoes so as not to be taller than him, and so they could both look at the world from the same view point. She had a wonderful sense of humour, an elegant open mind, and a flair for getting things done...and she designed some very nice hats indeed. They did well in the hard world of their time, and loved their sons with two passions combined into one.

Tony Joe white and J.J. Cale LOUVELDA

A picture of my Dad, Bill Fitzpatrick, doing his impersonation of Marlon Brando, whilst smoking a good cigar, in Snow Country, in Australia, decades ago, just about to throw a big chunk of snow at one of his boys.

I note that the Australian Labor Party's Opposition Leader Bill Shorten is "fully behind the Prime Minister" in supporting the deal with Trump. There is something very spooky about having Bill Shorten fully behind you as the previous two Labor Prime Ministers, Rudd & Gillard, found out. No one wants Bill on their '6'. I guess you could say that "I'm fully behind Bill Shorten" and I'm excited about that.

It would be a bit tricky for many Australians to decry Trump's decisions regarding refugees etc in that Australia also is happy to keep breaking the International Convention on Refugees, and it is just that in this case we are begging America to help us to be irresponsible, illegal and unethical, for bizarre political reasons.

Coming from a family of proud military folk, the closest time I ever got to anything Military was when I was asked if I wanted to do officer training in the Australian Airforce. My response...NO. You'd have to be fucking joking. Take orders? Oh, I don't think so. Why the fuck would anyone want to do that? I mean, anyone in their right mind? I am a Fitzpatrick man, and we don't take orders, nor need to ever give them. We are somewhat more evolved than all that. The picture here is that of me wearing an aluminium bowl that was, at the time, the family vomit bowl, as there were many, many kids under parental management etc thus many vomits. My daughter, the remarkable artist, Siobhan Bernadette Fitzpatrick, noted that, when vomiting into the bowl, it had an amazing and dulcet musical echo. There was a whole batch of lovely years lived at and around that time. I loved being a pretty good Dad in the time available. Fly, my minions, fly...

OFFICIAL Somewhere over the Rainbow - Israel "IZ" Kamakawiwoʻole