Oz in Spain

Bowling them over with his diplomatic skills

THE JURY REMAINS out on John Howard’s tenure as Australian prime minister from (1996-2007) but the verdict is pretty well unanimous on his cricket accomplishments. […]

“Oh, they’ve crashed!”

IT WAS AUSTRALIA’S first-ever Winter Olympics gold medal – and one of the most bizarre on record. As the 2010 Games begin in Vancouver, we enjoy a nostalgic, teary-eyed and still incredulous look back at the 1,000-metre short track final in the 2002 Games in Salt Lake City, where Stephen Bradbury, a then 28-year-old from Brisbane, was last man around the final bend but almost the last man standing when he raced across the finishing line in the aftermath of a multiple pile-up involving the rest of the field. Incredibly, he had also been trailing in the semi-final but came through on the fly because the referee ruled he had been impeded. Priceless!

INAUGURATED ON 18 February, artist and sculpturer Gleny Köhnke’s latest exhibition will remain on show at Casino Marbella until 7 April (open every day from 7pm). […]

STOCKBROKER David Kiely became the latest unwitting You Tube star after being caught live on national Australian TV looking at revealing photos of supermodel Miranda Kerr. Kiely was facing meetings with executives to determine his future at the bank after he was seen to open a series of emails featuring photos of Kerr from a GQ shoot, while a Macquarie Private Wealth colleague (in the foreground) was live on air with the Seven Network discussing interest rates.

IT TOOK OVER three decades but AC/DC finally ended their Grammys drought with the 2010 award for best hard rock performance – for War Machine off the Black Ice album. Formed in Australia in 1973, the band received their first Grammy nomination in 1991 (The Razors Edge) and another four before this year’s breakthrough. Rock music – especially their heavy genre – was effectively ignored by Grammy voters during the band’s heyday in the late 1970s and early 1980s.

No such snubs for Keith Urban, however. Already a two-time winner (2002 for You’ll Think Of Me; and 2008 for Stupid Boy) the New Zealand-born Australian made it s hat-trick with the best male country vocal performance award for Sweet Thing from his Defying Gravity album.

“Rubbish” or worth celebrating?

TWO DIVERSE but excellently enunciated views in The Punch about marking “Australia Day” on 26 January…

Δ  Rubbish

Δ  Worth celebrating

Wishing England was Australia

BUNDABERG… the only place in Australia, and reportedly one of only two in the world, where you can see the sugar industry from the first green cane shoot to the sugar in your tea, the syrup on your pancakes, the icing on your cake, and the rum in your coffee.