High-flying PM jets off on first overseas trip of the year

The year was just eight days old when our PM announced he was off overseas yet again, this time to Abu Dhabi for a renewable energy meeting. “Maybe he’s trying to break last year’s record for the amount of time spent out of the country,” a smoke signaller says. BAD AND BADDER… The amount of bad and dangerous driving that’s going on around the island at present points to the fact that we need the increased police alertness to continue. What’s going to happen when the checkpoints fade back to their normal level? ACCIDENT WAITING TO HAPPEN The police statement about the very uncertain rules regarding riding on the back of trucks was all well and good, but in the meantime, people are still riding around perched on the side of truck trays, or standing up and leaning on the back of the cab, without holding on to anything. It’s an accident waiting to happen – and if it is against the law, no-one’s doing anything about it. HITCHING A RIDE Unfortunately, it seems the police don’t follow their own rules when it comes to dangerous riding on the back of trucks. Seen yesterday at Panama, a truck driving along the main road with a police bike on the back – and a policeman sitting astride it! If the truck had come to a sudden stop, things could have got pretty tricky. WHALE TALE GAINS NEW LIFE The remarkable story about whale researcher Nan Hauser diving with a humpback whale off Rarotonga last year has gained a whole new life on the internet. Months after the story first appeared in CI News, overseas media have put a whole new spin on the episode. The New Boston Post, which bills itself as “the hub of conservative thought,” ran a story saying: “A Maine woman diving near the Cook Islands in the South Pacific cavorted with a humpback whale that kept trying to shield her with a giant pectoral fin; it took her a while to figure out the whale appeared to be shielding her from a lurking tiger shark. A video associated with the story in the link below shows the woman interacting with the whale, but doesn’t show the shark.” BALANCED VIEW The whale tale has also been aired on CBS news, together of video footage of the whale researcher and the humpback whale said to have protected her from a tiger shark. Thankfully, however, CBS took a more objective approach. “While Hauser credits the whale for protecting her, she acknowledges she can’t know what the whale was thinking,” the CBS story said. “James Sulikowski, a marine biologist and professor at the University of New England who has studied tiger sharks, said he’s not convinced that the whale saved her life. “The shark could have just been hanging around,” he said. “There’s really no way of knowing the whale’s motivation.” TABLOID SENSATION The prize for the most over-the-top version of the story predictably goes to a British tabloid, the Mirror, whose website ran a story and video headlined: “Amazing moment hero whale saves snorkeler from shark by hiding her under giant fin while pushing her to safety.”

The year was just eight days old when our PM announced he was off overseas yet again, this time to Abu Dhabi for a renewable energy meeting. “Maybe he’s trying to break last year’s record for the amount of time spent out of the country,” a smoke signaller says. BAD AND BADDER… The amount of bad and dangerous driving that’s going on around the island at present points to the fact that we need the increased police alertness to continue. What’s going to happen when the checkpoints fade back to their normal level? ACCIDENT WAITING TO HAPPEN The police statement about the very uncertain rules regarding riding on the back of trucks was all well and good, but in the meantime, people are still riding around perched on the side of truck trays, or standing up and leaning on the back of the cab, without holding on to anything. It’s an accident waiting to happen – and if it is against the law, no-one’s doing anything about it. HITCHING A RIDE Unfortunately, it seems the police don’t follow their own rules when it comes to dangerous riding on the back of trucks. Seen yesterday at Panama, a truck driving along the main road with a police bike on the back – and a policeman sitting astride it! If the truck had come to a sudden stop, things could have got pretty tricky. WHALE TALE GAINS NEW LIFE The remarkable story about whale researcher Nan Hauser diving with a humpback whale off Rarotonga last year has gained a whole new life on the internet. Months after the story first appeared in CI News, overseas media have put a whole new spin on the episode. The New Boston Post, which bills itself as “the hub of conservative thought,” ran a story saying: “A Maine woman diving near the Cook Islands in the South Pacific cavorted with a humpback whale that kept trying to shield her with a giant pectoral fin; it took her a while to figure out the whale appeared to be shielding her from a lurking tiger shark. A video associated with the story in the link below shows the woman interacting with the whale, but doesn’t show the shark.” BALANCED VIEW The whale tale has also been aired on CBS news, together of video footage of the whale researcher and the humpback whale said to have protected her from a tiger shark. Thankfully, however, CBS took a more objective approach. “While Hauser credits the whale for protecting her, she acknowledges she can’t know what the whale was thinking,” the CBS story said. “James Sulikowski, a marine biologist and professor at the University of New England who has studied tiger sharks, said he’s not convinced that the whale saved her life. “The shark could have just been hanging around,” he said. “There’s really no way of knowing the whale’s motivation.” TABLOID SENSATION The prize for the most over-the-top version of the story predictably goes to a British tabloid, the Mirror, whose website ran a story and video headlined: “Amazing moment hero whale saves snorkeler from shark by hiding her under giant fin while pushing her to safety.”