Blog post #267 31 July 2023

 Gentlefolk,

This blog post describes some of our activities during the month of July 2023.

The contents of this post are in the following sequence:

Photos of our activities during July 2023.

News items which caught my eye in July 2023.

International Trade.

A bit of fun - paraprosdokians.

We had 10 days in Brisbane while Jen, Tom & family were winter camping down near Grafton. Looked after their dog, a lovely Rhodesian Ridgeback..

Jen showed us the development under Storey Bridge.

We took the boys to a golf simulator. You can actually play a round of golf!

Kurt turned 18 in July. Here in his Marist College uniform, in his final year of school. Big lad, he has turned into a lovely young man. Kurt will start an electrician apprenticeship next year.

A typical teenager's bedroom - guess whose???

We met up with old friend Michael Tjoeng.

Flew back to Canberra to watch Eddie play in the Kanga Cup, biggest junior soccer tournament, 293 teams participated from around Australia (and a couple from overseas). But why it is held in July baffles me - it is the coldest month in Canberra and can be decidedly uncomfortable (although kids don't seem to feel the cold as much as their parents and grandparents!).
Eddie's team, Sydney Easts Under 9s, did well but lost in the semi-finals.

Andrew was an "Assistant Coach" for Eddie's team.

The Kanga Cup was held at 6 venues around Canberra; Eddie's team played all their games at Mawson.

Eddie in action, beautifully balanced. He is developing into a very good player.

Another good action shot.

Trophy winners with the Coach and two Assistant Coaches. Eddie got the "Parent's Award for best player" (the other two were the main goal scorers).

We visited the Royal Australian Mint, where Australia's coins are made.

The kids made their own coins - for $3 the machine will create a special coin.

Found a big mob of kangaroos in Weston Park.

Temperature was close to 0C, but never too cold for ice cream.

Heading back to Sydney after the Kanga Cup; from left: Jay, Vera, Eddie, Caz, and Andrew.

We hadn't seen Bob & Siri for a while, so decided to drive to Nambucca Heads for Bob's birthday. Stopped in Sydney to check out the apartment in Artarmon.

Said hello to Geoff and Albert in Palm Lake Resort, Forster. Geoff recently had a hip replacement and is recovering well. 

Coffee with Siri and Bob at the RSL Club in Nambucca. I first met Bob 50 years ago when we were colleagues at the Australian Embassy in Jakarta (I was in the Trade Section and Bob was in the Military Section). Great friends. Bob &n Siri attended Jen's wedding and later Andrew's wedding too. 

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On the board walk along the Nambucca River.

Paddle boarder and friend on the Nambucca River.

Professor Craig Pearson gave an interesting talk to the U3A Australian History group on "Evolution of Australian agriculture".

With Aniko and Peter Carey.

Our weekly lunch group: Noel, David, and Paul (Paul undergoing chemo, doing well so far).

With Health, watched the GWS Giants beat the Gold Coast Suns at Manuka Oval.
Aussie Rules players have a great range of skills.

Celebrating Raden Dunbar's 77th birthday. Raden and Iis are special.

Good crowd at the annual Indonesian Embassy fete.

Celebrating Dejon/Tui's 15th birthday. Family photo: Tui, Angie (proud grandmother), Lani, Britt (proud mother), and Nouvie. Tui is turning into a fine young man. Sasha was a surprise visitor from Sydney.

We attended a charity dinner for Nepal. Good way to end the month.

......

 

News items which caught my eye during July 2023.

($ are US dollars unless otherwise shown)

Global	Soccer: 2023 Women’s World Cup, hosted by Australia and New Zealand, commenced 20 July, final on 20 August; 32 countries are participating; 64 matches in many cities across Australia and NZ. AI: first human-Robot media conference held in Geneva. Brazil: The Supreme Electoral Court found former President Bolsonaro guilty of abuse of power and banned him from running for 8 years; he will appeal. The Netherlands: Dutch King William Alexander apologized for Holland’s historical involvement in slavery (abolished in 1863). Stolen treasures will be returned to Indonesia and Sri Lanka. Mobile phones will be banned in Dutch classrooms.  The coalition Govt resigned on differences over immigration. Israel: strong military operation in Jenin. The Knesset passed a law restricting the power of the Supreme Court, which triggered widespread demonstrations. UK: hottest June since 1884 with average of 15.8C. UK joined the CPTPP Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans Pacific Partnership which was established in 2018. Founding members: Australia, Brunei, Canada, Chile, Japan, Mexico, NZ, Peru, Singapore, Vietnam. Trump pulled the USA out of early discussions. China has expressed interest. American Brian Harman won the British Golf Open by 6 strokes (13 under); no 3 putts! NATO: conference in Vilnius, Lithuania. Turkey agreed to support Swedish application to join NATO. Weather: intense heat in southern USA, Italy; floods in India, China, Japan, South Korea, USA; wildfires in Greece, Algeria, Canada (990 active fires have burnt 30M acres), California, etc. Wimbledon Tennis: Marketa Vondrousova (Czech) beat Ons Jabeur (Tunisia) to win the Women’s; Carlos Alcaraz (Spain) beat Novak Djokovic (1-6,7-6,6-1,3-6,6-4) to win the Men’s Singles. France: Jane Birkin, English-French singer and actress, died in Paris aged 76. After cleaning efforts, swimming will shortly be permitted in the Seine, after being prohibited for a century. EU: Car registrations in the EU in June totaled 1.27M vehicles; sales of electric vehicles up 55%, diesel vehicles down 10%. India: banned the export of non-basmati white rice to safeguard supplies. F1: Max Verstappen (Red Bull) won the Hungarian Grand Prix, his 7th win, and then the Belgian GP. Cycling: Dane Jonas Vingegraade won the Tour de France for second time. Swimming: 2023 World Acquatic Championships held in Fukuoka, Japan, 14-30 July. Top 3 Countries: China 20 Gold, 7 Silver, 10 Bronze = 37 Total; Australia 15G, 7S, 3B = 25 Total; USA 4G, 18S, 15B = 37 Total.
Russian invasion of Ukraine	The USA agreed to supply cluster bombs to Ukraine (neither is a signatory of the Anti-Cluster Munitions Treat signed by 123 countries), as part of a $800M military aid package. A drone attack damaged the Kerch Bridge, a key link between Russia and Crimea; also, a big ammunition dump at Krasnohvardiske was targeted. Russia responded with missile attacks on Odesa and other cities (Ukraine shot down 14 Cruise missiles and 23 drones). Two drone attacks on Moscow during July; Pres Zelensky described drone attacks on Russian territory as "inevitable, natural, and fair". Russia did not renew the Black Sea grain export arrangement which allowed Ukraine to export grain by sea. Russia took control of subsidiaries of Danone (France) and Carlsberg (Denmark).
USA	The FBI and Pentagon reported that the alleged Chinese Spy Balloon which was shot down in April did not transmit data to China. Former Pres Trump: Trump was confirmed the strong favorite at “Republican Hopefuls” event in Iowa, despite facing two trials, with two more possible. After being knocked back by the Supreme Court last month, President Biden announced a new income-driven student loan repayment scheme (SAVE = Saving for a Valuable Education). Economy: Foreign trade in March: imports $254B (down 2.7%), exports $163B (down 0.6%) giving a goods trade deficit of $91B. Unemployment rate fell to 3.6%. Inflation rate in May and June 3%. Fed Reserve raised interest rates 0.25%. DJI rose for 13 consecutive days. Supermodel Naomi Campbell (53) had a son. Joey Chestnut ate 62 hot dogs in 10 minutes to win the 4th of July contest; Miki Sudo ate 39 to win the women’s contest. Meta (Mark Zuckerberg) launched “Threads” to compete with Twitter; quickly gained 100M followers, but about half subsequently left. Meta reported profit of $7.8B in Q2 2023. US customers spent $6.4B in 24 hours on Amazon Prime Day. Hollywood strike: Actors joined writers on picket lines; key issues are: better wages, residuals, and concern over AI. Dementia: trials of two drugs appear to slow down dementia: Donanemab by Eli Lilly and Lecanemab by Eisai & Biogen. Tony Bennett, popular singer, died aged 96; 20 Grammy Awards. Pres Biden nominated Admiral Lisa Franchetti to lead the US Navy; first female Head of Navy. Seven companies working on Artificial Intelligence (AI) agreed on safeguard protocols to limit AI. New movies: Barbie took in $155M on its opening weekend; Oppenheimer $94M. 400 mass shootings (at least 4 dead, excluding the gunman) have occurred in the USA in the first 7 months. Elon Musk changed the Twitter logo from Blue Bird to “X”. Tesla reported Q2 2023 revenue of $11.3B in USA and $5.7B in China. UPS agreed terms of new contract with the Teamsters Union, avoiding strike.
Australia	NACC: The new National Anti-Corruption Commission began work. NSW-ICAC found that former Premier Glady Berejiklian had engaged in corrupt conduct in 2016-18 on behalf of boyfriend Daryl Maguire. Not charged. The critical report of the Royal Commission into Robodebt found that the scheme was ‘neither fair nor legal’. Kathryn Campbell, who headed up the Department of Human Services at the time, resigned from the Public Service. The age to receive the Old Age Pension was raised to 67 years. The mandatory Superannuation Levy on salaries was increased to 11%. President of Indonesia, Jokowi, made an official visit to Australia. The Govt approved the use of psychedelic drugs (like MDMA) to treat depression. Cricket: Australia retained the Ashes in England; controversial stumping of Jonny Bairstow in the 2nd Test. Nationally house prices rose 1.1% (after falling for some months due to higher interest rates). Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA): new Governor Michelle Bullock will replace Philip Lowe in September; no change in interest rates this month. Weather: Strong El Nino forecast for a hot and dry summer (last time July 2019 – March 2020, “Black Summer”, fires burnt 35M hectares around Aust). Ash Barty and Garry Kissick had a son, Hayden. All States agreed to ban smart phones and watches in public (govt) school classrooms from next January. The Premier of Victoria, Daniel Andrews, announced that the State would not host the 2026 Commonwealth Games, blamed cost blow-out. The Voice: latest Newspoll showed that support for the Voice has slipped to 41% (38% of females, 45% of males); the referendum will be held in Q4. AUSMIN talks between senior Australian and Americans held in Brisbane (Penny Wong / Richard Marles and Antony Blinken / Lloyd Austin).
China	US Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen visited Beijing. Govt imposed penalties totaling $1B on financial companies for violations of consumer protection laws. China’s GDP rose an estimated 0.8% in Q2 2023, giving a 12 month figure of 6.3%. Urban youth (16-24) unemployment 21%. Evergrande, once China’s second biggest property developer, announced losses of $81B in 2021 and 2022. Henry Kissinger visited Beijing; still going strong at 100! Foreign Minister Qin Gang was replaced by Wang Yi. Economist Dr Pan Gong Sheng (60) appointed Governor of the People’s Bank of China (PBoC).

 

 

......

INTERNATIONAL TRADE

My 30 year career as an Australian Trade Commissioner gave me an interest in matters related to international trade.  I subscribe to Bloomberg's excellent daily newsletter "Supply Lines - tracking Covid-19's impact on trade" (former title 'Trade Matters').  

Here are some of the more interesting graphs in the Bloomberg newsletter during July  2023; they are largely self-explanatory.

......

Paraprosdokians are figures of speech in which the latter part of a sentence or phrase is surprising or unexpected and is frequently humorous.

(Winston Churchill loved them). 

 

1.     Where there's a will, I want to be in it.

2.     The last thing I want to do is hurt you, but it's still on my list.

3.    Light travels faster than sound, some people appear bright until you hear them speak.

4.     If I agreed with you, we'd both be wrong.

5.     War does not determine who is right – only who is left.

6.     Knowledge is knowing that a tomato is a fruit.  Wisdom is not putting it in a fruit salad.

7.     They begin the evening news with 'Good Evening,' then proceed to tell you why it isn't.

8.     To steal ideas from one person is plagiarism.  To steal from many is research.

9.     I thought I wanted a career.  Turns out, I just wanted pay cheques.

10.  In filling out an application, where it says, 'In case of emergency, notify:  I put "DOCTOR."

11.  I didn't say it was your fault, I said I was blaming you.

12.  Women will never be equal to men until they can walk down the street...with a bald head and a beer gut, and still think they are sexy.

13.  Behind every successful man is his woman.  Behind the fall of a successful man is usually another woman.

14.  A clear conscience is the sign of a fuzzy memory.

15.  You do not need a parachute to skydive.  You only need a parachute to skydive twice.

16.  Money can't buy happiness, but it sure makes misery easier to live with.

17.  There's a fine line between cuddling and holding someone down so they can't get away.

18.  I used to be indecisive.  Now I'm not so sure.

19.  You're never too old to learn something stupid.

20.  To be sure of hitting the target, shoot first and call whatever you hit the target.

21.  Nostalgia isn't what it used to be.

22.  Change is inevitable, except from a vending machine.

23.  Going to church doesn't make you a Christian any more than standing in a garage makes you a car.

24.  I'm supposed to respect my elders, but now it's getting harder and harder for me to find one.

......

That's it for this post.

Best wishes, stay healthy and keep smiling.

Vera & Alex Olah

Canberra, Australia

Monday 31 July 2023

 

Post #266 30 June 2023

 Gentlefolk,

This post describes our activities in June 2023.

The contents of this post are in the following sequence:

Photos of our activities during June 2023.

News items which caught my eye in June 2023.

International Trade.

A bit of Humour.

Herewith photos of some of our activities during June.

The highlight of our month was spending 10 days in Brisbane and surrounds - good to get out of Canberra's winter.

We went to a concert "Russell Crowe's Indoor Garden Party" at the Playhouse Theatre. Russell is best known for his acting (Oscar winner) but he obviously loves performing live on stage; he was onstage for over 2 hours, singing, playing the guitar, and chatting.

Russell Crowe (59, and carrying a lot of weight) chatted about his life/career during the concert. Perhaps the funniest story was about the time he was 'fucked' by a huge tarantula spider. PM Albo was in the audience (he and Russell are both passionate South Sydney Rabbitohs supporters).

Saying goodbye to Marjana Sadu, who has been a good manager of RMC Golf Club. I've been playing socially twice a week, enjoy the game, but my lower back suffers. 

One of the big stories this month was Ben Roberts-Smith losing his defamation case against three newspapers. Talk about an own-goal!! Despite all the adverse findings, the War Memorial has decided, for the moment, to keep keep the display of Ben and the Victoria Cross he was awarded for bravery in Afghanistan.

I went to this event (really a book launch). Professor John Blaxland is an expert presenter.

 

Co-author Clare Birgin discussing the book.

We attended the Annual Ball weekend of our dance club. Dances and lessons were held on four consecutive days/nights, New Vogue, also called Sequence Dancing (eg Swing Waltz).

COTDC Vice President Ken Hopkins does the "welcome to country"

Former President Duncan Souter cut the cake.

Vera & I enjoyed the Ball. We normally dance twice a week, on Tuesday nights at the German Club and on Thursday nights with the Canberra Old Time Dance Club at St Benedict's hall.

ACT pool competition finals held at the German Club. Impressive skills.

Leo Joseph playing Blues piano and singing. We are fans!

Author's talk at the Asia Bookroom.

Author Michael Laffan (Princeton U) was interviewd by Greg Fealy from the ANU.

We watched the semi-final of the Super Rugby Pacific competition which was played between the Hamilton Chiefs and the Canberra Brumbies. We put up a good fight, but lost to a better team. Only one try was scored, by the Chiefs, with 5 minutes to go. From left: Paul Nicoll, Nick White (Brumbies half-back who is joining the Force next year), David Evans, and me. In the Final a week later, the Crusaders beat the Chiefs.

 

Visited the Portrait Gallery. Actor Hugh Jackman.

Author Tim Winton.

We have a soft spot for painter Tom Roberts as our son-in-law has the same name.

Our nephew Moritz completed the Cairns Ironman in 12 hours 26 minutes: 3.8km ocean swim; 180 km bike ride, 42 km run.  What a champion!!! Moritz came from Germany about 5 years ago; he is now the Service Manager for Tesla in Melbourne; he took up Ironman as a hobby during Covid.

Our U3A Australian History group visited Mulligan's Flat eco sanctuary. The Canberra Govt set aside 140 hectares on our northern border with NSW, to be kept in its natural state. Impressive.

Part of Mulligan's Flat eco sanctuary which we saw on our tour.

We were delighted to receive a photo of Trade/Commercial Counselor colleagues we met in Singapore nearly 30 years ago: Steve & Donna Craven (USA Embassy) and Ildiko & Denes Hunkar (Hungarian Embassy). They caught up in Budapest., at the elegant New York Cafe.

Vera & I spent 10 days in Brisbane, house-and-dog sitting while the family went camping. I played golf with the three boys, Kurt, Nate and Sid before they left.

Nate did golf for PE at school last term - he has really improved.

Bulcock's Beach, Caloundra (Sunshine Coast, north of Brisbane). As you can see the river mouth is silted up at the moment. We were researching the property market - looking to escape winter in Canberra - everything is pretty expensive! The Sunshine Coast is a pleasant area: King's Beach, Moffat's Beach and up the coast to Mooloolaba and Maroochydore.

Called in to see Bron and Daz Hensley at Maleny in teh hinterland of the Sunshine Coast. We met during our India tour 3.5 years ago (just before Covid hit).

View from Mary Cairncorss lookout at Maleny of the Glasshouse mountains.

A tangle of vines and branches near the beach at Mooloolaba.

We spent a couple of days at the Gold Coast researching the property market. Popped in to see Hugo Hofgartner at Gaven. Indefatigable - Hugo was in the middle of his next project, building a  big shed at the front of his yard.

......

 

News items which caught my eye during June 2023.

 

Global	Top 4 on Bloomberg’s 2023 Billionaire’s List: Elon Musk (192B); Bernard Arnault ($187B); Jeff Bezos; Bill Gates. India: train crash 288+ died and hundreds injured; Indian airline IndiGo placed an order for 500 Airbus A320s for an estimated $55B. PM Narendra Modi’s official visit to USA. France: passed a new law protecting consumers from misleading information from online “influencers”.  Widespread anti-police demonstrations following the shooting of 17 year old Nahel at a traffic checkpoint. OPEC+ decided to cut oil production to stabilize prices; but remained soft. UK: Prince Harry sued Mirror Newspapers for unlawful information gathering. Former PM Boris Johnson resigned, anticipating that the House of Commons Privileges Committee would find that he had deliberately misled Parliament. Actress and politician Glenda Jackson died aged 87 (Women in Love; A Touch of Class). The courts decided that the Govt's plan to send illegal immigrants to Rwanda was unlawful as Rwanda was not considered a safe destination. World snooker: match-fixing scandal - some Chinese players banned. World golf:  The PGA, DP World Tour, and LIV Golf agreed on a partnership, ending months of turmoil in golf. Football/Soccer:  Lionel Messi will join Inter Miami in the MLS League. Swedish soccer star, Zlatan Ibraminovic, retired aged 41. After success leading Celtic in the Scottish League, Aussie Ange Postecoglou was named new Manager of Tottenham Hotspur. Manchester City beat Inter Milan to win the Champions League (Man City had already won the FA Cup and the Premier League, got the trifecta!). Tennis: Novak Djokovic beat Casper Ruud to win the French Open – his 23rd Grand Slam. Top 4 GS winners: Djoko 23; Nadal 22; Federer 20; Sampras 14. Italy: entrepreneur and 4x PM, Silvio Berlusconi, died aged 86. Indonesia: next Presidential election will be held in February 2024, frontrunners: Anies Baswedan; Ganjar Pranowo; Prabowo Subianto. New Zealand: officially in recession after two consecutive quarters of negative GDP (-0.7% and -0.1%). A boat full of migrants (mostly from Egypt, Syria and Pakistan) sank off Greece; 104 rescued but 100s drowned. Remains of the submersible ‘Titan’ found near the Titanic wreck; 5 occupants died in the implosion; remains salvaged to assess cause. Canada: passed the “Online News Act” to force platforms such as Meta and Google to pay for news content. Widespread wildfires in Canada have burnt an estimated 7.7m hectares which affected air quality across a large area including parts of the USA. Turkey: The new Finance Minister doubled interest rates to 15% in an effort to control inflation (running at 40%pa). Brazil: Trial of former President Jair Bolsonaro commenced; he is accused of abuse of power and spreading false information. Islam: about 2M Muslims participated in the hajj in Mecca.
Russian invasion of Ukraine	Belgorod (inside Russia) attacked again – dissident Russians or Ukrainians? Heavy fighting around Bakhmut. Ukraine’s anticipated counter-offensive began. The big Nova Kakhovka Dam on the Dnipro River collapsed, causing widespread flooding and damage. Ukraine blamed Russia and visa-versa (but why would Russia destroy a major water supply for SE Ukraine and Crimea?). Russia deployed some tactical nuclear weapons to Belarus. Following disagreements with the Russian Military Command, the Wagner mercenary army (estimated around 25K strong, funded by Russia) led by Yevgeny Prigozhin, “mutinied”; extraordinary scenes as they marched from the conflict in Ukraine towards Moscow. An agreement was brokered: Prigozhin was given safe haven in Belarus and the mercenaries were given the option of joining the Russian Army or disbanding.
USA	Congress (Senate 63-36, House 314-117) passed the Debt Ceiling Bill, to avoid defaulting on govt debt of $31.4T (valid until January 2025). Congress blocked a Biden initiative to forgive some student loans – Biden will veto. Mike Pence announced his candidature for the Republican Party candidate for the 2024 Presidential election. Former New Jersey Governor, Chris Christie, also nominated. Trump was indicted for mishandling classified documents – pleaded “not guilty”; claimed a witch hunt; increased his popularity amongst Republicans. Purdue Pharma (Sackler Family owned) settled for $6B to avoid litigation related to America’s opioid crisis. NBA: Denver Nuggets beat Miami Heat to win their first Championship. MVP Nikola Jokic. Economy: Inflation rate in May 4% (down from 4.9% in April); US unemployment rate rose from 3.4% to 3.7%. Fed Reserve did not change interest rates in June. Jim Hines, who broke 10 seconds when he won the 100m sprint in 9.95sec at the 1968 Olympics, died aged 76. His record stood for 15 years, finally beaten by Calvin Smith in 1983. A prolonged ‘heat dome’ brought very high temperatures to Texas and neighbouring States; several deaths. President Biden announced $42B to expand high-speed internet access; will benefit an estimated 8.5m families and businesses. The US Supreme Court ruled that colleges and universities can no longer take race into consideration in their admissions policies - end of 'affirmative action'!
Australia	Parliament passed the Bill to hold a referendum later this year on the constitutional inclusion of an Indigenous Voice. In the Senate the Greens sided with the Coalition to delay a vote on the Government’s A$10B Housing Bill. Victoria Cross winner, Ben Roberts-Smith, lost his defamation case against 3 newspapers which published articles implying his guilt of bullying and killing civilians in Afghanistan. Federal Court Judge, Anthony Besanko, described Smith as “an unreliable witness”. South Australia adopted increased penalty to A$50K or 3 months jail for “obstructing a public place”. Central Coast Mariners (CCM) beat Melbourne City 6-1 to win the A League championship (first title since 2013). Jason Cummins scored a hat trick. Kathleen Folbigg was pardoned because of doubts about her conviction (she served 20 years for killing 4 babies). Economics: GDP rose 0.2% in Q1 2023. Reserve Bank raised interest rates 0.25% to 4.1%; 12th rise. Super Rugby: The Brumbies beat the Hurricanes in the Quarter Finals, but were beaten by the Chiefs in the Semis. In the Final in Hamilton, the Crusaders beat the Chiefs 25-20. First time the majority of recipients of the King’s Birthday honours (total of 1,100 Awards) were female. Bus accident near Maitland: 10 dead, 11 injured. Govt established the High Speed Rail Authority to (again) assess feasibility. Several women accused Senator David Van (Lib, Vic) of sexual harassment; he resigned from the Liberal Party and will sit on the cross-benches. Lowy Institute’s “SE Asia Aid Map” showed the region received about $28B in development finance. Major donors: ADB & World Bank, followed by China ($5.5B), Japan ($3B), Korea ($3B), EU ($3B). Australia ($0.9B). Queensland won Rugby League’s 2023 ‘State of Origin’ series, beating NSW in the first two games. Kylie Minogue had her first Top-10 hit in 13 years with “Padam Padam”. Former leader of the Aust Labor Party (2001-3), Simon Crean, died aged 74. Under fire PwC sold its govt Advisory Division to private equity Allegro Funds for $1.
China	US Secretary of State Antony Blinken visited Beijing; met his counterpart and also the Chinese President. Beijing had its hottest June day in 60 years (41.1C). New Zealand PM Chris Hipkins made an official visit to Beijing; China is NZ’s biggest export market (mainly lamb, dairy, and timber products). China’s Central Bank shaved official interest rates to boost economy.

......

INTERNATIONAL TRADE

My 30 year career as an Australian Trade Commissioner gave me an interest in matters related to international trade.  I subscribe to Bloomberg's excellent daily newsletter "Supply Lines - tracking Covid-19's impact on trade" (former title 'Trade Matters').  

Here are some of the more interesting graphs in the Bloomberg newsletter during June  2023; they are largely self-explanatory.

......

A bit of humour 

......

That's it for this post.

We are enjoying our time in Brisbane, where their minimums are Canberra's maximums!!!

Best wishes, stay healthy and keep smiling.

Vera & Alex Olah

Brisbane, Australia

Friday 30 June 2023