Month: August 2022

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US

Jerrold Nadler stumbles through debate opening against Suraj Patel

Jerrold Nadler stumbles through debate opening against Suraj Patel

Longshot challenger Suraj Patel came out swinging in the Democratic primary debate for the race to represent Manhattan’s Upper West and Upper East sides, saying it’s time to retire septuagenarian Reps. Jerrold Nadler and Carolyn Maloney.

The call for new blood from the 38-year-old came right after Nadler stumbled badly through his own opening statement.

“It’s 2022. It’s time to turn the page on 1992,” Patel, 38, said in a swipe at Nadler, 75, and Maloney, 76, during his introductory statement in the debate co-sponsored by NY1 and WNYC.

Nadler’s delivery was halting during his initial presentation and he missedpoke and often seemed unable to come up with the right words.

And then Nadler, the House Judiciary Committee chairman, uttered a real whopper, proclaiming, “I’ve impeached Bush twice.”

He was referring to his oversight of the politically divisive impeachments of former President Donald Trump, who he confused with either the 41st or 43rd presidents.

Nadler’s bumbling seemed to prove Patel’s point.

Rep. Jerry Nadler speaks during New York's 12th Congressional District Democratic primary debate hosted by Spectrum News NY1 and WNYC at the CUNY Graduate Center, Tuesday, Aug. 2, 2022, in New York.
Nadler stumbled several times, and even said he impeached “Bush” twice.
AP/Mary Altaffer, Pool

“Nineteen-nineties Democrats have lost about every major battle to Mitch McConnell and the Republicans,” said Patel, referring to the Senate Republican leader from Kentucky.

Meanwhile, Nadler sat down during the entire 90 minute session while Maloney and Patel stood at their lectures.

Nadler had many other verbal stumbles throughout the debate and at one point when the moderators offered him a chance to respond since his name had been brought up by an opponent, he seemed stunned and had nothing to say.

At one point, WNYC moderator Brigid Bergin asked Nadler about the importance of seniority and how he and Maloney differed on policies, two related but different questions.

Nadler answered that seniority is important if used effectively, but forget about the Maloney comparison.

“The second one, the second question, what was the second one?” Nadler asked.

Maloney made waves for a different reason during the debate: She predicted that President Biden, 79, would not run for re-election.

“I don’t believe he’s running for re-election,” Maloney said.

Nadler, meanwhile, would not commit to supporting Biden’s reelection and would only answer, “It’s too early to say,” when asked.

Patel, who had made a point of noting that his opponents are too old to be reelected to the House, nevertheless said “yes” to supporting the 79-year-old Biden’s re-election.

On foreign affairs, all three candidates supported House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s trip to Taiwan and said the Biden administration should not give in to China’s bullying it.

Maloney claimed she was more effective in office than Nadler, saying she delivered the Second Avenue subway for her district while Nadler’s proposed rail freight tunnel hasn’t gotten off the ground. Nadler claimed he helped secure funding for the Second Avenue subway.

Maloney was on the defensive about her prior concerns over whether vaccines contributed to autism, a position she has since abandoned.

Maloney and Nadler each were elected and have served together in Congress for 30 years, first elected in the early 1990s.

Nadler was a former state assemblyman before his election to the House. Maloney chairs the House Oversight Committee and formerly served in the City Council.

Suraj Patel
Suraj Patel is a 38-year-old Democrat calling for Nadler and Maloney’s retirements.
SpectrumNews NY

Patel, a self-described “Obama Democrat” and lawyer whose family runs a hotel business, is making his third run in the 12th congressional district.

The Democrats’ gerrymandering debacle ended up pitting Maloney and Nadler — longtime allies — against each other.

Judges knocked out the Democrat-drawn maps — which Republicans derided as the “Hochulmander” because Gov. Kathy Hochul approved them — finding them unconstitutional.

As a result, a court-ordered special master merged Maloney’s East Side turf with Nadler’s West Side base, and Nadler wasted no time, immediately declaring he’d run in Maloney’s district, guaranteeing at least one of the aged incumbents will be out of a job next year.

Nadler decided to run in the 12th CD against Maloney instead of the 10th District, which he currently represents, because the reconfigured 10th cut out his Upper West Side turf and took in communities in brownstone and southern Brooklyn, a swath of the city he has never .

The primary will be held on Aug. 23 with early voting beginning on August 13.

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Categories
Business

Rental market in landlords’ favor as vacancy rate falls to the lowest on record

Rental market in landlords' favor as vacancy rate falls to the lowest on record

Domain chief of research economics Dr Nicola Powell said the figures highlight extraordinarily tight rental conditions for tenants.

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“Nationally, vacant rental listings are 45 per cent lower over the year and have fallen across most of the capital cities,” Powell said.

“The rental market remains firmly in favor of landlords across every capital city, with a shortage in rental supply driving up asking rents and further escalating competition between tenants.

“With the vacancy rate dipping to a record low, it’s not an overnight fix.”

Impact Economics and Policy economist Dr Angela Jackson said the country’s two largest capitals were starting to tighten like other rental markets around the country have been since the pandemic hit.

“Effectively, we’re seeing Sydney and Melbourne catch up with the rest of the country. They were in lockdown, which led to higher vacancy rates,” Jackson said.

Rentals are being snapped up even with significant rent increases, experts say.

Rentals are being snapped up even with significant rent increases, experts say.Credit:

“It is getting harder and harder to find a rental in the major capital cities. This will undoubtedly lead to higher rents in those markets.

“Housing is the biggest part of any household consumption, and the cost we can’t avoid, it’s the first thing that has to be paid.”

She said when rents rise, this has a significant impact on households.

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“Certainly for low-income renters, they will either face increasing rates of housing stress or more severe housing stress,” she said.

“Even for households on medium incomes, that stress is likely to spread to our capitals like Sydney and Melbourne in the next 12 months.”

She said rental demand was driven by city tenants moving to regional markets, as well as eleven locked-down workers moving into new rentals as a single or smaller household, rather than due to immigration, which has yet to return to pre-pandemic levels.

Renters and Housing Union Victoria secretary Eirene Tsolidis Noyce said it has become extremely difficult for renters, amid reports of rent increases of $600 a month in some cases.

“We definitely notice that increase because our membership is feeling the squeeze excessively,” Tsolidis Noyce said.

“We’re firmly against the idea that an increase in interest rates should be passed onto renters who are on lower incomes and in less financial stability and with fewer assets. If you don’t own the property you shouldn’t be paying more than someone’s mortgage for less of the benefit.”

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Barry Plant head of property management Emma Gordon said it was a two-speed market in Melbourne, and city rentals sit vacant longer than properties outside the CBD.

“The city hasn’t fully recovered and isn’t experiencing queues at open homes and high demand where you are getting six or eight applications on properties,” Gordon said.

“But in the other areas of Melbourne, outer areas, competition is high, stock is low, and as soon as stock comes on the market they’re being rented,” she said, adding there were rental increases across the board.

Ray White property management chief executive Emily Sim said Sydney rents were increasing on average between $80 to $100 a week.

Categories
Technology

Discord users complain about new Android update

Discord users complain about new Android update

Yesterday, Discord for Android officially launched a “major overhaul” that leverages a cross-platform framework to make development easier and more in line with the iOS app, but the update is resulting in a number of complaints.

The cross-platform framework in question is the open source React Native created by Facebook/Meta several years ago. Discord adopted it for the Android app to allow for “feature consistency across platforms” given a “centralized and streamlined app development process across Android, iOS and desktop.” Previously, Android feature development lagged behind desktop and iOS as those two platforms were prioritized. “Faster app update release cycles” is the other major tentpole of the ground up React Native rebuild.

This update has been rolling out “over the past few weeks” and there have been more than a few complaints in that period. For starters, people dislike the density-impacting larger UI and font on Android that is meant to be “more consistent with iOS.”

Others complain about Discord being “buggy” (2, 3) and “laggy” (“slower,” 3, 4) following the update, with this criticism particularly coming from those with older phones. Another common issue has been about text fields requiring manual scrolling after typing a lot of characters. The general sentiment among Android users is that they did not really have issues with the usability of the previous client.

Discord Android update

Complaints about performance and quality after apps transition to cross-platform development are quite common. Detractors are often critical of how applications lose native UI elements and conventions after a switch. For its part, Discord says it’s “still retaining Android and iOS specific patterns in the UI.”

Typically, bugs related with switching development processes are common and will get resolved over time, but it’s a bit concerning that seemingly basic issues are still popping up even after months of beta/alpha testing.

The best thing Discord for Android users can do now is report bugs about the update.

Be sure to comment below about your experience with the revamp.

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Categories
Entertainment

Princess Diana’s Legacy More ‘Clearly Visible’ in Prince Harry—Bodyguard

Princess Diana

Princess Diana’s former bodyguard said that the late royal’s legacy is more “clearly visible” in Prince Harry as he has grown older, in a new book to be published ahead of the 25th anniversary of her death.

Ken Wharfe was a personal protection officer to Princess Diana from 1987 to 1993 and has written extensively about his time in royal service, including the upcoming book Diana: Remembering The Princess co-authored with journalist Ros Coward.

Wharfe worked closely with Prince William and Prince Harry at Kensington Palace, heading their security for a year before being assigned solely to Diana.

In an extract from his new book, run by the Mail on SundayWharfe recounted how Diana took pity on him for having been assigned to her two sons, calling them a “bloody nuisance.”

Princess Diana's Legacy and Prince Harry
Diana’s former police protection officer, Ken Wharfe, has written that she would have been “jetting across the Atlantic” to offer Harry advice if she were still alive. Diana (L) is photographed above in Washington, DC, on June 17, 1997. Harry (R) is photographed above in London on July 1, 2021. Wharfe (inset) is photographed on April 24, 2004.
Tim Graham Photo Library via Getty Images/Yui Mok/WPA Pool/Getty Images/Ferdaus Shamim/WireImage

“I was shown into a drawing room where Diana was sitting on the sofa,” he wrote of his introduction at Kensington Palace. “William was attempting to play a piano and Harry was being an entertaining pest, standing on a table, picking apart some lilies in a vase. Immediately, Diana said to me: ‘I don’t envy you, Ken, looking after my kids —they can be a bloody nuisance.'”

Wharfe has written of this exchange as an example of the informality and warmth displayed by the late princess when interacting with members of her staff.

“That candid, informal exchange set the scene for the rest of our working relationship,” he wrote. “There wasn’t this barrier between Royalty and me, the policeman, the servant or whatever. It was more as though a sister or friend was speaking to me, and that was extraordinary.”

Ken Wharfe and Princess Diana
Ken Wharfe worked as Princess Diana’s personal protection officer from 1987 to 1993. The two are photographed (L) in Oxford on November 20, 1990 and (R) on February 8, 1989.
Tim Graham Photo Library via Getty Images

After his five years working for Diana, Wharfe resigned during the tumultuous falling out of her official separation from Prince Charles—a period in which the bodyguard described her behavior as “erratic.”

“It was around then I decided it was probably the right time to leave,” he wrote. “I simply felt that I couldn’t keep her safe any longer as her behavior was so erratic. I didn’t know at that point that, just a few weeks later, she would decide to live without any security cover. And that would ultimately lead to her death.”

Diana died four years later in a high-speed car crash while being driven with her partner, Dodi Fayed, through a tunnel in Paris. She had been dispensed with formal royal protection officers, though a private security guard hired by the Fayed family was in the car on the evening in question.

This year marks the 25th anniversary of Diana’s death. Last year, William and Harry came together to unveil a statue of her at her former home, Kensington Palace, on what would have been her 60th birthday. The princes’ relationship has been reportedly strained since Harry stepped down as a working member of the royal family and moved to the United States with his wife, Meghan Markle, and their son, Archie.

Princess Diana and Prince Harry
Prince Harry has spoken openly about Princess Diana in recent years, telling “Today” show host Hoda Kotb in April 2022 that he feels his mother’s spirit with him constantly. The two are photographed above in London on August 19, 1995.
Tim Graham Photo Library via Getty Images

On how Diana would view Harry’s new role, Wharfe writes: “There is no doubt in my mind that she would completely understand the position Harry finds himself in and would probably have been jetting across the Atlantic on a regular basis to offer help.”

“William and Harry are very much their mother’s boys in so many ways, even though there are differences between them,” he continued. “Although William has perhaps reverted to a world away from the limelight when it comes to his children from him, he does try to engage and to bring a more modernized approach.

“But with Harry, we can see Diana’s legacy more clearly – and when he returns into the Royal fold, which I think he will do, I believe that will be even clearer.”

Since moving to the US, Harry has spoken openly about his mother and how he feels she would have supported the difficult life choices he has made over the past three years.

speaking to Today show host Hoda Kotb in April, the prince said he feels the spirit of his mother constantly.

“For me, it’s constant and it has been over the last two years,” he said. “More so than ever before. It’s almost as if she’s done her bit with my brother and now she’s very much helping me. She’s got him set up now she’s helping me set up. That’s what it feels like.”

the Today show appearance followed an interview he gave to People magazine in which he described his hope that he makes Diana proud.

“I certainly hope and believe everything I do makes her proud,” he said. “In the 12 short years I was lucky enough to have with her, I saw and felt the energy and lift she got from helping others, no matter their background, ailment or status. Her life and theirs was better for it—however short theirs or hers was.”

He added: “I honor my mother in everything I do. I am my mother’s son.”

Newsweek reached out to Ken Wharfe’s representatives for comment.

Diana: Remembering The Princessby Ken Wharfe and Ros Coward will be released in the UK on August 4.

For more royal news and commentary check out Newsweek’s The Royal Report podcast:
Categories
Sports

David Klemmer to leave Newcastle Knights, rift with coach Adam O’Brien

Tough prop David Klemmer is expected to survive calls to sack him from the Knights for disciplinary breaches this week – but don’t expect him to be at the club in 2023.

Klemmer – arguably the best player in a disappointing Knights team this season – was handed a breach notice by the club for failing to come off the field when directed to leave by trainer Hayden Knowles in Sunday’s loss to Canterbury.

There have been murmurs that Klemmer could have his contract torn up over the issue – but I’m hearing he will just be slapped with a fine and a reprimand.

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The incident comes in a week of turmoil for Klemmer in which he almost jumped ship to Parramatta on Monday – the deadline day for player transfers.

There is clearly a rift between Klemmer and coach Adam O’Brien and that is likely to see him part ways with the club at season’s end despite having another 12 months to run on his lucrative contract.

Given his strong form in a badly out-of-form team, several rival clubs are certain to show interest in Klemmer.

The uneasy situation between Klemmer and the club will be an early test for veteran administrator Peter Parr, who is joining the Knights from the Cowboys.

Klemmer is a popular member of the playing group whereas several top-line players aren’t happy with O’Brien, further complicating a messy situation.

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Uniform controversies that have rocked sport around the world

Categories
Australia

‘Relentlessly practical’: Former prime minister Tony Abbott backs Jacinta Price amid Voice to Parliament debate

Tony Abbot said Jacinta Nampijinpa Price “knows what she’s talking about” as the debate continues about the Indigenous Voice to Parliament. Picture: Supplied.

Former prime minister Tony Abbott said Jacinta Nampijinpa Price “knows what she’s talking about” as the debate continues about the Indigenous Voice to Parliament.

Senator Price has spoken out against the Indigenous Voice to Parliament, saying the body would create a division between indigenous and non-indigenous Australians and wouldn’t address the issues facing First Nations communities.

While appearing on Credlin on Tuesday night, Mr Abbott told Sky News Australia host Peta Credlin he has ‘enormous respect’ for Ms Price’s opinion on the matter.

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“I have enormous respect for Jacinta Price and unlike so many of the people who talk a lot about this area- Jacinta Price has lived a life in remote Australia.

“So she knows what she’s talking about. That’s why her focus is so relentlessly practical.”

Mr Abbott said what we need to focus on instead is “what are we actually gong to do to get the kids to school, to get the adults to work and to keep communities safe.”

“Because all too often we apply these different standards and we say well it’s OK for indigenous kids not to go to school, it’s ok for indigenous adults not to go to work because of culture.

“We tolerate things that we wouldn’t tolerate for a second in suburban Australia because we say well that’s just the sort of thing that happens in remote places.”

The Voice to Parliament was a key element of the 2017 Uluru Statement from the Heart and called for an elected Indigenous advisory body to the Federal Parliament.

The proposed body would advise the government on issues affecting First Nations people.

The Labor Government pushed the issue to the center of its agenda when Prime Minister Anthony Albanese declared on election night that there would be a referendum in his first term.

The former prime minister weighed in on the issue and said there was no need for “constitutional change”.

“I think this proposed constitutionally voice to the parliament is wrong in principle and it will work out badly in practice.

“I don’t believe that we need a constitutional change if we are to have a voice and certainly I don’t think that there is any lack of consultation already,” Mr Abbott said.

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Categories
US

Kansas votes to protect abortion rights in state constitution | usnews

Kansans secured a huge win for abortion rights in the US on Tuesday night when they voted to continue to protect abortion in the state constitution.

The race was called by a host of US groups like NBC News, the New York Times and Decision Desk HQ.

The move will be seen as a huge loss for the anti-abortion movement and a major win for abortion rights advocates across America, who will see the result as a bellwether for popular opinion.

Kansas – a deeply conservative and usually reliably Republican state – is the first US state to put abortion rights to a vote since the US supreme court ruled to overturn constitutional protections for abortion in late June.

The state will remain a safe haven for abortion in the midwest, as one of the few states in the region where it remains legal to perform the procedure. Many other states have undertaken moves to make abortion largely illegal since June.

The Kansas state senator Dinah Sikes, a Democrat, cried as the vote came in, and turned to her friends and colleagues, showing them goosebumps on her arm.

“It’s just amazing. It’s breathtaking that women’s voices were heard and we care about women’s health,” she told the Guardian, after admitting she had thought the vote would be close. “But we were close in a lot of rural areas and that really made the difference – I’m just so grateful,” she said.

The “No” campaign – which was protecting abortion rights – was strongly ahead in the referendum with 62% of the vote with the majority of ballots counted. That means millions of dollars lost for the Catholic church who contributed more than $3m trying to eradicate abortion rights in Kansas, according to campaign finance records.

Kansans turned out to vote in heavy numbers on Tuesday, in a referendum brought by the Kansas Republican legislature that was criticized for being misleading, fraught with misinformation and voter suppression tactics.

After failing to get a more directly named referendum, “Kansas No State Constitutional Right to Abortion”, on the ballot in 2020, Republicans switched tactics, naming this amendment “Value Them Both”.

The vote was scheduled for August, when voter turnout is historically low, particularly among independents and Democrats, and the wording on the ballot paper was criticized for being unclear.

“The ballot mentions a state constitutional right to abortion funding in Kansas, but that funding has never really been on the table,” Mary Ziegler, a US abortion law expert from the University of California, Davis told the Guardian on Monday.

Kansans for Life, one of the main backers for a “yes” vote, told church congregants on 27 July that removing protections for abortion in Kansas would prevent late-term abortions, lack of parental consent and tax payer funding for abortion, despite none of these being the law in Kansas. Abortions in Kansas are limited to 22 weeks in cases of life threatening or severely compromised physical complications.

It was a tense and bitterly fought campaign that saw churches vandalized and yard signs stolen, in a state where abortion doctor George Tiller was murdered by anti-abortion activists in 2009.

But on Tuesday night scenes of retirement broke out at a watch party for the victorious No campaign in Kansas City. “We’re free!” shouted Mafutari Oneal, 56, who was manning the bar after the vote was called and a rush of drinks orders came in.

“I don’t want no government telling me what to do. I’m so happy,” she said.

In a speech just after victory was sealed, Rachel Sweet, the campaign manager for Kansans for Constitutional Freedom, said the win had come against all the odds.

“We knew it was stacked against us from the moment we started but we did not despair – we did it, and these numbers speak for themselves,” Sweet said.

“We knocked tens of thousands of doors and had hundreds of thousands of phone calls … We countered millions of dollars in misinformation,” she said. “We will not tolerate extreme bans on abortion in our state.”

Ashley All, the spokesperson for KCF, who led the ‘No’ campaign alongside Planned Parenthood and the ACLU told the Guardian that the key to driving voter turnout was not seeing abortion as a partisan issue in Kansas.

“We demonstrated Kansas’ free state roots,” she said. “It will be interesting for other states to watch this and see this is not a partisan issue. Everyone from Republicans, to unaffiliated voters to hardcore libertarians came out to say: ‘No, we don’t want the government involved in what we do with our bodies’,” she said.

Categories
Business

Macquarie the first bank to hike repayments

Mortgage repayments just got tougher for borrowers at Macquarie, the first bank to announce it will hike interest rates following yesterday’s Reserve Bank decision.
All eyes are now on the nation’s big four banksANZ, CBA, NAB and Westpac, to see if they will lift rates on their home loans, as is widely expected.

Following the RBA’s decision to raise rates for a fourth consecutive month, Macquarie took just three hours to confirm it was increasing its variable loan rates by 0.5 per cent, starting August 12.

The Macquarie Bank building in Sydney, Australia.
Macquarie Bank is the first major lender to announce it will pass on the full double RBA hike to borrowers, while the big four banks are yet to reveal their hands. (Supplied)

Sally Tindall of RateCity said Macquarie Bank “is the first cab off the rank”, and it seemed just a matter of time before others “follow suit” and pass on the hike in full to variable rate customers.

Tindall commended Macquarie’s decision to increase interest rates to its customers’ regular transaction and savings accounts.

“Let’s hope the big four follow suit and offer up decent rate rises to their millions of savers.”

Macquarie also declared it was decreasing its fixed home loan interest rates by up to 0.75 per cent, a move Tindall described as a “big cut”.

“The tide may be turning for fixed rates, which have been sharply rising since late last year,” she added.

The cost of fixed-rate funding is now starting to come down, she said.

“We could see more banks follow Macquarie’s lead and lower fixed rates in the weeks ahead.”

Yesterday’s RBA decision marked the first time since the introduction of inflation targets in 1990 that the central bank has increased the cash rate four months in a row.

For the average borrower with a $500,000 loan and 25 years remaining, the increase will result in a $140 a month increase – or $472 since the RBA began lifting rates in May 2022.

For those with bigger loans, the repayment jumps are equally stark.

A person with a $750,000 loan is now facing a monthly increase of $211 (up $708 a month since May) while those with a $1 million loan are facing a monthly increase of $281 (or an eye-watering $944 a month increase since May).

Categories
Technology

Porsche Specialist Paul Stephens Debuts Lightweight 911 993R

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The latest creation from Paul Stephens Autoart takes the 993-series Porsche 911 and turns it into the 993R. Paul Stephens started with a customer brief that asked for the 993 with every area improved by 25 percent. The build took five years to complete, during which time the coronavirus pandemic increased life, and it includes genuine Porsche Motorsport components and parts of Paul Stephens’ own design.

The 993R is lighter and more capable than the original. The modified Porsche 911 packs an enlarged 3.8-liter flat-six engine, up from 3.6 liters. Peak power reaches 330 horsepower (246 kilowatts), which is a big jump over the original 272-hp (202-kW) engine. Paul Stephens offers a more potent power upgrade, taking the Porsche to 360 hp (268 kW) and increasing the redline from 7,400 to 8,500 rpm.

Paul Stephens Autoart Porsche 911 993R

24 Photos

The engine combines with a six-speed gearbox, which features a lightweight clutch and flywheel. Upgrades to the engine include a 997 GT3 crankshaft and bearings, 993 RSR pistons and barrels, and a 997 GT3 oil pump. The camshafts come from Paul Stephens, which feature solid lifters and adjustable rockers from Porsche Motorsport. Paul Stephens also adapted the throttle bodies.

Inside, Paul Stephen installs an integrated roll cage, carbon-fiber Recaro seats, and a strict diet. Autoart removed all the non-essential electronics to “reduce weight and improve engagement,” including the electric windows, radio, and air conditioning. The glove compartment, door grab handles, and center console were also tossed.

The 993R also features composite materials to help further reduce the car’s weight. The 993R weighs 2,645 pounds (1,200 kilograms) wet, less than the base 993 Carrera 2 that tipped the scales at 3,040 lbs. (1,379kg).

According to Paul Stephens, the 993R expresses the company’s “less is more” ethos. The tuner is taking inquiries for the 993R and other Autoart commissions. “The 993R isn’t a swansong, but I wanted it to be the ‘best of’ Autoart, all meeting or bettering the customer’s brief,” said Stephens.

Categories
Entertainment

Three things with Peter Helliar: ‘I genuinely find a piece of exciting white paper’ | australian lifestyle

Yof you’ve turned on a TV any time in the past 20 years, odds are you’ve seen Peter Helliar. The comedian cut his teeth on Rove in the noughties and is now one of the hosts of Network Ten’s The Project, a chair he’s sat in for the past eight years. But for his latest venture he Helliar is trading the small screen for the sound studio. He recently began hosting Family Feud: The Podcast, an audio version of the gameshow of the same name. On every episode, two prominent Australians go head-to-head, with names such as Waleed Aly, Tony Armstrong and Osher Günsberg all battling it out for glory.

Crucial to Helliar’s many jobs are the notebooks in which he writes his ideas. In fact, notebooks of all kinds are cherished items to the media personality – he’s held on to the books he “self-published” as a kid and still aches for a notebook he once lost overseas. Here, he tells us why these journals become more valuable the more you use them.

What I’d save from my house in a fire

I would save the books I wrote when I was in primary school. I started my very own publishing company called Better Books. They were stapled pages with badly drawn pictures complete with grammatical errors and huge narrative potholes. I feel a connection with my school-age self through these books, which my mum kept in our garage all these years. All my influences are in there: Star Wars, Back to The Future, Indiana Jones, friends and sport – one story has me winning the 1986 Davis Cup by serving a hand grenade to Stefan Edberg.

Buried Alive by Peter Helliar: one of the comedian's childhood literary excursions under his primary school imprint.
Buried Alive by Peter Helliar: one of the comedian’s childhood literary excursions under his primary school imprint.

These books were not only my gateway to writing but also performing, as I would read them to the class and feed off their laughter. There is also a weirdly grim book called Buried Alive, which only as an adult I’ve come to understand was a reaction to losing my cousin, Matthew, to leukemia.

My most useful object

My most useful items are pens and notebooks. Yes, I use my laptop and will often rely on my notes app to jot ideas down, but I have always loved the endless possibilities that a blank page presents. I genuinely find a piece of white paper exciting. I make sure I write with a pen quite often as my brain seems to work a little differently when I do.

Whenever I begin working on a new standup show, I always buy a new distinctive notebook and I carry that around with me wherever I go, which is dangerous (see below). My wife, Brij, is always on me for the amount of notebooks I have and my refusal to throw any of them out. I’m not sure if I’m being silly for not tossing some of them, but there have been enough times when I look into an old notebook and rediscover a seed of an idea that I can now grow into something more substantial. That’s my excuse anyway and I’m sticking with it.

The item I most regret losing

I traveled overseas by myself when I was 18. I spent time in Scandinavia, the UK and (briefly) Germany for Oktoberfest. When I was in the UK, I decided that I would try to stand up. I bought a notebook and began writing ideas for routines and jokes. Notebooks are funny in that the more you write in them, the more valuable they become to you. I ended up coming home earlier than I thought I would, so I never tried standup in London – but I continued to write ideas and more jokes.

A couple of years later I met up with a mate for lunch and a couple of drinks. I took my notebook because I thought if he left me waiting I could people-watch and write down my observations. By now you have probably guessed what happened: I left the notebook in the back of a taxi. I was devastated. That notebook represented my future. All those amazing thoughts, genius ideas and killer punchlines.

Of course, I eventually got over it and began a standup career, which has gone pretty well. I also got to the stage where the gags and routines in there were probably amateurish and not as groundbreaking as they were in my head at the time. With that said, it would be nice to flick through and see what my first foray into writing comedy was like.