Veronika Wild

  Australians were shocked and saddened by events in Sydney this week when two gunmen opened fire on a Jewish community group celebrating Hanuka. Our thoughts are with those who have lost family members and we wish those who were injured a speedy recovery. It was a dark day for Australia and it was made even darker by those seeking to capitalise on this incident for their own ends. Those on the right are calling on the Prime Minister to resign, as if he were personally responsible. We did not call on Prime Minister John Howard to resign after the Port Arthur massacre, nor Prime Minister Tony Abbott for the Lindt Cafe Siege in 2014. Ironically, both of these men are from the same political party which is now demanding that the Prime Minister step down. This glaring double standard reveals political opportunism rather than genuine concern and undermines unity when Australia needs it most. The older shooter was admitted to Australia by the previous government. The othe...

Richmond's famous  convict bridge (1823) I have had not one, but two visits to Richmond   in the last week or two. We've had appalling weather for at least a month, so the first time the sun managed to struggle out from behind the clouds, #1 granddaughter gathered me up and drove me Richmond for afternoon tea. One by-product of the weather we've been having was that everything was lovely and green, something which I have rarely seen in this area.   Richmond was its usual charming self. It's Australia’s oldest intact Georgian village and has quaint cottages and stately homes, a historic bridge, a river with ducks, several vineyards and eateries and its historic goal.   It took me a long time to realise that much of what we admire in Tasmania today would not have been possible without the toil, misery and free labour of convicts.  I had planned to visit one of two Christmas tree farms in this area, but one wasn’t open yet and the other hadn’t yet put up its Chri...

  -Image by Copilot It’s not just Santa’s elves that are busy in the lead up to Christmas. Scammers are also poised and ready to take advantage of the festive season. We are busy, rushed and ready to spend and may not be as careful about whom we send our money or information to.  This is especially true of our young people, who may not be as aware of the resources and remedies available to them. Not that you have to be young to be taken advantage of.   I made a mistake myself this month which I will tell you about shortly.  I have written quite a bit about scammers in 2022, but some things have changed. For example, scammers have learned to game the system, offsetting any negative reviews by flooding the review sites with positive reviews or websites with fake testimonials. They have also used AI to advance their cause, but it is also being used to catch them.  Trust Pilot for example, has been using advanced AI to weed out around out 3.5 million such reviews ...