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pippa January 20, 2021

Let me very clear: I cannot stand Donald Trump. However, I also cannot stand negativity and hate. No person in this world is absolutely good or absolutely bad. To believe the opposite is to show a distinct lack of emotional intelligence.

My GP is so far left, he’s almost falling off the edge. We discussed the situation last Friday. He said he credits Trump with three achievements: the increase in black employment - for males, the highest since 1969 and for women, the highest ever. The signing of the peace deals in the Middle East, and the rise in manufacturing, due to companies having more optimism as a result of leaving the Paris Accord, and some major companies returning from overseas to set up in America again.

I’m also concerned that the article seems to be written on the premise that Trump had sole control over the pandemic response. He didn’t. As in Australia, the individual states carried the ultimate responsibility. Trump’s reaction to the pandemic was ridiculous, but he was no more in control of what the states did, than Scott Morrison was in Australia.

The riots in the Capitol on 6 January were a disgrace, but the guy telling the police to leave before they get hurt, is an Antifa leader. He’s been arrested and given the police chapter and verse on how it was organised. There were Trump supporters there, but by no means were they the only rioters.

pippa January 20, 2021

@zaky, the peace deals signed with middle eastern countries? I can’t stand the man but the facts are the facts. Nobody else, presidential or otherwise, has achieved what he did in that area.

pippa January 19, 2021

What a beautiful, well phrased speech Melania gave yesterday. Full of positivity and good will. She’s a classy, dignified woman who simply got on with the job without fuss and fanfare. A great role model who did an excellent job as First Lady.

pippa January 4, 2021

Your son seems to lack the company of children his age. As a mother and grandmother, a retired teacher and nurse and a lover of children, I know that nothing brings a bratty child down to earth more quickly than a group of children his or her own age.

Children need to spend extended amounts of time with a peer group, minus parents hovering over them. Get him into a sporting club, an art group, perhaps a music or drama group with children his own age. Drop him off and go shopping, or have a coffee with a friend and don’t go back to collect him until finishing time. There must be something that interests him. He’ll probably find it hard at first, but it’s important you persist.

I also wonder if you both spend too much time teaching him about the right path in life. It’s critical of course that children learn these lessons in the home, but they need to mix with peers to learn how to apply them in a social setting. Perhaps he’s rebelling against this a bit. I wish you luck.

pippa January 3, 2021

Wow! I stopped colouring my hair about two years ago and I love it! I adore the colour yellow but with blonde hair, it didn’t suit me. Now I can wear it. My hair is healthier and actually shines.

pippa January 2, 2021

I’ve written about lipodaema twice on Mamamia and neither time was my comment published. I’m even more confused now as to why you have an article about it.

My lipodaema kicked in at the age of 35. I weighed 48 kg in May 1981. By September, I weighed 61 kg with no change in diet or lifestyle. My fat phobic husband blamed me and said I needed to get it off but it wouldn’t move. Diet after diet and it always came back.

My lipodaema wasn’t diagnosed until 10 years ago. I’m very overweight below the waist and on my upper arms. My left side is considerably fatter than my right. Lipodaema is never symmetrical. I have very little fat around my face and neck, tiny wrists and very bony hands. I wear size six rings.

I’m now 75 and weigh 88kg and guess what? I’m about to start on yet another diet. This time, it’s the Lady Shake. I’m hopeful because even though I’m old enough to know better, I hate the way I look. I’m only 158cm tall, so I desperately need to get rid of at least 20 kgs. Wish me luck.

birdie December 29, 2020

NEVER apologise for doing the world’s most important, fulfilling, exhilarating, fun filled, exhausting, frustrating and sometimes just plain crazy making job.

birdie December 23, 2020

I’m a very spiritual person and this is how I live my life now. I’m 75 years old and if I could just offer a tiny bit of advice, it would be this: no matter how bad things seem, just hold on to these four words: This too shall pass. Whatever it is may not pass completely, but it will ease. If you hold on to this, you can remain calm and positive. It really is worth it.

birdie December 7, 2020

While I agree these aircraft are needed, I can’t help wondering when individuals are going to realise that in so many cases, these fires are preventable. The current Fraser Island fire was started by an illegal campfire.

Offloading responsibility for human carelessness, criminal activity, lack of desire to just generally contribute to society onto ‘the government’ is the easy way out. Every day, someone complains that the mysterious ‘they’ should be doing something about so many things that people could be taking responsibility for themselves.

birdie December 3, 2020

In the wake of Anna’s suicide, a programme has been set up to empower children, whether they be black or white, to recognise grooming techniques and hopefully stop abuse from happening before it begins. The programme is called Deadly Guardians and one of its hardest workers is Keith Gregory. It’s a super hero type programme that appeals to both boys and girls.

Keith is a super hero in my view. He’s worked tirelessly for indigenous communities in the NT for many years. Interestingly, he’s been heavily criticised by some indigenous Australians because, as a white man, he’s believed not to have any right to tackle issues pertaining to Aboriginals. As I said, Deadly Guardians doesn’t recognise colour. One young, indigenous woman actually told him to give up, because he has the ‘wrong image’! I wasn’t aware an initiative like this requires a special ‘image’ for it to be worthwhile.

Keith is working closely with Samantha, Anna’s mum and he has a Facebook group called ‘Mums and Bubs Against Child Sexual Abuse'. Since the inception of the Facebook group, I’ve been doing what I can to publicise it. Keith and this initiative deserve all the support they can get.

birdie November 30, 2020

I’m certainly not going to heap praise on a man whose ‘jobs for the boys’ caused the death of more than 800 people. Thousands in Victoria are suffering irreparable loss of their loved ones, their marriages, their businesses and their homes. If they’re young, they may be able to rebuild their businesses and buy another home, but they can’t bring back their loved ones. Nor can their mental health recover in the blink of an eye.

Apart from some criticism in the media and disgruntled Victorians voicing their disapproval, Andrews has sailed through 2020 pretty much unscathed, with no loss of income, home, or anything else he holds dear. Many thousands of Victorians can’t say the same.

The enquiry was a farce, with lies heaped on lies. It seems to me, that if Daniel ‘ I can’t recall’ Andrews’ memories of crucial decisions taken only six months before the enquiry are so compromised, one would question his ability to run the state.

birdie November 27, 2020

Is it possible to track down other families in your area? It would be beneficial for your boys to mix with children outside your family and great for other autistic children as well. My husband worked for many years, after he retired from his profession, as a school crossing supervisor. There were several families in that one school alone, with one grandmother raising two quite severely autistic brothers. They loved my husband and sometimes made things slightly awkward because they wanted to stand in the middle of the crossing cuddling him, instead of crossing the road. I’m sure other families in your situation would love to get together.

If this situation had existed when our son was at school, I would have invited the children and invited the kids’ mothers as well. It’s not bloody rocket science and it really pisses me off to see kids being discriminated against. More than 30 years later, I still can’t believe that our son wasn’t invited to two parties that I know of, because the parents found out he’s adopted! As they say in Yorkshire ‘There’s nowt so queer as folk!’

birdie November 26, 2020

My husband and I dealt with multiple miscarriages over a period of six years before I had to have a hysterectomy at the age of 28. I never delivered a live baby.

We suffered grief over and over and over again. After a couple of days rest, I plastered a smile on my face and went back to work as an emergency ward nurse, frequently holding the hands and drying the tears of women being admitted with a miscarriage. I hugged the fathers and tried to give them hope that next time, it would all be fine. I carried those babies away, wondering if one of my babies looked like that.

Not one of those people ever knew that I’d suffered a miscarriage. Many said how lovely and understanding I was. They never knew why. The only people who knew the pain and grief we suffered were our immediate families and the couple who were our best friends.

I find the way Meghan has used such emotive, dramatic language an overkill. She and Harry allegedly left the royal family because they were sick of being in the public eye. They’ve copped a lot of criticism since and, in my view, they’ve used this sad event to garner sympathy and improve their public image.

We knew far greater grief over a much longer period Mia, over and over. How dare you tell me I don’t know grief!

birdie November 26, 2020

If ever there were a situation whereby we shouldn’t judge until we’ve been there, this is it.

Under no circumstances do I condone the killing of innocent civilians. I’ve read pieces written recently by ex SASR personnel. This is a war fought, as usual, on the ‘us against them’ principle. Those who’ve served there, say the ‘them’ isn’t as easy to identify as it would appear to those who haven’t served there.

birdie November 22, 2020

I’m the ‘Aunty Joan’ guest and I love weddings.

birdie November 21, 2020

Good grief! What a revolting thing to do to those poor girls! Kudos to Princess Margaret for kicking up a fuss!

The thing is though, a cousin of mine did our family tree a few years ago and we were all surprised to discover the Bowes-Lyon family on it. I hate the thought that any relations of mine, however remote, would tell the world their daughters were dead when they weren’t.

birdie November 17, 2020

Speaking of whistle blowers only brings one name to my mind and he’s the greatest of them all. Julian Assange. He loathes the mainstream media because it censored and ridiculed him, despite his providing proof in black and white.

The entire media organisation only tells us what they want us to know and their driving force is money.

birdie November 14, 2020

I’m probably going to be the butt of jokes, but I observe all these except the placing of the wine and water glasses. I didn’t go to a class to learn them though, I’ve never known any other way. My mother taught me etiquette which she learned from her mother, who was a very prim and proper English lady. Also, the fact that I’m about to turn 75 may have a bearing.

I grew up in a time when manners were considered to be important. If I had a dollar for every time my maternal grandmother reminded me that little ladies don’t behave like/say that, I could book a passage on one of Richard Branson’s space jaunts. If she could see me now, poor Nana would have a fit! I only wear shoes when I’m going out (‘little ladies NEVER walk around bare footed’), I swear, I eat breakfast sitting in my recliner and I do a host of other things that would have Nana reaching for the smelling salts. My table manners are impeccable though.

birdie October 28, 2020

The creeping cancer of political correctness.

birdie October 28, 2020

Look am I the only one wondering why physical examinations were necessary? A woman who’s just given birth is usually pretty messy down there. A quick look at their underwear, with them wearing it, should have been more than enough. This behaviour is appalling and totally unnecessary. However, given the prevailing attitude to women in that part of the world, it’s not surprising.

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