The new Perth stadium is starting to take shape, I catch the train past every day on my way to work and I am looking on eagerly as the train rattles past through the carriage window. Watching the project unfold is interesting, the sections are being built with 8 tower cranes located around the project and a bunch of crawler cranes working the centre field lifting the modular sections into place.

When finished, the Perth Stadium is going to be world class facilities located close to the city that will enhance not only sporting facility but should also be an excellent outdoor concert venue. While I have never been to a sporting event at the revamped Adelaide Oval, I see the facilities are probably the best in the country. That is a pretty big call as the MCG is an excellent facility in a larger city than Adelaide seating up to 100,000 people, the Perth Stadium will seat 60,000 people and has the potential to attract international sporting events.

The stadium project is about 1/3 completed, a new train station and lines is being built to service the stadium and a new pedestrian bridge hasn’t begun construction yet. The completion date is expected to be in early 2018 but most projects run over time so we will see if this stadium will be ready for the 2018 AFL premiership season.

The global financial crisis was devastating for so many people, job losses, housing foreclosures and for many of us – a major hit to our retirement accounts. Australia was reasonably insulated due to Chinese demand for our resources and while we did experience some economic pressure, we avoided a recession.

I’m not directly invested in the Chinese sharemarket, I don’t have a broker buying and selling on my behalf on the Shanghai composite index. I, like many Australians have a superannuation fund that is invested in China but unlike many, I do have a self managed superannuation fund invested in Australian shares. I do understand what a volatile Chinese market will do to my retirement account and I’m nervous.

2015 was a lousy year for Australian equities after 2012 – 2014 were a series of good years. Already the Chinese markets have been closed a number of times this year after the index fell 7% in a session, one day the market was only open for 14 minutes. I ask myself, will Australia be heading for a recession in 2016?

China is slowing down, the government is targeting a 7% growth rate after previous double figure growth; commodity prices are down. The price of oil has declined, quantitative easing is finished and currencies remain under pressure. Our last recession was 1991 and although we had some downturns along the way, we remained reasonable unscathed. A number of international triggers could see the world economy decline severely and our economy will be under sustained pressure.

From what I can tell, the Western Australian economy is already in recession, Queensland is another resource rich economy is under pressure. The South Australian and Tasmanian economies are perpetually in decline although New South Wales and Victoria have emerged from their slowdown in better shape than expected but could not weather the shocks of another international slowdown.

As 2016 roars to life, I am reflecting on the year that was 2015 – the year that burnt up all my time and effort as a part-time MBA candidate whilst holding down a full-time job. This was a miserable year, I wonder if this is all worth it. I had a great social life before, out to dinner in the city on a Friday night before hitting some bars, a party on Saturday night and after diving on a Sunday a get together with drinks around my place. Life was pretty good for me – that all changed.

I have been told that MBA stands for marriage breakdown ahead, as my social life descended into stagnation. My career was starting to stall, despite all my hard work, my efforts were going unrewarded. I was being out-maneuvered by a bunch of yes men intent on collecting credit for my hard work.

I needed an edge and I thought an MBA might provide me with that skill-set I need. Fortunately, where I work they don’t have a whole load of leadership ability and once I returned from three and a half months long service leave, I was able to counter some of their underhanded moves upon my return. There is, after all, no substitute for competence and I was easily able to showcase their short-comings.

I decided to throw my thoughts down along the way, what is the value of all this pain? Will this qualification land me the job I want? Considering I will be 47 in 2016 and won’t be completing this qualification until mid 2017, this is a risk. So far, all my job applications haven’t been successful in 2015 and I don’t see 2016 being much better as the state government has now enacted a hiring freeze to mid 2016.

You begin to fill with self doubt, just going out and getting a master’s degree doesn’t ensure success. You make a decision to take a tried and proven method to improve your earnings potential, yet I am beginning to feel this could be a big waste of time and money. This isn’t exactly a medical, engineering, accounting or law degree – you don’t require a business degree.

The year started with two units of accounting for leaders and economics principles and decision-making, that was just way too much with full-time work, I would rush home and begin reading and preparing case studies. I hardly slept during that period and thought I wasn’t going to make it through that 14 weeks.

The second trimester saw financial management, if that isn’t the most difficult unit on the course – I am in big trouble. That was seriously hard and I hope I have to never do anything like that again. Since I won’t be working on Wall Street corporate finance won’t be required, I can’t see a whole load of scope for that.

However, entrepreneurship forms a large part of many contemporary MBA programs and financing a start-up business idea. Marketing rounded the year out, it was an interesting unit and integral to well rounded knowledge. I really can’t see myself using finance all that much, I am more an operations guy, leadership is the leading skill-set I need.

2016 will begin with influencing and making decisions, then hopefully onto operations management and I hope to round the year out with project management. Phew, this is exhausting. What am I talking about, 2012, 2013 and the first half of 2014 was pretty much the same, 2015 was just a return to what I am used to.

After the Turks shot down the Russian Su-24 over Syria after allegedly entering Turkish territory, fears of WWIII were bandied around – I don’t think that is an issue. Russian president, action man and current world statesman Vladimir Putin is not going to take this but I don’t think direct military action with a NATO country – his economic sanctions will bite into the Turkish economy far greater than a bombing run into Turkish territory.

The Su-24 is a 1960s era all weather swing wing supersonic bomber similar in many regards to the General Dynamics F-111. It was a no contest when the Turkish F-16 engaged the aircraft, they are an air-superiority bomber, they are not designed to get into dog-fights even though they were designed during the era of the Vietnam war.

Instead of a declaration of war, Russia has announced economic sanctions against Turkey including a ban on imports, the end of charter flights between Russia and Turkey and a ban on Russian tour operators selling Turkish holidays. Furthermore, Turkish companies operating in Russia and Turkish nationals working in Russia also face restrictions. As Russia is Turkey’s second largest trading partner – these sanctions are going to bite.

In what used to be called a king hit, there is nothing majestic about hitting somebody while they are not looking. The authorities sought to change the name to a coward’s punch – this aptly describes this pathetic display.

We need to significantly increase penalties, on many occasions the victim doesn’t see the punch coming and is caught totally unaware. Furthermore, such a punch has the potential to knock the victim out cold, they fall down unprotected hitting their head on the ground causing massive brain injuries. This needs to be assessed as attempted murder, this coward’s act is planned with everybody in the community understanding the consequences of such actions, alcohol and drug use is no excuse.

These cowards affect many lives from not only the victim, their immediate family, friends and work colleagues are all affected – we need harsh sentences for such dirty acts affecting so many.

In what was possibly the best three overs of cricket I have ever watched, the Adelaide Strikers required 51 runs from the final three overs. That’s 18 balls for glory against the Sydney Sixers; it was looking pretty unlikely – I must say.

The revamped Adelaide Oval is now a world class facility, around 46,000 people had packed into the stands and excitement was running high on New Year’s Eve. Travis Head was settled on 55 from 40 balls and looking solid, Rashid had just come to the crease and was about to witness the onslaught from the non-striker’s end.

Sean Abbott went for 6 4 6 4 6 1 in the third last over, it was an electric batting performance with Head hitting down the ground. All of a sudden, we started to believe he could pull this off. Experienced Doug Bollinger fronted up for the second last over and bowled reasonably well under the circumstances conceding 11 runs leaving 13 runs required off the last 6 balls for victory. Sean Abbott has handed the ball for the final over, a brave move since he had just gone for 27 runs in his last over.

The first ball was picked off his pads to fly over the fence for 6, the second ball ended up in the stands over deep mid-wicket again. Travis was now on 95 with four balls to go. Abbott banged the ball in short with Head being forced to jump high to make contact and make contact he did as the ball flew over the mid wicket boundary to bring up Head’s century. His 101 not out came from an impressive 53 deliveries. As midnight closed in on Adelaide, there was no need for pyrotechnics, Travis Head had ensured any fireworks would be an anti-climax after this masterful batting display on New Year’s Eve.

As 2015 draws to an end, the largest corporate scandal of the year will drag well into 2016 as fines and class action court battles ramp up. Wolfsburg is the Volkswagen built town put on the map in 1938 by the Nazis in 1938 pursuing their dream of building the people’s car. Wolfsburg rode Volkswagen’s post-war boom to financial prosperity and the two are intertwined.

Wolfsburg’s population of 120,000 people draws commuters from the surrounding areas with some 70,000 working for Volkswagen – Wolfsburg is as dependent on the auto sector as Detroit was in its heyday. Many arguments may be made that the requirements were too stringent and no engine is able to meet these standards. Regardless, the defeat device software was able to detect when the engine was being tested downgrading performance and emissions. Once out of test mode, the software ramps up performance with tailpipe emissions more than 40 times specified amounts.

When found out, Volkswagen owned up to the fact pretty quick, there wasn’t a round of denials further tarnishing their reputation. It has been widely reported that the EPA has the ability to fine the company a maximum of $37,500 per vehicle that breached standards. With approximately 11 million vehicles worldwide not meeting standards, fines of up to $18 billion are being bandied around that is a simple equation of vehicle versus maximum fine.

Regardless, shareholders are feeling pretty nervous as the financial hit to the company has the ability to be extraordinary. I am guessing inhabitants of Wolfsburg are also understandably concerned, they had no part in the decision making process yet are the ones to bear the brunt of these poorly conceived decisions.

The 24/7 news cycle forces competing news agencies to out scoop each other, all jousting for relevance in a cluttered marketplace. Tabloid style reporting, the rise of the celebrity culture and voyeurism are all contributing to the decline of investigative journalism in Australia. This is a terrible shame, journalism using traditional mediums is in decline; newspapers, once the domain of media moguls still exert influence but are numbered due to the revenue loss through classified advertising affecting the financial viability.

Contracted journalists sitting in the Canberra press gallery reported political issues to the masses, this still happens to a certain degree. But instead of being employed directly by the media company, the journalist is now an independent contractor working freelance with blogs providing content for electronic distribution of media companies. Traditional newsprint in the form of spreadsheet newspapers are my favoured news medium but is considered too static in the digital age. News radio, television and internet reporting are the preferred distribution in an interconnected world offering breaking news to the masses.

The News of the World scandal in the United Kingdom highlighted the depths to that journalism (for want of a better word) can sink. Tapping people’s mobile phones surely is fueled by the public creating demand for such reporting. The celebrity culture and news cycle generating such content can only be broken when consumer demand dries up – we the public created this problem.

During entry-level diver training, the controlled emergency swimming ascent (CESA) must be taught. Experienced instructors hate teaching this skill for a number of reasons, first and foremost, the skill is outdated with modern equipment.

Secondly, when teaching big classes on a daily basis, multiple fast ascents is bad for you and thirdly, if a new diver can’t remember to check their cylinder pressure, what is their chances of remembering the CESA procedure?

Then you have the logistics, a full class, no certified assistant and time pressures of a charter boat. You have to take each diver down individually while the other divers remain in view in a vertical column of water holding onto the ascent line as you can’t leave uncertified divers in the water. However, you have to leave uncertified divers on the surface unattended as you take each diver down the line but that is allowed – I would hate to have to defend that action in court.

Submarine escape training required specialised facilities, not only are specialist stand-by divers present, medical staff and safety equipment, a recompression chamber is usually on site for any diving maladies. Submarine escape training is required for all submariners and can also double for military divers. The skill is a throwback to the days of military diver training, the equipment requirements today require the use of submersible pressure gauges (SPG) measuring the contents of the cylinder. No longer is the J-valve used, as such, divers no longer need to switch to the reserve to ascent to the surface.

For those who are unfamiliar with the J-valve, there was no SPG available to measure cylinder pressure and hence cylinder volume and as the cylinder emptied, it became more difficult to breathe from the tank informing the diver the cylinder was close to empty, the valve was moved allowing unhindered breathing for the ascent.

The SPG measures the exact contents of the cylinder, during confined water training sessions, that is an exercise that must be taught so that newly certified divers take responsibility for their own gas usage. Correct training techniques include the diver monitoring their own cylinders and not the instructor checking the contents of their cylinder. With modern equipment and training techniques, there is no longer a requirement for teaching the CESA and the skill should now be relegated to diving folklore.

We all know Australian quarantine and customs is ultra strict, they don’t let much pass through them. Ok, that little twerp Johnny Depp managed to smuggle a couple over-sized rats disguised as small dogs named Pistol and Boo in to the country on his private jet; the threat of 10 years jail and/or $102,000 in fines might be a deterrent after all to him and his wife after creating a bio-security threat.

So, what are their chances of letting a bunch of reindeer through border control after trampling around central and South-East Asia? Yeah, unlikely with concerns of foot and mouth, rabies or a whole bunch of other diseases foreign to Australia – forget it. We have a bunch of strict bio-laws, enforced by Border Force, a bunch of humourless bureaucrats.

So at Darwin, the reindeer are unhitched and placed in quarantine and six white boomers; that is large male kangaroos, are hitched up to the sled for the great southern continent delivery run. Let’s face it, reindeer don’t much like the hot summer nights, they are much more suited to the snowy fjords of the northern hemisphere winter.

This is summer, this is the southern hemisphere and all the Christmas stories of snow and a white Christmas are totally irrelevant to us southerners. We have our own traditions and identity; Christmas is summer, let’s be under no misconceptions here. When the weather is starting to heat up, we know Christmas is coming – Christmas is summer.