So what we do know is Donald Trump has had a 90 minute phone conversation with Vladimir Putin to end the Ukraine war. Putin has expressed his willingness to end the war in Ukraine, well yeah, Russia lost the war when they failed to take Kiev in the first weeks of the invasion.

Trump is 6.3 in height and Putin stands at 5.7, but what we are seeing is the smaller man out negotiating Trump like he is an amateur. Trump is the president of the greater nation in terms of GDP and military might, yet we see where the intellectual power is. Putin is the shrewder negotiator here, this is no art of the deal, unless Trump has some concealed move he is willing to pull out and surprise everyone, what we are witnessing is a capitulation here.

Trump likes to be seen as a winner, he is looking nothing like a winner right now, he is coming across as a genuine loser and it will be Ukraine that pays the price. It appears Trump will just abandon Ukraine and embolden Russia for future military engagements. One expects Russia to go back, rebuild their military, learn some lessons and come back in a few years stronger and better prepared. None of this is a great outcome for Ukraine, they are really exposed here.

I have been fortunate enough to be introduced to the Victoria’s Yarra Valley despite having never visited the region. The Yarra Valley produces some excellent wines, I was never previously aware of this so it came as a bit of a revelation. The Yarra Yering winery is an excellent example of Victorian wine making, they offer a premium product to the consumer that comes at a premium price. Given 98 points by Jane Falkener from James Halliday’s Wine Companion, she rates it highly and I can see why.

I have tasted the Yarra Yering No. 1, No. 2 and No. 3 over a number of vintages now. The No. 1 stands out as the premium wine in that range, that is the pick of the three I believe. I have done my part to support a smaller winemaker and I have an excess of premium wine I need to work through so I will not be making any purchases in the future. This is a deep dark red wine packed with black current flavours, some mulberry that is a tad earthy. This is a style that works for me, a little French in construction. There are hints of tobacco and vanilla oak, this is a pretty big wine with 13.5% alcohol.

The Dry Red No. 1 is pretty much a Bordeaux with a blend of 60% cabernet sauvignon, 24% merlot, 11% malbec and 5% petit verdot. As I love the Bordeaux style, this is a full bodied blended wine style that works for not just me but plenty of others. One day in the near future I will get to the Bordeaux region and try these wines at the vineyard. The tannins are fine and offers this wine some legs with a ten to fifteen year cellaring potential.

I am not a fan of Tudor, I have tried some various models on previously and did not feel it on my wrist. The whole Tudor range just did not feel right, I was not that impressed. That being said, Tudor is a very popular watch brand and I am more than happy to state I sit in the minority. Is Tudor a crowd favourite because it is like purchasing a second line Rolex? Maybe, the question I ask is, would Tudor be as popular if the brand was not owned by Rolex? My guess is, probably not.

Despite my misgivings, I would like to review the Black Bay as I suggest this is the best model within the Tudor brand stable. So, what do I like about the Black Bay? I like the black dial version with round index markers and straight index markers at the 3 o’clock, 6 o’clock and 9 o’clock positions. I cannot say I am a fan of the long pointed index marker at 12 o’clock, just too long and pointed. I do like the no date dial, this is a great option.

I especially do not like the snowflake hour hand or second hand, typically, I am a fan of a rounded lollipop second hand, the snowflake shape is just too sharp – it is not for me. The minute markers between the hour markers do work, the dive watch dial is legible. I have looked hard at the logo and text on the dial, whilst I believe text is overdone on modern watches, the text is not excessive here.

The bezel with fine serrated edges looks good, the blue bezel insert contrasts well with the black dial. I do like the crown on the Black Bay, crown protectors can overwhelm the symmetry of a timepiece, the lack of crown guards with this crown does not upset the balance of this watch. I am not a fan of the Rolex style caseback, they need to offer a display caseback.

I have never been a fan of the Tudor range bracelet, every Tudor I have ever tried on did not sit on the wrist well, this has been due to the flimsy feeling bracelet. Based on the current Black Bay, at least the bracelet looks aesthetically better. The riveted bracelet appears to be an improvement over previous designs so I will be interested to see if this solves their quality problems.

The movement is the Calibre MT5602, this is a COSC certified movement and the first in-house manufactured movement with 4Hz [28,000] frequency and 70 hour power reserve. The MT designation is Manufacture Tudor, so they are pretty proud of what they have produced. The movement is regulated by a variable inertia vibrator with silicon balance spring that is held in place by a traversing bridge. The traversing bridge is a Rolex design supporting the balance wheel

So would I go out and purchase a Tudor Black Bay? The basic answer is no, I would not. Tudor sits firmly in the Oris and TAG Heuer price range. Yes, the Black Bay as a dive watch has all the required dive watch requirements from screw-in crown, screw-down caseback, sapphire crystal but has an aluminum bezel insert where the Oris and TAG Heuer have ceramic inserts along with 300 metres of water resistance and not the 200 metres the Tudor offers.

The Seiko SWR083 is a basic style of watch I was looking to purchase my partner, I had learned of a rectangular case from Seiko online but had no details. I was looking for the Seiko SWR053 without knowing the reference, so it was a pretty broad search. I had seen Jenni Elle and she had one, so I thought my partner might like one. She had shown interest in the Longines Dolce Vita so that was my starting point.

I was not a fan of the five link bracelet, this style of bracelet is pretty popular in the Breitling range, but I have never been a fan. I like the Roman numerals but have never been a fan of the Presage style lines radiating outwards from the hand anchor point. Still, the style is her choice and if that is the style she prefers, then that is what she will get.

It has been long overdue, the proposed Woodman Point munitions jetty upgrade is now moved to the design phase. The upper section of the jetty is run down, the local fishers make a real mess of the jetty, below the surface, the bottom is littered with fishing tackle and other fishing related rubbish.

Since I have been sailing throughout the summer, one day a week out on the water is enough for me. So diving in Perth has fallen by the wayside, for years I had limited myself to diving overseas in tropical waters until covid killed that life. So it has been years since I have dived in Perth, something that I would never have thought would have happened to me.

I used to be a winter diver, I still could be I suppose but now I spend weekends 75 south of Perth at the weekend house. Those winter days diving in Cockburn Sound are cold but not as cold as diving in the Swan River. I no longer dive with a drysuit so a wetsuit is all I wear. The problem was I had dived the sites so many times that it had become all too familiar, the shore dives were cheap – just the cost of an air fill.

What was good about diving on the Woodmans Point Munitions Jetty was the growth on the jetty vertical supports. The sponge growth on the piers was fantastic, there were fine telesto corals and fish life. The bottom was silty, this is the result of the dredging of Cockburn Sound and the destruction of the natural seagrass.

I am a pretty big fan of Tissot as a value option, it began with the PR100, it was the quartz version but I didn’t end up wearing it much. The PR100 went to my father along with a Visodate, so now he has a quartz and an automatic Tissot. I then started looking at another vintage inspired Tissot, the Telemeter 1938 was a model that really interested me.

So what do I like about the Telemeter 1938? I looked at the vintage styled hand-wound Petite Seconde, that was such a simple yet elegant that resonated with me. The next vintage inspired timepiece I am looking at is the Telemeter 1938 as a stylish vintage design chronograph. The Reference T142.462.16.032.00 is a nice looking chronograph, it looks great, the larger style pushers work here. The 42 mm 316 case with display caseback has a great curve for a nice wrist fit as well, this is important, the curved lugs.

I had previously looked at the PRS516 as well, the chronograph was a pretty decent design, but I was not going to make the purchase. I also have to look at what I get as value for money within the Swatch Group such as a chronograph from Union Glashütte, a Longines or even a Hamilton. Style wise, the other options are not close to the Telemeter 1938 I believe. I like the Telemeter 1938 over the other options so I am definitely looking at this as a chronograph for my collection.

The dial on the Telemeter 1938 is busy, there is a lot going on here and that is ok. That silver dial with red and blue printed scales on the dial, the blued baton hands really contrast well on the dial. The two sub-dials have great balance on the dial with the inner scale running through the sub-dials with printed Arabic numerals at major index markers. This watch is very hard to view, hardly any of the retailers have sitting in their display cases so I cannot just wander into a retail outlet and try on, this cannot be a big seller for Tissot.

The A05.231 movement has a Nivachron balance spring developed within the Swatch Group that is resistant to magnetic fields. The 68 hour power reserve is pretty high, but generally comes at a cost with a lower frequency. This time the 4Hz 28,000 vph is retained so accuracy is not lost for power reserve. The A05.231 is an up-spec Valjoux 7750 with 29 jewels, first released in the early 1970s, the 7750 is a robust design that has stood the test of time.

We have this serious workplace bullying issue at an unnamed state government organisation. Their whole strategy has been deny, deny, deny despite all the evidence totally refuting their sad but inevitable denials. Fortunately, I have documented the interactions and I have directly witnessed some of these interactions. Yet, I have never been asked to provide a formal statement, nor has anyone else in the portfolio area.

They have been running a protection racket for covering up wrongdoing, the people named in the action who hold de facto status in the portfolio. They have gained pseudo power in the portfolio by engaging in questionable practices that breach the organisational code of conduct and all ethical requirements and obligations. An organisation has ethical obligations, a values statement should be more than just a document that is never referenced.

So, where to from here? I have been working from behind the scenes to bring this individual back to work. The manager named in the action that has been preventing him from returning to work has retired now. There is a little more to it than that, we are all breathing a sigh of relief. Well, his lackeys are feeling the pressure, they know the protection racket is up, they are exposed and their incompetence that has been covered up will soon be exposed. They are concerned and rightly so, they are waiting for the clean out and they know they may be targeted themselves.

The trial of Chelsea and Matilda’s soccer player is under way, we have seen a number of revelations unearthed in this trial. It is most notably the attitude of Sam Kerr, she has shown herself to be incredibly self-absorbed, entitled and blatantly rude.

When the footage of Sam Kerr in the police station was released during the trial, Sam lost both the trust and respect of many Australians. This is typically referred to as the pub test, Sam failed miserably here, her attitude is nothing short of appalling. Typically people can see the difference between a legitimate defence and pure bullshit, Sam is trying to dress up bullshit as a defence and the vast majority of people see through this flimsy charade.

I feel for the taxi driver, he had a couple of drunk and entitled women in his taxi and was forced to deal . They were loud, rude and obnoxious, when Sam threw up in the taxi, this is when most people become overly apologetic. But not Sam Kerr, her behaviour became even less restrained. Now Sam and her partner Kristie Mewis refused to pay for the cleaning and apparently became more hostile and gave the cab driver an x-rated spray.

Sam’s defense of being a vulnerable minority in a white society is laughable, this faux race defence is just pathetic. The taxi driver is an Asian guy trying to scratch out a living in the United Kingdom. Sam on the other hand is a highly paid soccer player who was clearly behaving in a drunken loutish manner. When Sam threatened to bring in the Chelsea lawyers, these threats were intended to be intimidating, we all know she is an over-paid sports person sponsored by one of the highest paid UK soccer clubs.

Sam attempted to portray a power imbalance between the white police officer and herself, the poor coloured immigrant in the UK. But first, the power imbalance between herself and the taxi driver is easily dismissed, Sam soiled the cab, then her partner damaged the vehicle when the taxi driver who had called the police for assistance was instructed to drive to the closest police station.

Now the Sam Kerr defence was she was being abducted and taken hostage by the taxi driver is unlikely to fool anyone. Sam even referenced the Claremont murders as a defence, not even a nice try and in very poor taste to the families of the murdered women. Sam Kerr is trying every meaningless tactic to wriggle out of her boozy night of poor behaviour, this is what is leaving the vast majority of people dazed. Sam, you acted like a self-entitled teenager when you were drunk, just own it and apologise the next day when you are sober.

The total disregard to the police officer was evident, when Sam Kerr began with the racial slur, if she was not so intoxicated she might have been able to read the room a little better. Even now, clearly Kerr is unable to read the room as the whole context of her defence is compromised. Yes, she was drunk and acted poorly. Plenty of us have done that in the past, the next day, come back, show a little humility and apologise for your behaviour.

As the 2022 Retirement Income Review found, retirees were not maximising their superannuation. This is interesting, with most people retiring around age 65 and hopefully paying out their mortgage at around age 55, that gives them a decade to maximise their superannuation contributions and top-up their base superannuation to step up their retirement savings.

Based on what I have read, clients are signing onto retirement advisors when they close to or entering retirement, owning their own house with typically with about $1m to $1.5m in super and other assets. However, plenty are in a cold sweat from the very rational fear that they will outlive their retirement savings. If you own a million dollar property and have close to half a million in superannuation, then you are doing ok.

What we are now witnessing is retirees have died substantially wealthier than when they began retirement – imagine that. I read about a client who was substantially richer to the tune of two-and-a-half times after 25 years in retirement – not bad. That is what I will be seeking to replicate, having a retirement drawdown that is replenished by earnings. Since we have had compulsory superannuation in Australia since the early 1990s starting at 3%, moving to 6% and then 9% so plenty of us worked without cover for a while, but at least we have something.

Whilst this is an American model, does the 10:30:60 model work in Australia? Firstly, what is this model? 10% of your retirement savings comes from contributions during your work life, 30% comes from investment income during the accumulation phase and 60% of earnings comes down during the drawdown phase in retirement. The model was developed by Don Ezra at Russell Investments in 1989 when double digit returns were the norm during times of lower inflation.

Therefore, you need to have your investments set for growth even in retirement with some defensive earning assets such as bonds and fixed interest. The 10:30:60 rule suggests 90% of your retirement funds come from investments, is this really true? According to sources, a 15:31:54 split is more likely in Australia. Even with compulsory superannuation, if you can match employer contributions for a period of 10 years then you double your contributions for an extended period. This makes a massive improvement to your retirement account improving the final payout.

I do not want to wait until I reach age 65 to stop working, I want to travel again and enjoy myself, sure I will try to pick up some part time work to contribute to my retirement income. I certainly do not want to clock-on and clock-off and not be fully engaged in the job. I have a work ethic, but what I want is to disassociate my life from the job, this is something that I am not doing now. I can absolutely report that I will not be waiting until I am 67, the official retirement age where I can claim a pension, I currently do not qualify for the pension so I will have to wait a long time until I have drawn down my pension to a level where I can qualify for the age pension.

Whilst fears of longevity risk may be somewhat overblown, in Australia you can claim the pension when you have exhausted your retirement savings – you will not be totally without income. I do understand there is a proportion of the population living below the poverty line, there are homeless people and this is not always of their own doing. There are pressing concerns for the retirees, this is more related to health issues as they age, there are costs involved and they do have to be accounted for.

The drawdown will be higher in the earlier years, you are more active and get out and about, you drop the costs of travel to and from work with associated costs. People like to travel and they should, you have worked a lifetime and should now be supported by a system they supported in their working lives. As their superannuation runs down, they can claim a part pension to supplement their income, I think this is a fair system. Like many people, I may not be in a cold sweat but I am certainly concerned about the longevity of my retirement account.

The Equal Opportunity Commission in Western Australia is a government body to investigate allegations of discrimination. To qualify for equal opportunity representation, an individual must represent a minority group that may include racial groups, sexual orientation, religious beliefs, and women. As women make up around half the population, I would hardly call them a minority, but they have a mandate.

The Equal Opportunity Commission has two major roles, that is to encourage recognition including the understanding of the principles of equal opportunity. Laws without education do not end intolerance, prejudice and discrimination in our community, so training is a vital part of the Commission’s function. If a government body is required to intervene, there is already an issue so a proactive approach is required.

There is an element of acceptance required, either an individual or an organisation requires accountability, if they are aware of the potential of litigation, punishment or an adverse finding then they are less likely to engage in wrongdoing. The second is to provide a means of redress to individuals who allege unlawful discrimination. This is the big stick approach, an event has already occurred and requires action in the form of fines, punishment or prosecution. Hopefully it never gets this far, but we all know what really happens.