For me, there is plenty to see and do on a trip to the island nation of Singapore, Bugis Street in the Bras Basah district is a pretty good example of where to go to spend a few hours.

Some people tell me there isn’t much to do in Singapore, I absolutely refute that notion. Bugis Street is close to the Waterloo Street Markets, Bencoolan Street is then a short walk to Little India. Whilst Bencoolan Street is now just a street and not an area anymore, the relevance is somewhat diminished as high-end hotels replace the cheap Chinese hostels of the area. Still, I like to wander down Bencoolan Street on occasions.

So, what is there to do in Bugis Street? Well, the street has changed over the years, but for me, the vibe is still pure. There is the nightlife, I never experienced Bugis Street in its heyday of transvestites and transsexuals of the 1950s to the 1980s that has now been cleaned up. For me, my choice of hotel is in Little India where I can step out for an inexpensive meal that is top notch hawker style. Ok, Singapore is not a full destination for me but a stopover destination where I get out and about for a day or two in transit.

I never understood the Aqua Terra, this timepiece sits within the Seamaster range and I have grown accustomed to classic styled dive watches. Whilst this timepiece is rated to 150 metres, it is not a diver, the watch is not fitted with a bezel to time underwater activities but does have a screw-in crown. This wasn’t always the case, when the Seamaster was released in 1948, it was based on the water resistant timepiece developed during the second world war for the Royal Navy. This long running series contains a number of models with further sub-models offering plenty of choice.

The Aqua Terra is really a timepiece to compete with the Rolex DateJust even if the DateJust is more of a dress watch. The 41 mm dial is a little on the larger size, 38 mm case diameters are also available for smaller wrists. The horizontal teak inspired dial pattern is growing on me, I never liked the vertical pattern – it just didn’t work. The symmetrical stainless steel case houses the 8800 co-axial movement, the smooth polished bezel adds to the clean lines.

The index markers on the dial ensure an uncluttered face with the date window moved to the 6 o’clock position, previously it was located at the 3 o’clock marker. The display caseback showcases the automatic movement that is chronometer certified and resistant to 15,000 gauss. Whilst the Aqua Terra doesn’t excite me much, I’m a diver who prefers dive timepieces, there are plenty of people who will go for the Aqua Terra. There is plenty of chatter in watch circles that the Aqua Terra is a DateJust killer, I’m not so sure, but I’m willing to bet it will certainly attract some attention.

The General Dynamics F-111C was a medium-range and tactical strike aircraft and interdictor developed by to meet Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF) requirements from 1973 to 2010. An interdictor is an attack aircraft operating with the express intent of interdicting enemy military targets preventing or delaying enemy forces and supplies from reaching the battlefront.

The Australian government ordered 24 F-111Cs in 1963 to equip the RAAF with the capability to project long range influence. The variant was based on the F-111A design including longer wings and strengthened undercarriage. Due to extended technical issues, the aircraft were not delivered until 1973, a decade behind schedule. During 1979 and 1980 four of these aircraft were converted to the RF-111C reconnaissance variant. Four ex-United States Air Force (USAF) F-111As were purchased by Australia and converted to F-111C standard in 1982 to replace F-111Cs destroyed during accidents. Australia also operated 15 F-111Gs between 1993 and 2007, mainly for conversion training.

Although never required in combat, the F-111Cs gave the RAAF a powerful regional strike capability. The aircraft went through modernisation programs in the 1980s and again in the 1990s with the RAAF acquiring improved weapon systems maintaining their capability to penetrate deep into hostile airspace.

By the mid 2000s, the F-111C fleet was somewhat technologically outdated and increasingly expensive to maintain. The decision to retire the fleet was made in 2010 rather than the originally planned 2020 timeframe, even though the F-35 was a long way from being operational leaving a large capability gap. The F-111s were replaced by 24 Boeing F/A-18F Super Hornets pending delivery of F-35 Lightning IIs in development, this still hasn’t occurred.

It was Easter 2024 and I found a bottle of 2017 Fermoy chardonnay stashed away at home so I decided to bring it down for consumption over easter. For Easter Thursday, there was Brisbane v Collingwood starting in the afternoon. The 2023 were both winless and looking exposed in the 2024 season, they have failed to begin their season and are already looking irrelevant.

This was a perfect time to crack the top on the bottle and try this aged chardonnay. Whilst this is not their premium Reserve Chardonnay, I really rate this chardonnay. At 13% alcohol, this is a pretty big white wine, it is cranked right up. This vintage is aged in French oak barriques with toasted oak flavours and tight citrus and lime overtones with apricot, peach and melon. The fruit is sourced from their Wilyabrup and Osmington Road wineries in Margaret River region, so this is premium wine growing real estate and I was more than happy with my selection.

I, along with the rest of the world when I cranked my notebook computer up and logged on to the news. In Lebanon, simultaneously pagers started exploding in the hands and pockets of Hezbollah leaders. There were pagers beeping with a message from Hezbollah headquarters to gain user’s attention before blowing up in their hands.

The Iranian ambassador to Lebanon Mojtaba Amani was blinded as the device blew up just as he was reading the message, the ambassador wasn’t the only person blinded, all up, around 500 Hezbollah operatives lost their sight. Other Hezbollah terrorists had their fingers and hands blown off. I feel no pity for these people, they are operatives from a terrorist organisation, for these terrorists to be injured in blasts is nothing short of ironic.

I was almost in disbelief, the audacity of the organisation who organised this coordinated attack is nothing short of remarkable. This is a plot straight out of a James Bond movie. Israel has remained quiet here, they have not come out and taken responsibility for this attack. We all immediately believe this is the work of Mossad, this is exactly what one would expect from such a highly rated intelligence agency.

The idea formation, the planning and the execution is unbelievable. Hezbollah had become aware of Israeli mobile phone tracking, they needed to secure their communications so took a step back in technology and procured old school pagers. What we are yet to learn is how Israeli intelligence was able to [presumably] able to infiltrate the supply chain to compromise the pagers. How the bombs were planted in the devices is still yet to be determined, one presumes this occurred during shipping and not manufacture.

Then a few days later, two-way radio units exploded too, this was once again unreal. Just like the initial explosions, this caught Hezbollah operatives unaware and more deaths and casualties ensured. How could they have been caught out again? This became humorous, they come as a bunch of Jew hating simpletons. I typically find racists uneducated and lacking in intelligence and empathy, so they fit the stereotype exactly as described – idiots.

We still have a few months to go before inauguration, the Biden Administration is already beginning the peaceful transition of power to a second Trump Administration. What we are witnessing is no unproven claims of voter fraud or claims of vote tampering. I will very much doubt we will see a march to Congress on January 6th or widespread social unrest. Funny how no voter fraud occurs when you win, but fraud occurs when you lose.

What we did witness was the failure of the Kamala Harris team to develop a narrative, it was clearly not enough to claim Trump was a criminal. I would suggest the attempts to impeach Trump really helped his case. The first failure of the Biden Administration was the halting of construction of the border wall with Mexico. The project was started and should have been completed no matter who was in power. Kamala Harris as Vice President was allocated the task of stopping the flood of immigrants- that was a failure.

The Democrats clearly lost the support of working Americans, first they lost white American workers, then Latino American workers and finally black American workers. This was clearly a major problem, should they seek to return to [and remain in] power in four years time, they need to address this pressing issue. Clearly the Democrats sent an incorrect message to the American public, they really need to reflect on who they represent.

Will the Trump Administration bring manufacturing back to the US? That would be unlikely in the next four years, yet what Trump did was offer them hope, something that Kamala Harris was unable to do. Instead, the Democrats pushed this social agenda that alienated large parts of the US, the vocal woke brigade pushing these fringe issues pretty much turned the population off. Bill Clinton summed it up perfectly back in the 1990s with the “it is the economy stupid” phrase.

So Trump looks like he will raise tariffs against a large number of nations. Australia has a free-trade agreement with the US that sees greater imports into Australia from the US than exports from Australia into the US. It would be unlikely that tariffs would be raised against Australia with such a trade imbalance. Where Australia could benefit is if the US engages in trade and tariff actions against other nations, Australia has the ability to offer goods and services to affected nations.

My concerns are with Ukraine, Tramp and Vance have had some negative comments against Zelensky in particular and Ukraine in general. Trump simplistically thinks Zelensky should negotiate with Putin from a position of weakness and get a deal done. Total madness, Ukraine was pushing hard against Russia until the Republicans withheld military funding placing Ukraine in a venerable position. All the gains Ukraine made were destroyed by inward looking Republicans. Trump is a fanboy of Putin, he could offer him everything he wants, there is a chance Trump could withdraw the US from NATO, that is a real possibility. Trump claims he could stop the Russian-Ukraine war in a day if he comes to power, surrendering to a bad deal could easily stop the war, but seriously, this needs to be a good deal for Ukraine.

What does this mean to Australia from a defence standpoint? The nuclear submarine deal could be scuttled, Australia is already increasing capacity Fleet Base West in anticipation of nuclear submarine maintenance and repairs at the facilities. This will be for British and US nuclear submarines before the Australian nuclear submarines come on line. There is already a US marine contingent in Darwin with US strategic bombers based at Tindal air base in Katherine.

Will we see similar dysfunction as we witnessed in the first Trump Administration? You would expect Donald to get smarter, we will see. Elon Musk has been a very vocal supporter of Trump, I would expect Elon to try to exert pressure on regulatory bodies that he views as hindering him. Democratic institutions could well be compromised, Trump has clearly indicated he prefers the strongarm approach to power, most would expect him to abuse this power now that he looks like having as close to absolute power a US President can hold.

The Heuer Cortina is an interesting style of timepiece, in the late 1970s Heuer was changing and upgrading models on a frequent basis. The octagon case was very de rigueur, the integrated bracelet and octagon case has made a comeback and reemerged as a highly prized style. At the time, this was very much a 1970s style that was in demand.

The 39 mm octagon case that merges into the single link integrated bracelet, the upper case is brushed in a concentric pattern, the case is a pretty good size for most wrists. There was a blue dial reference 510.513, matte black painted dial reference 110.233N with index markers and white enamel dial reference 110.233R with roman numerals. The flat single link bracelet is a style I like, merges seamlessly with the case, the bracelet links are brushed as well.

The Calibre 12 was used in a number of Heuer models beginning with the Monaco in 1969, the left-hand crown and right-hand pusher to operate the two chronograph sub-dials. The Cortina had a black dial [Reference 110.233N], blue dial [Reference 510.513] and white dial [Reference 110.233R] variants. The blue dial 510.513 with the sunray dial and day/date at 3 o’clock position works well. The sub-dials are located at the 6 o’clock and 9 o’clock positions and the orange second hand and 6 o’clock sub dial.

I have an interest in the Tissot Chemin des Tourelles, I was checking out this Tissot timepiece online and thought the styling was pretty decent. This is the point where I start to crave a timepiece and if I am not careful walk out of the shop with a carry bag and hole in my wallet. The brown leather strap version works well with the blue dial, I like the case shape and simple index marker dial as it is clear and uncluttered. The dial is not overworked, the Tissot name and 1853 at the top and lower Chemin des Tourelles and Powermatic 80 in the lower dial is crisp.

I had a weekend not sailing so headed down Karrinyup shopping centre. There is a local jeweller that I frequently purchase items from, so I wandered in through Mazzucchelli’s door and started browsing, the Chemin des Tourelles was my first selection. Firstly I was looking at Longines in the corner, but today, that was not really my interest, however, that would be for a later visit.

I like the five link bracelet, however, this is a little similar to the Seamaster bracelet, but thinner in thickness and using a pin and collet retainer system. I prefer the sunray dial with the index markers, I prefer the classic styling and do note they have a number of dial options to choose from. The Chemin des Tourelles has a couple of dial options, the Roman numerals at the 3, 6, 9 and 12 o’clock positions and index markers at all other positions is not what works for me.

Ultimately, the Chemin des Tourelles was too similar to the Gentlemen so I decided to not pursue this option as much as I liked the style. When I wear the Gentlemen it really does not pop on my wrist, I do not dislike this watch but never get looks or comments like my Omega Seamaster, Union Glashütte Belisar or TAG Heuer Aquaracer does. Not that this is my motivation, but I do get questioned from both watch and non watch enthusiasts.

What I have noticed based on wrist time is the Omega and the Belisar are summer watches, they are worn with short sleeves, the Tissot collection gets a run in winter under a long sleeve or jacket. In our family, Tissot is pretty popular, my father has a Visodate and PR100 so I have plenty of options. Ironically I walked out of the jeweller with a PRX with Powermatic 80 movement instead, so I ended up pretty happy.

I was browsing in Boffin’s Bookstore in Perth looking for some engineering book, mostly I was looking for PLC, that is programmed logic control, automation and pneumatic/electronic controllers when I had a look around in the business section.

Boffin’s specialises in technical and reference books, needless to say, their business book section is pretty comprehensive. There are a number of MBA books around and I don’t have much interest in purchasing another MBA overview book when I already have What the Best MBAs Know, The Ten Day MBA and MBA in a Day. But whist I was browsing I saw The MBA Advantage and decided to flick through. Much to my surprise I noticed this book was published by UWA Press, this is the publications section of the University of Western Australia. All of a sudden, this publication had relevance to me.

The bookshop was closing so I didn’t have an opportunity to browse further but I was certainly interested. As I am from Perth, I expected the experiences and perspective of the multiple authors would tend to hold a west coast view. Most MBA course overview books tend to be American and thus promote American perspectives; all good, but an Australian perspective is particularly attractive to me. When I read What the Best MBAs Know, this inspired me to undertake a mature age MBA.

So this book is by far my most influential read and I am so glad I took the time to read this interesting and ultimately inspiring book. I still use as a quick reference book as whilst it is not as comprehensive as a reference book, I can use it as a quick guide when I need to recall a model or read up on a theory I have trouble recalling.

Business books such as MBA course overview publications tend to follow a specific overview of an MBA course and present the theories, models and methodologies of an MBA education. Now that I already own three MBA course overview books, I would be interested in something a little different and The MBA Advantage makes an interesting reference book for me.

There have been so many atrocities in the Russian invasion of Ukraine, this was really highlighted to the world after Russian troops were routed from Bucha. The war crimes that occurred in Ukraine were unbelievable, the western world and more importantly Europe were paralysed by inaction allowing this abuse to manifest.

In what was a remarkable response to the aerial footage of the dead bodies strewn on the streets by Russian troops, the Kremlin response was these were actors in a staged scene. Russian misinformation is incredibly well organised, better managed than their military operations, their cyber unit is well resourced and executed. The Russian cyber unit is well resourced and reasonably well run, I have to admit, they run a professional show.

The residents of Bucha were gunned down as they walked down the street heading to the shops for food, they were left on the street where they fell. Ukraine has a war crime investigation unit who document these crimes against humanity. When Russia is ousted from Ukraine they will be taken to the International Criminal Court where they will be tried. As the war has dragged on into the third year, we are tending to forget the barbarity that occurred in the early days of the war and we should never forget that.