Friends of the Armchair Traveller

 I Lost my faith Cape Conran, Victoria, March 2025, @Richard Leigh ... in documentaries. When I studied at film school in 1997, I put all my career eggs in the basket of being a Documentary filmmaker. Documentaries had the power to change the world, and us students were all pumped and ready to do just that. One of my VCA colleagues a few years later said, “Documentary filmmaking is all I ever want to do,” but I remember thinking — really? I’d already started getting cynical, even back then. Fast forward to the start of 2026. I realised that I hadn't watched a documentary in years; well nothing longer than about 5 or 10mins anyway. Frankly I found them all a little boring and besides, they were usually preaching to the converted. They always had an agenda, something they were trying to convince me about; so effectively they were just long ads. Why would I waste my time watching? Tell me your point in 30 or 60sec so I can move on with my life. Sure, I still watched a bit of TV drama,...

Our media represents everything that Israel and US are doing to Iran, but they're not reporting accurately what Iran is doing in retaliation. There's no surprise there! Israel and the US certainly do not want you to know how the Iranians have hurt them. In my opinion the war being LOST by Israel and US. It is not about the first few days, it is about how long the supporters of Israel and trhe US can tolerate their economies being torn apart. I'm talking about a very large number of nations whose economies will be fracture if not turned upside down. Just a few examples: To keep operating the UAE spends  $27 Million USD  per day even when there is no business in that country's airspace. Think of that on a Gulf-wide basis, include every Gulf state.  Emirates burns approximately  US$25–30 million  in fixed costs every 24 hours when its network is grounded. During normal operations, the airline generates about US$97.6 million in daily revenue. Key cost components dr...