And while on the plane to London  via Singapore   I hear that Australia is in mourning Its hero Steve Irwin was killed by a fatal thrust to the heart of  the barbed spike of a stingray. He died as he lived – through the heart.  It’s not the same for poets as with intrepid explorers. A poets epitaph would be, “he died how he lived –  making tea”. Doesn’t have the same ring does it?

 The aborigines did exactly what Steve Irwin did. Though they didn’t need a zoo, they had an entire  country.  The English left-field  thinkers love to beat on Australia about its abuse of the Aborigines.

I was giving a masterclass at The Melbourne Museum with some wonderful people. (In fact all of the festival people were ACE) And I had  my first discussion about Aborigines – my question was why were none in the city.   After much considered discussion I realised that it was England that established the  apartheid and now post apartheid state in Australia and future generations that take the blame. Bizarre.