1. NO, it’s not James Packer and his old school chum David Gyngell this time, it’s everyone’s favourite beer-lovin’ larrikin Singo (or John Singleton, if you prefer the title by which he’s formally known) and Jack Cowin, otherwise known as the man who bought Hungry Jacks to Australia.
The fight broke out at Kingsleys Steak & Crabhouse on Woolloomooloo’s exclusive Finger Wharf and, in a wonderful Sydney twist, it seems that the third man at the table was none other than the ex-flame of Packer’s ex-wife (decoded, that means that the ex-Noiseworks frontman Jon Stevens was there: he used to go out with Jodhi Meares but that relationship went down in a ball of flames after police were called to their apartment earlier this year.)
No-one is saying what caused the fight, but The Daily Telegraph says that restaurant staff had to restrain Singo, who says he leapt to his feet after Cowan ribbed him for drinking pale pink rose wine, instead of beer.
Cowin, who is 72 and estimated to be worth $940 million, downplayed the confrontation last night, saying: ‘It was a long lunch — you know how these things go.’
The men have been friends for more than 40 years, and do business together. Singo sold his stake in Macquarie radio to Fairfax earlier this year, for around $220 million. Cowin is a member of the Fairfax board.
2. SUNDAY was Mother’s Day, which was when you got presents. Today is Budget Day, which is a little different. In fact, if you’re a stay-at-home Mum, or a pregnant Mum, you’re probably already a loser.
The Australian reports that women in low-to-middle-income homes who stay home with their babies are going to take the biggest knock.
The Australian says Treasurer Hockey is expected to announce a decision to axe all childcare subsidies for families earning more than $65,000 a year, unless both parents work, study or volunteer for at least eight hours a fortnight, from July 2017.
Social Services Minister Scott Morrison defended the decision, saying “the childcare subsidy though is there when mothers who are in paid ¬ employment go to work.”
Under the new rules, stay-at-home mums will have to pay full fees for childcare if their partner earns more than $65,000 a year. This comes just a day after the government put an end to “double-dipping” on maternity leave, which will stop Mums from claiming parental leave from both their employer and the government, at the same time.
3. WAS Osama bin Laden an invalid when US soldiers stormed into a Pakistan compound and shot him dead?
That’s what sources have told the Pulitzer Prize-winning author Seymour Hersh, who claims that much of what President Barack Obama told the world about the assassination of Osama bin Laden was wrong.
Hersh’s essay, published in the London Review of Books, quotes an unnamed ‘retired official’ saying: “The truth is that bin Laden was an invalid, but we cannot say that.” “You mean you guys shot a cripple?”
The essay also claims that bin Laden was not buried at sea, as claimed, but chopped up and dumped over the mountains from a US helicopter.
4. IT is hard to believe in these days of rampant nudity but not so long ago, showing a fully-clothed woman with a pregnant belly on TV was considered risqué.
Nicky Buckley was a 30-something host of The Price Is Right when she got pregnant and many viewers were amazed that she was allowed to stay on the box, flaunting her rounded shape in tight dresses.
This was the 1990s, when women were expected to wear smocks with big collars, like Diana did.
In a new book Buckley – who is about to turn 50 – remembers “people started going berserk about how grotesque it was and how ugly it was and how I should be made to leave until I’d had the baby.”
She was so upset at the time, but now says: “I’m proud that I played some role … in changing the perceptions of women (and) pregnancy. I’m delighted that women now feel free to show their tummies and no one blinks an eyelid.”
Nicky was sacked from the show at age 33, reportedly for being too old.
“I knew it was fundamentally unfair. Glenn (Ridge, her co-host) was 10 years my senior and at 33, I felt I definitely wasn’t too old for the role,” she says.
5. A SYDNEY court has heard gruesome details about the death Victoria Cullen, 39, of Sylvania Waters.
Ms Cullen’s husband is accused of her murder. The court heard he slashed her throat after they separated, and tried to drown himself in a creek near Taren Point, where he dumped her body.
Christopher Cullen, who has pleaded guilty to manslaughter but not guilty of murder, is said to have killed Ms Cullen on January 22 last year. They were estranged, and he had accused her of having an affair.
The court heard that the break-up was bitter: Ms Cullen told colleagues she would only meet her husband in public but he wrote “derogatory remarks about his wife on plasterboards and held them up outside the salon where she worked.”
She was found with 18 stab wounds and a slit throat.
6. WIKILEAKS whistleblower Julian Assange has failed in his latest bid to be allowed to leave the Ecuadorian embassy without being arrested.
Assange, who is wanted for questioning over allegations of rape in Sweden, applied to the Swedish Supreme Court for an order that would have allowed him to be interviewed about the matter in Britain, rather than in Sweden, but the application has been rejected.
Sweden issued the arrest warrant in 2010, prompting Assange to move into Ecuador’s embassy in London in 2012. He can’t be extradited from there, and he doesn’t want to go back to Sweden because he fears being extradited to the US, where he believes he will face charges over the leaking of confidential documents.
Assange denies the rape charges.
7. HOW did you go on Mother’s Day? Handmade card? Soap from the school stall, wrapped in cellophane?
You have no idea how lucky you are.
Like plenty of other Mums around the world, Kim Kardashian didn’t get to spend Mother’s Day with her baby because she was working in Brazil.
Husband Kanye West tried to make it up to her by sending ‘a few thousand roses’ to her hotel room, but as Mums, we know that doesn’t work, right?
You’re meant to get burnt toast, and crumbs all over the bed. You’re meant to get a cuddle. How sad for Kim, and baby North.
8. THE heir to a $50 million DC Comics fortune says his elderly Mum was ripped off by her lawyer and one of his friends.
Jake Leibowitz founded DC Comics, which published the original Batman and the Superman comic books. His wife, Shirley, died in 2013, and now their son, Robert Schwartz, says her estate is smaller than expected.
Robert’s lawyer told a New York court his week that his Mum was a victim of “elder abuse, fraud and undue influence.” He says her attorney, Dennis Drebsky and business manager Ronald Krause, took control of her finances when she was almost deaf and nearly blind, making “an epic 28 revisions of her will over 12 years.”
In response, Krause says Shirley used her will “as both a punishment and a reward … If the wind blew the wrong direction on a given day, she would reduce your bequest. Conversely, if you jumped through hoops to satisfy her demands, she would reward you.”
9. FOUR self-driving cars have gotten into accidents since last September, but none were ever at fault.
That’s the upshot of a new report into the new technology, which is being tested by Google and others.
The report says two of the accidents happened while the self-driving cars were in control of themselves, while the other two happened while a person was driving. None of the cars was travelling at more than 20 kilometres an hour, and nobody was injured in any of the accidents.
There are 48 self-driving cars being tested on Californian roads this year.
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