Opinion: Rescued Antarctic Group Aren't Heroes

Opinion: Rescued Antarctic Group Aren't Heroes

On their Spirit of Mawson expedition blog, one passenger signed off on December 28: "It's Saturday and it's bar-time (bar opens at 6 pm), so I am going to leave it here."

They even seemed to relish their crisis. The BBC quoted Tracy Rogers, the team's marine ecologist, as saying, "It's fantastic—I love it when the ice wins and we don't. It reminds you that as humans, we don't control everything ... We've got several penguins watching us, thinking 'What the hell are you doing stuck in our ice?' The sky is a beautiful grey—it looks like it wants to have a bit of a snow. It's the perfect Christmas, really."

For many seasoned adventurers, the team's attitude was hard to swallow. It seemed to betoken a new kind of entitlement, in which folks who get into serious trouble take it for granted that other people will risk their lives to save them. (Related: "Best Pictures From Dramatic Antarctic Ship Rescue.")

JUST ADD MORE RED | Daily Telegraph Tim Blair Blog

JUST ADD MORE RED | Daily Telegraph Tim Blair Blog

“Funnily enough,” writes doom clown artist and cover satirist Brett, “it didn’t take much work at all to make her look like Ronald McDonald ...”

 

ALP Omnishambles: Kevin Rudd FOIs own police letters | thetelegraph.com.au

Kevin Rudd FOIs own police letters | thetelegraph.com.au

KEVIN RUDD has revealed he released hundreds of pages of documents relating to his complaints over the federal police investigation Operation Mesco into who leaked his expletive-laden video. 
 
In a bizarre development, Mr Rudd has confirmed he lodged a freedom of information request into his own correspondence with the Federal Police, before released hundreds of pages of correspondence relating to 'Operation Mesco" this week to the media.

The documents relate to his complaints the investigation had concluded without key staff being interviewed.

The new documents include records of interviews with a staffer in Families Minister Jenny Macklin’s office denying involvement in the theft or distribution of the video, details of a search of the Prime Minister’s office and the findings of a search warrant executed on Sydney Morning Herald computers after an anonymous tip off regarding the leaked footage.

Silky smooth political skills there, champ.