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27-05-2025
- The Advertiser
Cruelty returns to haunt me in the dead of night
This is a sample of The Echidna newsletter sent out each weekday morning. To sign up for FREE, go to The ghosts arrive when all else is quiet and the mind, awake for no reason, has no choice but to listen to them. Sunday night, early Monday morning they were particularly loud. First to invade the consciousness were the phantoms of the Holocaust, stirred by reading a few hours earlier Jack Fairweather's book The Prosecutor. It's the story of German Jewish lawyer Fritz Bauer and his mission to bring to justice the functionaries of the Final Solution who had somehow escaped conviction as World War II ended and segued into the Cold War. Bauer was determined that Germany as a whole should confront its recent past. A particularly harrowing chapter recounted witness testimony in the trial of Adolf Eichmann, lodging its grim details in the back of my mind. Rivka Yoselevska told the Israeli court how she'd survived a massacre near Pinsk in Belarus in 1941 after seeing her entire family shot in front of her. When it was Rivka and her sister's turn, one of the guards asked who he should shoot first. He shot Rivka's sister and then turned the gun on her. She toppled into the pit and was soon buried by the bodies which followed. Somehow she survived. Lying awake in the dark, I tried to shut the horror out of my mind. But the ghost was insistent. It demanded thought be given to the cruelty, that imagination at least try to comprehend what it would be like to endure it and then have to remember it for the rest of your life. And then the phantom introduced more ghosts, these from a news report I'd watched that night. These were the siblings killed in an Israeli airstrike in Khan Younis in Gaza. Their suffering had ended in an instant with the blinding flash of the missile which struck their home. But their mother, a paediatrician working at Nasser hospital, endured the sight of her dead children as they were rushed charred and lifeless into the emergency room. Her one remaining child and husband were critically injured. Yet she somehow finished her shift. Like Rivka more than 80 years ago, Alaa al-Najjar will live with the horror for the rest of her life. It's estimated 16,500 children have been killed in the Gaza war. Many more have sustained terrible physical injuries while an entire generation will bear the psychological scars for years to come. The toll exacted in response to the terrible massacres of October 7 perpetrated by Hamas is now stirring grave misgivings in Israel. The Times of Israel reports that a growing number of fierce advocates for the tough response are now questioning it. These include Elana Sztokman, an American-born Israeli writer, who used the word "genocide" to describe what's happening in Gaza, prompting a vicious response on social media. "Right now, We, Israel, are starving and bombing a nation to death," she wrote. "Genocide. This is genocide. This is purposeful, deliberate, unrestrained killing of a people." Last week, a former deputy chief of the Israeli Defence Force turned opposition politician Yair Golan told an interviewer: "A sane country does not fight against civilians, does not kill babies as a hobby, and does not give itself the aim of expelling populations." Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu predictably condemned the comments as "blood libel" against the IDF, even though Golan said his complaint was directed not at the armed forces but at the government directing them. Knowing there is a conscience in Israel that is finding its voice, that protestors are prepared to take to the streets of Tel Aviv holding photographs of some of the children killed in Gaza, is reassuring. It won't settle the ghosts. They'll probably never be silenced, nor should they be. It's important we all confront the cruelty us humans dish out to each other, even if it means losing sleep. HAVE YOUR SAY: If the Gaza does end, should the Israeli government and remaining Hamas commanders face an international court to answer charges of war crimes? Do you avoid news from Gaza after 19 months of horror? Email us: echidna@ SHARE THE LOVE: If you enjoy The Echidna, forward it to a friend so they can sign up, too. IN CASE YOU MISSED IT: - A ban on the sale of machetes has been fast-tracked in Victoria after a vicious gang brawl in a shopping centre. Victorian Premier Jacinta Allan said the ban, originally intended to start on September 1, would now come into effect at midday on May 28. - The future of dozens of healthcare facilities hangs in the balance as one of Australia's largest private hospital operators, Healthscope, collapses into receivership. - Electricity prices are set to rise in some locations in Australia by nearly 10 per cent from July 1. The Australian Energy Regulator (AER) confirmed increases on May 26 of up to 9.7 per cent for some residential customers. THEY SAID IT: "When genocide is committed, it must be seen. People must look at it with open eyes, not minimise its impact." - Nadia Murad YOU SAID IT: Some marriages are meant to end. The Coalition's should be one of them. Christopher writes: "They'd be much better off separated and learning to be independent, to be who they are. Then they could find out whether they are even friends. I very much doubt they would be. And it would allow them to deal with the anxiety behind their co-dependency. And I am bamboozled by the idea that Zoe McKenzie is the future of the the Liberal Party... Matt Kean was quoted in The Saturday Paper as saying a similar thing. I would love an explanation." "Not that I support either party, but a government needs a viable opposition and as the Coalition is unlikely to provide one, divorce is the best option," writes Sue. "Alone, the Libs have a chance of putting together a new right-wing party but in their uneasy-at-best alliance with the Nats they are hamstrung. The past week has demonstrated the ineffectiveness of future togetherness. I suspect the Nats will continue to have a revolving door leadership situation. This probably isn't fair but then, a lot isn't in politics. I doubt Sussan Ley will survive for long. She will probably get things running better then be challenged because she hasn't improved things well enough, or quickly enough or because they don't like what she wore on the opening day of Parliament and decide a man can do it better. I doubt that is fair either." Murray writes: "It is always encouraging when you see someone else has the exact same take on something. When I saw Michael McCormack swear he was not after the leadership, and 'fully supported' Littleproud, I called out to my wife, 'He's gone!' In politics a sincere denial of something can usually be taken as an admission that it ranges from being at least a possibility to a dead certainty. As John says, the knives are not drawn, but thumbs have been run over blades in readiness. Sussan Ley is described here as a moderate. Moderate what? If she is a moderate leader of a conservative party we should shortly see some clear points of difference from the Labor left. That will be the test. If she can do that the Liberal Party will have some purpose again and the Nationals can return to their proper place, being the minor partner and adding the numbers. McCormack or Littleproud, Makes little difference." "The marriage of convenience will eventually rehappen," writes Old Donald. "Why? Because it is the only way Lib and Nat will ever assume their rightful place (i.e. in charge of us poor sods - divine right and all that Louis XIV stuff). Anybody who believes there is sincere principle or moral honour involved at the core is just not with it." Phil C writes: "In trying to gaslight the CSIRO and AEMO over the viability of current nuclear power options in Australia, the Coalition proved it has a problem understanding commerce, science, and statistics. You would think that catastrophic electoral failure might have taught them something about objectivity, but apparently not. The Liberal senator Sarah Henderson says the answer is not to move to the centre. It's a simple observation that the Millennials and Gen X constitute a rapidly increasing majority of Australian voters, but just 22 per cent of them vote for the Coalition. Henderson's call for an ongoing right-wing stance won't attract young voters or bring back the teal vote. But it will absolutely guarantee ongoing atrophy of the Liberal Party. Our Parliament needs a strong opposition to work as it should. Country people need a prominent voice to advocate for better phones, roads, medical care, and schools. It is everyone's interest that Sussan Ley's moderation plans prevail, and the Nats come on board with that." "Sussan Ley wants to take the Liberals forward but is being pulled back by the old guard Liberals past their use-by date and the out-of-touch Nationals attempts to bully her," writes Jennifer. "Getting together and compromising the future direction for the sole purpose of regaining power will lead to destruction. Whilst I dislike the policies and much of the ideology of both parties, I don't want to see Labor without effective opposition to hold them to account. Looks like we'll have to rely on independents for that, again." Mick writes: "No marriage will work when both participants are suffering from an existential identity crisis. A Liberal Party abandoned by its corporate father that doesn't know if it's Right or Left. A National Party that used to be Country but is now transitioning to Mining/Outer Urban. God knows what the offspring will be like." "I think you nailed it, Echidna," writes Robin. "There was hope for a renewed Liberal Party sans the Nationals. But now we are back to having the tail wag the dog again. As for Littleproud, as impossible as it is for an invertebrate to grow a spine, you don't lead by blaming your poor decisions on the team standing behind you." Ian writes: "It would be interesting to see the Clampetts (the Nats) and the Liberals come out publicly with separate competing policies, and see how these resonate with the electorate. Then they can undertake a negotiation to 'marry' them together. However, it seems like the Libs are still quite internally polarised, having lost a lot of their moderates in 2022, so the differences within the Libs is probably not much different to the differences between the Libs and the Clampetts. There seems to be plenty of overlap with the right-wing extremists of both parties, who think the electorate 'doesn't know what's good for 'em' (to be fair, sometimes I agree). They also both keep blathering about 'values'. They are right in needing to better articulate what those are, because I don't know. But, they also need to better understand the difference between values and ideology, because values should be universal, not political." "It is despicable that the Coalition and more specifically the Nationals are fighting amongst themselves in Canberra professing to fight and represent the bush and regional areas while their constituents are inundated with the floods," writes John from Mentone. "They should have been in their local areas helping people stay safe and survive. Transparency is certainly not the Nationals strong point. If we knew their recent voting numbers for their leadership we could see how precarious Littleproud's situation is." This is a sample of The Echidna newsletter sent out each weekday morning. To sign up for FREE, go to The ghosts arrive when all else is quiet and the mind, awake for no reason, has no choice but to listen to them. Sunday night, early Monday morning they were particularly loud. First to invade the consciousness were the phantoms of the Holocaust, stirred by reading a few hours earlier Jack Fairweather's book The Prosecutor. It's the story of German Jewish lawyer Fritz Bauer and his mission to bring to justice the functionaries of the Final Solution who had somehow escaped conviction as World War II ended and segued into the Cold War. Bauer was determined that Germany as a whole should confront its recent past. A particularly harrowing chapter recounted witness testimony in the trial of Adolf Eichmann, lodging its grim details in the back of my mind. Rivka Yoselevska told the Israeli court how she'd survived a massacre near Pinsk in Belarus in 1941 after seeing her entire family shot in front of her. When it was Rivka and her sister's turn, one of the guards asked who he should shoot first. He shot Rivka's sister and then turned the gun on her. She toppled into the pit and was soon buried by the bodies which followed. Somehow she survived. Lying awake in the dark, I tried to shut the horror out of my mind. But the ghost was insistent. It demanded thought be given to the cruelty, that imagination at least try to comprehend what it would be like to endure it and then have to remember it for the rest of your life. And then the phantom introduced more ghosts, these from a news report I'd watched that night. These were the siblings killed in an Israeli airstrike in Khan Younis in Gaza. Their suffering had ended in an instant with the blinding flash of the missile which struck their home. But their mother, a paediatrician working at Nasser hospital, endured the sight of her dead children as they were rushed charred and lifeless into the emergency room. Her one remaining child and husband were critically injured. Yet she somehow finished her shift. Like Rivka more than 80 years ago, Alaa al-Najjar will live with the horror for the rest of her life. It's estimated 16,500 children have been killed in the Gaza war. Many more have sustained terrible physical injuries while an entire generation will bear the psychological scars for years to come. The toll exacted in response to the terrible massacres of October 7 perpetrated by Hamas is now stirring grave misgivings in Israel. The Times of Israel reports that a growing number of fierce advocates for the tough response are now questioning it. These include Elana Sztokman, an American-born Israeli writer, who used the word "genocide" to describe what's happening in Gaza, prompting a vicious response on social media. "Right now, We, Israel, are starving and bombing a nation to death," she wrote. "Genocide. This is genocide. This is purposeful, deliberate, unrestrained killing of a people." Last week, a former deputy chief of the Israeli Defence Force turned opposition politician Yair Golan told an interviewer: "A sane country does not fight against civilians, does not kill babies as a hobby, and does not give itself the aim of expelling populations." Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu predictably condemned the comments as "blood libel" against the IDF, even though Golan said his complaint was directed not at the armed forces but at the government directing them. Knowing there is a conscience in Israel that is finding its voice, that protestors are prepared to take to the streets of Tel Aviv holding photographs of some of the children killed in Gaza, is reassuring. It won't settle the ghosts. They'll probably never be silenced, nor should they be. It's important we all confront the cruelty us humans dish out to each other, even if it means losing sleep. HAVE YOUR SAY: If the Gaza does end, should the Israeli government and remaining Hamas commanders face an international court to answer charges of war crimes? Do you avoid news from Gaza after 19 months of horror? Email us: echidna@ SHARE THE LOVE: If you enjoy The Echidna, forward it to a friend so they can sign up, too. IN CASE YOU MISSED IT: - A ban on the sale of machetes has been fast-tracked in Victoria after a vicious gang brawl in a shopping centre. Victorian Premier Jacinta Allan said the ban, originally intended to start on September 1, would now come into effect at midday on May 28. - The future of dozens of healthcare facilities hangs in the balance as one of Australia's largest private hospital operators, Healthscope, collapses into receivership. - Electricity prices are set to rise in some locations in Australia by nearly 10 per cent from July 1. The Australian Energy Regulator (AER) confirmed increases on May 26 of up to 9.7 per cent for some residential customers. THEY SAID IT: "When genocide is committed, it must be seen. People must look at it with open eyes, not minimise its impact." - Nadia Murad YOU SAID IT: Some marriages are meant to end. The Coalition's should be one of them. Christopher writes: "They'd be much better off separated and learning to be independent, to be who they are. Then they could find out whether they are even friends. I very much doubt they would be. And it would allow them to deal with the anxiety behind their co-dependency. And I am bamboozled by the idea that Zoe McKenzie is the future of the the Liberal Party... Matt Kean was quoted in The Saturday Paper as saying a similar thing. I would love an explanation." "Not that I support either party, but a government needs a viable opposition and as the Coalition is unlikely to provide one, divorce is the best option," writes Sue. "Alone, the Libs have a chance of putting together a new right-wing party but in their uneasy-at-best alliance with the Nats they are hamstrung. The past week has demonstrated the ineffectiveness of future togetherness. I suspect the Nats will continue to have a revolving door leadership situation. This probably isn't fair but then, a lot isn't in politics. I doubt Sussan Ley will survive for long. She will probably get things running better then be challenged because she hasn't improved things well enough, or quickly enough or because they don't like what she wore on the opening day of Parliament and decide a man can do it better. I doubt that is fair either." Murray writes: "It is always encouraging when you see someone else has the exact same take on something. When I saw Michael McCormack swear he was not after the leadership, and 'fully supported' Littleproud, I called out to my wife, 'He's gone!' In politics a sincere denial of something can usually be taken as an admission that it ranges from being at least a possibility to a dead certainty. As John says, the knives are not drawn, but thumbs have been run over blades in readiness. Sussan Ley is described here as a moderate. Moderate what? If she is a moderate leader of a conservative party we should shortly see some clear points of difference from the Labor left. That will be the test. If she can do that the Liberal Party will have some purpose again and the Nationals can return to their proper place, being the minor partner and adding the numbers. McCormack or Littleproud, Makes little difference." "The marriage of convenience will eventually rehappen," writes Old Donald. "Why? Because it is the only way Lib and Nat will ever assume their rightful place (i.e. in charge of us poor sods - divine right and all that Louis XIV stuff). Anybody who believes there is sincere principle or moral honour involved at the core is just not with it." Phil C writes: "In trying to gaslight the CSIRO and AEMO over the viability of current nuclear power options in Australia, the Coalition proved it has a problem understanding commerce, science, and statistics. You would think that catastrophic electoral failure might have taught them something about objectivity, but apparently not. The Liberal senator Sarah Henderson says the answer is not to move to the centre. It's a simple observation that the Millennials and Gen X constitute a rapidly increasing majority of Australian voters, but just 22 per cent of them vote for the Coalition. Henderson's call for an ongoing right-wing stance won't attract young voters or bring back the teal vote. But it will absolutely guarantee ongoing atrophy of the Liberal Party. Our Parliament needs a strong opposition to work as it should. Country people need a prominent voice to advocate for better phones, roads, medical care, and schools. It is everyone's interest that Sussan Ley's moderation plans prevail, and the Nats come on board with that." "Sussan Ley wants to take the Liberals forward but is being pulled back by the old guard Liberals past their use-by date and the out-of-touch Nationals attempts to bully her," writes Jennifer. "Getting together and compromising the future direction for the sole purpose of regaining power will lead to destruction. Whilst I dislike the policies and much of the ideology of both parties, I don't want to see Labor without effective opposition to hold them to account. Looks like we'll have to rely on independents for that, again." Mick writes: "No marriage will work when both participants are suffering from an existential identity crisis. A Liberal Party abandoned by its corporate father that doesn't know if it's Right or Left. A National Party that used to be Country but is now transitioning to Mining/Outer Urban. God knows what the offspring will be like." "I think you nailed it, Echidna," writes Robin. "There was hope for a renewed Liberal Party sans the Nationals. But now we are back to having the tail wag the dog again. As for Littleproud, as impossible as it is for an invertebrate to grow a spine, you don't lead by blaming your poor decisions on the team standing behind you." Ian writes: "It would be interesting to see the Clampetts (the Nats) and the Liberals come out publicly with separate competing policies, and see how these resonate with the electorate. Then they can undertake a negotiation to 'marry' them together. However, it seems like the Libs are still quite internally polarised, having lost a lot of their moderates in 2022, so the differences within the Libs is probably not much different to the differences between the Libs and the Clampetts. There seems to be plenty of overlap with the right-wing extremists of both parties, who think the electorate 'doesn't know what's good for 'em' (to be fair, sometimes I agree). They also both keep blathering about 'values'. They are right in needing to better articulate what those are, because I don't know. But, they also need to better understand the difference between values and ideology, because values should be universal, not political." "It is despicable that the Coalition and more specifically the Nationals are fighting amongst themselves in Canberra professing to fight and represent the bush and regional areas while their constituents are inundated with the floods," writes John from Mentone. "They should have been in their local areas helping people stay safe and survive. Transparency is certainly not the Nationals strong point. If we knew their recent voting numbers for their leadership we could see how precarious Littleproud's situation is." This is a sample of The Echidna newsletter sent out each weekday morning. To sign up for FREE, go to The ghosts arrive when all else is quiet and the mind, awake for no reason, has no choice but to listen to them. Sunday night, early Monday morning they were particularly loud. First to invade the consciousness were the phantoms of the Holocaust, stirred by reading a few hours earlier Jack Fairweather's book The Prosecutor. It's the story of German Jewish lawyer Fritz Bauer and his mission to bring to justice the functionaries of the Final Solution who had somehow escaped conviction as World War II ended and segued into the Cold War. Bauer was determined that Germany as a whole should confront its recent past. A particularly harrowing chapter recounted witness testimony in the trial of Adolf Eichmann, lodging its grim details in the back of my mind. Rivka Yoselevska told the Israeli court how she'd survived a massacre near Pinsk in Belarus in 1941 after seeing her entire family shot in front of her. When it was Rivka and her sister's turn, one of the guards asked who he should shoot first. He shot Rivka's sister and then turned the gun on her. She toppled into the pit and was soon buried by the bodies which followed. Somehow she survived. Lying awake in the dark, I tried to shut the horror out of my mind. But the ghost was insistent. It demanded thought be given to the cruelty, that imagination at least try to comprehend what it would be like to endure it and then have to remember it for the rest of your life. And then the phantom introduced more ghosts, these from a news report I'd watched that night. These were the siblings killed in an Israeli airstrike in Khan Younis in Gaza. Their suffering had ended in an instant with the blinding flash of the missile which struck their home. But their mother, a paediatrician working at Nasser hospital, endured the sight of her dead children as they were rushed charred and lifeless into the emergency room. Her one remaining child and husband were critically injured. Yet she somehow finished her shift. Like Rivka more than 80 years ago, Alaa al-Najjar will live with the horror for the rest of her life. It's estimated 16,500 children have been killed in the Gaza war. Many more have sustained terrible physical injuries while an entire generation will bear the psychological scars for years to come. The toll exacted in response to the terrible massacres of October 7 perpetrated by Hamas is now stirring grave misgivings in Israel. The Times of Israel reports that a growing number of fierce advocates for the tough response are now questioning it. These include Elana Sztokman, an American-born Israeli writer, who used the word "genocide" to describe what's happening in Gaza, prompting a vicious response on social media. "Right now, We, Israel, are starving and bombing a nation to death," she wrote. "Genocide. This is genocide. This is purposeful, deliberate, unrestrained killing of a people." Last week, a former deputy chief of the Israeli Defence Force turned opposition politician Yair Golan told an interviewer: "A sane country does not fight against civilians, does not kill babies as a hobby, and does not give itself the aim of expelling populations." Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu predictably condemned the comments as "blood libel" against the IDF, even though Golan said his complaint was directed not at the armed forces but at the government directing them. Knowing there is a conscience in Israel that is finding its voice, that protestors are prepared to take to the streets of Tel Aviv holding photographs of some of the children killed in Gaza, is reassuring. It won't settle the ghosts. They'll probably never be silenced, nor should they be. It's important we all confront the cruelty us humans dish out to each other, even if it means losing sleep. HAVE YOUR SAY: If the Gaza does end, should the Israeli government and remaining Hamas commanders face an international court to answer charges of war crimes? Do you avoid news from Gaza after 19 months of horror? Email us: echidna@ SHARE THE LOVE: If you enjoy The Echidna, forward it to a friend so they can sign up, too. IN CASE YOU MISSED IT: - A ban on the sale of machetes has been fast-tracked in Victoria after a vicious gang brawl in a shopping centre. Victorian Premier Jacinta Allan said the ban, originally intended to start on September 1, would now come into effect at midday on May 28. - The future of dozens of healthcare facilities hangs in the balance as one of Australia's largest private hospital operators, Healthscope, collapses into receivership. - Electricity prices are set to rise in some locations in Australia by nearly 10 per cent from July 1. The Australian Energy Regulator (AER) confirmed increases on May 26 of up to 9.7 per cent for some residential customers. THEY SAID IT: "When genocide is committed, it must be seen. People must look at it with open eyes, not minimise its impact." - Nadia Murad YOU SAID IT: Some marriages are meant to end. The Coalition's should be one of them. Christopher writes: "They'd be much better off separated and learning to be independent, to be who they are. Then they could find out whether they are even friends. I very much doubt they would be. And it would allow them to deal with the anxiety behind their co-dependency. And I am bamboozled by the idea that Zoe McKenzie is the future of the the Liberal Party... Matt Kean was quoted in The Saturday Paper as saying a similar thing. I would love an explanation." "Not that I support either party, but a government needs a viable opposition and as the Coalition is unlikely to provide one, divorce is the best option," writes Sue. "Alone, the Libs have a chance of putting together a new right-wing party but in their uneasy-at-best alliance with the Nats they are hamstrung. The past week has demonstrated the ineffectiveness of future togetherness. I suspect the Nats will continue to have a revolving door leadership situation. This probably isn't fair but then, a lot isn't in politics. I doubt Sussan Ley will survive for long. She will probably get things running better then be challenged because she hasn't improved things well enough, or quickly enough or because they don't like what she wore on the opening day of Parliament and decide a man can do it better. I doubt that is fair either." Murray writes: "It is always encouraging when you see someone else has the exact same take on something. When I saw Michael McCormack swear he was not after the leadership, and 'fully supported' Littleproud, I called out to my wife, 'He's gone!' In politics a sincere denial of something can usually be taken as an admission that it ranges from being at least a possibility to a dead certainty. As John says, the knives are not drawn, but thumbs have been run over blades in readiness. Sussan Ley is described here as a moderate. Moderate what? If she is a moderate leader of a conservative party we should shortly see some clear points of difference from the Labor left. That will be the test. If she can do that the Liberal Party will have some purpose again and the Nationals can return to their proper place, being the minor partner and adding the numbers. McCormack or Littleproud, Makes little difference." "The marriage of convenience will eventually rehappen," writes Old Donald. "Why? Because it is the only way Lib and Nat will ever assume their rightful place (i.e. in charge of us poor sods - divine right and all that Louis XIV stuff). Anybody who believes there is sincere principle or moral honour involved at the core is just not with it." Phil C writes: "In trying to gaslight the CSIRO and AEMO over the viability of current nuclear power options in Australia, the Coalition proved it has a problem understanding commerce, science, and statistics. You would think that catastrophic electoral failure might have taught them something about objectivity, but apparently not. The Liberal senator Sarah Henderson says the answer is not to move to the centre. It's a simple observation that the Millennials and Gen X constitute a rapidly increasing majority of Australian voters, but just 22 per cent of them vote for the Coalition. Henderson's call for an ongoing right-wing stance won't attract young voters or bring back the teal vote. But it will absolutely guarantee ongoing atrophy of the Liberal Party. Our Parliament needs a strong opposition to work as it should. Country people need a prominent voice to advocate for better phones, roads, medical care, and schools. It is everyone's interest that Sussan Ley's moderation plans prevail, and the Nats come on board with that." "Sussan Ley wants to take the Liberals forward but is being pulled back by the old guard Liberals past their use-by date and the out-of-touch Nationals attempts to bully her," writes Jennifer. "Getting together and compromising the future direction for the sole purpose of regaining power will lead to destruction. Whilst I dislike the policies and much of the ideology of both parties, I don't want to see Labor without effective opposition to hold them to account. Looks like we'll have to rely on independents for that, again." Mick writes: "No marriage will work when both participants are suffering from an existential identity crisis. A Liberal Party abandoned by its corporate father that doesn't know if it's Right or Left. A National Party that used to be Country but is now transitioning to Mining/Outer Urban. God knows what the offspring will be like." "I think you nailed it, Echidna," writes Robin. "There was hope for a renewed Liberal Party sans the Nationals. But now we are back to having the tail wag the dog again. As for Littleproud, as impossible as it is for an invertebrate to grow a spine, you don't lead by blaming your poor decisions on the team standing behind you." Ian writes: "It would be interesting to see the Clampetts (the Nats) and the Liberals come out publicly with separate competing policies, and see how these resonate with the electorate. Then they can undertake a negotiation to 'marry' them together. However, it seems like the Libs are still quite internally polarised, having lost a lot of their moderates in 2022, so the differences within the Libs is probably not much different to the differences between the Libs and the Clampetts. There seems to be plenty of overlap with the right-wing extremists of both parties, who think the electorate 'doesn't know what's good for 'em' (to be fair, sometimes I agree). They also both keep blathering about 'values'. They are right in needing to better articulate what those are, because I don't know. But, they also need to better understand the difference between values and ideology, because values should be universal, not political." "It is despicable that the Coalition and more specifically the Nationals are fighting amongst themselves in Canberra professing to fight and represent the bush and regional areas while their constituents are inundated with the floods," writes John from Mentone. "They should have been in their local areas helping people stay safe and survive. Transparency is certainly not the Nationals strong point. If we knew their recent voting numbers for their leadership we could see how precarious Littleproud's situation is." This is a sample of The Echidna newsletter sent out each weekday morning. To sign up for FREE, go to The ghosts arrive when all else is quiet and the mind, awake for no reason, has no choice but to listen to them. Sunday night, early Monday morning they were particularly loud. First to invade the consciousness were the phantoms of the Holocaust, stirred by reading a few hours earlier Jack Fairweather's book The Prosecutor. It's the story of German Jewish lawyer Fritz Bauer and his mission to bring to justice the functionaries of the Final Solution who had somehow escaped conviction as World War II ended and segued into the Cold War. Bauer was determined that Germany as a whole should confront its recent past. A particularly harrowing chapter recounted witness testimony in the trial of Adolf Eichmann, lodging its grim details in the back of my mind. Rivka Yoselevska told the Israeli court how she'd survived a massacre near Pinsk in Belarus in 1941 after seeing her entire family shot in front of her. When it was Rivka and her sister's turn, one of the guards asked who he should shoot first. He shot Rivka's sister and then turned the gun on her. She toppled into the pit and was soon buried by the bodies which followed. Somehow she survived. Lying awake in the dark, I tried to shut the horror out of my mind. But the ghost was insistent. It demanded thought be given to the cruelty, that imagination at least try to comprehend what it would be like to endure it and then have to remember it for the rest of your life. And then the phantom introduced more ghosts, these from a news report I'd watched that night. These were the siblings killed in an Israeli airstrike in Khan Younis in Gaza. Their suffering had ended in an instant with the blinding flash of the missile which struck their home. But their mother, a paediatrician working at Nasser hospital, endured the sight of her dead children as they were rushed charred and lifeless into the emergency room. Her one remaining child and husband were critically injured. Yet she somehow finished her shift. Like Rivka more than 80 years ago, Alaa al-Najjar will live with the horror for the rest of her life. It's estimated 16,500 children have been killed in the Gaza war. Many more have sustained terrible physical injuries while an entire generation will bear the psychological scars for years to come. The toll exacted in response to the terrible massacres of October 7 perpetrated by Hamas is now stirring grave misgivings in Israel. The Times of Israel reports that a growing number of fierce advocates for the tough response are now questioning it. These include Elana Sztokman, an American-born Israeli writer, who used the word "genocide" to describe what's happening in Gaza, prompting a vicious response on social media. "Right now, We, Israel, are starving and bombing a nation to death," she wrote. "Genocide. This is genocide. This is purposeful, deliberate, unrestrained killing of a people." Last week, a former deputy chief of the Israeli Defence Force turned opposition politician Yair Golan told an interviewer: "A sane country does not fight against civilians, does not kill babies as a hobby, and does not give itself the aim of expelling populations." Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu predictably condemned the comments as "blood libel" against the IDF, even though Golan said his complaint was directed not at the armed forces but at the government directing them. Knowing there is a conscience in Israel that is finding its voice, that protestors are prepared to take to the streets of Tel Aviv holding photographs of some of the children killed in Gaza, is reassuring. It won't settle the ghosts. They'll probably never be silenced, nor should they be. It's important we all confront the cruelty us humans dish out to each other, even if it means losing sleep. HAVE YOUR SAY: If the Gaza does end, should the Israeli government and remaining Hamas commanders face an international court to answer charges of war crimes? Do you avoid news from Gaza after 19 months of horror? Email us: echidna@ SHARE THE LOVE: If you enjoy The Echidna, forward it to a friend so they can sign up, too. IN CASE YOU MISSED IT: - A ban on the sale of machetes has been fast-tracked in Victoria after a vicious gang brawl in a shopping centre. Victorian Premier Jacinta Allan said the ban, originally intended to start on September 1, would now come into effect at midday on May 28. - The future of dozens of healthcare facilities hangs in the balance as one of Australia's largest private hospital operators, Healthscope, collapses into receivership. - Electricity prices are set to rise in some locations in Australia by nearly 10 per cent from July 1. The Australian Energy Regulator (AER) confirmed increases on May 26 of up to 9.7 per cent for some residential customers. THEY SAID IT: "When genocide is committed, it must be seen. People must look at it with open eyes, not minimise its impact." - Nadia Murad YOU SAID IT: Some marriages are meant to end. The Coalition's should be one of them. Christopher writes: "They'd be much better off separated and learning to be independent, to be who they are. Then they could find out whether they are even friends. I very much doubt they would be. And it would allow them to deal with the anxiety behind their co-dependency. And I am bamboozled by the idea that Zoe McKenzie is the future of the the Liberal Party... Matt Kean was quoted in The Saturday Paper as saying a similar thing. I would love an explanation." "Not that I support either party, but a government needs a viable opposition and as the Coalition is unlikely to provide one, divorce is the best option," writes Sue. "Alone, the Libs have a chance of putting together a new right-wing party but in their uneasy-at-best alliance with the Nats they are hamstrung. The past week has demonstrated the ineffectiveness of future togetherness. I suspect the Nats will continue to have a revolving door leadership situation. This probably isn't fair but then, a lot isn't in politics. I doubt Sussan Ley will survive for long. She will probably get things running better then be challenged because she hasn't improved things well enough, or quickly enough or because they don't like what she wore on the opening day of Parliament and decide a man can do it better. I doubt that is fair either." Murray writes: "It is always encouraging when you see someone else has the exact same take on something. When I saw Michael McCormack swear he was not after the leadership, and 'fully supported' Littleproud, I called out to my wife, 'He's gone!' In politics a sincere denial of something can usually be taken as an admission that it ranges from being at least a possibility to a dead certainty. As John says, the knives are not drawn, but thumbs have been run over blades in readiness. Sussan Ley is described here as a moderate. Moderate what? If she is a moderate leader of a conservative party we should shortly see some clear points of difference from the Labor left. That will be the test. If she can do that the Liberal Party will have some purpose again and the Nationals can return to their proper place, being the minor partner and adding the numbers. McCormack or Littleproud, Makes little difference." "The marriage of convenience will eventually rehappen," writes Old Donald. "Why? Because it is the only way Lib and Nat will ever assume their rightful place (i.e. in charge of us poor sods - divine right and all that Louis XIV stuff). Anybody who believes there is sincere principle or moral honour involved at the core is just not with it." Phil C writes: "In trying to gaslight the CSIRO and AEMO over the viability of current nuclear power options in Australia, the Coalition proved it has a problem understanding commerce, science, and statistics. You would think that catastrophic electoral failure might have taught them something about objectivity, but apparently not. The Liberal senator Sarah Henderson says the answer is not to move to the centre. It's a simple observation that the Millennials and Gen X constitute a rapidly increasing majority of Australian voters, but just 22 per cent of them vote for the Coalition. Henderson's call for an ongoing right-wing stance won't attract young voters or bring back the teal vote. But it will absolutely guarantee ongoing atrophy of the Liberal Party. Our Parliament needs a strong opposition to work as it should. Country people need a prominent voice to advocate for better phones, roads, medical care, and schools. It is everyone's interest that Sussan Ley's moderation plans prevail, and the Nats come on board with that." "Sussan Ley wants to take the Liberals forward but is being pulled back by the old guard Liberals past their use-by date and the out-of-touch Nationals attempts to bully her," writes Jennifer. "Getting together and compromising the future direction for the sole purpose of regaining power will lead to destruction. Whilst I dislike the policies and much of the ideology of both parties, I don't want to see Labor without effective opposition to hold them to account. Looks like we'll have to rely on independents for that, again." Mick writes: "No marriage will work when both participants are suffering from an existential identity crisis. A Liberal Party abandoned by its corporate father that doesn't know if it's Right or Left. A National Party that used to be Country but is now transitioning to Mining/Outer Urban. God knows what the offspring will be like." "I think you nailed it, Echidna," writes Robin. "There was hope for a renewed Liberal Party sans the Nationals. But now we are back to having the tail wag the dog again. As for Littleproud, as impossible as it is for an invertebrate to grow a spine, you don't lead by blaming your poor decisions on the team standing behind you." Ian writes: "It would be interesting to see the Clampetts (the Nats) and the Liberals come out publicly with separate competing policies, and see how these resonate with the electorate. Then they can undertake a negotiation to 'marry' them together. However, it seems like the Libs are still quite internally polarised, having lost a lot of their moderates in 2022, so the differences within the Libs is probably not much different to the differences between the Libs and the Clampetts. There seems to be plenty of overlap with the right-wing extremists of both parties, who think the electorate 'doesn't know what's good for 'em' (to be fair, sometimes I agree). They also both keep blathering about 'values'. They are right in needing to better articulate what those are, because I don't know. But, they also need to better understand the difference between values and ideology, because values should be universal, not political." "It is despicable that the Coalition and more specifically the Nationals are fighting amongst themselves in Canberra professing to fight and represent the bush and regional areas while their constituents are inundated with the floods," writes John from Mentone. "They should have been in their local areas helping people stay safe and survive. Transparency is certainly not the Nationals strong point. If we knew their recent voting numbers for their leadership we could see how precarious Littleproud's situation is."
Scottish Sun
30-04-2025
- Scottish Sun
SS guard ‘The Last Nazi' dies aged 100 after being unmasked by The Sun as he dodged justice to end over 3k camp victims
AN SS guard unmasked by The Sun last as the 'last Nazi' has died - bringing to an end the historic hunt for Holocaust war criminals. Gregor Formanek, 100, was dubbed "cruel and treacherous" for supporting the killing of 3,300 prisoners at the Sachsenhausen concentration camp in Germany, according to damning evidence. 7 Gregor Formanek - believed to be the last Nazi after being tracked down by The Sun - has died aged 100 Credit: Simon Jones - Commissioned by The Sun 7 Formanek, pictured with wife, was a guard at a concentration camp during the Holocaust Credit: SIMON JONES 7 He was accused of helping to murder 3,300 people at the notorious WW2 prison Sachsenhausen Credit: Bundesarchiv 7 Prisoners in striped uniforms at the Sachsenhausen camp near Berlin, in December 1938 Credit: Getty He was identified as the last remaining source of a conviction by officials in Germany, who ruled last year he was fit enough to face trial. But a court has now confirmed the Final Solution suspect has passed away before he could be put in the dock. His death makes him the final SS accomplice to be revealed to the world. He takes with him all hopes of one final conviction. The death marks a poignant moment for Nazi hunters, who have spent decades tracking down WWII war criminals and bringing them to justice. Formanek joined the SS late in the war, becoming a part of the infamous Nazi squad in July 1943 at Sachsenhausen, which was set up in 1936. More than 200,000 prisoners passed through Sachsenhausen, notorious for its gaschambers and horrifying medical experiments. At the end of the war, Formanek was captured by Russia's Red Army and spent just ten years behind bars before being released to find work as a porter. In later life, Formanek lived in comfort with his wife in a £400,000 apartment near Frankfurt. 'The last Nazi' accused of 'cruel killings' of 3,300 at sick death camp may NEVER face justice after trial is scrapped Formanek was ruled unfit to stand trial back in June before a court rowed back on the ruling in December. Carmen Whitmore, 68, of Market Harborough, Leics., whose uncle, Great Escape pilot Jimmy James, was at Sachsenhausen - previously blasted: 'Nazis need to be held accountable.' Formanek, born in Romania, as the son of a German-speaking master tailor, was first tracked down by The Sun in 2023 after an extensive investigation into surviving Nazi suspects. He was discovered living openly under his real name in a leafy Frankfurt suburb, his past unknown to most locals. Neighbours believed the pensioner was simply a retired manager - unaware of his chilling SS record. 7 Prisoners clear snow at the Sachsenhausen camp in 1941 Credit: Paul Popper 7 It is estimated that a total of 100,000 people were killed at Sachsenhausen Credit: UKTV- Abandoned Engineering When confronted by The Sun about his wartime role, Formanek cryptically replied: 'First, tell me who you are.' His wife, clearly unsettled, added: 'Don't say he was an SS man so loudly. People will wonder what's going on.' It later emerged that Formanek had been officially indicated by German prosecutors for his role in the "insidious killing" of prisoners between July 1943 and February 1945. Three other former guards under investigation were deemed too ill to stand trial — making Formanek the last viable case. Rosalyn Peake, 66, whose father Leslie Kleinman survived the camp by lying about his age, told The Sun: 'It's justice for me that Formanek was named. And it's vital for teaching future generations.'
The Sun
30-04-2025
- The Sun
SS guard ‘The Last Nazi' dies aged 100 after being unmasked by The Sun as he dodged justice to end over 3k camp victims
AN SS guard unmasked by The Sun last as the 'last Nazi' has died - bringing to an end the historic hunt for Holocaust war criminals. Gregor Formanek, 100, was dubbed "cruel and treacherous" for supporting the killing of 3,300 prisoners at the Sachsenhausen concentration camp in Germany, according to damning evidence. 7 7 7 7 He was identified as the last remaining source of a conviction by officials in Germany, who ruled last year he was fit enough to face trial. But a court has now confirmed the Final Solution suspect has passed away before he could be put in the dock. His death makes him the final SS accomplice to be revealed to the world. He takes with him all hopes of one final conviction. The death marks a poignant moment for Nazi hunters, who have spent decades tracking down WWII war criminals and bringing them to justice. Formanek joined the SS late in the war, becoming a part of the infamous Nazi squad in July 1943 at Sachsenhausen, which was set up in 1936. More than 200,000 prisoners passed through Sachsenhausen, notorious for its gaschambers and horrifying medical experiments. At the end of the war, Formanek was captured by Russia's Red Army and spent just ten years behind bars before being released to find work as a porter. In later life, Formanek lived in comfort with his wife in a £400,000 apartment near Frankfurt. Formanek was ruled unfit to stand trial back in June before a court rowed back on the ruling in December. Carmen Whitmore, 68, of Market Harborough, Leics., whose uncle, Great Escape pilot Jimmy James, was at Sachsenhausen - previously blasted: 'Nazis need to be held accountable.' Formanek, born in Romania, as the son of a German-speaking master tailor, was first tracked down by The Sun in 2023 after an extensive investigation into surviving Nazi suspects. He was discovered living openly under his real name in a leafy Frankfurt suburb, his past unknown to most locals. Neighbours believed the pensioner was simply a retired manager - unaware of his chilling SS record. 7 7 When confronted by The Sun about his wartime role, Formanek cryptically replied: 'First, tell me who you are.' His wife, clearly unsettled, added: 'Don't say he was an SS man so loudly. People will wonder what's going on.' It later emerged that Formanek had been officially indicated by German prosecutors for his role in the "insidious killing" of prisoners between July 1943 and February 1945. Three other former guards under investigation were deemed too ill to stand trial — making Formanek the last viable case. Rosalyn Peake, 66, whose father Leslie Kleinman survived the camp by lying about his age, told The Sun: 'It's justice for me that Formanek was named. And it's vital for teaching future generations.' 7
The Irish Sun
30-04-2025
- The Irish Sun
SS guard ‘The Last Nazi' dies aged 100 after being unmasked by The Sun as he dodged justice to end over 3k camp victims
AN SS guard unmasked by The Sun last as the 'last Nazi' has died - bringing to an end the historic hunt for Holocaust war criminals. Gregor Formanek, 100, was dubbed "cruel and treacherous" for supporting the killing of 3,300 prisoners at the Sachsenhausen concentration camp in Germany, according to damning evidence. Advertisement 7 Gregor Formanek - believed to be the last Nazi after being tracked down by The Sun - has died aged 100 Credit: Simon Jones - Commissioned by The Sun 7 Formanek, pictured with wife, was a guard at a concentration camp during the Holocaust Credit: SIMON JONES 7 He was accused of helping to murder 3,300 people at the notorious WW2 prison Sachsenhausen Credit: Bundesarchiv 7 Prisoners in striped uniforms at the Sachsenhausen camp near Berlin, in December 1938 Credit: Getty He was identified as the last remaining source of a conviction by officials in Germany, who ruled last year he was fit enough to face trial. But a court has now confirmed the Final Solution suspect has passed away His death makes him the final SS accomplice to be revealed to the world. He takes with him all hopes of one final conviction. Advertisement Read more WW2 news The death marks a poignant moment for Nazi hunters, who have spent decades tracking down WWII war criminals and bringing them to justice. Formanek joined the SS late in the war, becoming a part of the infamous Nazi squad in July 1943 at Sachsenhausen, which was set up in 1936. More than 200,000 prisoners passed through Sachsenhausen, notorious for its gaschambers and horrifying medical experiments. At the end of the war, Formanek was captured by Russia's Red Army and spent just ten years behind bars before being released to find work as a porter. Advertisement Most read in The Sun Breaking Exclusive In later life, Formanek lived in comfort with his wife in a £400,000 apartment near Frankfurt. 'The last Nazi' accused of 'cruel killings' of 3,300 at sick death camp may NEVER face justice after trial is scrapped Formanek was Carmen Whitmore, 68, of Market Harborough, Leics., whose uncle, Great Escape pilot Jimmy James, was at Sachsenhausen - previously blasted: 'Nazis need to be held accountable.' Formanek, born in Romania, as the son of a German-speaking master tailor, was Advertisement He was discovered living openly under his real name in a leafy Frankfurt suburb, his past unknown to most locals. Neighbours believed the pensioner was simply a retired manager - unaware of his chilling SS record. 7 Prisoners clear snow at the Sachsenhausen camp in 1941 Credit: Paul Popper 7 It is estimated that a total of 100,000 people were killed at Sachsenhausen Credit: UKTV- Abandoned Engineering Advertisement When confronted by The Sun about his wartime role, Formanek cryptically replied: 'First, tell me who you are.' His wife, clearly unsettled, added: 'Don't say he was an SS man so loudly. People will wonder what's going on.' It later emerged that Formanek had been officially indicated by German prosecutors for his role in the "insidious killing" of prisoners between July 1943 and February 1945. Three other former guards under investigation were deemed too ill to stand trial — making Formanek the last viable case. Advertisement Rosalyn Peake, 66, whose father Leslie Kleinman survived the camp by lying about his age, told The Sun: 'It's justice for me that Formanek was named. And it's vital for teaching future generations.' 7 Sachsenhausen was notorious as a training ground for Hitler's mass extermination Credit: Getty
Yahoo
25-04-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
David Thomas Was Pere Ubu's Heart of Darkness
Here's a long goodbye to David Thomas of Pere Ubu, one of the most defiantly eccentric and uncompromising voices in American rock. He made history with Pere Ubu, a garage band of Cleveland art-noise crackpots sending out a roar from the mid-Seventies' Midwest industrial wasteland. In his early days, he was an imposing and ornery character, reveling in his onstage persona as the fearsome Crocus Behemoth. With Ubu and his earlier band Rocket from the Tombs, he howled and shrieked in a voice full of pulp nightmares, doing for Cleveland what George Romero did for Pittsburgh. The band's motto to the end, as Thomas declared on his website: 'We don't promote chaos, we preserve it.' Thomas had a long and prolific career, right up to his final years, despite his health woes and a famously cranky personality that could curdle soup across the room. But you can make an argument that he achieved a lifetime's worth of greatness in the first three years of Pere Ubu — hell, he could have called it quits after their first two indie singles and he'd still be a legend, with classics like 'Heart of Darkness' and 'Final Solution.' Ubu's early run remains a landmark of American avant-garage proto-punk, especially the trilogy of The Modern Dance, Dub Housing, and Terminal Tower. His voice is the ghost in the machine, a strangely humane presence amid all the urban-industrial pastoral. More from Rolling Stone David Thomas, Pere Ubu Singer, Dead at 71 PJ Harvey Reads Noted Cat Lover Captain Beefheart's Poem About Her Cat Ministry Drop a Menacing Cover of the Stooges' 'Search and Destroy' 'We're into reality music,' Thomas told the Cleveland Plain Dealer in December 1975, shortly before Ubu's live debut on New Years Eve. 'People want to live in fantasy worlds. They think they're stars. They take dancing lessons Monday, foreign language on Tuesday, and macramé on Wednesday and think they're artists. Reality is a scary thing.' But so was Ubu's music. 'The emotion in 'Heart of Darkness' is desperation. We want to make the listener feel as if he is the narrator.' Mission accomplished. Ubu released 'Heart of Darkness' in late 1975, on their own Hearthan label, a debut single that went on to warp minds around the world. 'Heart of Darkness' is a full-on psycho-destructo breakdown — a hypnotic bass line from Tim Wright, primitive EML synthesizer swoops from Allen Ravenstine, the drum pulse of Scott Krauss, the proto-punk guitar of Peter Laughner and Tom Herman. Thomas pleads for his sanity in his paranoid whispers, his voice twisting and flopping like a fish on a line. By the end, he's chanting 'I'm looking into the heart of darkness' until he's screaming for his life. It's one of the most terrifying songs you'll ever hear, proving this weird little band had a unique vision. Mission of Burma did a great nine-minute version on their live album The Horrible Truth About Burma, the only Ubu cover to capture the dread (and humor) of the original. He named the band after Alfred Jarry's surrealist play Ubu Roi. As he said early on, he chose the name as 'an added texture of absolute grotesqueness—a shadow behind everything that's going on, a darkness over everything.' Nobody in Cleveland was paying attention, but for him, that just meant freedom. '[We] were working in isolation,' Thomas said in Clinton Heylin's essential From the Velvets to the Voidoids. 'So we had no hope of ever being successful, which is a heartening and creatively positive thing.' Thomas was already a local rock journalist when he started Rocket From the Tombs in 1974, billing them as the World's Only Dumb-Metal Mind-Death Rock & Roll Band. He met guitarist Peter Laughner, another rock critic — Laughner was into Dylan and the Velvets, Thomas was more into Beefheart and Hawkwind and the MC5, but both were obsessed with the Stooges. They first played together at the Special Extermination Music Night in December 1974, at the Viking Saloon, where Thomas worked as a bouncer. The Rockets played along with two other legendary Cle proto-punk innovators, the Electric Eels and Mirrors. All three bands were part of a local underground that worshipped the Velvets (who always played in their spiritual homes Cleveland and Boston far more than they did NYC). The Eels prided themselves on 'Art Terrorism,' and that's what all three of these bands achieved. Thomas called himself 'Crocus Behemoth,' a professor's kid from Cleveland Heights, inspired by sci-fi and monster movies on late-night TV. The Rockets played future Ubu tunes like 'Life Stinks' and '30 Seconds Over Tokyo,' along with Stones and Stooges covers. Unfortunately, his strict Jehovah's Witness parents threw him out of the house after unwisely attending a gig where he crawled on the floor and howled Iggy's 'I Wanna Be Your Dog' while throwing dog biscuits at the crowd until he threw the whole box and hit his dad on the head. For a while, he got demoted to alto sax when his bandmates decided he couldn't sing. They left to start the bro-punk Dead Boys, taking Rockets songs like 'Sonic Reducer' and 'Ain't It Fun.' Thomas and Laughner moved on to Ubu. Rocket from the Tombs split up without making a record, leaving behind classic bootlegs like A Night of Heavy Music, until the band finally got a proper testament with the 2002 collection The Day the Earth Met Rocket From the Tombs. But Thomas always had more ambition for Pere Ubu. 'The band has always operated on the basic principle of throw everything up in the air and see which way the wind blows it,' Thomas told Rolling Stone's Tom Carson in 1979. 'We're intuitive, we work on intuitive things. If you can explain it, it's not worth doing.' Ubu released a handful of indie singles, collected on the EP Datapanik in the Year Zero, and the 1986 compilation Terminal Tower. On the flip side of 'Heart of Darkness' was '30 Seconds Over Tokyo' was a dirge for a World War II pilot on his final raid, crashing and burning in the synth-and-guitar sludge. 'Final Solution' might be their most famous moment, a wildly funny teen lament in the garage-rock mode of 'Psychotic Reaction' or 'Summertime Blues' or 'Talk Talk.' (He took the title from the Sherlock Holmes mystery 'The Final Problem' — it had nothing to do with Nazis.) Thomas complains, 'Mom threw me out till I get some pants that fit/She just won't approve of my strange kind of wit' — until the guitar comes in like a nuclear destruction. Laughner died in 1977, only 24, destroyed by booze and drugs. (His great career anthology is the 1994 Take the Guitar Player For a Ride; make sure you don't die before hearing 'Amphetamine' or 'Cinderella Backstreet.') Without him, Ubu cut their debut The Modern Dance; the pressing plant sent it back, puzzled at all the distortion. It kicked off with 'Non-Alignment Pact,' one of two songs Husker Du covered at their first gig (the other: Frankie Ford's 'Sea Cruise'), with gems like 'Street Waves,' 'Laughing,' and 'Over My Head.' Ignored in their homeland, it became massively influential in the U.K., always the band's biggest market. But their magnum opus was the 1978 Dub Housing, where Thomas shows off his collection of animal noises, grunts, yelps, screeches, up to his neck in industrial synth-and-guitar factory noise. For Ubu, rock & roll was 'Caligari's Mirror,' and Thomas made music by staring into that distorted mirror and making voices for all the misshapen selves he saw in there. He was never more lovable than in 'Navvy,' raving, 'I got these arms and legs, they flip-flop flip-flop,' over the band's manic slop-beat. In the chorus, he chants, 'Boy, that sounds swell!' Side Two is a joyfully fuzzed-out groove of ambient sludge, from 'Drinking Wine Spodyody' to '(Pa) Ubu Dance Party' to 'Blow Daddy-O,' until the desolate ballad 'Codex.' If you're dipping into the Ubu universe, that's the place to start. These records (and the back cover of Dub Housing) made Cleveland sound hugely romantic to outsiders, especially Europeans. 'A giant, blown-out factory town,' Thomas described it in the NME. 'There's the Flats with all this incredible industry, steel mills going flat out all day and all night, and it's just half a mile away from where all the people live. This gives them the feeling that there's no future for somebody here, and all the musicians seem to be in love with that fact.' Thomas was basically a graduate of the Captain Beefheart Charm School, never an easy man to get along with, as he made increasingly narrow music, broke up the band, made solo records. Ubu made a surprisingly strong return with their 1988 reunion The Tenement Year, a jovial mess that might be their warmest. They next made a string of odd synth-pop records like Cloudland with Pet Shop Boys producer Stephen Hague, proving mostly that writing pop songs is hard. But it was a relief when he went back to the mayhem of Raygun Suitcase (pick hit: 'My Friend Is A Stooge for the Media Priests'), Pennsylvania, and Lady from Shanghai. He did a musical adaptation of Ubu Roi with his 2009 Long Live Pere Ubu!, also playing the title character in the London theatrical production Bring Me the Head of Ubu Roi. As a cult hero, he inspired great tributes from Love Child's 'Crocus Says' to Manishevitz's 'Lonesome Cowboy Dave.' In 2003, Rocket from the Tombs staged a surprise reunion, including Television's Richard Lloyd, touring and hitting the studio for new songs on Barfly). In the 2000s, he gratified fans by playing The Modern Dance at festivals. But he remained a combative type, compulsively abrasive to promoters, audiences, or interviewers. 'I only do what I want,' he told the Village Voice in 2011. 'How many times do I have to say this? I don't need your approval or appreciation. I don't need anything you or an audience can give me. You and the audience give me nothing. I don't do anything for you or for the audience.' That Bartleby spirit came out on his Ubu Projex website, one of his greatest long-running creations, a site full of rules, regulations, and principles. 'Pere Ubu does not recognize swarm think.' 'Nearly every Pere Ubu song is funny in some way and meant to be funny.' 'David Thomas is in sole possession of the Nuclear Trigger.' 'Pere Ubu does not dabble in irony—it is the last refuge of the weak-willed and cowardly. We are no cowards.' 'When a member crosses the line they become poison in the system that must be purged.' 'The best guitar part is the one that requires you to move your fingers the least.' And perhaps most fundamentally, 'The most important sentence in any musician's vocabulary (quoted below in full): 'No.'' 'Pere Ubu will never end,' Thomas vowed in 2011. 'I am already grooming my replacement in the band. The plan is that he will be taking over in approximately five years, or sooner if he makes more rapid progress in terms of songwriting.' But he never did quit; he held on to Ubu down the line, with his noir farewell in 2019, The Long Goodbye, and the 2023 coda Trouble on Big Beat Street, with its tributes to the Carter Family and the Osmonds. 'I'd been listening to commercial pop radio non-stop for months,' he explained in his notes to The Long Goodbye. 'That's what I wanted to rewrite and reimagine. Pop music shouldn't be without meaning or truthfulness. We live in desperate towns and we keep on going regardless of the stench. It's not often you're gonna find the answers. If ever. But here is pop music the way it should sound.' Needless to say, it didn't sound a thing like commercial pop. Instead, it was the sonic stench of those desperate towns, where Thomas always felt at home. That was the music he heard in his head, and it's the music he spent his life making, right down to the end, always exploring that same heart of darkness. Best of Rolling Stone The 50 Greatest Eminem Songs All 274 of Taylor Swift's Songs, Ranked The 500 Greatest Albums of All Time
