National Today informs us that there are 181 ‘holidays’ in October. Four are celebrated here in the UK today including the highly worthy World Osteoporosis Day. However, The Weekly finds it somewhat disconcerting to learn that yesterday was International Gin and Tonic Day. Nothing wrong with that. But, one of today’s other holidays is the International Day of the Air Traffic Controller. And, also International Sloth Day. The Weekly wonders whether, if all these holidays are to be fully respected, there may be a danger that our ATCs will be drifting very slowly and lethargically into the Control Tower at Heathrow this morning with a really filthy hang-over. With 3,000 flights taking off or landing each day from London’s five airports, maybe it would be prudent to delay your flight by 24 hours. This would then allow you time to enjoy International Chef’s Day which is also being celebrated today. The theme this year is ‘How Healthy Food Works’. This too is a splendid cause but one might reasonably ask how long its shelf-life will be, as tomorrow is the International Day of the Nacho!
There may well have been a time during its construction when the Australian public thought that their long-promised national icon should be re-branded the Sydney Flopera House. It was meant to take four years to build. In the end, it took fourteen years. It was originally estimated to cost Aus$7 million, but eventually topped over Aus$100 million. Hey Ho… it’s only money! The relevance? Well, it was on this day in 1973, HM The Queen formally opened this quite remarkable, much-loved and prize-winning building. Indeed, it is so revered that it has had its own opera written about it, called The Eighth Wonder… and it really is.
Whilst we are on matters Australian (and ignoring yesterday’s rugby result)… here are four more gems:
Sydney is ranked fifth in St Bride’s World Cities Index. Only Paris, New York and Tokyo separate it from the Number One spot… which is held by London.
Both Sydney and Melbourne are high-ranking St Bride’s Global Sports Cities. However commendable that may be, our Aussie cousins still seem to struggle to understand how London comes out at Number One again. But after Sandpaper-gate, they have rather lost their right to a DRS review, haven’t they?
According to EG, our Australian Alliance partners, prime Sydney real estate cap rates/yields are… offices 4.50%, retail 4.00% and industrial 4.50%.
Australian ten year Government bonds are currently yielding 1.04% and inflation is running at 1.6%. So, despite compression over the past couple of years, from an outsider’s standpoint anyway, the spread of property yields over bonds still looks very tempting.
When we think of flops, we tend to think of failed films and records, or comedians dying on their feet. But, not every flop is a flop. For instance, there is the flip flop (or in Aussie-speak, a thong!). Despite being as old as the ancient Egyptians, they gained particular popularity in the sixties and, according to Orbis Research, now form a US$9.15 trillion market which is still growing. Some flop! But the most successful flop, in our view, is the Fosbury Flop. On 20 October 1968, fifty-one years ago today, American Dick Fosbury, master-minded his back-bending jump and won the gold medal at the Mexico City Olympic Games and changed the art of High Jumping forever. He jumped 2.24 m. The world record now stands at 2.45 m (a smidgen over 8 feet). This was achieved by Javier Sotomayer over 26 years ago. But there has been no advancement since then. So, maybe it’s time for another “flop” to be invented!
And with this in mind… yes, you guessed it…, despite his recent flip-flopping around the key European leaders, and reckoning that he had agreed a flipping good deal, Boris’s latest attempt at Brexit has flopped - at least for the time being. Thank heavens then that, England and Wales (but sadly not Ireland) rugby supporters can continue to immerse themselves in the RWC for at least another week. Otherwise they, like the rest of us, may just flip their lids in complete exasperation!!