Turnbull sets sail, Lorde stays away from Israel

Malcolm Turnbull was spotted setting sail from his Point Piper mansion in a little boat recently. The Australian, yesterday:

Malcolm Turnbull should enjoy his Christmas dinghy while he can … The New Year’s Eve forecast for Mr Turnbull’s Sydney neighbourhood is for showers across the day — less than ideal boating conditions for a Prime Minister trying to steady the ship.

No, the Prime Minister wasn’t trying to get in on any of the Sydney to Hobart action. DD McNicoll, The Australian online, yesterday:

Ichi Ban skipper Matt Allen faces a nervous wait to find out whether his newest yacht has done enough to be named overall Sydney to Hobart winner. The 52-footer, considered by many pundits as the pre-race handicap favourite, docked in Hobart this morning after a wild ride down Tasmania’s east coast.

We figure Turnbull was trying to ­escape the next Newspoll. The Australian, Tuesday:

The federal government has suffered a collapse in support in the critical state of NSW, lost ground across the five major capital cities and ceded ­further territory to One Nation, leaving Malcolm Turnbull facing an electoral ­battle on several key fronts in the new year.

Turnbull can sail but he can’t hide. Simon Benson’s analysis in The Australian, Tuesday:

Only a dramatic turn of events is ­likely to rescue the government and address what appear to be embedded structural problems for the Coalition.

Maybe he’s hoping a certain Chinese submarine will pull up next to his dinghy. Troy Bramston in The Weekend Australian, December 16:

The craziest theory (for former prime minister Harold Holt’s disappearance in 1967) came from British journalist Anthony Grey, who claimed that Holt was a Chinese spy. Two frogmen apparently guided him underwater to a submarine that had been “lying ­silent on the seabed”. Zara Holt, the prime minister’s wife, later said, “Harold didn’t even like Chinese food.”

The Prime Minister should consider taking pop star Lorde on the escape boat. ABC News online, yesterday:

Israel’s ambassador to New Zealand has asked pop star Lorde to meet with him after she cancelled a show in Tel Aviv.

We stuck the boot into Lorde. Cut & Paste, yesterday:

Singer has cancelled her show in progressive Tel Aviv but she’s still set for Putin’s Russia.

Lorde should take a leaf from world chess champion Anna Muzychuk. The Ukrainian chess whiz’s Facebook page, December 23:

In a few days I am going to lose two World Champion titles — one by one. Just because I decided not to go to Saudi Arabia.

There’s a country worth shying away from. The New York Times, Sunday:

Saudi Arabia has long been known as one of the world’s most restrictive ­environments for women, where they could not travel alone, hold a wide range of jobs, show their hair in public or drive.

Israel, on the other hand, is one of the few countries in the Middle East where women are free. Israeli Culture Minister Miri Regev’s statement on Sunday:

Lorde, I expect you to be a “pure heroine” like the title of your first album. A pure heroine of culture, void of any foreign political considerations, not to mention delusional ones.