Would-be Barbie bomber has a change of heart in hell-hole Hilton
Explosive scoop. Overweight Barbie saves the day! Jacquelin Magnay, The Australian, August 24 last year:
Lebanese authorities uncovered a plot to destroy an Etihad … plane over NSW … The Australian can reveal fresh details … Sydneysider Amer Khayet … allegedly said the plane explosion was averted only because the Barbie doll and the meat mincer, both packed with explosives, left his luggage overweight by 7kg upon check-in. Unsure of what to do, he is understood to have handed the case to one of his brothers and he then continued on the flight.
Not so explosive exclusive. Whingeing jihadi wants to go home. Ellen Whinnet, The Daily Telegraph, yesterday:
In an exclusive interview in the grim Central Prison … near Beirut, Amer Khayat, 40 … pleaded to be allowed to return home. “Tell the people of Australia I am innocent,’’ Khayat said, speaking on a phone through two glass walls and two sets of prison bars in a special wing of the prison. “I am not a terrorist … I am innocent … I want to go home.’’
Another Barbie hijabi with too much baggage! Ruqaya Izzidien, New Statesman, November 14, 2017:
Mattel’s first hijabi Barbie comes with way too much baggage to challenge stereotypes.
Depressing diversity news. Too many white males. Michael Vincent, Ludwig Van Toronto, May 25:
Toronto City Council has clawed back … $100,000 from the Canadian Opera Company’s proposed $1.6 million grant, and $50,000 from the Toronto Symphony Orchestra’s $1.27 million grant … Norm Kelly, a board member of the TSO … described the cuts as a “wake-up slap” to those arts groups who might otherwise take city diversity guidelines lightly … The funding adjustment was made on the recommendations of a four-member committee who had serious concerns surrounding the COC’s and TSO’s diversity … Toronto’s big six arts organisations’ … board memberships were generally white, and in some cases, mostly male …
Too white. Too male? John Terauds, The Star, Toronto, May 29:
Shane Kim, Philip Chiu, Joseph Johnson and Theresa Rudolph played two of Brahms’ masterpieces at a concert presented by the Associates of the Toronto Symphony Orchestra. What the audience didn’t expect was a pre-concert announcement that this would be the last event for the 46-year-old Associates of the Toronto Symphony Orchestra … the organisation had run out of money … There were moments of such beauty in the interpretations that they brought tears to my eyes.
The short straw. Eleanor Harding, Daily Mail, June 4:
Chiltern Edge Secondary School in Oxfordshire has banned boys from wearing shorts and insists those who don’t want to wear trousers must don a skirt.
ANU study on diversity. Of course. Jacob Polychronis, Daily Mail, May 21:
(A) study by Australian National University … found educators should avoid … the terms “boy” and “girl” and classifying children according to gender … The research found … girls who played with … Barbie dolls had fewer career options … boys who watched superhero shows were more gender stereotyped in their thinking … councils across Victoria are set to review educational materials … Manningham City Council already checks books for gender modelling and diversity, while teachers are asked to refrain from calling girls “honey” and “sweetie”.