Greyhound racing
(Image: Getty)

Emirates check in According to a tipster, the foreign staff sacked by Emirates in Dubai midyear are having a very tough time leaving the United Arab Emirates by the deadlines set by the government-owned airline.

Under UAE law, the staff must sell up all their assets — and it’s not exactly a seller’s market: if they can’t settle their debts, they are threatened with jail. The UAE has no bankruptcy laws, so anyone who misses car or credit card repayments, or defaults on their mortgage is at serious risk. It’s why the country has, for example, thousands of abandoned luxury cars.

According to our tipster, Emirates is not helping with their departures. Nor, they say, does the Australian government seem particularly interested in helping these people get home.

A DFAT spokesperson told Crikey that the Australian government “continues to explore options to help Australians access flights on a commercial basis, and our network of embassies and consular posts continue to provide up-to-date advice on local conditions and available flights to Australia”. Emirates did not respond by deadline.

Family fun One of the tactics used by the greyhound racing industry in recent years to launder its reputation has been to try to convince people it is a “family” sport. Maitland Greyhounds tells us Monday night is “the perfect time for a family night out”. Dubbo Greyhound Racing invites us to “Enjoy a night at the greyhounds with the family”, including a New Year’s Eve event last year with a “free jumping castle” for the kids and $3 beers for mum and dad.

Tamworth Greyhound Racing summoned locals to a “family fun day” last year, complete with Rodney the aptly blood-coloured nightmare clown.

Oh Jesus fucking Christ

Last week, Temora Greyhounds even called one of its races the “Child Protection Week Stakes”. Some might think that what kids need protecting from is seeing racetrack accidents that leave dogs crippled and dead, because this taxpayer-subsidised industry won’t take even basics steps like straight race tracks and six-dog races.

So far this year 32 dogs have been killed in this family-friendly “sport” in NSW, while over 300 have sustained major injuries and nearly 1800 have been injured. Fun for all the family…

Hanson Memorabilia Today we learned that Australia Post CEO Christina Holgate would rather get the cops involved than fail her sacred duty to make sure Pauline Hanson’s latest vile provocation reaches its intended targets (in this case sending people she’d called drug addicts and alcoholics One Nation branded stubby holders).

Melbournites, waiting weeks for briefly numbing online purchases to arrive, will surely be glad to know just how quickly they’d get Hanson merch — whether it’s her “woman of the people” poster, or this handsome bar runner. But if we’re really going to take advantage of Holgate’s commitment to getting Hanson’s message out there, we’re going to order a copy of Hanson’s 1997 book The Truth — which envisages a terrifying future for Australia: by 2050 we are presided over by (and I cannot stress enough that this is not made up) a multiracial lesbian cyborg.

Pumped hydroxychloroquine Gina Rinehart co-owned cattle empire S. Kidman and Co. has an interesting criteria for what it includes in its news page.

Among the articles about how fat and dairy can save your life and how traditional owners in the Kimberley are looking to agriculture to drive “economic and social change” are at least two Sky News videos advocating (possibly poison and almost certainly not a COVID-19 cure) hydroxychloroquine.

Helpfully, the bottom of these pages includes a disclaimer, ensuring viewers know that “this information is provided as entertainment purposes only”.

Corporate compassion Prime Minister Scott Morrison added to the R U OK Day pile this morning in a live Facebook stream, arguing it was more important than ever to show compassion and empathy.

Thanks for checking in Scott, really. Perhaps in the spirit of concern for people’s mental well being, at the end of the month you could refrain from cutting the payments that keep over a million people (and counting) out of poverty during a catastrophic global recession, or the payments that allow businesses to keep them employed in the first place? Some people find that kind of thing a bit of a downer.