What a day

If you’re anything like me you spent yesterday glued to news reports about “Liberation Day”.

Wow, what a cluster fark … and a terrible blow to global economic stability.

Although, there were amusing moments, such as when tariffs were placed on obscure islands.

Norfolk Island, for example, was startled to discover it had been singled out for a 29% tariff, despite being part of Australia (which was only lumped with a 10% tariff).

The announcement placed Norfolk Island among the 30 hardest-hit territories globally.

Its appearance in the spotlight was brief, however. In the official release of Annex 1 of the Trump Administration’s executive order it disappeared from the naughty list and the glory of being among the “dirty 30” – as the AFR put it – was over.

The island’s chief magistrate, Leah Honeywood, who is a “fifth great-granddaughter” of Bounty mutineer Fletcher Christian and a strong advocate for self governance said: “The mere fact that the United States of America recognises us as the separate entity we are from Australia has overjoyed us immensely.”

Heard Island and the McDonald Islands, in the sub-Antarctic Indian Ocean about 4100 kilometres south-west of Perth, were also unfathomably targetted. While they have been overseen by Australia since 1947, they are inhabited primarily by penguins and seals.

There are no humans living on the islands – with the last visit from people believed to be nearly 10 years ago – and no plans for exports, unless shipping penguin poo vast distances becomes a thing.

The announcement caused widespread social media mirth in an otherwise gloomy situation.

‘The penguins have been ripping us off for years,’ wrote Trump’s former communications director Anthony Scaramucci, now a frequent critic of the president.

‘For far too long, the penguins on the uninhabited Heard and McDonald Islands in the Antarctic have ripped off American taxpayers,’ wrote Washington Post National Security editor. ‘That ends today.’

‘The Heard Island and McDonald penguins have been taking advantage of us for too long – it’s about time we stood up to them!’ wrote former Congressman Tom Malinowski on X.

‘No longer will the rapacious penguins dump their substandard goods upon unsuspecting American markets,’ wrote Washington Post columnist Megan McArdle.

‘What did the penguins do to deserve this…they just want some fish and to not be eaten man!’ wrote author Steve Magness.

‘Those penguins need to be taught a lesson,’ wrote Atlantic contributor Jemele Hill.

Read the article I wrote for Drinks Digest on the impact US tariffs will have on the drinks industry here.

Fortunately the NSW Government also brightened things up by putting out a media release on the top baby names of 2024.

Old school names took out the top spots.

For boys the top three were Noah, Oliver and Theodore … Theodore? And for girls it was Charlotte, Amelia and Olivia.

Breaking into the top 100 for the first time were boys’ names Louie, Ibrahim, Myles, Matteo, Grayson, Maverick and Malakai, with Lainey making the list for the girls.

Weird, didn’t see Lainey coming – oddly, it was the name of my ex-husband’s first love.

Lily, Ava, and Matilda were pushed out of the top 10, while William dropped out of the top 10 for the first time in 27 years.

And finally, look what has arrived …