Looking back over the past week and to the weeks ahead – to rate the noteworthy, the cringeworthy, the good, the bad, the ugly, and the truly amazing.
Huge spider a big boon for science
I know loads of people are terrified of our arachnid pals and even the thought of them can bring on mild panic attacks. If that’s you, skip this story.
A recent find of a rather substantial funnel-web spider, north of Sydney, has made the record books. Named ‘Hercules’, the venomous gargantuan now has a home at the Australian Reptile Park, where his venom will help produce essential anti-venom. Beating ‘Colossus’, the previous largest funnel-web found by the public, Hercules measures a whopping 7.9cm from foot to foot.
“‘We’re used to having pretty big funnel-web spiders donated to the park, however receiving a male funnel-web this big is like hitting the jackpot,’ said Emma Teni, a spider keeper at Australian Reptile Park. ‘Whilst female funnel-web spiders are venomous, males have proven to be more lethal. With having a male funnel-web this size in our collection, his venom output could be enormous, proving incredibly valuable for the park’s venom program.'” (Source: “Largest male specimen of world’s most venomous spider found in Australia,” 5th January, www.news.sky.com)
5 stars – everybody wins and Hercules gets a great new home.
Never giving up after 20 years
A recently released television series in the UK has done more than nearly two decades of fighting in the courts and in parliament to remedy a terrible series of injustices. “Mr Bates vs The Post Office” (which you can watch in New Zealand on Apple TV, if you have it), tells the story of Alan Bates and a number of other sub-postmasters in the UK, fighting for justice after they were accused of theft or false accounting, after a payment system, called Horizon, installed by Fujitsu, was not fit for purpose. Rather than investigate the payment system, the Post Office chose to prosecute sub-postmasters instead, leading to convictions, bankruptcies, penury, failed marriages, and suicides.
This tale is riddled with continual stalling and malevolence from the establishment but notable for the tenacity and camaraderie of the sub-postmasters, who band together and utilise every avenue available to them to seek justice and recognition.
Despite winning a landmark case against the Post Office in court, compensation and overturning of wrongful convictions had been slow until the past week and the release of the TV show, which galvanised public indignation and led to substantial action from the UK government. Now there are plans to have every outstanding conviction overturned en masse, and compensation to be hurriedly paid out.
This is a story of redemption but at huge cost, where people’s lives were needlessly destroyed by inept players at a high level.
5 stars – to Alan Bates and the courage and determination of hundreds of people fighting an obvious wrong for far too long.
Doofus needlessly kills much loved local fish
This story is just sad and even more so because it didn’t need to happen, except some brave man with a spear gun decided to end a protected fish’s life, just because he could.
Across the ditch, in Sydney, a Kiwi with a speargun allegedly killed Gus – a 40 year old blue groper. Thing is, the blue groper is the New South Wales state fish and the groper in question was reportedly used to humans and incredibly friendly.
“Others have described the dead marine giant as ‘amiable’ and a ‘true companion’ who swam alongside divers exploring Oak Park. ‘Gus, you were more than just a diving buddy. You were a true companion, joining me on countless dives at Oak Park, Cronulla,’ Abyss Scuba Diving posted on Facebook. ‘Your untimely demise on December 30, 2023, at the hands of a spearfisherman has left us devastated.'” (Source: “Kiwi spearfisher kills Gus the Groper, Sydney’s iconic blue fish,” by Natasha Hill, 9th January, www.nzherald.co.nz).
0 stars – cowardly and pointless. Destroying a beautiful creature for nothing.
