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By the same token this can piss off a lot of Iranians that aren't Persian, because technically if you're Iranian you're not necessarily Persian. There's Azeris, Arabs, Armenians, Balochis, Gilakis, Loris, Kurds, etc... - I think Persians make up about 60%-ish of the country. So some people don't really like it when they're called "Persian" if they're from Iran - because they view it as sort of ignoring their culture. The rise of Zoroastrianism is sort of a pushback of the Islamic Republic & their brand of nationalism as you say - because it's the "native" religion to Iran & the oldest monotheistic religion and some people view Islam as the "religion of the invaders" with the Arab conquests. I think it's more common for Persian Iranians to be into this revival of Zoroastrianism, but probably some of the other Iranic people in the country would fall into that - Azeris are Turkic people, so they came to the region after it was Islamic already and I don't think would have the same connection to Zoroastrianism - meanwhile the Arabs of Iran, similarly, would find their roots in the country most likely tied to the Arab conquest... so while they're very much Iranian... I wouldn't say they have any ties to Zorostrianism. For a lot of people, myself included, this sort of revival is more symbolic than being an actual believer of the religion. Iran's diaspora is increasingly atheist and there are more and more atheists in Iran (probably because of dissolution in living in a religious authoritarian regime and probably because religious conflict has led to a lot of bad shit happening in both Iran & the region generally). But it, and Christianity, are also some of the fastest growing religions in the country as well. But yeah, it's an absolute shame what happened to Iran.... although if the UK & US never removed their democracy in the 50s, and their puppet dictator was never ousted in 1979... I might not have ever been born. So from a selfish perspective, it's not so bad. But from a non-selfish perspective... me existing probably wasn't worth the suffering of 82m+ people

I bless the strains down in Aaaaafrica.

https://www.axios.com/cdc-omicron-death-delta-variant-covid-959f1e3a-b09c-4d31-820c-90071f8e7a4f.html Fantastic news, and another confirmation for initial data from South Africa. 53% reduction in risk of hospitalisation, 70% reduction in length of hospitalisation, 74% reduction in risk for ICU, and 91% reduction in risk of death. Large study sample with varied demographics, too. Over 52000 Omicron patients in the study, and none needed mechanical ventilation!

That doesn’t mean it shouldn’t be brought up and addressed. It is par the course of things happening and Morrison taking the credit while actually doing nothing. The point being is that they don’t care about the actual rules and if the popular idea was to let Novax in, they would. The people that are running the show are the exact same people as Djokovic, rich, entitled people that think the rules don’t apply to them. It is an absolute mess of a situation and he should have been turned away day one, but they have made a meal from it and let it get out of control.

He’s filled out forms wrong, if it was John Smith he’d have been sent back ages ago. There could be other stuff going on but tbh he’s been some what of a figure for the mad anti vaxxers on my newsfeed so seeing them go from celebrating his victory to this now is worth it for the meltdowns…

Might upset a few people but I'm praying for him to be kicked out to be honest. The anti-vax crowd are dangerous enough without being allowed to feel that their kicking, screaming, protesting and general losing of their minds over this case has been vindicated. I would have had some sympathy for Djokovic if this whole thing was a mix-up with his papers and the evidence suggested that he genuinely tested positive in the past six months to get an exemption. However, the claim is that he tested positive on 16th December, yet there is evidence of him at an awards' event on the 17th and a photoshoot with L'Equipe on the 18th. So either he was parading around carrying on with his normal life against the rules having tested positive, or the positive test on the 16th is simply an outright lie. Morally speaking, either of these should be sufficient to send him packing, but I understand that using evidence of him wandering around with Covid in Serbia, France, Monaco or wherever probably can't easily be used in a court case in Australia. There's a lot of narrative about him being 'locked up' which seems to be garnering him increasing sympathy from the global media. I'm sorry but the way refugees and asylum seekers are treated in some countries, they'd give an arm and a leg to be getting the treatment Djokovic is getting down there. Competing in the Australian Open isn't a basic human right either. He's been a silly man not getting the vaccine in the first place and it looks like he's gone on to be genuinely a pretty big dickhead either lying about having Covid to get what he wants or knocking about with other people while he knew he was infected. If he goes on to be allowed into the country and compete in the tournament, which he'll likely also win, what message does that send out to the rest of the world about following the rules? I don't like him but he's a role model to many.

Lab 14 points ahead on this poll. I genuinely don't understand why Tory MPs aren't falling over each other trying to be the first ones to publicly distance themselves from this government. Goes to show how much they actually fancy Sunak and Truss in part. Again, I'm happy for it to continue. Every time they try to back Mr Blobby again only for another story to be leaked, they make it just a bit more likely that the next government might actually not be a Tory majority, and makes it harder for them to just recycle another leader, do another rebrand and contest the next election as "we're not like the last Tories" yet again.

Iran means the land of aryans. It was always called Iran natively but Greeks called it Persia from one of its ancient region Fars which was united with Media by Cyrus the Great creating the Iranian nation. Persia and Iran were used interchangeably but Reza Shah I didn't like the idea of using a foreign name and sent letters to embassies around the world to only refer to it as Iran. Since then Persia is no longer used officially/diplomatically

He needs to go. Seeing him lift the trophy in two week's time after refusing the vaccine, admitting he just carried on going about his life after testing positive for Covid and probably infected others, and admitting that he lied on his visa form, is a kick in the teeth not just to regular Australians who would never have got away with trying to do that to get into their own country, but to people in that same boat around the world. If Djokovic is allowed to play this tournament and especially if he goes on to win it, he will become a worldwide poster boy for rules not applying to people with money and status the same as they apply to the rest of us. He needs to go. It really shouldn't be up for debate. In other slightly more cheerful news, Andy Murray won his semi-final against Opelka in Sydney and is now in his first main tour final since 2019.

Not really my point.. that being the government are using this as a good PR spin

You’re right, it would have been a bad precedent to set, and by law how it is written. Still, I feel suspicious

Yes. They let him under a false pretense so they can deport him for the PR. Johnny Foreigner getting comeuppance is such an effective tool

Wouldn’t make a difference a hundred of him in the staff to replace him

He made the decision like a coward, just before heading into the weekend and no instant repercussions. It's kind of relatable. Doesn't mean I'd vote for him.

I still don’t get what you mean by ‘Aussie’ and I never will

The doom mongering is out in force this morning from where I'm sitting.

Sounds like something someone who grows Cannabis would say. I already informed the authorities. So long, you filthy criminal!

I just found it amusing how random that fact about your mate was personally, I don't think anyone should be in jail for growing cannabis.