TFF was saddened to hear of the death of Major General William "Digger" James, MC, MBE, on Monday, aged 85.
The distinguished veteran of the Korean and Vietnam wars was awarded the Military Cross in the first of those conflicts for what happened when he was a junior officer with the 1st Battalion, on the night of   November 7, 1952.
On a night-time patrol, one of his men stepped on a mine and the shrapnel took down four of them, including Lieutenant James, who lost his left foot. Still, he observed his primary duty to look after his men first, and after securing perimeters organised the evacuation of them all, before, at his insistence, he was rescued last, more than three hours after the detonation. The citation for his award read: "The example set by Lieutenant James and his leadership, devotion to duty, self-sacrifice and extreme fortitude when in great personal distress was an inspiration to members of his battalion." 
A glittering career lay ahead, including, in retirement, becoming chairman of the Australian War Memorial.
His name will live on, and something else besides ... For if you look closely at the face of the mounted Digger at the memorial in Canberra to the Australian Light Horse at Be'er Sheva - site of the the famous charge of 4th Light Horse Brigade on   October 31, 1917 - it is the face of Digger James. When the sculptor was fashioning his figures, who better to model it on than "Digger", whose face showed Australian-ness, courage and self-sacrifice, all in one?
The Sun-Herald extends its deepest condolences to his wife of more than 60 years, Barbara, four children and nine grandchildren. Lest we forget.
Alex and Eve
As we all know, there is huge money to be made in this country if you can successfully turn Australians against each other. First rank professional polemicists make squillions, simply by feeding the prejudices of one mob against another - who will quickly line up for more, please, Alan. How refreshing, then, to see a first-class professional endeavour that is designed to bring us together. Such a film is Alex and Eve, which opens across the country this weekend. A heart-warming romance between a Greek Australian male teacher who meets a Muslim Australian lawyer, I saw it a charity premiere at Fox Hoyts on Wednesday night. I thought it every bit as good as the four out of five stars the Herald's Paul Byrnes gave it. But the completely mingled Greek/Islamic Australian audience I saw it with clearly gave it five stars, as they roared knowingly throughout. Bravo.
Flag it
Those Kiwis worry me, as nice a breed as they are.
I happened to be with 150 of them on the Gold Coast on Thursday evening, and posed the question to them after dinner as to whether they would, or would not, back their Prime Minister John Key in his desire to come up with a New Zealand flag that does not feature the flag of another nation on it.
Only about a third said yes! Openly dismayed, one of the younger Kiwis took pity on me and said while many of those over 50 were indeed conservative on the flag, those in their 20s and 30s would ALL back Key home ...
Joke of the week
An old country farmer goes to town to see a movie, but there is immediately a problem, when they refuse to allow him in with his pet rooster, Chuck. So the farmer goes around the corner and stuffs Chuck down his overalls, buys his ticket, and then settles down in the cinema, next to two old widows named Mildred and Marge.
The movie starts and of course Chuck starts to squirm, so the old farmer unbuttons his fly so Chuck can stick his head out and they can watch the movie together.
"Marge," whispers Mildred, presently. "I think the guy next to me is a pervert. He undid his pants and he has his thing hanging out."
"Well, don't worry about it," says Marge. "At our age we've seen 'em all."
"I thought so, too," says Mildred. "But this one's eatin' my popcorn!"
Twitter: @Peter_Fitz