Latest news with #Wishart
News.com.au
2 days ago
- Business
- News.com.au
Luxury home up for grabs with massive 16-car garage
There will be no moving the Camira and the Torana to get to the Commodore in this luxury property on the market in Brisbane – there's plenty of space for all the classics in the 16-car basement garage with service pit and workshop. Sitting below the suspended concrete slab of a sprawling six-bedroom, dual living home at 62 Norfolk Pl, Wishart, the basement garage covers 423 sqm. It has painted concrete floors, an abundance of power points to allow for trickle charging and plenty of lighting throughout. There is a separate workshop area with service pit and roller door, a second workshop space, a bathroom and a stainless steel bench with sink – perfect for washing parts. With plumbing already on this lower level, it would be easy to add a kitchen or laundry. Internal stairs lead up to the oversized three-car garage attached to the house with access to both the granny flat and main home. On the market through Andy Guo and Jess Chia of Place Sunnybank, the home is for sale via expressions of interest. 'This is one of those truly unique homes,' Ms Chia said. 'It's not your typical, standard Wishart house.' Ms Chia said not only did the huge garage separate the property from others on the market, so too did the 1000 sqm block, executive home, granny flat and two-street access. 'One access is from the main road and the other is from the cul-de-sac in Norfolk Pl, which is in one of the best areas of Wishart,' she said. The main house has a huge open plan living area with soaring ceilings, a chef's kitchen, and a master suite with luxury ensuite and private patio. There is a built-in wood fire pizza oven in the outdoor kitchen, while a central courtyard has an automated electric louvre roof that responds to weather. The granny flat has a full kitchen, living and dining space plus a laundry, walk-in robe and bathroom. 'The granny flat has literally been built for granny,' Ms Chia said. 'There is not a single step in the space and it is completely wheelchair accessible.' Ms Chia said the property had been generating strong interest from a range of buyers. 'The phones have not stopped ringing for this one,' she said. 'We've had enquiries from families, people who have thought about running a small business from the garage and car collectors. 'One potential buyer has a collection of about 10 cars and this garage would mean he could bring them all home. 'In the middle of the night he can come downstairs and work on his car rather go to a garage off site.'
NZ Herald
14-07-2025
- Climate
- NZ Herald
Media Insider: How an RNZ story about this city's weather ended up in front of two media watchdogs
The BSA deals with any complaints regarding radio and TV broadcasts; the Media Council looks after text-based journalism in digital and print. Wishart was exasperated that the reports stated the run of hot weather was probably unprecedented when records from the 1930s had indicated a heatwave of greater duration and intensity. The Media Council upheld Wishart's complaint about the website story, based on the original headline, 'Hamilton's run of hot days shattered previous record'. The council found the article itself had not breached its accuracy principle but called that headline an 'exaggeration' and 'not backed up by evidence'. It said a subsequent amended headline - 'Hamilton's run of hot days breaks previous record' - still did not do enough to reflect that the story was based on a climate scientist's opinion, or the degree of uncertainty of the assertion. Author and investigative journalist Ian Wishart. Photo / Chris Gorman The BSA, on the other hand, rejected Wishart's complaint about the radio broadcast, saying it had not breached its accuracy standard. '[Wishart] argued the broadcast was inaccurate and, when notified of the previous heatwave, RNZ had taken insufficient actions to correct any misleading impressions,' said the BSA in its decision. 'The authority found the statements complained about were analysis, comment or opinion to which the [accuracy] standard does not apply and, in any event, did not result in the broadcast being misleading.' The original story The original RNZ story was broadcast and reported on February 13. On RNZ National's Morning Report, the story was introduced: 'From sunny Nelson to sunny Hamilton, a climate scientist says Hamilton's recent run of hot days likely beats anything the city has experienced since temperature records began. Now Hamilton has reached highs of at least 27 degrees for the last 13 days, and that is set to continue today, yes, with a forecast high of 28.' Hot in the city - Hamilton was at the centre of two recent media watchdog decisions. The reporter spoke to local residents, a MetService forecaster and climate scientist Luke Harrington, who stated: 'The last 10 days, well actually now 11, have been the hottest, continuous 10 or 11-day stretch, certainly of the records that I have available, they go back to sort of the early 1990s, but I think if you went further back in time as well, they'd still remain the worst on record.' Wishart told the BSA that the broadcast was inaccurate, and RNZ had not done anything to correct it. 'Unfortunately for both [the reporter] and [the climate scientist], historic newspaper records revealed Hamilton endured an almost unbroken streak of 62 days [of] about 27C in the summer of 1934-35,' the BSA reported Wishart as saying. He said that the 1934-35 heatwave was evidence that the 'broader messaging' of the story, regarding the impacts of climate change, was flawed, 'as nature was and is clearly capable of throwing heat bombs at us that exceed by magnitudes anything we've seen under climate change'. This broader messaging was 'dangerously flawed' because it implied 'that by adoption of stringent emissions controls we can somehow save ourselves from natural heat bombs at the 1935 scale when we actually can't'. This messaging left Hamilton authorities 'blissfully unaware of the real heatwave threat' and what they might need to do to plan for it. Wishart argued that the use of the word 'probably' was 'a red flag' that the climate scientist had no actual evidence upon which to base his 'hottest ever' claim. 'Instead of 'spending more time answering' the question, RNZ chose to make an unanswered question the lead angle, and 'failed to research' the issue,' he told the BSA. Meanwhile, according to the Media Council, the digital version of the story quoted the climate scientist as saying the run of hot days 'likely beats anything the city has experienced since temperature records began'. The scientist said such weather events would become more common with greenhouse gases heating the planet. RNZ's response RNZ defended the broadcast and story. It told the BSA that the reporter and the climate scientist had engaged with Wishart following his complaint. This led to the headline being changed on the website story and the 'annotation of the story with the additional data' that Wishart had provided. 'We note that in response to [the complainant's] previous complaints about weather data, the Media Council has found such corrective action to be timely and sufficient, given the relatively minor nature of the error,' RNZ told the BSA. RNZ told the BSA that the climate scientist was credible as an authoritative expert. In addition, 'the reporter and [the climate scientist] were careful to emphasise that his comments were based on his knowledge at that time. There was nothing in his commentary to suggest that he needed to be challenged by the interviewer'. 'RNZ did initiate its own investigation,' it told the BSA. 'Consequently, the most that RNZ could establish as a legitimate historical temperature record was a spell of hot days and peat fires in the 1930s. This was added to the online story, and the active verb in the headline was also adjusted at [the climate scientist's] request, from 'shattered' to 'breaks'. 'Given these minor changes, RNZ does not believe the original broadcast, with its notes of caution from [the climate scientist] based on his knowledge at the time of the interview, materially misled our audience.' The findings media insider The BSA found that the article had not breached its accuracy standard. 'Noting the language used (ie 'likely', 'might have', 'probably', 'I think'), the source of the information (the climate scientist) and the lack of evidence provided to support the statements, reasonable listeners are likely to recognise the suggestions regarding an unprecedented heatwave to be the climate scientist's opinion – to which the [accuracy] standard does not apply." media insider Wishart told the Media Council, meanwhile, that his complaint was 'not about climate change denial but the integrity of journalism'. The council considered whether the story had breached four of its principles: accuracy, fairness and balance; comment and fact; headlines and captions; and corrections. The council said both RNZ and Harrington disputed the reliability of the figures from the 1930s, saying they were not directly comparable to the present day. 'The council is not expert in assessing the reliability of historical weather records and whether they can be usefully compared but finds that RNZ was within its rights to publish the claim about the 2025 Hamilton heatwave as the opinion of a climate scientist.' On balance, the website report was not upheld by the council based on the accuracy principle. However, the council said the original headline with the word 'shattered' was an exaggeration and not backed up by the evidence. 'RNZ responded quickly, checking with Dr Harrington, and the reporter requested the headline change the day after the story was published. 'However, even after that change was made, the council believes the headline did not indicate the degree of uncertainty expressed by the climate scientist or that the claim was his opinion. 'The [updated] heading 'Hamilton's run of hot days breaks previous record' was stated as fact. The caption below the headline, which read 'Hamilton has had almost two weeks of the hottest weather on record', was also stated as fact without any degree of uncertainty or attribution.' It upheld the complaint based on a breach of principle 6 (headlines and captions). The aftermath RNZ later sent out two advisories to syndication partners - including the NZ Herald and Stuff - updating the article, and ultimately landed on the headline, 'Hamilton hot days a risk to public health'. It made changes to the body of the article, as well, adding details about the 1930s weather. The BSA decision was released 11 days ago and last week Wishart wrote on Twitter: 'Not a BSA judgement that either RNZ or the BSA can be proud of, as it essentially says RNZ only escaped censure because its climate BS was dressed up as opinion, and they're allowed to publish BS opinions as fact. Will be appealed to clarify the law.' The heat doesn't appear to have dissipated from this one just yet. Editor-at-Large Shayne Currie is one of New Zealand's most experienced senior journalists and media leaders. He has held executive and senior editorial roles at NZME including Managing Editor, NZ Herald Editor and Herald on Sunday Editor and has a small shareholding in NZME. Watch Media Insider - The Podcast on YouTube, or listen to it on iHeartRadio, Spotify, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.
Graziadaily
03-07-2025
- Graziadaily
The 7/7 Bombings: 'It Was Hell – Nothing Can Prepare You'
Twenty years ago, London suffered the biggest act of murder on English soil since the Second World War. On 7 July 2005 at around 8.50am, three bombs went off on Tube trains close to Aldgate, Edgware Road and Russell Square stations. An hour later, a bus in Tavistock Square was torn apart by a fourth explosion. Fifty-two people were killed and more than 700 injured. The events triggered the most extensive criminal investigation in British history, as authorities rushed to prevent more killings. 'The politicians and police were concerned that this was the first of a wave of attacks that would wreck London,' says Adam Wishart, who, with James Nally, co-authored new book Three Weeks In July and co-directed 7/7: The London Bombings , a documentary on BBC iPlayer. 'They were dealing with a huge psychic shock. It was incredibly urgent to work out what had happened, and uncover the network surrounding the perpetrators.' Many survivors suffered life-changing injuries. Martine Wiltshire lost both her legs on the Aldgate train; she recalls seeing one of her new shoes caught in tangled metal far away from her, and struggling to understand. 'Since then she has become a sitting volleyball player, a Paralympian and a motivational speaker – it's a central element of her life,' says Wishart. 'But there are some people, I imagine, who have put the experience in a box and buried it.' An officer on the anti-terrorism squad, Dave Skiffins was one of those who went into the shell of the Tube carriage below Russell Square and collected the remains of more than 20 bodies. 'Individual people were sometimes blown into hundreds of pieces,' he told Wishart and Nally. 'It was hell. To see such devastation. No amount of training prepares you for that – the bodies, the bits, the blood. These people were taken in the prime of their lives. That's what got us more than anything. When they left home that morning to go to work, they didn't know that it was all going to end there.' Skiffins still regularly dreams about what he saw. At the highest level, then-Prime Minister Tony Blair was responsible for protecting the country. Talking to him, says Wishart, it was clear that he found the event emotional and frightening. 'Above all, the purpose of Government is to keep citizens safe – and in that sense he had failed.' Blair told the authors that he remembers, the following evening, watching his five-year-old son sleep. 'I'd spent all day just trying to do the job of being Prime Minister. But you are a human being... I remember going and seeing Leo sleeping and just thinking, 'What does it all mean for him, for his generation, for the country he's going to grow up in and for the future?'' The book makes it clear that there are no easy decisions or solutions in dealing with a terror threat – but intelligence services were criticised for what they'd missed. It emerged that one bomber, Mohammad Sidique Khan, had been flagged in previous investigations. 'There was a lot of chatter in the press about how MI5 could have acted sooner,' says Wishart. 'But it's a dilemma. You can stop every suicide bomber if you have a totalitarian state – but otherwise someone has to prioritise who we should follow and who we shouldn't.' Two weeks after the bombings, the Met Police took a risk to stop a potential attack and got it horribly wrong. On 21 July 2005, four more bombs had been detonated in London but failed to explode, triggering a manhunt for those responsible. The next day, the innocent 27-year-old Jean Charles de Menezes was mistaken by police for suspect Hussain Osman, and was shot dead. 'It was a terrible tragedy following a series of awful mistakes,' says Wishart. 'The police then lied to try to cover up the incident, and that was something that did lasting damage to their reputation.'
North Wales Chronicle
30-06-2025
- Health
- North Wales Chronicle
MSP vows to continue campaign for brain tumour cure after leaving Holyrood
Beatrice Wishart has been a supporter of the charity Brain Tumour Research since her daughter Louise Fraser, now 47, was diagnosed in 2012. The Liberal Democrat MSP for the Shetland Islands will step down from frontline politics at the 2026 Holyrood election. But the 69-year-old said that will not stop her from continuing to push for more research into brain tumours. 'Louise had suffered with debilitating migraines for many years, so we were used to the phone calls and knew the routine – help with the children, keep things quiet, and let her rest in a dark room,' Ms Wishart said. 'But on New Year's Day (2012) she became seriously unwell. When I went to check on her, she wasn't speaking properly and I honestly thought she'd had a stroke. It was terrifying. 'Due to staff shortages and as there wasn't an MRI scanner in Shetland at the time, it took a few days before she was flown to Aberdeen. 'That's when we were told it was a brain tumour. Your whole world falls apart when you hear those words, especially when it's your child. 'I remember being told it was low-grade and slow-growing, but the diagnosis still knocked the wind out of me. 'In that moment, everything changed. 'Once I had a better understanding of Louise's treatment, I wanted to know more about the prevalence of brain tumours and that led to wanting to do something to raise awareness for more research, ultimately leading to better support and early diagnoses for other families going through the same fear and uncertainty.' Ms Fraser underwent surgery at Aberdeen Royal Infirmary and her tumour is now stable and monitored regularly. Brain Tumour Research said tumours can impact people of any age, and kill more children and adults under 40 than any other cancer. But just 1% of the national spend on cancer goes to brain tumour research, it said. Ms Wishart has campaigned for more money to fund brain tumour research and ensure people can receive an earlier diagnosis. The MSP helped set up Holyrood's Cross-Party Group on Brain Tumours and has supported the launch of the Scottish Brain Tumour Research Centre of Excellence, which Brain Tumour Research described as a 'game-changing' collaboration with the Beatson Cancer Charity. Following the death of Ms Fraser's husband Kris from a brain haemorrhage in 2024, Ms Wishart continued to increase her support for the charity. The Liberal Democrat has helped raise thousands of pounds through various events in memory of Mr Fraser and in ongoing support of her daughter. As she prepares to leave the Scottish Parliament next year, Ms Wishart pledged to continue to fight for those with brain tumours. She said: 'Just because I'm stepping back from Parliament doesn't mean I'll stop fighting for this cause. 'Brain tumours have had a profound impact on my family, and I know we are not alone. I will keep speaking up, sharing our story, and doing whatever I can to push for change. 'I'm proud of what was started in the Scottish Parliament, and know the Cross-Party Group will continue to carry that work forward. Only together will we find a cure for this devastating disease.' Thomas Brayford, policy and public affairs manager at Brain Tumour Research, said: 'Beatrice has been an outstanding advocate for the brain tumour community in Scotland. 'From raising policy issues in Parliament to supporting events in her local area, she has helped give a voice to so many families and inspired others to act. 'We are incredibly grateful for everything she has done and continues to do.' To support Ms Wishart and her family's ongoing fundraising efforts, visit:
South Wales Guardian
30-06-2025
- Health
- South Wales Guardian
MSP vows to continue campaign for brain tumour cure after leaving Holyrood
Beatrice Wishart has been a supporter of the charity Brain Tumour Research since her daughter Louise Fraser, now 47, was diagnosed in 2012. The Liberal Democrat MSP for the Shetland Islands will step down from frontline politics at the 2026 Holyrood election. But the 69-year-old said that will not stop her from continuing to push for more research into brain tumours. 'Louise had suffered with debilitating migraines for many years, so we were used to the phone calls and knew the routine – help with the children, keep things quiet, and let her rest in a dark room,' Ms Wishart said. 'But on New Year's Day (2012) she became seriously unwell. When I went to check on her, she wasn't speaking properly and I honestly thought she'd had a stroke. It was terrifying. 'Due to staff shortages and as there wasn't an MRI scanner in Shetland at the time, it took a few days before she was flown to Aberdeen. 'That's when we were told it was a brain tumour. Your whole world falls apart when you hear those words, especially when it's your child. 'I remember being told it was low-grade and slow-growing, but the diagnosis still knocked the wind out of me. 'In that moment, everything changed. 'Once I had a better understanding of Louise's treatment, I wanted to know more about the prevalence of brain tumours and that led to wanting to do something to raise awareness for more research, ultimately leading to better support and early diagnoses for other families going through the same fear and uncertainty.' Ms Fraser underwent surgery at Aberdeen Royal Infirmary and her tumour is now stable and monitored regularly. Brain Tumour Research said tumours can impact people of any age, and kill more children and adults under 40 than any other cancer. But just 1% of the national spend on cancer goes to brain tumour research, it said. Ms Wishart has campaigned for more money to fund brain tumour research and ensure people can receive an earlier diagnosis. The MSP helped set up Holyrood's Cross-Party Group on Brain Tumours and has supported the launch of the Scottish Brain Tumour Research Centre of Excellence, which Brain Tumour Research described as a 'game-changing' collaboration with the Beatson Cancer Charity. Following the death of Ms Fraser's husband Kris from a brain haemorrhage in 2024, Ms Wishart continued to increase her support for the charity. The Liberal Democrat has helped raise thousands of pounds through various events in memory of Mr Fraser and in ongoing support of her daughter. As she prepares to leave the Scottish Parliament next year, Ms Wishart pledged to continue to fight for those with brain tumours. She said: 'Just because I'm stepping back from Parliament doesn't mean I'll stop fighting for this cause. 'Brain tumours have had a profound impact on my family, and I know we are not alone. I will keep speaking up, sharing our story, and doing whatever I can to push for change. 'I'm proud of what was started in the Scottish Parliament, and know the Cross-Party Group will continue to carry that work forward. Only together will we find a cure for this devastating disease.' Thomas Brayford, policy and public affairs manager at Brain Tumour Research, said: 'Beatrice has been an outstanding advocate for the brain tumour community in Scotland. 'From raising policy issues in Parliament to supporting events in her local area, she has helped give a voice to so many families and inspired others to act. 'We are incredibly grateful for everything she has done and continues to do.' To support Ms Wishart and her family's ongoing fundraising efforts, visit:
