I've been thinking about John Schluter and how, it seems, he was told at age 51 that he didn't have a future at Channel 9. By my reckonning, he has 15 years to go until normal retirement age and at least twice as many productive years left in him.

When was the last time you saw a German play? For me it was when the Queensland Theatre Company presented Falk Richter's God is a DJ in 2004. The next one will be this week when I see QTC's production of Roland Schimmelpfennig's The Woman Before. I'll reserve my judgment until I see the show, but I will note now that it's refreshing to see something other than our usual diet of English, Irish, American and Australian fare. Maybe soon we'll see some local companies produce plays from Asia, Africa, eastern Europe and the Middle East. In translation, of course.

I can't quite come to grips with the public outpouring of grief over the death of "Crocodile Hunter" Steve Irwin. I heard a woman on the radio this morning who had driven from northern New South Wales with her children simply to be at South Bank's Suncorp Piazza to watch this morning's memorial service among like-minded people. As far as I could tell, she had never met Irwin but was simply a fan of his work. It's not something I would do and I wonder whether, in some cases at least, it's more about being a part of something than it is about Irwin himself. In any case, I hope that these people take a strong conservation message home with them today and start thinking, and doing something, about big issues like the destruction of habitat, desalination, pollution and climate change.