Skittering into the Depths

Skittering into the Depths, voices calling, turbulence, trouble, flashes of anger beneath the opaque surface; we couldn't have asked for more, couldn't have tried harder, couldn't have worked to embrace life with more enthusiasm; the reward a hatfull of arseholes; talentless little worms turning our days to mud, incompentent, abusive and promoted. That's the world I live in.

THE STORY CONTINUES:

"Daddy, I don't believe anybody any more," he said, his two-year-old face serious, upset.
"That's a funny thing to say, Sammy."
"I don't believe anybody any more," he repeated.
"Why do you say that?"
"I just do."

The following day everything happened at once.

Anna left, the plan being that when he and the kids came home she would no longer be there. Discreet, almost accidental, they were trying to make the departure as undramatic as possible. On the same day, Henrietta and Sammy were starting at a new childcare centre, away from the Lebanese woman who had been caring for them while Anna went to university.

On top of everything, it somehow didn't surprise him somehow that this was the day he got a pep talk from the vicious little closet queen who paraded as a news editor, the first pep talk he'd ever had in his life.


THE BIGGER STORY:

No more holidays in Phuket.


http://www.smh.com.au/news/business/explorer-throws-out-abu-dhabi-playboys/2007/06/21/1182019278749.html


Abu Dhabi playboys cut loose
Jamie Freed
June 22, 2007 - 11:32AM

JUPITER Mines has jettisoned its consulting agreements with the so-called "bananas in pyjamas" for the second time since 2005.

The Sydney exploration company yesterday said it would immediately terminate consulting agreements with Jeremy Snaith and David Evans, the company directors who were famously arrested in Abu Dhabi after misbehaving while flying first class on Etihad Airways in April.

Other directors and some shareholders have also requested the company hold a meeting to sack Mr Snaith and Mr Evans from the Jupiter board after they were convicted of sexual harassment and intoxication by an Abu Dhabi court.

Mr Snaith allegedly tested positive for cocaine and hashish and spent a month in a notorious desert prison.

Jupiter said a notice of meeting to reconstitute the board would be sent in "due course".

This isn't the first time Mr Snaith and Mr Evans have been sacked by the company.

Although they were Jupiter's original promoters, they were let go as consultants in March 2005, just three months after the listing.

When their agreements were terminated, they each received 500,000 Jupiter shares instead of a cash payment.

Later in 2005 - upset with Jupiter's languishing share price - the pair took advantage of their large shareholdings to call a meeting which led to the removal of chief executive Warren Staude.

Mr Staude later said the pair had been sacked as consultants because "the company felt they were not making a valuable contribution.''

According to Mr Staude, Mr Evans and Mr Snaith had originally intended to be Jupiter directors, but they stepped down ahead of its listing in December 2004.

"The broking community told us they would not support Jupiter if those people chose to be directors, so they stepped down,'' Mr Staude said.

After removing Mr Staude, Mr Snaith and Mr Evans joined the board as executive directors and signed new consulting agreements.

The pair managed to raise Jupiter's share price to a high of 41c this January by aggressively promoting the company's early-stage, multi-commodity exploration prospects.

In December and January, Macarthur Coal founder Ken Talbot's investment vehicle, the Talbot Group, purchased 11.4 per cent of Jupiter shares and appointed Denis Wood to the board as its representative.

Mr Wood said the Talbot Group saw potential in Jupiter's greenfields iron ore projects.

But Mr Wood, who did not meet Mr Evans and Mr Snaith until his first board meeting, resigned as a director after only four months.

"There were reasons why I resigned," Mr Wood said. "Perhaps those reasons have gone away."

He noted the Talbot Group had retained its investment in Jupiter despite the publicity surrounding the arrest of Mr Snaith and Mr Evans.

"We may buy more [shares], depending on the outcome of the meeting," Mr Wood said.

When asked if he had been notified of Jupiter's decision to terminate his consulting agreement and hold a meeting to oust him from the board, Mr Evans told the Herald he was overseas and it was the middle of the night. "I'll have to check my email," he said.

The news appears to have impressed the market. Jupiter shares were up nearly 20 per cent this morning, trading 4 cents higher at 24.5 cents.