You Cannot Be Serious

Pseudo Echo are an Australian new wave band that were formed in 1982 by Brian Canham (vocals, guitar, and keyboards), Pierre Gigliotti (bass keyboards and bass guitar), and Tony Lugton (keyboards). Later members included Anthony Argiro (drums), James Leigh (keyboards), and Vince Leigh (drums). In the 1980s, Pseudo Echo had multiple Australian top 20 hits with "Listening", "A Beat for You", "Don't Go", "Love an Adventure", and "Living in a Dream". Their 1986 cover of "Funky Town" (originally by Lipps Inc.) was an international success, peaking at No. 1 in Australia and New Zealand and becoming a top ten hit in Sweden, Canada, the United States, and in the United Kingdom. Their 1984 debut album, Autumnal Parrk, peaked at No. 11 on the Australian Kent Music Music Report, Love an Adventure followed in 1985 and reached No. 14. Their third album, Race (1988), peaked at No. 18. In 1990, the group disbanded. They reformed in 1998 and released the album Ultraviolet (2014), Acoustica, and After Party (both 2020). Australian rock music historian Ian McFarlane described the band as "combining] flash clothes, blow-wave hairstyles, youthful exuberance and accessible synth-pop to arrive at a winning combination."

John-Michael Howson OAM (born 8 August 1936) is an Australian writer, reporter, entertainer and Melbourne radio commentator. His involvement in the Australian entertainment scene as a writer, producer and performer spans more than 50 years.

"Captain" Peter Janson (born 10 April 1940 in New Zealand) is an Australian socialite and former motor racing driver. Janson was born in New Zealand, emigrating to England at a young age. In 1967, he moved to Australia and settled in Melbourne. Janson, who listed his occupation as "Gentleman", established a playboy penthouse in the Federal Hotel before moving to the Hotel Windsor. In the 1980s he moved to Rutherglen House. Janson is renowned for the parties he throws and was a pioneer in transforming the Melbourne Cup into a major event on the Australian social calendar. Motor racing Janson was a competitor in Australian Touring Car Racing. He made 19 Bathurst 1000 starts between 1973 and 1992 primarily in Holden Toranas and Commodores, finishing second in 1979 and 1980 and third in 1977 (all of his podium finishes were with Larry Perkins who would go on to be a six-time winner of the race). With the end of the Group C era in 1984, Janson closed his team but continued to drive for other teams including joining Sydney based privateer Garry Wilmington in a V12 Jaguar XJS in the 1985 and 1986 races. He later scored a class win and fourth outright driving a BMW M3 with fellow Kiwi Trevor Crowe at the 1988 Bathurst 1000 Janson's last appearance at Bathurst was in 1992 where he and Bob Jones finished 20th in a Holden VL Commodore SS Group A SV. Always a colourful character who gave his sponsors a plug at every opportunity, especially when being interviewed in the pits, Janson briefly changed his name by deed poll in the mid-1970s to NGK Janson to circumvent a rule that only allowed a driver's name to be carried above the window line. His former co-driver Larry Perkins also told that one year on a parade lap at Bathurst, Janson continually pulled the car off onto the grass in order to throw Cherry Ripe chocolate bars out to the crowd (his major sponsor being Cadbury Schweppes).

An Australian-Russian group has denounced a Moscow propagandist as a “disposable pawn” of the Kremlin after he called on Vladimir Putin’s army to trade him for Australians captured in Ukraine. But the “Aussie Cossack” holed up in Sydney’s Russian consulate says he is trying to keep Australians from being executed on the battlefield. Simeon Boikov, known by his online moniker Aussie Cossack, has been hiding out in the consulate since a Sydney court issued an arrest warrant in December. He was on parole for breaching a suppression order and wanted for the alleged assault of a pro-Ukrainian protester when he sought asylum. Svoboda Alliance, a Russian community group, was disturbed to hear Boikov issue a plea to the commander of the loathed Wagner Group to orchestrate a prisoner swap under which he would be exchanged for a captured Australian. “The Kremlin tends to see even its supporters more like disposable pawns rather than valuable allies,” Svoboda president Ilya Fomin said. Boikov said he was seeking to save the lives of the Australians he named in a video and prevent Russian troops from “liquidating them on the spot”. “They’re in danger not because of me but because of their own choice to fight in Ukraine,” he said.