Month: May 2019

AMERICAN PSYCHO
Hayes Theatre, May 16
★★★★

Were the dog-eat-dog world of Wall Street a mathematical series, its logical conclusion would be American Psycho. Bret​ Easton Ellis's 1991 novel – among the most misunderstood in history – prophetically suggested that if greed, sexism, hedonism and narcissism go unchecked, they will spawn mutants incapable of empathy.

Ellis just chose to house his satirical social commentary in the darkest room in our imaginations.

Following Mary Harron's​ memorable 2000 film of the novel, this innovative stage musical emerged in 2013, penned by Roberto Aguirre-Sarcasa (book) and Duncan Sheik (music and lyrics).

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At a stroke it makes most musicals seem blunt-edged, aided by this startling production from director Alexander Berlage​, starring Benjamin Gerrard as the psychopathic Patrick Bateman.

The novel's straight-faced tone and graphic violence and sex was massaged into more obviously amusing satire in the film, and the musical follows this lead, dealing in implied gore rather than rivers of red. Sweeney Todd seems civilised compared with Bateman, in that his victims are cleanly killed and then cooked before being devoured.

Bateman likes to torture and terrify before the kill – and then gnaw them raw. It brings him a little peace, you see, in the brutal world of mergers and acquisitions.

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In Gerrard's dazzling performance we see the stylish charismatic whom Bateman's friends enjoy, and the psychopath constantly lurking in his shadow. The problem with this version of the character is not performance-related: it is having no answer to the novel's extraordinary unravelling of the first-person narration.

The final song, This Is Not an Exit attempts to do that, with Bateman entering the audience to watch the closing scene from the outside. But it is framed as self-justification, and doesn't catch the disquieting shift in tone that Ellis achieves in his non-resolution.

Gerrard's performance shares star status with the design, choreography, direction and lighting. The production's visual brilliance will have your eyes out on stalks more than any chain-sawed bodies could do. Isabel Hudson uses a revolve to recreate the hustling lives of Manhattan's young, rich and predatory in 1987, while mirrored walls (like modern social media) reflect the pandemic narcissism.

The writers could have made more of the humour potential of Bateman's self-concept as a music connoisseur, given his mostly dire taste. Nonetheless the incorporation of songs by the likes of Phil Collins and Huey​ Lewis and the News are necessary evils that are made to work well.

Sheik's original music, tweaked for this production by Andrew Worboys​, is mostly doofy​ electronica played so loudly as to rearrange your entrails; so loudly, more pertinently, as to make many of the lyrics unintelligible – which is hardly smart.

Indeed this would be an unreserved five-star review were it not for that fact, for the lame scene with Tom Cruise as a character, and for one truly appalling Sheik song sung by Jean (Loren​ Hunter), Bateman's secretary. Called A Girl Before, this overwrought ballad is as out of place as chocolate on a barbecue.

Amid an exceptional cast of 11, Amy Hack offers an entertaining turn as Bateman's troubled, Anna Wintour-like mother. The dancing is machete-sharp, with Yvette​ Lee's choreography exploiting the revolve to the full, amplified at every turn by Berlage's​ own lighting.

The effect is often reminiscent of music videos, including during a vivid series of beachside tableaux set in the Hamptons. Mason Browne's costumes evoke a world in which clothes – like cocaine, champagne and restaurants – are signifiers of success. They're just not enough for Bateman.

Until June 9.

London: British politicians agree on precious little these days. But on one matter, there's near-unanimity across the spectrum: Theresa May's days as Prime Minister are numbered.

The political deathwatch comes against the backdrop of Britons' vote on Thursday for the European Parliament – balloting that would not have taken place if the country had left the European Union as scheduled nearly two months ago.

The newly constituted Brexit party – which, as its name suggests, is devoted to getting Britain out of the EU as soon as possible – was expected to triumph, although results will not be announced until Sunday, when all the nations of the 28-nation bloc have finished voting.

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In the meantime, May was being treated, even by senior members of her own party, as a pariah. Speculation about her likely ouster reached fever pitch as fellow Conservatives publicly excoriated her fourth and latest proposal setting terms for Britain's departure from the EU, as approved by voters in the Brexit referendum in June 2016.

An important Cabinet member, Andrea Leadsom, quit late Wednesday – the 36th such ministerial departure since May took office nearly three years ago – expressing a lack of confidence in the government's approach.

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When the Prime Minister made a visit to Buckingham Palace on Wednesday, news reports portrayed her regularly scheduled audience with the Queen as a grim milestone. A BBC report – in funereal tones that suggested that May, like some luckless historical figure, was about to be whisked away to the Tower of London for the coup de grace – declared that it would likely be one her last trips through the palace gates.

In another ominous portent, a key party committee held a secret ballot on the same day – without publicly disclosing the results – over whether to change party rules to allow an early vote of confidence in the prime minister. May won the last one, in December, and under party rules, there was not supposed to be another for 12 months.

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Thursday's headlines were predictably savage.

"May set to go after Brexit fiasco," said the Sun tabloid. "May hides away as Cabinet bangs on No. 10 door," the Evening Standard declared on its front page, referring to reports that May had ducked meetings with alarmed senior aides.

Foreign Secretary Jeremy Hunt said on Thursday that she would still be in office on June 3, when Donald Trump pays a visit. That could be a mixed blessing, as the US President's visits are traditionally bruising affairs for the Prime Minister.

On past trips, Trump has enthusiastically praised May's political opponents and suggested that Brexit would have gone off smoothly if May had taken his negotiating advice.

It's been clear for many months, as May's proposed Brexit deals were serially rejected by Parliament, that her grip on power has waned.

In April 2017, she called early elections meant to bolster her strength but instead lost badly and only maintained her parliamentary majority by teaming up with a North Ireland party whose complicated Brexit aims diminished her ability to strike a compromise.

When she fought off a party leadership challenge last December, May had to promise that she would not be leading the Conservative party in elections set for 2022.

Only a month after that, May suffered one of the worst parliamentary defeats of modern times when lawmakers overwhelmingly rejected the Brexit withdrawal agreement she had struck with European Union leaders, throwing the whole process into disarray.

In a bid to stave off ouster, May has moved up her own projected departure date. In March, she promised to quit before the next phase of Brexit negotiations begin. It's unclear when that will be, but the current target date for splitting with the EU is the end of October.

Last week, May dangled the promise of departing within weeks, after her current withdrawal plan gets a second parliamentary reading. But the government has now put off planned publication of the legislation until June 3 – yet another sign that there was no support for it.

On Thursday, May met with Hunt and Home Secretary Sajid Javid seemingly trying to project willingness to address her Cabinet colleagues' concerns about her political future and the viability of her Brexit plan. Then she went to her home constituency to cast a ballot in the EU vote, but she said nothing publicly.

The next inflection point could be Friday, when May is to meet with Sir Graham Brady, the head of the 1922 Committee, a powerful Conservative political body that in the past has let prime ministers know that the time has come to go.

But some say May intends to quit as Tory leader on June 10 so an election to choose her replacement can begin after Trump's state visit. She wants to remain as a caretaker prime minister while her successor is chosen in a contest that could take six weeks, says a person with knowledge of events.

A rare show of support came from a fellow Conservative politician, Margot James, who suggested May was being "hounded out of office" because of Parliament's failure to find common ground on how and when to carry out Brexit. But even she seemed to bow to the inevitable.

"In the end," she said, "there's got to be a compromise."

LA Times

The workers of Riverwood gave Bill Shorten a warm welcome one year ago when he spoke to a packed community hall about his plans to restore fairness in wages, health, education and tax.

“There is a problem in this country in that there’s two classes of workers,” Shorten told his audience. He talked about increasing penalty rates, helping casual workers and raising more tax revenue to fund his spending plans.

The applause was loud and long that night at the Riverwood Community Centre in the southern suburbs of Sydney. By the time the meeting ended, Shorten had good reason to think he could win this community, one of the poorest parts of the marginal electorate of Banks.

Scott Morrison won it instead. The startling fact about last Saturday’s election, a fact that has shattered the Labor dream and confounded the unions, is that so many suburbs like Riverwood backed the Liberals.

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Riverwood has a median household income of about $1000 a week, roughly $425 below the national median. While other parts of the electorate look out on the Georges River, the view from Riverwood is more likely to be the M5 freeway.

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The Liberal member for Banks, David Coleman, could have lost his seat with a swing to Labor of just 1.4 per cent. He gained a 5.7 per cent swing instead, turning this marginal seat into safe Liberal territory.

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While the Liberal vote in the more comfortable suburb of Oatley barely changed, it surged in Riverwood. Voters at St Andrew’s Church Hall, in Riverwood South, swung to the Liberals by 8.9 per cent. They swung by 11.4 per cent at Riverwood Public School and 11.8 per cent at the Hannans Road Public School in Riverwood East.

Shorten fought the election on fairness and failed. He won over the crowd who turned up to the local hall but could not win the wider community. Voters spurned what he offered. His idea of fairness fell flat.

The “fairness” claim is also deeply contested. When I used the word in a report on the election result on Monday, readers disputed whether Shorten’s tax changes were really “fair” at all.

What was so fair about taking franking credits away from retirees after it had been a standard part of the tax system for decades? What was fair about curbing the use of negative gearing? Or stricter rules on superannuation?

Labor misread the community every time it added another tax revenue increase to its policy platform, even though the party’s admirers loved every shiny gold brick as it was placed upon the table. Eventually the furniture collapsed.

The backlash came in some of Labor’s heartland seats, including a 6.5 per cent increase in the Liberal primary vote in Greenway. This varied enormously, and was skewed by the swings in several seats towards the parties of Clive Palmer and Pauline Hanson, but it was a rebuff to Labor and its leader.

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Wealthier Australians did not rebel in this way. The Labor primary vote increased in safe Liberal seats, rising by 8.4 per cent in North Sydney, 4 per cent in Bradfield and 6.6 per cent in Goldstein. Shorten won the voters he did not need.

The search for scapegoats makes it easy for Labor to blame Shorten, his advisers or party officials the public has never heard of. The truth is this was a shared defeat. It was a rejection of the Labor policy plan as well as its tactics.

While social media campaigns and Palmer advertising influenced the outcome, there is long-term risk for Labor if it worries only about the tactics it used to reach voters rather than what it told them.

The policy message did not work with aspirational voters, including those in Riverwood who might have otherwise welcomed Shorten’s promise to look after hospitals and schools. The tax plan looked more convincing in abstract than in reality.

The first draft of the franking credits change, released early last year, took money from pensioners and part-pensioners. Shorten redrafted the plan within a fortnight to offer a “pensioner guarantee” but the impression left with voters was clear: Labor would go after them if it could.

And the booth results in Riverwood raise an intriguing question: did workers who were promised more from Labor, either in personal income tax cuts or spending programs, vote for the Coalition anyway? Perhaps they did not trust Labor, or did not like Shorten, and felt they could rely on Morrison instead.

Morrison won this election through sheer force of will and total discipline. Some Liberals are honest enough to admit they did not expect victory. Morrison alone had the confidence to keep going with barely a stumble during the campaign.

The focus on Labor’s mistakes can easily distract from the important decisions on the government side of the campaign – not least the way Morrison presented himself to voters as a leader who could put the “muppet show” of last year behind them.

Morrison drew plenty of derision, especially online, for his “daggy dad” appearance or his talk about football or his Pentecostal faith, but the evidence from the election is that these aspects of his character did not hurt him.

The Labor treasury spokesman, Chris Bowen, was right on Wednesday to identify his party’s message to people of faith as a problem. What others within the caucus acknowledge is that the last time they took government from opposition was with an avowedly Christian leader, in Kevin Rudd in 2007.

Morrison has won over some of the “battlers” Labor thought it could hold or claim last Saturday.

David Crowe is chief political correspondent.

Aaron Finch has nominated England as World Cup favourites but the Australian captain is confident his side is building momentum at the right time.

Tournament preparations intensify on Saturday when England host Australia in a warm-up clash in Southampton.

The Australians had a strong win over the West Indies on Wednesday but this latest clash will be a step up in intensity, for the host nation has emerged as the team to beat.

Under captain Eoin Morgan, England have embraced a high-tempo game plan, built around scoring at seven runs or more an over.

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In a recent 4-0 series win over Pakistan, they became the first side to have four consecutive scores of 340 or more, while their 1424 overall runs were the most by any team in an one-day international series where they played a maximum of four innings.

In Jonny Bairstow, Joe Root, Jason Roy, Jos Buttler and Morgan, they will look to intimidate bowlers, something they did during a 5-0 thrashing of Australia last year.

But this is a different Australian squad, and with David Warner and Steve Smith back in the fold, the defending Cup champions also boast a strong batting line-up.

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"It's a good question, I think, England have been in great form over the last couple of years and along with India, they've probably been the standout performers. So you'd have to say England are definitely the favourites," Finch said.

"I think it's important that some of our guys have got that World Cup experience and having, I think, six players who have been a part of a winning World Cup will hold us in good stead going forward, hopefully.

"But it's a different tournament and, once you get out and start playing, the pressure takes over. So it'll be a great tournament."

Speaking at the captain's day in London, Finch said the Australians were prepared for any abuse spectators were preparing for Smith and Warner, who have returned from suspension for their roles in the ball-tampering scandal.

The Australians have been told not to bait crowds. The Ageas Bowl is expected to have a near capacity of 15,000 on hand.

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"They have come back into the set-up for the last couple of weeks and been fantastic and they have contributed as much as they can," Finch said.

"Once it gets underway, particularly against England, and further on for the Ashes, the crowd will play a part but that is expected everywhere in the world.

"We have plans in place for that, and their squad input and output in terms of the runs they have been making has been fantastic."

Morgan stressed there was no side that was "head and shoulders above everybody else" in the 12th edition of the World Cup, which has been reduced from 14 to 10 nations, but Indian captain Virat Kohli backed Finch in deeming England favourites.

"I have to agree with Aaron, I think England is probably – in their conditions – the most strong side in this tournament but I also agree with 'Morgs', that all 10 teams are so well balanced and so strong and the fact that this is a tournament where we have to play everyone once, makes it all the more challenging," Kohli said.

"I think that's going to be the best thing about this tournament, I see this as probably one of the most competitive World Cups that people are going to see."

Morgan, though, warned that past form clearly offers no guarantees of World Cup glory.

"It is going to be very difficult," he said.

"Expectations do not come out of thin air. We have scored some quite high scores, especially at home, and that has brought a lot of confidence.

"The World Cup is a different kettle of fish. Everything we have done does contribute, but you still have to produce the goods.

"These are the 10 best teams in the world, so it is going to be extraordinarily competitive."

Since the last World Cup in 2015, England have passed 400 four times, setting the two highest scores in international history and nine of the 10 highest totals ever by England sides.

With Reuters

With so many entertainment options, it's easy to miss brilliant TV shows, movies and documentaries. Here are the ones to hit play on, or skip.

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The Spanish Princess
Stan*

It's well known that Catherine of Aragon was the first wife of Henry VIII. But was Henry Catherine's first husband? Go to the top of the class if you remember that Catherine actually left her beloved Spain to marry Henry's older brother, Arthur. But it's best not to get all your history from The Spanish Princess.

No sooner have we met young Catherine (Charlotte Hope, who played Ramsay Bolton's beastly girlfriend Myranda in Game of Thrones) in the year 1501 than we're told that her mum, Queen Isabella (Alicia Borrachero), had just overthrown "a thousand years of Muslim rule".

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That would have been a neat trick, considering that Muslims had been there less than 800 years.

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However accurate the rest of it is, it's certainly exciting. Escorting Catherine down to the docks, Isabella finds herself confronted by a small army of Muslim rebels, so she rides into battle in a crowned helmet, laying about her with a great big sword before returning to her daughter triumphantly spattered in blood.

It's all a bit Game of Thrones-y, and the resemblances keep piling up once Catherine lands in England.

Arthur (Angus Imrie) proves a damp squib who's scared of girls, and it turns out the letters from him that had got Catherine so steamed up were in fact a catfishing exercise by the dastardly Henry (Ruairi O'Connor) – who, with his tousled red hair and devilish good looks, styles himself as "Prince Harry".

Where Game of Thrones' Margaery Tyrell came from far away to marry first the monstrous Joffrey and then his gentle, gormless brother, Tommen, it looks as though Catherine is going to do things the other way around.

But, as in Game of Thrones, it's the older women who are the best value. Harriet Walter is an absolute treat as Henry's pompous grandmother, Margaret Beaufort, a woman appalled to learn that Catherine takes daily baths rather than weekly ones. Henry's mother, Queen Elizabeth (Alexandra Moen), reveals a Cersei-like ruthless streak while Henry VII (Elliot Cowan) frets about the threat posed by France and Scotland.

The major figures are attended by good-looking minor ones, most of whom seem rather keen to drop trouser and lift petticoat.

Like The White Princess and The White Queen (which are also on Stan), it's well cast, handsomely produced and based on novels by Philippa Gregory (The Other Boleyn Girl). Good popcorn-munching fun.

Time Traveling Bong
comedycentral.com.au

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Ilana Glazer is in fine, filthy form in this all-too-brief, oh-so-wrong comedy series she created with her Broad City producer-director Lucia Aniello and castmate Paul W. Downs.

Dirtbag cousins Sharee and Jeff (Glazer and Downs) come into possession of a high-tech bong that transports the user to random places in the past and future.

In terms of sheer madness it's hard to get a struck match between Sharee's embrace of caveman sex culture and her attempt to save 1960s Michael Jackson from his monstrous father.

Extremely Wicked, Shockingly Evil and Vile
Netflix

Director Joe Berlinger made his name with documentaries revealing miscarriages of American justice. This drama, based on the memoir of Elizabeth Kendall, the unwitting girlfriend of serial killer Ted Bundy, reveals the kind of bizarre circus American justice can become.

Zac Efron is suitably creepy as the manipulative Bundy, and the estimable Lily Collins hugely sympathetic as Kendall. But it's Bundy's televised trial in Florida – with John Malkovich as the idiosyncratic presiding judge – that will leave the most lasting impression.

Loading Docs 2018
Docplay, loadingdocs.net

The latest crop of three-minute documentaries from New Zealand offers intriguing and often frustratingly brief glimpses of interesting people and scenes across the Tasman.

From a deaf MP working to help other people with disabilities take part in politics to a scientist turning invasive algae into biodegradable plastic, a nomadic barber starting conversations about mental health, and a program that helps troubled Maori youth engage with their cultural heritage, there's a lot going on. Both Docplay and loadingdocs.net have earlier seasons as well.

Fleabag
Amazon Prime Video

If the first season of Phoebe Waller-Bridge's sticky, tar-black comedy was a bit of a masterpiece, the second elevates its creator, writer and star to greatness.

Exquisitely crafted in every line and shot, it's unflinchingly mordant in its heightened depiction of everyday awfulness, but it retains at its core a vulnerable, longing sweetness you mightn't think capable of coexisting. It is, perhaps, a bit like chocolate and sea salt, or one of those other trendy combinations that sound repulsive but are evidently sublime.

Similarly impressive is the sight of the eponymous character (Waller-Bridge) trying in earnest to become a better person in circumstances largely unconducive. With her emotionally unavailable father (Bill Paterson) and slightly monstrous godmother (Olivia Colman) planning to marry, Fleabag finds herself unexpectedly falling for the "cool, sweary priest" who will conduct the ceremony.

Waller-Bridge delivers a virtuoso double performance as Fleabag rapidly, seamlessly transitions back and forth between interacting with her fellow characters and with the audience down the barrel of the camera. The meta situation that arises from this makes it doubly priceless. Sheer magic.

Remastered: Devil at the Crossroads
Netflix

The latest instalment of Netflix's fine music documentary series has the likes of Keith Richards and Taj Mahal queueing up to pay tribute to Robert Johnson, the Mississippi bluesman whose slim but extraordinary body of work has been an inspiration to blues and rock musicians for more than 80 years.

What's more interesting is the way that historians and academics here are able to illuminate some of Johnson's oblique, haunting lyrics in the context of contemporary belief in hoodoo and terror of lynching.

*Stan is owned by Nine, the publisher of this website.

The smoke haze that choked Sydney earlier in the week has returned, again shrouding the city in a thick fog even though the NSW Rural Fire Service halted hazard reduction burns on Wednesday due to the poor air quality.

Weatherzone meteorologist Brett Dutschke said the combination of very light winds and a temperature inversion caused by a high pressure system was trapping smoke over the city.

"That high pressure is trapping the smoke close to the ground. It's not allowing it to dissipate," he said.

Even without new hazard reduction burns, the drop in wind and stronger pressure overnight on Thursday trapped more smoke following a brief reprieve.

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"Yesterday and the day before, the wind picked up a little bit during the afternoons, and that helped dissipate any of the smoke that was about," Mr Dutschke said.

"But last night we had a slightly stronger temperature inversion, so that's effectively high pressure compressing the air back down to the ground again, allowing that smoke to settle down again."

The NSW Office of Environment and Heritage's air quality index recorded a "hazardous" particle reading in Sydney's north-west on Friday morning, including at Richmond, while visibility is "poor" at North Parramatta, Macquarie Park, and Rozelle.

NSW Health advises residents to cut back significantly on outdoor exercise when air quality is "hazardous", while those with heart and lung conditions should avoid it entirely.

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During the day on Friday, winds may pick up slightly – but unlikely enough to lift the smoke, Mr Dutschke said.

"It's going to be a day of really quite gentle winds. So the smell of smoke could be in the air well into the day, mainly in the north-west," he said.

"There could be a bit of smoke about tomorrow as well. Winds look similarly calm for much of the day."

On Friday morning, the RFS tweeted that some of the smoke was rising from the hazard reduction burn carried out in the Blue Mountains on Sunday, Monday and Tuesday. The fire is still burning, and expected to continue for a number of days.

However, no additional burns have been lit in the past 48 hours, and no further burns are planned in the Sydney area for Friday.

RFS Inspector Ben Shepherd said authorities had been meeting twice a day to determine a course of action appropriate to weather conditions, and it was "unlikely" that burns scheduled for this weekend would go ahead.

"We're evaluating everything, even small burns, as small as five to 10 hectares. Anything that could add to this is not going ahead," he said.

"This high pressure system is still sitting over us, so while it's giving us nice warm days it's not letting the smoke clear."

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The wind is not expected to pick up significantly enough to shift the smoke hanging over the city until Sunday, he said.

On Wednesday, following three days of poor air quality in the Sydney area, the RFS tweeted it would suspend hazard reduction burns for at least 24 hours to allow smoke from burns conducted over the weekend to dissipate.

Some of the burns set to be carried out this weekend had already been postponed to avoid clashing with outdoor sporting events including the Sydney Half Marathon last Sunday, Inspector Shepherd said.

Weatherzone is owned by the publisher of this website.

When David McAllister became the artistic director of the Australian Ballet in 2001 he made a pact to "never outstay my welcome" and to make sure he had "a nice departure".

Some of his predecessors had been shown the door, but time after time McAllister's contracts were extended – until he made the big decision, announced today, that two decades at the helm would be enough.

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With his exit set for the end of 2020, McAllister will be the longest-serving artistic director in the history of the Australian Ballet. He was also the first Australian Ballet director to step straight from the role of principal dancer to become the man who had to manage and nurture the dancers who were his peers.

After his last performance as Albrecht in Giselle in 2001, we met in his backstage dressing room. On one side of the table was his stage makeup. On the other side was a stack of business papers. Would he miss the smell of the makeup, the daily class and the curtain calls?

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"It's not the dancing I'll miss," he said, "but the performance."

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McAllister's first challenge as a director was the company's 40th anniversary gala, called Beyond 40. His first commission was Graeme Murphy's Swan Lake. Designed by Kristian Fredrikson, it became a signature ballet for the company after its premiere in 2002.

McAllister continued to commission Murphy over the next 18 years, and has worked with the support of Steven Heathcote, who became the Australian Ballet's ballet master after 20 years as a principal dancer at the company.

From the start, McAllister was seen as a safe choice; a man who would not rock the boat. He soon became an eloquent speaker, brought a sense of stability to the company and was a director who was not hidden away in his office, but out in the dance community in Australia and abroad.

His repertoire choices are balanced between audience-pleasers of the past and new works by resident choreographers, his own production of The Sleeping Beauty, the works of acclaimed international choreographers – among them Alexei Ratmansky – co-productions with American Ballet Theatre's Harlequinade and Joffrey Ballet's Anna Karenina next year, and the introduction of Storytime Ballet for young children.

McAllister may continue to be a guest character dancer with the company, and he will always be remembered as a true man of the theatre.

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Health authorities are urging NSW families to get young children vaccinated against the potentially deadly influenza, with the infection killing 37 people in NSW so far this year.

Three children have died of flu in Victoria and children are also among the 25 flu-related deaths, sparking concerns that children in NSW – especially under-five-year-olds – could also be vulnerable amid the spread of the viruses across the state.

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A total of 37 people have died of flu-related illnesses in NSW since January: 30 people aged 65 and older, and seven aged 20 to 64, NSW Health’s analysis of flu notification and Births, Deaths and Marriages data shows.

The number of flu cases in NSW is also rising. There were 1320 new confirmed cases in the week ending 19 May, higher than the 979 confirmed cases the previous week.

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The latest cases brings the total number of confirmed cases so far this year to 13,888, and the true prevalence is likely higher.

The high rates of flu during the warmer months and the early start to the flu season has triggered the highest number of flu cases in Australia ahead of winter in two decades. The vast majority of cases are Influenza A strains.

NSW Health’s Director of Communicable Diseases, Dr Vicky Sheppeard said children are particularly susceptible to flu, and urged parents and carers to visit their GPs to receive the free flu vaccine for children aged six months to five years old.

Two children under five years, and four five- to 19 year-olds died of flu in 2017 in NSW. Another two children under five died in 2018.

"The best weapon against flu is vaccination and right now is the best time to have it as the flu season is already here," Dr Sheppeard said.

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"It’s important to get your flu shots now as it takes about two weeks for the vaccine to provide full protection and children under nine years of age having the shot for the first time require two doses, one month apart," she said.

In 2018 – the first year of the NSW Government's free vaccination program for six month to five-year-olds – one in four children in this age group were recorded on the Australian Immunisation Register as having received an influenza vaccine.

Flu shots are also free under the National Immunisation Program, for pregnant women, people over 65 years of age, Aboriginal people and those with medical conditions such as asthma, diabetes and heart problems.

As of 19 May, 1.96 million flu vaccine doses had been distributed in NSW.

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Harvey Weinstein and his former studio's board members have reached a tentative $US44 million deal ($63.9 million) to resolve lawsuits by women who accused him of sexual misconduct and the New York state attorney general, according to two people briefed on the matter.

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Under the proposed terms, about $US30 million would go to a pool of plaintiffs including alleged victims, creditors of Weinstein's former studio and some former employees, according to the people briefed on the matter, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because the agreement was private.

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The balance would go to legal fees for associates of Weinstein, including board members named as defendants in lawsuits.

Insurance policies would cover the $US44 million if the deal is finalised. The Wall Street Journal was first to report the tentative deal, which must be approved by advisers in charge of the former Weinstein Co.'s bankruptcy proceedings.

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Harvey Weinstein did not return calls for comment. A spokeswoman for the office of the New York state attorney general declined to comment.

Lawyers for women who say they were victims of Weinstein have been in mediation since last year with representatives for the former studio mogul.

Also involved in the talks were lawyers for the former board members and the New York attorney general's office, which last year sued Weinstein and his brother and business partner, Bob Weinstein, for violating state and city laws barring gender discrimination, sexual harassment, sexual abuse and coercion.

The goal was to reach a settlement that would cover all of the suits pending against the former Hollywood mogul, his now-defunct movie studio and associates.

Harvey Weinstein also faces criminal charges in New York and has pleaded not guilty. The indictment against Weinstein, 67, charges him with raping one woman at a Manhattan hotel in 2013 and forcing another to let him perform oral sex on her at his town house in 2006.

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Weinstein, released on $1 million bail, has said the encounters were consensual.

The Weinstein Co., the Hollywood studio founded by Weinstein and his brother, filed for bankruptcy in March 2018 after dozens of women publicly accused Weinstein, its former chief executive, of sexual misconduct and assault dating back decades.

The movie and television studio, once known for Oscar-winning films like The King's Speech and The Artist, had less than $500,000 in cash at the time and was facing a mountain of debt and a swelling number of lawsuits, including the one by New York's attorney general.

The New York Times

Even by the standards of oft-volatile Tesla shares, Thursday morning will go down as one of the more memorable rollercoaster rides.

Another bearish bit of analyst commentary about the Model 3 maker facing demand woes sent the stock tumbling as much as 5.6 per cent in early trading.

Within an hour and five minutes, shares were up 3.6 per cent after a bullish internal email surfaced on a Chinese social media forum that Elon Musk had supposedly sent to employees.

It looked as though the rally would be shortlived. The shares again went negative until several media outlets, including Bloomberg, confirmed the authenticity of the email with sources who asked not to be identified. The shares rebounded again, ending the trading session 1.4 per cent higher.

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Musk's memo countered days of escalating doubt that Tesla will hit its vehicle delivery targets this quarter, with the chief executive officer writing that the company had a "good chance" of exceeding the record 90,700 deliveries achieved in the last three months of 2018.

He also said the company had received more than 50,000 net new orders this quarter.

Musk's memo contradicted multiple analysts who have cast doubt on Tesla's ability to deliver at least 90,000 electric vehicles this quarter and 360,000 this year.

Gene Munster, a managing partner of venture capital firm Loup Ventures, became the latest to cast doubt on the company reaching those numbers, telling Bloomberg Television late on Wednesday that 2019 is "going to be a difficult year."

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In a note on Thursday, Munster trimmed his estimate for how many vehicles Tesla will deliver this year by about 10 per cent to 310,000, short of the minimum 360,000-unit forecast by Musk.

Munster lowered his expectation to factor in the risk that China will slap Teslas with tariffs and that consumers in the world's largest electric-vehicle market may boycott the brand as the trade war with the US intensifies.

"It's been difficult for analysts and investors to guess what demand is for this year," Munster told Bloomberg TV in a follow-up interview Thursday.

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The rollercoaster in Tesla's shares follows a 25 per cent plunge in market value over the course of just 12 trading days, with the shares finishing lower in all but one of those sessions. At least six analysts have cut their price target since the stretch began, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.

For Musk, 47, it's the second time in a week that an email he's sent to employees leaked to the media.

Tesla shares closed at the lowest level in almost 2 1/2 years on May 17 after the CEO wrote that the company would be conducting a "hardcore" review of expenses to protect the carmaker's cash.

Before the latest deliveries email surfaced, Munster said that Musk needed to be "more judicious" when setting expectations for what Tesla will achieve.

It's "unlikely that we're going to get that anytime soon, so whatever he says, dial it back by 40 per cent and that's probably the right answer," Munster said of Musk.

Musk has been pulled up by the US Securities and Exchange Commission in the past for disclosing Tesla's production outlook on Twitter. Under a deal with market regulator, he had agreed to get some of his statements reviewed by Tesla's legal counsel before publication, including financial statements and unreported production and delivery numbers.

It was not immediately clear if his email to employees detailing crucial delivery and production numbers violated the agreement with the SEC.

The regulator could not be immediately reached for comment, while a Tesla representative did not respond to requests for comment.

Bloomberg, with Reuters