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I've figured out some positives. Life is good. We've had twenty seven inches of rain so far this year and the country is looking great. It's finally stopped raining and the beautiful clear and cool weather is here. I have a debt free roof over my head, lots of food, a motor car that works, I can walk, talk, breathe, hear and see and have plenty of fun stuff to do. The first photo is the front yard, the second is the back yard, and the third photo is my best mate outside the kitchen window trying to shame me into giving him some dog biscuits. I've known him since he was born, so he's known me his entire life. There's nowhere I'd rather be.

My eldest son is 18 today. Couldn't be prouder of the fine young man he's become. 😊

Circumstances change. What may appear to have been appropriate or good policy at one time, before an election, may be totally incorrect later. Rigidly sticking to an idea which is no longer appropriate just to avoid being accused of lying is irresponsible. One has to change with the tide.

He's back! I especially liked the last one. It's what's in the mind of many young blokes (and women) in the nightclub...

A law means nothing to Trump even if he knew about it, which is unlikely. His performance at the G7 was pathetic. He's so transparently out of his depth, inarticulate and now floundering to defend his bad Iran deal, that it's hard to believe this is an American president. I don't hate Trump, but I don't understand how anyone could have any respect or admiration for him.

A Moderator has issued a warning to Brendan, mainly for abusive posts. As a Moderator myself, I was wondering to myself if, due to the deterioration of the standard of debate we have come to expect, that this thread should be closed. The question has lead to inflammatory remarks, which are actually well off topic since the remarks have been personal attacks. However, closing a thread, no matter what the topic, could be seen as censorous, a denial of a freedom to express an opinion ON THE SENTIMENT OF THE TOPIC. Therefore, I have reached the conclusion that the thread should remain open. The point is, let's get back on topic. Perhaps we should move on to discussing the question, "Is a two-party system the most efficient way to provide governance to a Nation?" We have good examples of governments comprised of representatives of all political philosopies coming together to work for the good of a Nation. Consider teh British governmetn in WWII, and even the Australian Government in the same period. Let's have no more personal attacks. Let's raise ourselves out of the ralm of gutter politics. Say your piece on the topic, and back your statements on sources that can be examined.

I never drink alone but it would be better if I didn't drink at all. It costs and is NOT good for you. . Especially Distilled stuff. (Liver Cirrhosis) My wife invents occasions to celebrate.. Good wine is my favourite poison. Life is too short to drink bad wine , drive Land Rovers and eat British food. That's an old one. MAYBE the Land Rovers have improved. Nev

you reckon labour are doing a good job. net zero is costing us a fortune and in the end it will be dropped because it is unviable. bowen is a clown. every day we here about another labour minister abusing allowancees. labour in victoria have handed organised crime 15 billion or more using the big build as a front. jacintas idea for more housing is to build towers all over melbourne because they will come under cmfeu control. they don't get involved in residential home builds so no promoting that. daniel andrews left before he had to face the music but not before he amassed 90 million for himself. there is so much more than that too. andrews tripled workers comp policys overnight and that makes life hard for us employers . i never used to be interested in politics at all but these criminal and corrupt politicians made me take notice. i actually voted for andrews when he first ran. the other choice was napthine and his incompetent mates. now albo the liar is breaking his ellection promises and bringing far too many immigrants with no regard to infastructure. and labour believes criminals should all be set free with no consequences for thier actions. one nation might have its faults but they will be better than what we have now.

It's a beautiful day. I'm going for a ride shortly. Thinking Bothwell way.

if you took the time to listen you would realise she is not rascist. thats just a word lefties like to throw around when they have nothing better. you still love albo and snake chalmer even after all the lies and the damage to our land and economy with the stupid net zero plan that most countries have abandoned. hopefully labour are out at the next election and the country can recover. go one nation . out with the left and the woke clowns.

Trump continues to dig even deeper holes for himself. His pathological lying used to just raise eyebrows among world leaders. Now they are giving him back some of his own medicine. He is still insisting Meloni begged him for a photo but she has shot him to pieces with her latest comments. Mary Trump apparently said that his father told him to never accept defeat ever. He still insists he won the 2020 election & just last week walked out of an interview when a Journo stated the evidence was there & he insisted he had evidence to the contrary but has never ever produced anything (because he can't). The US has always exploited its position in every place it has set up a base or even just an embassy. The Yanks were widely despised during WW2 here, the UK & in NZ. Remember the catch phrase " over paid over sexed and over here". There were riots in Brisbane & in Wellington all due to the attitudes of US servicemen & their pompous boss MacArthur. They have rewritten history so many times. For example there were 75,000 British & Canadian troops that landed on D-Day & 57,000 Americans, all the navy ships & most of the landing craft were British & the Yanks stuffed up their landings, refused to use most of Hobarts inventions, took out half the bolts of the mulberry floating harbours so they got destroyed in a storm & had huge casualties & in the battle of the Bulge, Montgomery's 30 Corps stopped the Germans getting to Antwerp after they had over-run the yanks & Patton was too far away . The list goes on. The USA is an empire in decline and it has been for some time. The only thing Trump has been good at is hastening that decline. The sooner the leaders of rest of the World act in a positive way like Meloni & The US leaves or gets kicked out of countries it has bases in the better.

It will be more than just a price rise in prices of premium chips. The world cannot afford to give up Taiwan. At Davos, the US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said: "I would say that the single biggest threat to the world economy, the single biggest point of single failure, is that 97 percent of the high-end chips are made in Taiwan," Bessent told the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland. He described a potential blockade or destruction of the island's manufacturing capacity as an "economic apocalypse," emphasizing Washington's efforts to relocate semiconductor production to American soil." A blockade of these chips would send the world into the tech dark ages and we would certainly lose the AI arms race against China. As I understand it, it would take decades to build the ecosystem required to produce these high end chips.

I agree, but the thing is that to some people not automatically believing he is innocent equates to "not supporting the troops" My point is that BRS is not the only soldier in this story. Those who beleive BRS is innocent surely must believe that the 20 soldiers who brought this to light must be lying. It will be tested in court.

Who did you go to war with? Trump: “IRAN” And how did it end? Trump: “ I RAN”.

Trump ripped up Obama's nuclear treaty with Iran, then started a pointless war that cost thousands of lives, hundreds of billions of dollars, half of the US missiles and tens of aircraft, disrupted shipping to most of the world and caused fuel crises in many countries. Now he's desperate to end the war before the midterms, so is doing a "deal" that leaves the Iranian regime better off than before the war. Tell me again how he's "righting the ship"?

And how is that looking so far? As I understand it, the memorandum of understanding which lasts for 60 days, does not include handing over nuclear materials. It does seemingly involve unfreezing billions dollars of assets for the Iranians. I also understand that the Iranians have not ruled out charging tolls for ships using the Strait of Hormuz. Then there is regime change. This has not occurred, but several leaders have been killed, and it is believed their replacements are even harder line. The US has squandered its arsenal of weapons such as the Tomahawk Missile, which will take years to replenish. https://militarywatchmagazine.com/article/us-indefinitely-suspends-tomahawk-japan#:~:text=The United States has indefinitely,day U.S. assault on Iran. "The United States has indefinitely suspended the delivery of Japan’s first 400 RGM-109 Tomahawk cruise missiles, due to serious shortages of the missiles in the U.S. Navy that have resulted from the 39 day U.S. assault on Iran. " It would be a great time for China to take Taiwan. But I guess if Americans are feeling down because of increasing healthcare costs, high petrol prices, etc. I am sure they are massively cheered up by the bulldozing of the East Wing to build that big, Beautiful Ballroom to be used by the ultra-rich. MMmmmm you've got to love all that gold leaf. I bet they they cant wait for the Arch De Trump or to get their first $250 bill with the dear leader's face on. I am sure they are so proud of the immense intelligence of the leader. So smart that he aces tests that are used to detect dementia. But of course, the doctor administering the test has never seen such a perfect score.

Whoa.. There were a few spicy pages I just caught up on. 🙂 I think it is fair to say the two party system is in transition. To what - who knows? I will leave the performance of Albo and his crew to the appropriate thread. However, it is clear that there is a perception that neither of the two majors are truly representing the majority of Aussies at the moment. And, from the polls, it is clear the libs at least (and possibly the Nats) aren't thought to be at all representing their traditional base. Labor, at least federally, seem to be not too far off their normal primary vote; I read it was somewhere around the 28% mark; not too much lower than the last federal election of, from memory, about 32%. At the same time, there is a perception (real or otherwise) that the gap is ever widening between the haves and have nots and that blame is being successfully laid at the feet immigration, which plays into both fear and bigotry. This is because more and more of what was the middle class is being squeezed more and more. For various reasons, which would take a book to go through, blame has successfully been laid at the feet of immigration. This results in a perception the immigrants are taking away previous little resources that the majority of the population have to fight for, and along comes Pauline with her silver bullet fixes to everyone's problems. The Libs had their time and between Morrison and Dutton (with a little Littleproud thrown in), screwed things up so royally, they were booted out (Albo technically won, but in the famous words of Bill Hayden - a drover's dog would have won that election). To his credit, he took an early lump in the form of the Voice, licked his wounds, and then did a reasonable job. But hubris seems to be setting in (early) as it inevitably does, and he is no longer looking like he is really looking after the majority of the people he purports to represent. Having said that, the loss of primary vote is probably not much more than a protest vote - yet. The Libs seem to be so far removed from reality, that all but their most ardent supporters seem to have jumped ship. It's hard to understand precisely what they stand for. If I was a betting person, I would suggest in 5 - 10 years, without a complete about-face, they will fade into oblivion. Which may leave a two party system - Labor and Phon.. Or more likely, some other party will spring up as the Greens seem to be marginalising themselves (or at least no one is covering them much anymore). Or there may be more parties, in which case it is likely to become lie some European countries where coalitions are formed and broken. Whilst I support the key budget changes on economic grounds, there is a lot more that can be done. And, people like David Pocock are using social media effectively to get a message across of what is wrong with Labor and the LNP. Just google or youtube him and you will see what I mean.

It seems like most of the political journos are writing and saying that the rise of One Nation has meant the end of the two party system as we've known it. It might come to that, where we have three main parties for a period of time. Or One Nation could flame out, the coalition eventually rebuilds, and we're back to the old two party system. I don't follow European politics much, but some of those countries seem to have multi parties and they try to cobble together a coalition of parties after the election to get a governing majority. It makes me wonder if that's the direction we're heading here in Australia.

If you think the current crop of Federal Labor politicians are crooked and liars, you must have a short memory. Johnny Howard was a pretty good liar when it suited his aims. He took us into an unnecessary and useless War in Iraq, selling us American lies disguised as Truth. If Hanson gets any kind of power, she'd be right up there with Trump, sending all our Defence personnel and equipment to help in his unpopular, illegal, and unconstitutional Iranian War. I quoted the Hancocks, because Hanson adores Gina Hancock, takes millions from her, and thereby owes her "big-time", and would do whatever Gina insisted, such as ensuring unions were gutted - just like America, where workers rights don't exist, only continuous concessions to huge corporations. This American bloke in the video below points out how Australia is the land of robber barons, enriching themselves annually beyond the ordinary persons wildest dreams - whilst not working any harder than a lot of everyday employees. The corporate control over all over polticians is frightening - but the right wing politicians continually concede major concessions to them, thus making the everyday cost of living harder and harder for ordinary Australians. Hanson would be a pushover for corporate greed, and corporate greed drives a lot of Australia's basic problems. https://www.msn.com/en-ca/money/other/the-real-power-structure-controlling-australia-s-economy/vi-AA21hRmY

One problem is that during an election, the electorate doesn't really want to hear the truth. Take house affordability. Most people acknowledge that homes, especially for first-time buyers, are way too expensive. A politician who promises to lower housing prices will surely do well until people who actually own a home realise that devaluing housing prices devalues their property as well. Not a great election pitch to existing home owners. Note, I personally am fine with that; you can't have everything. I find that voters at election time are rather like kiddies sitting on Santa's lap. They just want to be told what is in it for them.

Same here. I like wine but decided at the start of the year that I'd stop buying it unless it was a special occasion. As I'm mostly by myself in the house it's not a good habit to get into. The second glass is always a bit bigger than the first. Anyway, I haven't missed it at all and the recycling bin is a lot less noisy when I put it out these days, so that's a positive.

I can relate to this. I mostly have 1 bottle a week, but these days Mrs Octave doesn't drink much at all so I end up drinking most of it. Whilst I am pretty moderate (mostly) if there is an open bottle, I will finish it. We are just experimenting with going out to a wine bar and having just one nice glass rather than a whole moderately priced bottle. Four times a year Mrs Octave is away for a week, so I tend to overdo it. When visiting my son in NZ I do fall into a bit of a trap. His household is pretty nerdy. They brew beer which is stored under the house and is piped into the kitchen. There are 3 taps with 3 different delicious home brews. A new addition is gin, which they distil themselves. There are bottles in a rack with a dispenser. This is a little problematic when I am cooking. Chop some onions, fill glass, saute onions fill glass, etc.

By labour, I guess you mean Labor. Here is a breakdown of the levels of crime per state. Here is how the states and territories generally break down by safety and crime rates: Here is how the states and territories generally break down by safety and crime rates: Northern Territory: Highest per-capita crime rate nationally. Cities like Alice Springs and Darwin often top national per-capita crime lists. [1, 2, 3] Queensland: Has the highest crime rate among the major eastern states, with surging rates of assault, break-ins, and youth-related property crime. [1, 2, 3] Victoria: Frequently ranks highly on a per-capita basis, with recent statistics indicating record highs in criminal incidents—particularly in the Melbourne CBD and specific regional centres. [1, 2] New South Wales: Despite the high total volume of reported crimes (driven by its large population), its per-capita crime rates are relatively low compared to the rest of the country. [1, 2] Australian Capital Territory: Consistently considered one of the safest jurisdictions in Australia with significantly lower crime rates. [1, 2, 3] If you are making a connection between Labor governments and crime, you have to account for the fact that NSW has a low per capita crime rate. Is this an achievement of the NSW Labor government? The ACT has been governed by Labor since 2001 and has significantly lower crime. I am not spruiking for Labor here, I am not a party political person. In one of your posts you link to an ABC News site, which is lists all the crime stories. These are Australia-wide, not just Victorian. If you keep doomscrolling, of course, you will become anxious. I live in Victoria, and of course, I would like crime to be as low as possible; however, you have to keep things in perspective.

I'd actually argue that the rise of call centres is the cause of bad customer service. Businesses think that the number of calls answered and the wait times are the only KPI that matters. Staff don't have in depth business knowledge because they're hired, trained for a week then told to follow the script. A good employee who knows the business may spend 10 minutes or more sorting out a difficult problem. However if they spend this amount of time on one call they'll be reprimanded. The short sightedness of this is that the 10 minute call may have stopped the client ring back another 5 times, getting progressively more annoyed and then telling everyone they know how bad that business is.

I didn't think that JerryA said 'its better'. Sure. But not just USofA. It's a first step toward starting to address the sorry state of affairs in all our various democracies. All the world should be cleaning up their (our) own back yatd. More importantly for us, along with rising the ire of the voters, it brings the whole issue of corruption into the public awareness. Politicians must be aware of the groundswell of discontent. The polls have been showing it for years. We are tired of turning a blind eye to corruption whilst hoping for crumbs of integrity. It should be seen by the political parties as a big warning that the voters want a better deal - one where the wellbeing of the public is served better than the corrupting moneyed minorities (such as tax avoiding business entities)

For a while now, finding the Money for essentials when living on the OA Pension is a big challenge and the Boss and I have a few Medical challenges. She had open Heart surgery about 8 years ago and I have a very thorough Neuro person who is always Making me do tests and imaging. Yesterday we were in Bayside St Kilda and a low flying formation Led by a DC3 flew above and out over the Bay at about 1500 feet with magnificent noises coming from it's radial Motors. That Plane would be well over 80 Years old and Pt Phillip Bay was like a Millpond. Other Places in the World are Being bombed daily by R soles. Nev

I'm doing a lot of thinking about the Hereafter. I go to a cupboard and think, "What am I here after?"

Wille, you have just described my worst fears. Although I am not alone, that path of losses and degraded quality of life is my worst dread of all. And not just for myself. I feel badly for my wife having to go through that on her own if I lose my marbles. But for now, we take each day - one at a time - and find something positive to offset the gripes - of - the - day. Last night we went out to the local historic theatre (run by volunteers fighting the boredom of ageing). Watched an engaging but forgotten old movie. Today is the first sunny day for weeks. And I have good reason to get out of bed; It's my turn to put croissants in the oven for breakfast.

I admit that at first I thought that Donold was just using theatrical BS to wind up the dumb redneck voters. It was all just an act, to get the top job. How wrong I was. I didn't believe that anybody could be that dumb, foolish, shallow, narcisstic and sociopathic, and yet survive to such an age without somebody topping him. And I mean, before he ran for president the first time. But here we are. Not only that, but he gathered together so many like minded people to protect and enable his corruption without any thought or consideration for the wellbeing of the people.

I was reading an article about "Libyan desert glass" today, and how the scientists are totally perplexed on how it formed. It is primarily silicon, but it contains microscopic zircon crystals - and it has been fused at temperatures unlike anything ever found on Earth - even in molten magma. The general opinion is that it formed in a meteorite burst over Libya in antiquity - but the scientists still say that doesn't fully explain the intricate atomic patterns found inside the glass. More recent scientific studies say the Libyan desert glass was formed via a massive asteroid impact. But the problem with that line of investigation is - there is no impact crater anywhere near the Libyan desert, capable of supporting that story. The experts claim the crater is depply buried under the desert sands and needs more investigative work to find it. In the article, they showed the Winged Scarab Pendant found in King Tut's tomb. It contains Libyan Desert Glass amongst the inlaid gemstones. Now, just looking at the close up of the pendant, I'm blown away by the skills, the complexity and the workmanship in this pendant. The experts say the ancient Egyptians were a race of primitive idol-worshippers who somehow managed some impressive building feats such as the Pyramids, using primitive transport methods. They had no electricity, no high-tech steels, only wood-fired furnaces, no modern grinding equipment, and supposedly just primitive hand tools. I call BS on those suppositions - these people were an advanced race with skills and equipment equalling modern techniques. It takes over 1000°C to melt gold, and intricate, high-tech tools to work it - to cut gemstones - and it takes artisans of exceptional skill to cut and shape those stones and fabricate the precious metals into shape. Take a close look at this pendant, you can expand the photo substantially to see the detail. https://egypt-museum.com/winged-scarab-pendant-of-tutankhamun/

Australia being able to defend itself is a definition of Impossibility no Matter how Much we spend. It was Abott and Morrison who stuffed up the Subs deal and alienated the French and tied us to AUKUS. I'd like to have seen that all investigated.. Nev

From 1997 - 2022 there have been almost 1500 school shootings in the USA. (Source: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/38433681/) To my knowledge there have been 2 in Australia since 1991 which resulted in death. There's a damn good reason some freedoms are restricted.

I was giving DT some slack to see what outcomes he achieved, but I have to concede that he is completely deranged.

I have a yard full of "collectibles". Most others view my "collectibles" as "junk". I just have to convince the ATO when I make a killing selling one of my "collectibles", that it's not taxable! 😄

Approximately 209 million people were registered to vote in the 2020 presidential election and 158,427,986 ballots were submitted for president (75.8% of registered voters).

As there is a thread about Chump already, how about we make this about the "average American". Firstly, what is the "average American"? Or do we mean the stereotypical middle class American - and even this is hard to define as their preferences and attitudes can vary differently between states. But how does this correlate to their rise in economic and political power? And concentration of that economic and political power. Don't forget, the US economy was originally built on some of the most oppressive largesse compared to its peers - slavery, suppression of workers rights, etc. Even today, not a rise since 2009 of the minimum wage.. very little leave entitlements, virtually no redundancy rights, etc. at least compared to its peers. And let's not forget, the leader in a democracy, of which it still was in 2025 when Chump was elected, is the result of a majority of votes or seats or states or whatever, in accordance with the electoral laws and systems. In this case, in 2025, Chump was able to attract the popular majority of voters as well as states. Yep, I feel sorry for the Democrat voters, and for America not having what it considered a better option. But ultimately, they knew what he was going to do, knew he would do it and some cited that is why they voted for him. As a result, I don't feel so sorry for the Americans.. they made theiur bed (if not all of them - but that is how it works). In fact, I could argue the current administration doesn't break with their historical past, particularly with respect to avarice. I do feel sorry for the rest of the world (or at least the US allies) that bought into the US, had no say, and now have to deal with the fallout.

On the basis that current aged voters would die out, yes. But it ignores two other things. First, and less likely, the new found popularity of one nation will result in those offspring and impressionable of those new found voters being conditioned into following... Of course, most of the new found voters probably have adult kds where it is too late (hence, less likely). But, as we age, our ideology tends to change - usually moderate more than flip.. But there are enough people on the boundaries that may keep PHON in popularity or even increase it (assuming every other factor stays the same). I just mentioned it as a possible outcome, but if UK experience is anything to go by - and indeed US experience - the electorate may well have had enough that something really bad has to happen before they change their tune. On any other electoral system, Farage and UK Reform would possibly be the second or likely third party in the UK House of Commons today - straight past the post averted that. Chump is in because of the protest vote - the die-hard MAGA base is not enough to give them more than a few states (yes, Chump is Republican, but lets face it, their national elections are usually based on the presidential candidates). Pauline#s rise is not dissimilar to Farage's.. disenfranchised population, structural unfairness, immigration concerns, etc. And now, a rise in the polls; the difference is Reform are now polling ahead of anyone else. Both parties have the same issues - candidate vetting is terrible, controlled by billionaires and open about it, offering cheap solutions to difficult problems, etc. It is likely, unless Labour in the UK turn things around quickly, Reform will be the next government (Conservatives are in the same position as the Libs). Then the shit will hit the fan and as the British are less rusted on, Reform will hopefully implode before they can do too much damage, or will at least be booted out and we will never hear of them or their people again. Although Albo is far less unpopular than Starmer, it is plausible that without Labor turning it around, Pauline could make a decent go of it at the next election.. definitely not a majority, but with preferential voting, you may well see quite a few One Nation taken seats in the House of Reps. That would give her enough to make a dent, but not enough to extend them the rope to hang themselves (metaphorically to those sensitive to Pauline). If Labor continue, then as long as ON don't royally screw up, they could be in for a treat in 2031. It is not that far away (and assuming no early elections called). At the polls stand today, they look to be the majority party on a "two-party" preferred basis, where if one substituted them for the Libs/Nats in that race. As it is, they are polling well ahead of the Lib/Nats. Once they are in, if they are, like Reform, they would likely screw everything up and we will never hear of them again. So, while I agree, they are a fringe riding a wave of discontent, there is a more than tight probability they will become a major at the next election and the libs will pay for it. Agreed. this is the major reason for voter discontent; it's just the billionaires are great at getting a manipulated message out to the population it is identity politics (pick whatever you like) that is the problem. She had so many "I don't do policy on the run" responses to basic policy questions - I would put her more like Joe BP - "Don't you worry about that!"

It had entered for the Pullet's Surprise award.. Nev

Does that mean the cloud will be in the sky?

I am travelling to Aus for a couple of weeks - up to a month in mid-July. I am guessing that will become a gripe for you fellas 🙂 It's not the flight, nor the destination, but the purpose. what I call YAMD - yet another mercy dash. At least this time, it is not for a couple of days. I will be between my brother's place in Canterbury and my mother's place in the Yarra Valley - as well as Port Arlington, where my brother has his retirement place. Sadly, my mum has been diagnosed with a terminal illness and I am coming out for the prognosis scan. Then it will be making arrangements after that. Also, both my brother and I want to get her wishes, because, the feeling when my father was in ICU being asked by the doc to play dog was not a good one. And that time will come, so I want us to be prepared - as I have prepared my family for my inevitable demise. All good things must come to an end, unf. But, it will be a recce trip as well, so not all gripes. I will take a look at a parcel of land I intend to build my "retirement" lifestyle on - and yes - it will be GA/RAAA based. In addition, I will try to nip up to Sydney to introduce myself to our Aussie office and see if there may be any offerings in the future move - which is not far, now - end of year max - will explain in the reno thread. I won't have time to do any flying, plus I don't have an Aussie medical at the moment (couldn't get a mygov id in time for my last medical here.).

Labor changed their mind to HELP first Home Buyers get a leg on the Ladder of Home Ownership They knew Some would take the Opportunity to have a go at them but took the risk. Is THAT a BAD thing? Look where the Nat's/ Libs are NOW and it's looking worse for them every day. . Them's just the FACTS. For a Long time, all they have done is say NO and obstruct. The People have decided.. Nev

It sounds sad, but today marks 3 months a good mate has not visited at all. He actually stopped visiting in mid Jan, but popped in in mid Feb when another mate visited. And again, very quickly met up with me when I met an old work colleague in Mid March - but it was just a very quick visit that time - only one glass of wine. Of course, that mate is Wolfie (and his cohorts). Funny thing is, I haven't missed it. I got my partner a bottle of Plantagnet Chardy (a personal favourite for what you can get here these days), which she duly appreciated. I did sneak a sip and say to her, "This is a good wine, right" to which she was quite agreeable. I didn't like it at all! The most tempting time to have a drink was when I was in Frankfurt a couple of weeks ago. It was lovely weather and we were treated to dinner at a tavern, where the beers looked so tempting. Even when I was at the cricket with some Aussie and English mates last week - in the social club so with nice sit down meal and a flowing bar - I wasn't tempted. I feel I have lost a friend - and it is, in this case, cause for a celebration (Now I have to ditch the confectionery)

You talk a lot of shit, mate. Your right-wing parties are so useless they couldn't organise a piss-up in a brewery if they bought their own glasses. As soon as Hanson gets any kind of power, she'll be asking Gina Hancock to help run the country. And Hancock is just a robber baron, shafting every Australian, while she claims we should all bow down and be grateful to her, for ripping all our minerals out of the ground so she can make more millions without lifting a finger. She gets multiple millions a year for just collecting royalties and pays no tax, because it all goes into the Hancock Family Trust. Her old man built a $20M mansion, pissing in everyones face with his blatant ripoff iron ore money, while ordinary people did it tough. Then when his Filipino floozy widow looked like taking over the iron ore income stream, Gina spent multiple tens of millions on lawyers to make the Filipino floozy get just a couple of million, and nothing else. Then Gina flattened the mansion, less than 20 years after it was built. Is this the kind of people you want running Australia? Australia is the land of lack of competition, monopolies, robber barons, and corporate lobbyists who would twist Hanson around their fingers, if Hanson ever got any kind of political power - so they could get more corporate rorts, and more extreme wealth. Now we have BHP refusing to pay electricians good money for doing a prick of a job in extreme dust and heat, and a Liberal or ON Govt would back BHP to the hilt, claiming unions were being greedy. They're the ones who know what greed looks like. Meantimes, corporate CEO's get salaries that look like Lotto wins every week, while they claim they can't pay workers any more money. Banducci, CEO of Woolworths, gets close on $10M in salary and perks, while he shafts Woolies customers and Woolworth employees. Joyce got $25M annually for shafting Qantas customers, and employees. At least Labor goes in to bat for the battlers, the pensioners, the veterans, and those who can't get a step up the rung of the wealth ladder. Labor tries to adjust the tax system so the housing bubble doesn't explode, and tries to help young people acquire an affordable home - and all the Landcruiser-driving, big boat boat-owning, multiple property owners and developers, start screeching they've been shafted, and Labor is a pack of arseholes. No, it's the greedy property owners who keep wanting million-dollar property gains every year, while they pay only a pittance in tax, thanks to all their wangled tax deductions - such as the Landcruisers and boats - who are shafting every Australian, and getting "unjust riches" from property investment. Crime has always been with us, you watch too much TV and social media crap, that blows crime out of all proportion. Were you complaining about gun crime in the 1990's when shootings were just as common as today, but only occasionally reported? When we had the worst massacre Australia has ever had, with 35 people shot down by one bloke, just for fun? What about the Hoddle St massacre, or the Fathers Day massacre in Milperra? Those people weren't recent immigrants. Car thefts were massive in the 1980's and 1990's, and immobilisers were introduced to try and stop it. So car thefts went down for a while, now the car thieves have electronic devices to beat immobilisers. We have more people in jail than ever, and yet you claim crims are getting away with crimes constantly. Not much has changed - just the rabid, rapid-fire media reporting that has increased, because the media of today want stories that attract clicks and eyeballs. You need to take a hard look at yourself and your one-eyed, right wing rants, or go to America and join the MAGA nutters who claim Trump has all the answers, too. And I forgot to add, Hanson thinks Trump has all the answers as well, she worships him as the answer to the worlds problems. So we'll get a Trump-style Govt, if Hanson gets any political power. Decisions on the fly, with no reference to anyone, and decisions reversed daily, so no-one knows what's going on. Hanson is a stunt-puller, and carries the same level of nastiness as Trump, abusing people, including allies, and causing disruption, left right and centre. Albo and Chalmers are doing their best with what they got handed, and a lot of what they got handed, came from Liberal Govt decisions.

Don't get me started, OT.. those big consultancies are the biggest scams on earth (Except, that I started with my earlier post - I think it was PWC that was consulting to the ATO on how to make changes to reduce the loopholes and were at the same time consulting to private corps on how to beat them).

Announced Policies are generally not believed anyway. The public has lost trust in what politicians and speechwriters say.

Thanks octave, that brings back a lot of childhood memories. As a kid I had mates who lived in the local small town and I sometimes stayed with them on weekends and got to do town kid stuff. A few of our activities involved the steam trains that were the common train back then. The rail bridge had a small nook in the concrete abutment directly below the train line, so two or three of us could squeeze in there and watch the trains go over our heads only inches way. It was exciting stuff, a lot of anticipation when we heard the noise and vibration of the train coming, and then totally cacking ourselves as it passed overhead. Sometimes we got burnt a bit but that was ok, it was all good fun until we eventually got busted. When the train drivers were shunting wagons on the spur line they would let us ride up with them in the loco and work the brake lever and stuff like that.

We are only getting the used subs as a stop-gap measure until the new subs are built. But I still reckon the subs will be totally obsolete before they're even half built - leaving us with more monstrous Defence expenditure losses.

The difference between 60 years ago and today is the "culture" of the people. When everyone grows up in the same culture, they know what is acceptable and only a small minority cause trouble. For example, in Broken Hill we had explosives and guns everywhere, but it was not a problem. Then "outsiders" move in, not part of the culture, and in ignorance or indifference they do things that require regulation. We had an Asian visitor who shot sheep, and claimed he was just hunting like the rest who were shooting kangaroos. Multiculturalism requires much greater regulation, but that is not effective if the newcomers do not respect the regulations and their enforcers.

Had a really extraordinary rain occurrence last night. Before I went to bed, the sky was clear. About an hour and a half later I began to hear a strange rushing sound from outside. It's hard to explain it until I tell you what happened. The sound at first was a bit low pitched. I wondered if it was a truck approaching, but the sound was coming from the opposite direction from the highway. The sound seemed to be getting louder as it was approaching. Finally the sound arrived and with it extremely heavy rainfall. It was as if a fire hose was in use. If there is rain from a thunderstorm, it usually starts with scattered drops and then the main fall catches up. But last night it was like a wall of water was moving across the land. The boundary between rain and no rain was distinct. This rainfall continued for a short time, maybe five minutes or so, then abruptly stopped. Later that night I saw that the sky was clear again. This morning I checked the ran guage and saw that it regaistered 11 mm of rain. That brings total rainfall since last Monday to about 75mm. There is standing water in the more level paddocks and some dams now have water in them. The creek which runs through the place is roaring and the frogs are making quite a racket.

Father Hartigan was my mum's teacher in Narrandera.