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But, it is OK to bag, but I also prefer to offer some solutions. This has previously been discussed on these forums. but a couple from memory: Ban political donations more than a de minimis amount from one controlling person/group (to make it hard to create 100 cmpanies and each of them contribute a seaparate donation to the limit). Maybe restrict it to living people rather than corporations. I would personally advocate a ban on lobbying groups and companies. If you have something to say to the government, it can be done through a public forum where everyone gets to hear it and scrutinise it. And contribute to it. If not point 2, ban parliamentarians from lobbying or representing/being emeployed by firms in any official or real capacity that involves communication - directly or indirectly - with the government. Period. No cooling off periods, etc. Aussie media regulator, ACMA, being given real teeth over both mainstream and social media, which must have independence, legally trained/accomplished people adjudicating, where they can impose real consequences/punishment for intentionally misleading the public. Those impacted can appeal through the court systems if they want. Of course, paid advertorials that are clearly labelled as such would be exempt, however, if the publisher reasonably had facts that rebuke such advertorials, then they have to state this prominently either before or after ther advertorial. A new "offence" is intrroduced of high public misconduct (there is a public misconduct charge which is applying a damp wetted to the wrist very softly). For this, the bar should be recklessness in its criminal definition( foresaw the consequences that are likely to happen, didn't want them to happen, but went ahead with the action anyway) or intention. In other words simple incompetence or even negligence do not count. So, unless the polly clearly states the likely outcome of their policy, and it results in an absurd and large cost to Australians and the benefit promised doesn't materialise, they can be held liable, with the punishment being they and their controilling interests (so, for example, not hiding assets with a partner or company or whatever) can be held finalcially responsible (i.e. having to pay what they can back). The above offence would automatically include acting on prohibited lobbying. I am sure I could think of many more things, but I bet with the above, there would be far more transparent and hopefully logical and rational decisions made in the best interests of the country as a whole.

Sorry, Nev. I missed your post. I bought it with 40,200+ miles on the clock. Today, it sits 3 miles short of 45,000 miles. When you think I had the bike for about a month before I did my first ride to London (from memory), it has clicked up 3.700+ miles in 3 months. The original tyres were at about 1/2 life, so they lasted as expected. I expected a few bits to be needed to be done. And sure enough, they do. I don't have all the tools and the space to DIY, and even if I did, it would take me 3 or 4 times longer than if I got someone good to do it. The latest mechanics were OK, but I noticed a few minor things they didn't get right. The new tyres are excellent. But, they didn't inflate them to the correct pressures. I had since corrected that, and it rides really well. The rear brake/wheel still has a squeak, but I have checked and there seems to be an issue with the piston - somethign I would have hoped they picked up when changing the disc. So, they are going to look at next week. I gave it a good dose of brake cleaner and it seems to have quietened it down a but. The heated grips no longer work. They wired them into the fuse box, and I guess the fuse has blown. I am thinking there is a short somewhere, but I don't have the space to take the fuel tank off to trace the wiring. Since they were playing up before I took them in to be rewired, I am guessing it was the previous mechanic who has probably cut into the insulation or something. At the end of the day, these are minor things. The electrical system initially worried me, but it seems to be functioning well (touch wood). The engine purrs like a kitten, and the clutch and gearbox seem in good shape, if a little notchy at times. For an 18 year old bike, it is still hanging together well. Well, this weekend, it was great riding weather, if a little chilly in the morning. Yesterday was nice and sunny and we hit abour 17 degrees. Today was more on the grey side, with the odd ray if sunshing getting through and it was 16. My son and I went for a ride both days and covered around 130 miles between the two days. We found some nice twisties with excellent rolling countryside views as well as views to the Bristol Channel. We stopped at the local Harley/Indian dealer, and then the Triumph dealer, where a bunch of young fellas made a bee line to the son's bike and they all spun a good yarn. We pootled/bimbled around a bit more and then all of a sudden, on a country road (we aren't short of them around here) he decided to open up the throttle and got the little beast to 70mph, I did ask him to read back his speedo (we have intercoms). Today it was back to the twisties and some riding in town for practice, where he did stuff up navigating a roundabout. He was very disappointed with himself, but as I point out, even the most experienced riders make mistakes, that he wasn't dangerous, and as long as he learns from them, he is in the black. The Biffa (nickname for CBF1000's here) is an absolute joy to ride. Smooth and very positive acceleration, respectable handling int he twistes (knee didn't quite get down - and I don't have sliders, anyway). Only real complaint is that over the potholes it is a bit stiff. Maybe I should take a look at the rear shock. Bikers were out in force both days, and the convention here is a tilt of the head to the middle of the road, with a slight nod at the same time. Most people do it, and some quite pronounced. The alternative is a wave of the left hand with an extended arm. All in all a good day.. Next week, the Halse Angels will head to a beach on the Bristol Channel - most likely Minehead, which is only 14 or so miles away. Then the real test for the lad - a ride into London.. to the Aussie High Coommission for an appointment for his Aussie passport renewal (his old passport isn't one fo the new tech ones, so it is like a new passport application. Looking at doing it Wednesday week.

Oh, well let's see that the MAGA Master of name calling does: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_nicknames_used_by_Donald_Trump Yet the minute someone offends his sensibilities, he is on the line to defamation lawyers. Now, who else has been on the line to defamation lawyers when people call her names? I reserve the right to bag anyone I think is not doing the right thing - that is a cherished right of freedom of speech... But I won't bag them without at least there being evidence to do so, unlike others aforementioned. @Siso - We all get your argument - she is playing within the rules so bag the pollies for not changing the rules and not the ones playing within the rules. If life were that black and white, it would be a better place. But the reality she and her ilk have resources and access to disproportionately bend the wilingness of the rule makers to their aims and objectives and they are not afraid to use it. Yep - she employs a lot of people, directly and indirectly. But she couldn't without all the other infrastructure that is in place from roads to education to provide those people she emplys. Yet, she is not willing to pay for it. When proposal for rule chnages are made to even up the playing field, she is in there pulling no stops to make sure those rules don't see the light of day, let alone get passed. So, too are her ilk; Palmer comes to mind, but all the faceless corporation heavyweights - ironically those owned by foreign investors.. The one thing is at least Gina's companies are Aussie owned. You can sit through the "well, she is playing by the rules, so blame the pollies as they can change the rules." Yes, in theory, but the backlash Gina and her ilk can unleash means pollies are very well constrained in what they can do. And the billionaires aren't the only ones. We had the BLF, and today we have the CMFEU (or whatever); Good ol' Jacinta Allan seems to be in their back pocket. Hard for her to change the rules to be more fair when her sponsors (and in her case, her husband) are calling shots behind the curtain.

I had a look at the seat by seat first preference count as of today, and if it was a first past the post result based on those figures the lower house seat tally would be Labor 35, Liberal 7, One Nation 3 and Independants 2. Not much different to early estimates of a two party preferred result.

That's not Logical Siso.. There are Lot's of risks with where Hansons values will take us and also with Trump Who Lies constantly and is totally unpredictable and dangerously Vindictive and a threat to World order with amongst other things, a weird relationship with Putin and Epstein. Pauline affection for Trump is Perilous for Australia. Nev

Aaaah, that explains the state of my love life...

Don't know much about Gina but don't trust anyone in mining anyway can say that much. And any country with some sort of intelligence needs to do more than just dig holes in the ground. Thing l did wanna mention though is that you know who the biggest employer in the country is. It's not all these mining giants and others, it's small business. Small business employs more people than any of them but yettttt- small business and manufacturing is the biggest thing they've been killing off in Australia since Howard days. They're all just a bunch of fkg morons whatever Govs been in. l remember Howard saying ahhh, we don't need manufacturing we can import anything we need. Could you ever dream up a more destructive line ? That's like saying ahhh, we don't need family any more, we can just import whatever people we need.

A friend of mine was the Shire Engineer in a municipality in country Victoria. He complained that every time he attended a Council meeting he had to debate with ten other engineers.

The real problem with councils is the replacement of the shire engineer with ten unqualified administrators.

Thanks Jerry. It's not a serious glitch, just a bit of a niggle for someone like me who uses multiple tabs most of the time.

Hi @willedoo - Sorry - missed this post as well.. I still use floorp, but there are some sites it doesn't work great with, so I revert to firefox for those. Floorp had its fair share of niggles but the last release seemed to fix most. I haven't had that on mine that I can think of, anyway. You may also want to look here: https://github.com/Floorp-Projects/Floorp/discussions

Digging holes in the ground? Mining today is one of the most high tech activities in industry. Knowing where to dig, how to dig and doing it safely involves all sorts of expertise.

Thank's @willedoo. That s a hell of a swing to PHON. PHON most likely picked it up from most of the swing against the Libs, but that is diosconcerting enough as one would have hoped the majority of Lib voters were in the moderate camp. The Libs are a spent force at the moment and it is a long, if at all possible way back. But, this has let someone in who is even more loony right wing, which is in itself a worry. It has to be a wake up call to the pollies that they have to start changing. I don't think anyone but the fringes is calling for out and out socialisim, but at least get the billionaires and vry wealthy who manage to avoid paying their taxes tipping in and contrinuting - they explout what is on offer - that is only fair. And then the government should move more on what is better for the majority across all spectrums. It feels lik the silent majority are feeling more and more alienated and, with the only real leverage they have, they are starting to talk. Sadly, they can only exert leverage every three years.

There's been a big variation in swings in different seats. Labor has had a lot of small swings to and from and a few big swings either way. The seat of Light around Gawler is one example. It was previously held by Labor on a 20% margin but a swing away to One Nation of 18% has pegged that back to 2% if Labor holds. Labor is currently leading by 730 votes and will probably retain it with Green preferences. At this stage of the counting (65%) the swing totals are Labor down 2.3% overall, Liberals down 16.6%, One Nation up 19.5%, Greens up 1.2% and others down 1.8%.

Yes Gina does employ lots of ordinary Australians, both directly in the extraction of minerals, but also by those backroom people who support the miners. Don't forget the tooth-to-tail ratio of the military also applies to the support requirements of Gina's miners. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tooth-to-tail_ratio You can't attack her for not contributing to the economic condition of us all, as you cannot attack the CEO' of ColesWorths for what they do. Pauline is a different fish. She is influencing people by bolstering their bigotry. She uses what all political Parties have been using for the past few decades- the simple slogan that is supposed to express a truth but which is mostly devoid of practical meaning. What exactly does "Make America Great Again" mean? Labor's "It's Time" had more meaning in its contemporary context. One Nation does not seem to have much to say about anything other than immigration and its racial effects. One Nation may say that Middle Eastern, Asian, Pacific Islander immigrants have greatly altered what being an Australian is, but the elephant in the room is the cultural immigration of the USA. And One Nation seems to be all for sidling up to Uncle Sam at the expense of relations with countries who had influence on mqaking an Australian in our formative years.

Money and Power are powerful aphrodisiacs.. Nev

The Brent Crude price is still lower than it was at the height of COVID: https://tradingeconomics.com/commodity/brent-crude-oil I recall Australia feeling a bit nervous about dunny paper, but not petrol. I guess not being allowed more than 5ks from your home probably had something to do with it. Yes. the Strait of Hormuz was still open, but freight wasn't going terribly quickly between places and it was super expensive to boot. In Australia's case, it would appear our polliies since Howard may have had something to do with our current predicament:

Don't you think that over the past couple of months a lot of countries have been reconsidering their need for close relationships with the USA because of Trump's behaviour? Many countries seem to be looking for trade partnerships with countries of holding similar views. If you think about it, all the alliances wiht the USA seem to be based on the idea that any government system that is not similar to that of the USA is planning to invade, and therefore there is a need for the military protection of the USA.

He's the ultimate snake oil salesman. Back in the early 1900s, travelling salesmen would sell "miracle cures" to naive country folk. Said remedies did absolutely nothing, of course, except leave the victim poorer and still sick. Trump is exactly the same. A liar and braggart. Promised to "drain the swamp" when in fact he's the biggest alligator ever to inhabit any level of government. Promised to "make America great again" and has only made it worse. Promised to make ordinary people's lives better and has only raised prices, lowered healthcare, and made billionaires richer. Promised to start no wars and has invaded multiple countries. A rapist, fraudulent, morally (and multiple financially) bankrupt huckster who has fooled the religious into believing he's god's choice. Someone totally devoid of tact, empathy, diplomacy or character. In fact, if you were to say "Apart from death row inmates, who is the public figure with the least Presidential qualities?", the answer would be "Donald Trump".

The Trump comparison is not relevant here Marty. The Americans have a fairly undemocratic system where the nation elects a president, a bit like an elected king. That president then appoints his cabinet from non elected people. In their case the protest vote can deliver the federal administration where only the king/president has been elected. Now look at the case here where we have a much fairer way of electing a government. The chances of One Nation winning government and Pauline Hanson becoming prime minister is not even worth a mention it's so ludicrous. They'll never get enough seats to do that. So back to complacency. If the majors see their vote going in concerning numbers via the way of protest to One Nation or any other minor party, they are smart enough to do something about it to head it off, in other words, shake out of their complacency. Othewise we could stick to the status quo and continue to reward complacency.

If One Nation ends up with 22% of the vote, they should be entitled to 22% of the seats.

As bad as complacency is, One nation is worse. Trump is a protest vote. Look how that's going.

I did neglect to mention that I have changed my London days to Thursday and Friday. Thursday morning, it was bloody cold, starting off at 4am at 2 degrees. Those heated gloves worked well, except for the index finger on the right hand.. there seems to be a cold spot there, but on testing in the comfort of my room in the pub, it seemed OK. I am gettng more confident filtering through traffic with the big lump it is, but I am still no way hear as aggressive as others on bigger bikes. But, I am also older now, so a little more mindful of the possible consequences. Plus I can;t be botehred with the insurance faff if I damage someone else's vehicle or person. I left early on Friday - 4:30pm. The sun was shining, but I had to stop by the pub to pay, as I fell asleep on first going to my room on Thursday night and didn't awake until well after closing time (no dinner either). I then navigated peak hour traffic to get on the M4 motorway, which was moving well all they way and queues. COVID has had a benefit of bringing forward hybrid working and few people like to go to the office on a Friday. Once out of the vaiable speed limit area past reading (about 30 miles from the start of the motorway), with the weather still nice and the longer evening twilight, I did most of the ride at aorund 87mph - about 140kph. The limit is 70, but I had plenty of people overtaking me, and I was mainly overtaking trucks. The police are far more reasonable in the UK; although at that speed, you are likely to get done. Unless it is dangerous, they are usually tolerant to 80mph (130kph). With one stop for dinner and the diversion to Richmond, I was home a little after 8:30, which was not bad going at all. If I had taken the car, it would have added an hour to the journey I reckon. The train to North Sheen (next stop from Richmonnd and basically same route to M4) would have taken an hour; It would have been longer to the pub and a lot longer to the motorway as one can't filter in a car... Once on the motorway though, I probably would have been doing around 80mph all the way, so it wouldn't have taken that much longer for that part of the drive.

ON are certainly rocking the boat. The Liberal boat has already hit the rocks, but the Labor boat is slowly leaking as well as they are losing the blue collar vote. The chattering classes like to dismiss the rise in One Nation as being all about ignorance and racism, but that's an over simplification by simple minds. If it was all about racism, One Nation woud have been polling these numbers all along. There's more factors to the rise, and cost of living and housing is a big one pushing voters to One Nation. A lot of people see their situation going downhill under the status quo and they see One Nation as a way to shock and punish the big parties into some real action. Complacency is a big thing in politics and often the only way the big parties will look outside their bubble is if someone gives them a jolt like this. The Coalition is getting a big slap in the face, but it's no time for Labor to think they are immune from it. The only party not effected by this is the Greens. They have a niche spot in politics and a steady voter base, so not much will ever rock them.

Ever wanted to prefilter your google answers? Here are some handy filters : https://cardcatalogforlife.substack.com/p/google-has-a-secret-reference-desk

The Important thing now is the Once Proud UAP -Liberal Party is Near extinct. When Liberal is bad They say they are Both as Bad as each other. It is not that simple. If you think it is you are Not paying much attention. It's TOO easy to just say that. Not all Pollies are Corrupt. It's a pretty thankless job for not a lot of Money and we need the Best suited People Possible, and their tenure is relatively short and in the Federal Parliament they travel a lot and are away from Home. Nev

I think Siso has wet dreams about Gina,

TRUTH SOCIAL

Large foxhound

I see where the ABC has called the lower house seat of Ngadjuri for One Nation with a TPP estimate of 56.9% over Labor's 43.1%. It was a Liberal seat loss. The ABC are usually fairly conservative on their calls, so they must think the numbers stack up. It's the first time One Nation has won a lower house seat outside of Queensland.

The problem with the council amalgmation was that the smaller councils were generally more efficient and debt free with money in the black. The larger councils were way more inefficient, more corrupt, broke and in massive debt. To balance the debt, the smaller councils were amalgamated into the bigger ones, along with their cash which on the books bailed the bigger ones out. The end result was ratepayers and residents pay more for less service. It was grand theft by any measure. A broke state government coming up with a scheme to bail out the worst of the bigger councils.

We have a big problem with councils here in Queensland and it got a lot worse when they amalgamated them into less but much larger councils. They're the weak link in the government chain and it would be good if the state government could rein them in. Over time they have gone from being servants of the public to thinking they are our masters and a law unto themselves. Our state governments over time have handed them way too much autonomy. In other states, the state government still has a fair bit of control over local government, but here they've just handed councils the keys to the lolly shop and turned a blind eye. They spend more time checking satellite images to try and extort revenue from ratepayers for some silly minor bylaw infringement than they do providing services. You always know when the rate bill is about to come out (every six months) as it's the only time they slash the road verge, twice a year two weeks before you get the rate bill. A lot of people are looking forward to the next local government elections to kick the deadbeats out. We have four year terms here now so it's a long wait. There's a bloke here who ran for mayor last time and just missed out. He's a local, and well known and liked community member and calls a spade a spade, so we're hoping he'll get in next time. I knew him back in the days when he was a pub bouncer. He'll be more value than the rest of the clowns put together.

MY FANCY CLOTHES.

I would hope very much that Albo (or whoever is in government) is going to negotiate hard for Australian interests in any demand from any government. Too many times it appears various countries, inclduing Australia roll over, especially for Chump on threats. If we clearly have an upper hand, we should use it to our advantage. I remember years ago when the US government decided to heavily subsidise and agricultural product to protect their farmers. I think it was sugar. Australia protested to the WTO as I recall, with little effect. I think ti was 3LO that had the US secretary for agriculture of the time on for an interview. The US offical repeatedly stated the US government has to do what is in the best interests of its growers and that the Australian government should do the same. When quizzed about how the US wwas pursuing open markets and it was hurting Australia's growers, he repeated the mantra. When asked about using their disproportionate economic clout to protect their farmers and their markets were also of disproportionate size, the US official repeated the mantra. Well, if Australia has the wood over the US in this, they should definitely negotiate hard to the disadvantage of the USA and claw something back, taking into account the bigger picture.

It started earlier than that Marty. In Australia it appeared in the goldfields in the 1850's. I've got one of Frank Weston's Wizard Oil bottles I found out in the desert. He came out here from the US in 1864 and started a travelling medicine show selling his wizard oil. At one stage he got into strife with the government for having an opioid in it and had to remove it from the recipe.

I won't speak for Litey, and I probably wouldn't have used the "foolish" word, but my beef is not with the idea of proportional representation. I think it is probably a good idea. I think that the notion that only votes that put a member in parliament are useful votes, and all others are a waste of time. This seems like a naive understanding of how things work. i seldom vote for one of the 2 major parties. I usually vote for a minor party that could never win. Is this a wasted vote? No, because my preferences go to the least worst party. My electorate is a safe Labor seat; however, parties are strongly attuned to swings against them. If a smaller party on the left gets many first preferences and the Labor party gets by on second preferences, they are liable to want to adjust their policies the next time to turn those second preferences into primary votes, and the same applies on the right. I do believe it would have been better if a stronger opposition had been elected; however, the voters by and large, understand the system as it is and voted accordingly.

He's just an uncouth C**t.

Sydney Morning Herald: Washington Robert S. Mueller III, the FBI director who transformed America’s premier law enforcement agency into a terrorism-fighting force after the September 11, 2001, attacks and who later became special counsel in charge of investigating ties between Russia and Donald Trump’s presidential campaign, has died. He was 81. “With deep sadness, we are sharing the news that Bob passed away” on Friday night, his family said in a statement on Saturday (Washington, DC, time). “His family asks that their privacy be respected.” Trump posted on social media after the announcement of Mueller’s death: “Robert Mueller just died. Good, I’m glad he’s dead.” The Republican president added, “He can no longer hurt innocent people!”

They don't all Have 37 Billion to buy their way into everything. She will replace them with robots without batting an eye lid. ALL she cares about is Making more Money for Herself. No one want's that kind of thing to be Happening within their Government. It's NOT good for the Country. Gina's on record saying Paying a fine is ok for ALL crimes and Workers are worth 2 Dollars a day. She's No Angel. Nev

If they hadn't started a war at all it would have been best.

I have two friends who are a vigorous 90 and will be having lunch on Monday with someone who just turned 96. There is hope for all of us.

I know a couple of blokes who are 105, and they probably reckon 86 yr olds are still wet behind the ears!! 😄

Don't be surprised That there IS a Fuel crisis. It will be as it has been. A Cause of Wars, till we stop using it. Trump is incapable of calculating unintended? Consequences or Cares NOT about them when it affects OTHER People who don't live in the USA or don't support HIM. People who have helped are wiped like A DIRTY a$$ when they are of no further use to him. Look at Mike Pence , and there are lots of Others. Get MUM to donate Cash and you're pardoned, no matter what Heinous crime you've committed. Nev

SWMBO and I were sitting having lunch in a favourite local Japanese restaurant a few days ago, and there was a table of four people sitting alongside us and we caught snippets of overheard conversation from them. It appears one couple had two sons who were at college in the U.S. The talk got around to Trump and American political activity. The wife of the other couple was overheard to say, "I wake up every morning hoping to hear on the TV news, that that awful man is dead!" The other couple mentioned that conscription had been bandied around in the U.S. for more military actions. This couple went to speak about their two boys, saying, if conscription was introduced in the U.S., their sons would be on the first plane out of the country. Not much love for Trump in that group.

Electric car owners are mostly smirking right now, me included. With enough solar on the roof and in the battery there is enough to run the house & car as well as export to the grid. Even Trump can't stop the sun shining unless there was a MAD conflict with most of the Northern hemisphere stuffed and a Nuclear Winter created. Out of all those with a big red button there are only 2 that are irrational enough to even contemplate this. No prizes for guessing which two.

The expression on Takaichi’s face and her uncomfortable shifting in her seat shows just how Trump’s unexpected and ignorant jibe landed. She was visibly shocked. He hasn’t got a clue of course. Then Eric Trump’s response on X; “One of the great responses to a reporter in history!” A true chip off the old block. The sooner they are all gone, the better.

I really feel sorry for the normal Americans (they're the ones who didn't vote for this idiot) having to see how cringe their president is.