Jerry_Atrick

Had lunch today with an ex work colleague I have not seen since 2005. When she worked with usm she was 20 years old.. She now has a family and is nice and settled. We had 21 years of catch up and it was great to see her again. We had lunch in a cafe in Dorcas street, just around the corner from Clarendon Rod, South Melbourne. Itis a lovely part of Melbourne with old architecture, but nice wide streets. Food was a little pricey, but good quality.. we strolled to a cafe on Clarendon Street and watched the world go by reminiscing about the good old days, having a moan about growing old, etc. The only rel complaint was the parking stasi.. they were in force and swooped quickly in expired motorists. I managed to avoid one but a few seconds. The $105 bill is not that big its about 80 pounds in London these days if you pay it in 14 days and doubles if you pay it in 28. But, where we were, there were plenty of spaces empty.. as there were shops as well.. so I am not sure it was because of the parking fees and fines there was so many spaces. When there are that many, they should probably allow 2 hour free parking - if you stay longer then you get the bill.

Beautiful day in Melbourne, today. Life is good.

It does look dire for Labor. Of course, the only poll that matters is on election day and sometimes when it looks like a drubbing some of the usually faithful that were intending to vote the other way do return, but that is a huge gap - even if it is a biased poll and taken from voters only in the electorate of Hawthorn (where I have only seen signs for the Lib or indepdendent). Thankfully I am no longer on the register (and it's too late to re-register). I would be quit despondent. There really isn't too much different between ALP and LNP in what they are offering. All three of the majors seem to be pretty well corrupt. Haven't heard boo from the Greens... I think I would be going independent.

That should read Monday back in England is going to be fun. I was on a phone at the time, so I can only plead autocorrect (from a typo, anyway)

Hey babe; take a walk on the wild side.

I haven't seen his whole press conference, but everything in that snippet made sense at least to me. Of course, I would go for a complete and radical overhaul of how taxation would work...

Here is someone who has a plan to help people. I haven't seen the whole press conference, but we need more people in politics thinking like this: Note, it is mainly foreign shareholders that really benefit from the current arrangements and yes, business won't like it, but when there's enough money still to be made, they will stay Norway, Qatar, and a host of others have proved it.

I am not meaning to be a sinophobe, but China is positioning itself to be a global superpower like no other. Like the many countries but more recent stark examples such as Japan, Korea, and Taiwan, they start with a cheap labour force and other factors of production and start manufacturing the basic goods.. almost commoditised types of goods. It is cheap, breaks and generally OK to throw away after a while But then they invest in technology and manufacturing processes and their cheap goods soon become durable and relatively high quality. You only have to look at the Chinese car manufacturing industry to see how that has come leaps and bounds in a very short period of time - about 10 years in major exports (yes, they have had a domestic car industry for much longer time and they have been exporting cars for a longer time, too.. but not at mass scale as today). Certainly in my life time, Australia never really enjoyed comparatively lower costs of labour or other factors of production. So we are always going to struggle to compete. Although there was a vibrant manufacturing sector, it was largely domestic.. Now, China is advancing into the high tech manufacturing and doing a good job of it. But unlike the other countries named, there are two major differences: the population and size of the economy as its wealth from exports increases.. and the government still has largely autocratic control and it decides on the allocation of resources, unlike western type economies where managers focusing on the short term share price and bonuses as a result decide the allocation of resources. And the Chinese government plans for the long term. With a cashed up government thanks to exports and control over industry, China is perfectly placed rise to be the (not a) global superpower. That is a little dramatic but not improbable. Sorry for the thread drift.

No so good for union apparently https://www.abc.net.au/news/2026-11-09/live-updates-england-vs-wallabies-nations-championship/107351328?utm_source=abc_news_app&utm_medium=content_shared&utm_campaign=abc_news_app&utm_content=other And according to the article, England have beaten Australia 12 of yhe last 14 times. Money back in England is not going to be fun

Old time rock and roll

Yep and the LNP continued to grow it at the same rate from 2013 to 2019.. switch looks very different to what the curve looks like since Albo came to power.. But that was my point.. Albo's government in real terms has flat lined debt - actually reduced it; yet the press are blaming him for the high debt levels caused by previous governments both LNP and ALP

Ahhh.. Blame the current bloke for the previous guy's failings. In the current value of money, here is Australia's debt curve... Adjusted for inflation of course.. So, the total debt in today's money has reduced slightly since 2022 not long after Albo had taken over. The graph steadily increases since the previous ALP government, continues during the LNP (we'll excuse the rate of increase over the 2 year COVID period).. Albo gets in and it steadily reduces, with a slight increase but still below the levels he took over. Yep, I agree.. with pollies, it's other people's money. But it clearly isn't Albo's debt - it is the previous guys.. the ones a lot of people think are the safe pair of hands with the economy because that's what the media owners want them to think. He could do his bit to reduce the debt further - property tax gas exports, reduce corporate welfare, etc. But the press don't like that.

Aren't those Christmas lights in a certain section of Amsterdam?

A lot of news seems to point to the Republicans finally realising that Chump is... a chump and the electorate have cottoned on. A lot of Republican congress people are apparently very concerned about what he will get up to over the next couple of years and how it could further erode their jobs come next election. Whilst it won't be easy, there is talk that he may well not make it for much longer.. The problem is, who will replace him?

This was my route Wednesday and Thursday (with the obligatory overnight stop at Tocumwal): It was a very pleasant drive. Back in July, it was straight up and back.. There were potholes on the Hume and the Golbourn Valley Highway.. Not a lot, but enough, and certainly big enough to cause some real problems (I did hit one.. it thankfully did no discernible damage, but it gave me a bloody decent jolt.. And I wasn't going fast - maybe 70km/h. This time there were no potholes for most of the same route to Tocumwal. In fact, when you turn onto the Newell Highway that road is in bloody good condition, and makes the NSW roads look decidedly unmaintained. The route form Tocumwal via Echuca and Bendigo was a bit differnt, but to be honest, not much worse for most of it than I recall when I lived here over 30 years ago. Quite bumpy in places and dips galore. There were clearly areas where if they weren't attnded tom potholes would form in the not too distant future. There was a town - I can't recall which - maybe Rochester or Huntly - where there were a disproportionate number of potholes and I do recall two potholes on the Murray Valley which happened to be the width of my wheelbase as I did hit them before getting to Echuca - but they weren't deep and not terribly bumpy. Of course if cars/tricks keep hitting them it won't be long before they are bumpy. You could see lots of repaired potholes - some looked very temporary. I am not sure why they attacked only the holes though - some areas of road were visibly damaged around the holes and they should have repaired the whole section. But, I guess there is a need to get the holes plugged ASAP. I came off the Calder/Tulla freeway at Bell Street to Bulleen Road then back on myself a bit to Burke Road and then onto Moorabbin airport via the South Eastern and Warragul road. I absolutely agree with this: The amount of what look like B-Doubles compared to when I last lived in Melbourne rolling through suburban roads (I don't recall any when I last lived here) is amazing. I understand the economics to the companies operating transport businesses and that use them, but it was a bit of a brain fart on many levels to increase the weight on all but very specific routes (I am sure they are not allowed down streets, but some roads didn't seem designed for them).