Opinion 
 Blogs 
 Jeff Corbett 

Jeff Corbett

Posted: 03 Jul 09 | The unpaid trialling of prospective young employees has become a grey area because it has become a common practice, but for those who know of the blatant and callous exploitation in this so-called trialling it is no grey area. | CommentsComments (40)
Posted: 02 Jul 09 | It is very likely we paid most of the cost of installing the household's solar system, and from the beginning of next year we the non-solar public will be paying an extortionate price for the excess product of a solar system we paid for. | CommentsComments (24)
Posted: 01 Jul 09 | Not one of the shooters says he hunts birds or animals because it is fun, because there's a satisfaction to be had killing a bird or animal, because the death rattles somehow satisfy a primeval urge. | CommentsComments (119)
Posted: 30 Jun 09 | There is uncertainty as to what amounts to intoxication, although I remember a licensing sergeant saying to me a couple of years ago that it was not rocket science. | CommentsComments (21)
Posted: 29 Jun 09 | The problem of loneliness in old age is compounded when age and retirement join forces, when the perception that age is undesirable mixes with the perception that retired people don't contribute. | CommentsComments (6)
Posted: 26 Jun 09 | The expanded list of birds and animals The Shooters' party wants to kill in national parks and elsewhere includes four species of kangaroo, 11 species of ducks, quail, the galah, the purple swamphen, the sulphur-crested cockatoo, two species of ibis, and the black swan! | CommentsComments (119)
Posted: 25 Jun 09 | Smokers have become the new public contemptibles, and I believe the motives behind those railing against them are questionable. | CommentsComments (20)
Posted: 24 Jun 09 | I'm well aware of the enticements for young people of gang membership but I'd never thought of it in terms of status, respect and role. | CommentsComments (11)
Posted: 23 Jun 09 | The difference for insurance purposes between storm and flood damage has always been a difficulty, and an insurance company with a unique record of goodwill in the Hunter, NRMA Insurance, has missed an opportunity to make it less difficult. | CommentsComments (34)
Posted: 19 Jun 09 | Fling is a stand-out as the new, non-derogatory word. Prostitutes would be flings, and a brothel would be a flingarium. A fling is an uplifting dalliance, a release from inhibition, something that even moralists and wives would abide. | CommentsComments (32)
Posted: 18 Jun 09 | At the base of it all is stereotyping, and it is inevitable that just as we generalise much of our experience we will stereotype people of various cultures. | CommentsComments (16)
Posted: 17 Jun 09 | Australians and people of other developed nations seem to have a mental block when it comes to the unsustainability of our way of life. Even small changes are seen as too hard. And government-enforced change is precarious in a democracy. | CommentsComments (61)
Posted: 16 Jun 09 | The United Motorcycle Council of NSW has launched the most extraordinary public relations campaign you and I are ever likely to encounter. | CommentsComments (38)
Posted: 15 Jun 09 | The path is littered with small events, perhaps the confiscation of a phone, even the permanent confiscation of a phone, internet access rules, careful computer positioning, unannounced monitoring of computers, and banning of social-network sites. But we've lost the war. | CommentsComments (13)
Posted: 12 Jun 09 | We drive strategically, and the principal strategy is to put bad drivers behind us as a matter of urgency. If enough good drivers can get a wave going we'll shuffle bad drivers back to their starting point. | CommentsComments (22)
Posted: 11 Jun 09 | The media's outrage shortly after the 4Corners program suggested that all Australia was disgusted and baying for Matthew Johns's blood, and those who differed may have thought they were in a vulnerable minority. | CommentsComments (14)
Posted: 10 Jun 09 | The tender documents are drawn up by council's indoor staff, those indoors, and in the great bureaucratic tradition they are, if the tender document I've just read is a fair indication, fearsomely complex and demanding. | CommentsComments (11)
Posted: 09 Jun 09 | Much is written about energy efficiency, about power and water independence, smaller ecological footprints and sustainable consumption, but frugality rarely rates a mention. | CommentsComments (20)
Posted: 04 Jun 09 | Vince Phelan is a 78-year-old Belmont man who has just had "Do Not Resuscitate" tattooed onto his chest, but he is far from a man with a death wish. | CommentsComments (21)
Posted: 03 Jun 09 | Late last week a shortlived denial was the subject of a couple of paragraphs in The Herald's report of the NSW Government's cabinet community meeting at Lake Macquarie. | CommentsComments (25)
< previous |  1 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 | 20 | 25  |  next >
Jeff Corbett
Bend the online ear of the Hunter's most provocative columnist.

Most popular articles




Newcastle Herald







Weather brought to you by:

Weatherzone

Navigate

Classifieds

More Ways to Read

Front Page

Current Issue
Privacy Policy | Conditions of Use | Advertising Terms | Copyright © 2010. Fairfax Media.
 SEND...
 SAVE...
 SHARE...