Opinion

Jeff Corbett

Hades the pizza oven

Posted: 10 Aug 10 | It's been finished for two months, Hades the woodfired pizza oven sitting like a giant pink bald head not far from my back door, and if I'd given you the update early it would have been a sad story of failures. |

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Cage fighting's brutality knows few rules

Posted: 09 Aug 10 | Even the name cage fighting brings up images of animal-like no-holds-barred contest for life or death, and when I saw the photos in the Herald from a weekend tournament of cage fighting in Newcastle there didn't appear to be any rules. |

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Greens in government

Posted: 06 Aug 10 | Greens policies don't matter much, or at all, when we don't have to bear the consequences of them, but that is likely to change after the approaching federal election. |

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The disabled parking rort

Posted: 05 Aug 10 | Why should the community provide free and unlimited parking to a disabled person who'd rather drive than take public transport into the city centre? |

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Dodgy memories

Posted: 04 Aug 10 | Sometimes I am uncertain as to whether a memory is inspired by an event or a dream, or whether the memory is of something that happened or something I was told happened. |

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Micromanaging children

Posted: 03 Aug 10 | We have five children - all bar one are adults - and it seems that my wife and I have been under a barrage of protest about interfering in their lives since the first one became a toddler! |

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Where have the sparrows gone?

Posted: 02 Aug 10 | Sparrows have gone from my world, and it seems it's not just from my world. They're disappearing in their mother countries, too, in Europe, and Italy is so concerned it has a special program to try to revive their numbers. |

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Old coppers

Posted: 30 Jul 10 | Marilyn Falappi had failed twice as a young woman to become a police recruit, once because the police force at that time was not accepting many women and the second time because, at 164 centimetres, she was too short. But in these enlightened times gender, height and age are not part of the equation. |

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Women pollies

Posted: 29 Jul 10 | Many of Australia's female political leaders get a special deal from the nation's media, and it's not a favourable one. |

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What drives the thugs?

Posted: 28 Jul 10 | How do you think the thugs who've been busily bashing the vulnerable in the Lower Hunter in recent weeks would see you and me? |

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Are you a bigger loser than Corbett?

Posted: 27 Jul 10 | Instead of the grapefruit, protein, no-carbs-after-2, tomato or Pritikin diets, I'm going for the eat-drink-less diet, and I'm aiming to lose one kilo a week for a total of 10 kilos to take me to 83kg or so. Are you with me? |

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Paying more to Optus

Posted: 26 Jul 10 | On the face of it Optus's change in how it applies its charges for timed calls from fixed home phones is of little consequence. Indeed, any Optus customer with a niggling doubt might find comfort in Optus's assurance that the changes "will make it easier for our customers to understand their fixed telephony plan". |

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Warming winters

Posted: 23 Jul 10 | The last thing I want to do, truly, is goad the climate change beast that seems to occupy the space reserved for adamance in most people's heads. |

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Drinking culture

Posted: 22 Jul 10 | Addressing the problem of alcohol-fuelled behaviour on our streets in the hours before dawn is a matter of addressing the amount of alcohol consumed, and while restrictions on the strength and types of drinks, and possibly RSA monitoring, help, they don't and won't help enough. |

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Co-operative craziness

Posted: 19 Jul 10 | The sourdough baker who's bread I have bought almost every Saturday he's baked it in Newcastle is trying to convert his new cafe bakery to a co-operative, and his enthusiasm is something to behold. |

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Should we see a horse as a main course?

Posted: 16 Jul 10 | The Hunter has a knackery at Edgeworth converting brumbies to dogmeat, yet not a knuckle finds its way to a butcher shop. That's because our political masters are scared of the horsey people who see something other than a horse when they see a horse. |

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A sensible 4WDer

Posted: 15 Jul 10 | Yes, in the past I have indeed pointed out that people who own big 4WDs are troglodytes and buffoons and whackers and parasites. I should point out, though, that I didn't have in mind the owners of Toyota LandCruisers specifically. |

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Displaced pigeons

Posted: 14 Jul 10 | The attitude to animals has been changing over the course of a generation, and I see that as a good thing that has not yet gone far enough. But is concern for evicted pigeons too far? |

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Backyard nature

Posted: 13 Jul 10 | The most in-your-face change in my backyard's wildlife has been the nightly flyover of the flying fox, or fruit bat. Thankfully they have yet to put any of my fruit trees on their nocturnal itinerary but the bottle brush out the front is high on their list. |

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Why should good drivers have to pay?

Posted: 12 Jul 10 | Unless you drive well below the speed limit, and in the process disrupt urban traffic and risk the ire of fellow drivers, you will be liable to be booked at some point on every journey. |

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