Opinion

Jeff Corbett

Pre-flush toilets

Posted: 09 Nov 09 | I'd imagine that many young people assume that the flush toilet, even the push-button version rather than the old pull-the-chain, has been quietly and efficiently removing our waste forever. |

Comments (38)

The perennially late

Posted: 06 Nov 09 | One of the ugly divisions between people is punctuality or the absence of it. |

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Nervous publicans

Posted: 05 Nov 09 | The latest police figures on late-night assaults in inner Newcastle must at the very least embarrass the AHA. |

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Melbourne Cup favour

Posted: 04 Nov 09 | Not all workers are free to celebrate Melbourne Cup day. The boss takes the sycophants and his favourite girls from the office to the party and the unfortunate are left behind to wear a party hat for the 10 minutes of the 3pm broadcast. |

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Refugee hypocrisy

Posted: 03 Nov 09 | Australia spends a great deal of money and political energy getting around its commitment as a signatory of what's known as the 1951 Geneva Refugee Convention. |

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We are what we do

Posted: 02 Nov 09 | Plumber. What image popped into your mind? Kenny would have to be close. Policeman. Gruff? Woman teacher. Assertiveness? Solicitor. Tediously precise? Artist. Scruffy? |

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No new neighbours

Posted: 30 Oct 09 | People have to live somewhere but where are the 160,000 extra people predicted for the Lower Hunter over the next 20 years going to live? |

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Busking beggars

Posted: 29 Oct 09 | The buskers' claim that they are street performers or entertainers is arrant nonsense. |

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Ruddy apologies

Posted: 29 Oct 09 | As you know Aborigines have had the benefit of a Kevin Rudd apology, although it was never clear to me whether it was all or some Aborigines, and people who were admitted to institutions are next. Who else deserves one? Do you? Will those who've missed out on a national apology get one for being overlooked? |

Comments (19)

Parking with Care

Posted: 27 Oct 09 | Car park operators now have the power to levy what amount to fines for drivers who break the car park rules. |

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Inventing relationships

Posted: 26 Oct 09 | I wouldn't dream of taking one of my chooks to the vet, and I never have, but on Saturday I took my family's rabbit, Raspberry, for an urgent consultation. |

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Barefoot days

Posted: 23 Oct 09 | Why should we wear shoes? We wear them to protect our feet in some instances, and I suppose that the more we wear shoes the more we need to wear them to protect our tender feet. |

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The gambling blight

Posted: 22 Oct 09 | The poker machines so much loved by clubs and pubs have destroyed many lives, many families, and even the industries that have grown fat on these evil gambling devices will not deny that. |

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Men and roosters

Posted: 21 Oct 09 | Take monogamy. It is a form of emasculation of men, while a rooster is free to share the benefit of his maleness among any number of hens. |

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Moral asylum

Posted: 20 Oct 09 | We could check all asylum seekers' boats as they prepare to leave Indonesian waters, equip and provision the boats as required and escort them in convoy to Australia. |

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Food intolerances

Posted: 19 Oct 09 | "No MSG in the crumbed calamari love," the cook shouted from the door of the kitchen in a northern NSW club a year ago, and some little time later my wife went off to hospital in an ambulance. |

Comments (37)

Missing the outrage

Posted: 16 Oct 09 | I, myself, personally, seem always to miss the outrage boat, which is a pity because I think we are all the better for being scandalised from time to time. |

Comments (61)

Contriving empathy

Posted: 15 Oct 09 | It's meant to create an empathetic relationship between the staff member and the customer, in case you didn't know. |

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Boring ethnic restaurants

Posted: 14 Oct 09 | For more than a decade the Lower Hunter's ethnic restaurants have been boring. In fact, they've become so far removed from the original that few could fairly be described as ethnic. |

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Desperate to believe

Posted: 13 Oct 09 | The Institute of Criminology reports that scams have fleeced six million Australians of almost $1billion in the past 12 months, and our capacity to believe the unbelievable is such that I don't doubt one single dollar of this figure. |

Comments (13)