Opinion

Jeff Corbett

Littering as vandalism

Posted: 16 May 12 | NO matter how often I saw it, the litter left by visitors to the kilometres of sandy strip known as Stockton beach shocked me – how could adults there to enjoy what really is an environmental treasure defile it? |

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Communal crime

Posted: 15 May 12 | Crime affects me and very probably you even if we are not yet touched by it directly. We restrict our movement at night, the especially vulnerable will be fearful and confined to their home, and inevitably we lose confidence in the police and the courts. |

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Mount Hutton fairyland

Posted: 14 May 12 | MOUNT Hutton has a fish and chip shop just a few doors up from the site in the Mount Hutton shopping strip proposed by Woolworths for a liquor store and noisily opposed by all of 40 people. |

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Carproof pedestrians

Posted: 09 May 12 | Should a driver carry all the responsibility for pedestrian safety? As drivers we have a responsibility, in a legal and every other sense, to use the road in such a way that we don’t endanger anyone, and I believe pedestrians, who are road users with a capacity to imperil others, should have the same responsibility. |

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A month of batching

Posted: 10 May 12 | Ours has always been what some see as a sexist household, and I’m the first to admit that I’m on a good thing. My wife does the cleaning, the washing, the shopping, the organising, the bill paying, the sheet changing and the cooking and I supervise a son mowing the lawn. |

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Council fines frenzy

Posted: 08 May 12 | Novocastrians and frequent visitors to the city could be excused for believing the NSW Law Reform Commission had Newcastle council in mind when it reported last month that the system of fines lacked fairness. |

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A $2-a-day feast

Posted: 07 May 12 | Can I live on $2 a day? No problem, and I suspect it has never been easier to eat and eat well on a daily $2 or its equivalent. |

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A bit on the side

Posted: 04 May 12 | Most married men I know well have a bit on the side. Just to spice up their life. It means, too, that they don’t have to go begging to the wife too often, although some beg occasionally just to allay suspicion. I’ve always had a bit on the side. |

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The cost of excessive living

Posted: 03 May 12 | ONE of my workmates, one of the millions of Australians who groan about the cost of living, tells me it costs her $60 a week to feed her three cats. Plus $10 a week for treats for a neighbour’s dog. |

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Fawning to our rich

Posted: 02 May 12 | The wealthy are Australia’s aristocracy, and just as our British royalty assumes and is granted the elevation in the UK so do our wealthy here. Money rules Australians and you among them, whether you like it or not. |

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Obesity as child abuse

Posted: 01 May 12 | A parent who doesn’t feed a child enough will be deemed to be guilty of child abuse, or neglect, yet there seems to be no such possibility for a parent who feeds a child too much, even though the impact on the child of obesity may be at least as severe and persistent as malnourishment. |

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Engel men

Posted: 30 Apr 12 | Three-way fridge people have a three-way fridge, and Engel men seem to have something more than a fridge. Maybe it’s membership of the club of Engel men, men who wear stubbies and anklets and who go camping primarily to give the Engel a run. |

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The naming of cars

Posted: 27 Apr 12 | Yaris, she feels, is a silly, meaningless name that slights the car and the owner, and I’d imagine the silliness of it is pronounced for someone who drives a Conquest. |

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Poor, poor teachers

Posted: 26 Apr 12 | Did someone mention holidays? Just 13 weeks this year, so many that even with the salary levels you’ve just read about teachers will have to spend some of those weeks pottering around at home. Marking exam papers no doubt. |

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Targeting rude drivers

Posted: 24 Apr 12 | If we don’t remonstrate against bad, rude and inconsiderate driving we are not meeting our obligation to promote road safety, and our only means of remonstration from behind the wheel are the horn and a hand gesture. |

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Football fan frenzy

Posted: 23 Apr 12 | Not even tribalism can explain the hysteria of the Jets fans faced with the threat to the team, and such is their frenzy that it seems they see soccer as life itself. And perhaps they have so little to do that it is life itself. |

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Stagnant restaurants

Posted: 04 Apr 12 | I wonder if the so-called pop-up restaurants that appear overnight in temporary premises in some countries might make their way here. The spontaneity and adventure of a restaurant that springs up in a day would be an attraction, as would the council’s bureaucratic efforts to close it. |

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Hometown power

Posted: 05 Apr 12 | Occasionally as I drive through featureless and forlorn towns I wonder whether these have a hometown pull on anyone. Of course they do, and in some cases I know people drawn to them, but it beats me how! |

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Drug war lost

Posted: 03 Apr 12 | We lost the war on illicit drugs years ago, and not for one day has Australia’s finest stopped the flow of heroin or any other illicit drug into Australia or from plantation or lab within Australia to the street market. Not for one hour. |

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Ghostly respect

Posted: 02 Apr 12 | You could tell a few stories about your parents levitating as they died and make wind-whistling noises as you move around the graves on the Minmi Cemetery ghost Tour. But that’s the type of disrespect we reserve for other people’s family, isn’t it! |

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