facthunter

At least in Australia a good shot is clapped regardless of where the player is from. In some places someone other than their person gets booed regardless. (Most times) Nev

I can't understand why a match can turn normally rational people into primitives with nothing but tribal instincts to rubbish the obvious talent of players from ( Victoria, or put your state HERE)It's all about money these days. I can't be bothered getting worked up about it. I do love beating the POMS at cricket though, cause they think we are colonial felons, and they sing Rule Brittania. Isn't that funny? Nev

I thought they used dams and windmills. The windmills wouldn't like cyclones. Is this the normal time of year for cyclones at the cape? Nev

Your weather affected me here some time ago. How is that? The cyclone damage resulted in my house insurance going up by 50%. I can't afford any more so get your rain god to be more careful or I'll have to be uninsured. I questioned the Insurance Co and they said they spread the cost all around.. Nev

Thailand might not prove to be much of a place to have things made soon. Nev

You are right about Bob. He was/is always ethical. Bless his cotton socks The way to work what is going on is to research WHO is FUNDING the party.. He who pays the Piper calls the tune.. Some of our pollies are the best that MONEY CAN BUY..Nev

Kaz . face to face you and I would resolve this assessment in a very short while. Politics disappoints most of us. I wonder if the adversarial thing works in law and in politics because in politics at least it works on perception rather than reality. In law some investigatorial process may be an improvement. The prosecutor may have material evidence which would acquit the accused but is under no requirement to make it available to the court process. Hardly likely to produce a just outcome. I have spent many hours talking to learned counsel about justice and the law and some quite strong views are put. I have lost my faith in legal process in this country, which is a pretty sad state of affairs Nev

Capitalists spend other peoples money. They don't use their own. If it works, they make dough. If it doesn't work they don't lose theirs, they lose yours for you.

I didn't like Margaret Thatcher even at her prime so I don't regard her sayings to be very meaningful in any assessment of the virtues of either system of which there are many variants. Corruption is not controlled effectively in either system, which guarantees failure of either. The true answer may be someplace else or there be no answer in simple terms. Nothing is absolute and compromise and fairness is required, surely. Nev

I beg to differ Kaz. He copped a lot of backlash from his own side for doing it and lost seats. I have NO reason whatever to speak well of Howard but I follow politics a fair bit. Any one could be wrong as I may be here but don't feel so in this instance. he did say "never ever" and it was hung on him many times since. That was years before . Your view reflects the common Labor view of it. which I do not agree with. I hate arguing for Howard but that is what I strongly believe happened. He declared a change of policy BEFORE the election and suffered for it. Nev

It's a blunt instrument, targeting the poorer sections of society and with a lot of work to collect it. Passing of it finished the democrats when they negotiated concessions and lost membership support. It makes everybody a tax collector who is in the system. I think it's 17% in the UK exports are exempted, but the paperwork is considerable. I'm not a fan of it. Taxation at the wholesale point with selective rates is better targeted It just adds to the price of GOODS and SERVICES and as proposed will be broadened out and probably rate increased. I can't see how it helps businesses especially restaurants which just has a price hike that is obvious and may reduce business activity in that sector. They were talking of charging it for the value of living in your OWN house. Brave New World?

The GST was introduced by HOWARD.. Keating toyed with the idea before that. Howard at least took it to an election despite many of his party urging him to not do so, but spring it on after they got in. Quite a few of his side of politics missed out on being elected because of his actions, but at least he was upfront about it. I'm not a particular admirer of Howard but facts are there on this one. Nev

We don't have low productivity except wages related with third world countries. Forget your business if this negativity for internal political [urposes,keeps going. and wages do drop as a recession is a guaranteed result.. People have the money but are holding onto it. Money held in Super is enormous. Australia's main problem is the high dollar ( because of the mining mainly). There is no level playing field internationally. Giant subsidies exist in many markets. It's well know that a lot of aust management is mediocre. and shifting taxable income offshore is an internationally recognised problem. Trade agreements are not always good for us, and can be a real trap giving large companies power over elected governments. Nev

The pension is tested here.. In UK everybody, even the queen gets it. There aren't many jobs for people at 65 plus generally so how does one exist once the GFC ruins your super, (even if you had any) as happened to a lot.? The Old age pension is not enough to live on for most people and they struggle to pay their way constantly. They do a lot of unpaid community work that you don't hear about and are grandparents that are great for the grandkids and others. You can't measure everything in money terms. Australia is one of the richest countries on the earth, per capita income , but we are now pretty mean spirited to a lot of our own, and overseas aid reduced. Is this so we can own even bigger houses and more cars and think that will make "happiness"? The aim of advertising is to make you believe you need MORE. That you are a failure if you don't own a European Luxury car, and then once you have it, it must be always the latest model , or people will think you are going bad, and so on. IF that's all it is, let me off so I can seek something more meaningful and personal . Nev

The jobs are not there for anyone older that the new middle manager, Say 40. You have to make your job and employ yourself. Applying for non existent jobs is about the cruellest thing about. Many of those jobs are already awarded but they have to go through the motions Nev

Name calling is no substitute for argument. Once it goes there it is a waste of time. Nev

It is not going anywhere either. Nev

Bit irrelevant when many places these people come from would NEVER issue a passport or issue a visa to those in the circumstances some of these people are. IF we are going to keep this discussion going why not let us agree to stop the labelling and name calling and just bring up some facts? Nev

They all have limitations , but results confirm Morgan as better than most. They are the only one I use regularly. It depends on the questions posed and the group selected more than numbers polled. There would be a point of diminishing returns on numbers polled. I've been polled quite a few times which is quite surprising. NOT by Morgan though. Nev

Morgan polling is able to show reliable results when compared with many others who might not be as disinterested in the figures. Nev

A lot of the hatred has been whipped up by VIEWSpapers some politicians and shockjocks for their own reasons. No-one would like to contemplate un controlled immigration, but we have had waves of immigrants in the past. Greeks Irish Vietnamese, Italians, Chinese over the years etc who are making this country the great place it is. It is a difficult matter to deal with for sure but getting us out of whack with NGO's and the UN and possibly leaving it, would not be a good move for us as a country. We should avoid making pariahs of ourselves on the world stage because we trade and deal with many countries and I can't perfect my KIWI accent well enough to pretend I'm from NZ when I go overseas. Australians have been generally fortunate to be well received in most countries of the world up till now but I feel it is changing. unfortunately. Nev

M61A1, I am sure most aboriginals would agree with you. ( post 519).

As a general observation..... In less than 300 years we have a country where you can't drink from any river with out putting chlorine into the water first. We have treated rivers as though we can just dump anything we like into them, and the land has been largely deforested in the forested areas and much of the scarce topsoil wind eroded in inland areas and salinity increased to the point where it threatens many agricultural areas, all across the country.. We have introduced rabbits, lantana, cane toads wild cats and dogs, carp that have wiped out native species. Not particularly well managed is it? Introduced weeds threaten most agricultural areas.. Weed control is a major cost to agriculture and threatens many river systems..I'm not crying doom but these are facts We have done a very poor job and a lot of damage in a short time.

We live in concentrations in about five major centres of population in European type cities in a country very unlike Europe, and one of the most arid in terms of precipitation to evaporation rates overall. . Nev

That would be a fate worse than death. I've never seem many people happy in Gambling Casinos. I feel truly sorry for the partners of gambling addicts. I believe in voluntary euthanasia anyhow. Why should someone tell me when I have to die?.The English law was to stop people getting out of paying their debts by suiciding. They should have made it a Capital Offence. That would show them not to break the LAW... Nev

You're proving my contention that there is no future talking politics on this site. Unfortunately lately it is hard to do it anywhere as people are putting up divides and classifying others all the time. It's pointless folks. Ends up BS all the time. A bit more truth in what goes for newspapers in this country would ease things.

f t when I started work we paid income tax and social services contribution which included allowing for pensions. That was all confiscated and went into consolidated revenue. Now YOU want to remove the piddling pension that no one can live on anyhow, to rub salt into the wound. . Nev

Do you have parents and grand parents or are you from another planet where there are no families to relate to?. IF you get beat up in a club and are invalided would you still talk as you do.? I doubt it. There are civilised ways that keep a society strong collectively, more needed in harsh environments. If you can just pick fruit from low trees the" I'M OK" might work (for you). Another test for a good or acceptable idea. IF it was it done to ME (meaning YOU), would it be OK? Nev

Nothing to be proud of. Nev